Dag Apple...

[Dark Jaguar]

http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/201...g-america/

[etoven]

http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/201...g-america/

I read about 3 seconds of that tripe before declaring it stupid bullshit and closing the page.

[Dark Jaguar]

I can't vouch for any of the political stuff, it's just noting the fact that Apple's making an insane markup on their stuff.

[Great Rumbler]

That's not surprising, Apple's whole deal is to take something that's worth X amount of dollars, slap their logo on it, and then sell it for 2X dollars.

[Dark Jaguar]

Yeah... Nintendo tried to copy that strategy with the 3DS and the market said "nope, try again".

[Great Rumbler]

This strategy only works for Apple, as HP figured out quickly enough with their recently deceased touchpad.

[A Black Falcon]

It's unfortunate that it works for anyone, Apple fans get ripped off so bad, and they're happy about it too.

[Dark Jaguar]

The strategy works pretty well with make-up too, aka, dirt.

[alien space marine]

America could conqueror the world and thus ensure that all industry and manufacturing is done within the united states , Ending any chance of their being dangerously imbalanced trade deficits since the world will be one country one nation under Uncle Sam's heel.

[Dark Jaguar]

Actually we likely can't conquer the world.

[Weltall]

I do have to give Apple credit for taking the tablet, which is, in essence, an expensive and wholly superfluous toy (a functional chimera, each feature being something done better by some other individual device), turning it into a leading consumer electronics category, and dominating the shit out of it.

[etoven]

I do have to give Apple credit for taking the tablet, which is, in essence, an expensive and wholly superfluous toy (a functional chimera, each feature being something done better by some other individual device), turning it into a leading consumer electronics category, and dominating the shit out of it.

I think that statement warrants correction.... Apple tablets are chimera's.. Android tablets are powerful ultra portable workstations and gaming platforms.. That are way cheaper and will eventually blow the IPAD's market share straight to shit.

[Dark Jaguar]

Does an "android tablet" have buttons? Buttons.

[Weltall]

I think that statement warrants correction.... Apple tablets are chimera's.. Android tablets are powerful ultra portable workstations and gaming platforms.. That are way cheaper and will eventually blow the IPAD's market share straight to shit.

That isn't my point, though. Tablets, regardless of who makes them or how powerful they are, are devices which do not do anything unique. Every function can be done by some other device, and usually better. It still surprises me that tablets ever took off. I thought they'd last two or three years and disappear considering how expensive they are as compared to their low value as a practical device to do anything useful that the laptops and smartphones almost everybody in the target demographic already owns don't already do.

[Dark Jaguar]

I dunno, tablets occupy a form factor that's pretty useful. Big enough to show a good size working space while small enough to be far more portable than a laptop (no bag required, just a purse or jacket pocket). Phones can do similar tasks, but the screen space is pretty restricting.

Tablets are still flawed in a number of ways though. Foremost is the complete shunning of buttons in favor of the touch screen. I think the touch interfaces are actually very nice, but I don't consider the stylus nearly as "dated" as everyone else. While I type much faster than I write, I still write much faster than I "hunt and peck" on a touch screen. I'd much prefer to use a stylus to hammer out some notes with some handwriting recognition (which has come a long way since the Newton).

<iframe width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xc3JzS0K3ys" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

(Also there's the matter of how finger based touching simply reminds me that I'm a disgusting bag of mostly water leaking oils on every single surface, fully deserving of the eventual obliteration all organic life shall face in the silicon quickening.... thousands of years ago in the future where the past has occurred.)

Really though, the biggest issue is the lack of buttons. Just looking at an iPadd, I see space along the "margins" of the device for gaming buttons. Their placement would be a little less than ideal, but it'd be a lot better than controlling a port of Secret of Mana with a touch screen, that's for sure. (That port does look nice, I just feel it's wasted on those controls. Let's stick that on the 3DS along with a translation of Seiken Densetsu 3.)

To add to that though, instead of just boosting the power of the next iPad, why not shrink down the die and work in a sliding keyboard/controller for the thing? If they did that, I can easily see "tablet" sized devices replacing the laptop form factor, while eventually people finally make the leap and invade the "wrist watch" form factor in full force with something like the iWatch. Really, a watch with a touch screen, a few easy to press buttons, and a much longer lasting battery (thanks maybe in part to a liquid paper display) could basically destroy the whole idea of carrying around a phone in one's pocket. Heck work in some wireless bluetooth headphones with batteries recharged by kinetic motion from your own head and there's no need to even hold the thing up to your head like a secret agent (though even that still leaves the hand freer than before). I wear glasses so that idea works for me pretty well. Text messages would probably be the only difficult part of that adjustment, but seriously, VOICE people, it's futuristic!

[etoven]

I dunno, tablets occupy a form factor that's pretty useful. Big enough to show a good size working space while small enough to be far more portable than a laptop (no bag required, just a purse or jacket pocket). Phones can do similar tasks, but the screen space is pretty restricting.

Tablets are still flawed in a number of ways though. Foremost is the complete shunning of buttons in favor of the touch screen. I think the touch interfaces are actually very nice, but I don't consider the stylus nearly as "dated" as everyone else. While I type much faster than I write, I still write much faster than I "hunt and peck" on a touch screen. I'd much prefer to use a stylus to hammer out some notes with some handwriting recognition (which has come a long way since the Newton).

<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xc3JzS0K3ys" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" width="480"></iframe>

(Also there's the matter of how finger based touching simply reminds me that I'm a disgusting bag of mostly water leaking oils on every single surface, fully deserving of the eventual obliteration all organic life shall face in the silicon quickening.... thousands of years ago in the future where the past has occurred.)

Really though, the biggest issue is the lack of buttons. Just looking at an iPadd, I see space along the "margins" of the device for gaming buttons. Their placement would be a little less than ideal, but it'd be a lot better than controlling a port of Secret of Mana with a touch screen, that's for sure. (That port does look nice, I just feel it's wasted on those controls. Let's stick that on the 3DS along with a translation of Seiken Densetsu 3.)

To add to that though, instead of just boosting the power of the next iPad, why not shrink down the die and work in a sliding keyboard/controller for the thing? If they did that, I can easily see "tablet" sized devices replacing the laptop form factor, while eventually people finally make the leap and invade the "wrist watch" form factor in full force with something like the iWatch. Really, a watch with a touch screen, a few easy to press buttons, and a much longer lasting battery (thanks maybe in part to a liquid paper display) could basically destroy the whole idea of carrying around a phone in one's pocket. Heck work in some wireless bluetooth headphones with batteries recharged by kinetic motion from your own head and there's no need to even hold the thing up to your head like a secret agent (though even that still leaves the hand freer than before). I wear glasses so that idea works for me pretty well. Text messages would probably be the only difficult part of that adjustment, but seriously, VOICE people, it's futuristic!

My android tablet has buttons, and you can even hook up a bluetooth or USB keyboard for the full computer experience. IT also supports a number of other USB devices like jumpdrives, with support for adding third party drivers for all kinds of peripheral possibilities from companies.

[Dark Jaguar]

Buttons are good. Support for hooking up a keyboard is all well and good, but it doesn't really do the job. If it's going to be a tablet, I'd want it to be self contained, otherwise I'll just keep using a laptop or better yet my desktop. I still say a slide-out keyboard is the best option when they can jam one in there.

[Weltall]

Yeah, it's wonderful that you can buy accessories to turn a tablet into a laptop.

[etoven]

Yeah, it's wonderful that you can buy accessories to turn a tablet into a laptop.

It is wonderful you can turn a tablet into a laptop..

[EdenMaster]

I often wonder if the appeal and success of tablets is fueled, at least in small part, by people who want to feel like they're in Starfleet.

[Dark Jaguar]

Yeah PADDs were neato, but Star Trek's writers sure made them seem ridiculous.

Remember how many episodes someone would give someone a STACK of PADDs just for comic effect? I mean, it's a wireless storage device! Just dump all the files on it, even if you are all lining up to keep dumping more and more into it, instantly, even if he says "no". That can still be funny, it just won't have the "Wesley can't carry all those books, haha!" part. All it did was make Star Trek look incapable of imagining how inventions like those would actually change the future.

They did a pretty good job with the borg though...

Actually the look of those things is pretty clean, interface aside. There's just so much wasted space though.

[Weltall]

It is wonderful you can turn a tablet into a laptop..

Indeed. Then, you can sit back and try not to think about how you could have gotten the same functionality out of a netbook and spent the $300 you saved on something more useful like steak dinners or cocaine.

[etoven]

Yeah PADDs were neato, but Star Trek's writers sure made them seem ridiculous.

Remember how many episodes someone would give someone a STACK of PADDs just for comic effect? I mean, it's a wireless storage device! Just dump all the files on it, even if you are all lining up to keep dumping more and more into it, instantly, even if he says "no". That can still be funny, it just won't have the "Wesley can't carry all those books, haha!" part. All it did was make Star Trek look incapable of imagining how inventions like those would actually change the future.

They did a pretty good job with the borg though...

Actually the look of those things is pretty clean, interface aside. There's just so much wasted space though.

Yea it's funny how star fleet ships just had a ridiculous amount of computer memory, a single computer chip had enough to store a holographic consciousness, and a small shuttle pod once stored data for every atom in a entire quadrant of space. Yet Wesley classroom e books consumed 10 PADDS.. Jesus Crist how big were those books? Was it the collective knowledge of a 1000 worlds? His school must have sucked big time. No wonder Wesley evolved into a higher being at the end of season 4. :)