Home > Uncategorized > In which I say nothing of substance about Apple’s new iPad

In which I say nothing of substance about Apple’s new iPad

January 29, 2010

I saw a professor reading from his Kindle and asked him; “So are you going to get one of those new iPads?”

He responded with a grin; “Man, I am so sick of the latest must-have technological gadget!”

OK, one observation of substance: the iPad might be exactly the “computer” for your mom.  Especially if it can use a Bluetooth keyboard.  Which it can.

Categories: Uncategorized
  1. January 29, 2010 at 19:45 | #1

    I will wait to see how this thing evolves.  If it supports 3rd party Bluetooth keyboards (read: folding and more portable than Apple’s idea,) it might be worth considering.  As a Kindle replacement?  No thanks.  I have no problem reading e-books on the Touch, and surfing is OK on the small screen.

    I’d have to try the “virtual” keyboard on the iPad (what a STOOPID name for this device!!!) … I doubt I’d like it, but for sure I won’t bother with the Apple external keyboard.

  2. January 30, 2010 at 20:08 | #2

    I think the device itself is a good idea, but the problem is everyone just sees it as a larger iPod Touch. I still just don’t know if I can overcome for the lack of keyboard for everyday computer use. Plus its running the same OS as the iPhone, which is good and bad. Bad for me cause it would severely limit what I can do. Good if, as George says, I’m your mom.

  3. January 31, 2010 at 02:30 | #3

    Argh.  Yet another Apple product that seems more sizzle than steak.  No one has yet explained to me why this thing’s special enough to be nearly the same price as a decent laptop.

  4. January 31, 2010 at 08:47 | #4

    Uh … maybe because it’s not meant to be a laptop?  Apple products tend to “just work” and have elegant human interface design. 

    I want a laptop/netbook of this size that doesn’t force me to use Windows.  The iPad doesn’t fulfill that for me, but I don’t bemoan it because of what it wasn’t designed to be.

  5. January 31, 2010 at 09:07 | #5

    Webs, it can use a Bluetooth keyboard.

    Actually, I use my iPod as a computer all the time.  People tell me it will also play music.  But what I find thrilling about the iPad is that it will trigger competition in the giant iPod category, and then I’ll be able to buy one from Lenovo with USB and VGA ports, and run Linux on it.

  6. January 31, 2010 at 15:28 | #6

    I know that George, but thats another $50 some dollars, when I can spend $300 to get something that already comes with one. Thats what makes it hard for me. But as I stated I am not the typical user and have higher standards for my laptops/netbooks.

    I figure if I want a glorified e-reader I can just get a Nook. It comes with Google on the backend and a whole development group has started hacking. That sounds much more tempting to me.

  7. January 31, 2010 at 20:31 | #7

    The thing about the Touch (and iPhone) apart from music and podcasts, is the application base.  Yeah, a lot of the 140,000 apps don’t interest me, but there are quite a few that are quite useful, or at least interesting and fun. 

    Given that the iPad is an iPod and anyone that has set up lots of podcast subscriptions, plus their music library, adding a good e-reader function is quite attractive.

    Does anyone yet know if the Bluetooth interface in the iPad is open to 3rd party keyboards?  The Touch supports BT but not keyboards; i.e., the API isn’t opened up.

  8. January 31, 2010 at 21:58 | #8

    I’ll assume that Steve Jobs is too impressed with his company’s own design acumen to entertain the thought of his shiny device being polluted by some keyboard from Logitech.

    They should have called this the “iTab” or something that didn’t sound like a feminine hygiene product and given it a lot more memory.  It isn’t like their profit margins were too thin to accommodate it.  Even so, this will be hugely popular for people who want the Internet but find computer ownership unnecessarily complicated.  That’s a LOT of people.

    And as I said, it’ll stimulate the development of competing products that I’ll want to personally own.  ACER will make one with 20 hr battery life, Lenovo will make one that’s bomb-proof, and HP will make one that really sucks, and so on.

  9. Ray
    February 1, 2010 at 11:21 | #9

    I’ve noticed this strange (to me, anyway) obsession with the fact that name of Apple’s new gadget includes the word “pad”.

    Why does this elicit such a response when other products with the same three-letter combination, say, the IBM ThinkPad (get it? it’s got the word “pad” in it!!! Nudge nudge…), didn’t?

  10. February 1, 2010 at 12:28 | #10

    Maybe it’s because IBM doesn’t position itself as a super-duper design company bestowing their fabulous design-y wisdom on those of us in the world of bad design. 

    It’s kind of like bad movies.  Bad movies that don’t pretend to be “art” are often fun to watch.  But pretension ruins it.  And Jeebus, Apple is pretentious about their designs. Which are not always all that great.

  11. February 1, 2010 at 14:53 | #11

    The most notable thing in the blathering online (not in this blog!) about the iPad is the big deal made of the puerile jokes about the name. Hey, maybe somebody can work some caca and peepee jokes in as well.

    Of course, I haven’t heard anybody make the sanitary napking joke, maybe the 7 year old minds of the press just thought everybody was as stupid as them and talked about the jokes they anticipated.

  12. February 1, 2010 at 21:29 | #12

    I don’t think Apple is any more pretentious than Micro$oft.  There are Apple addicts who are even more pretentious, but then I know Micro$oft users who are not only pretentious but downright ugly in their disdain for Apple.  The emotional attachment that both sides often exhibit is quite humourous.

    I tend toward Apple more lately because their industrial design IS better, and the OS is pretty solid.  Over time, I think the ROI is better, but notice I said I think … I’m not claiming to be an accountant here.  In the end, everyone chooses what they feel is best for them.  If it’s on a “religious” basis, then I feel a bit sorry for them, but hey, at least it’s not a shooting war.

  13. February 1, 2010 at 21:44 | #13

    but hey, at least it’s not a shooting war.

    Hmm… sometimes when I read comparative discussions of Mac vs. PC, I’m not so sure…

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