http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSINO6MKtco

Old World and New World computing.

Finally found time to read it, thanks.

The reason I’m starting to think the Old World is ultimately doomed is because we are bracketed on both sides by the New World, and those people being born today, post-iPhone and post-iPad, will never know (and…

http://mashable.com/2010/01/27/9-upcoming-tablet-alternatives-to-the-apple-ipad/

I shall wait for the cheap Chinese knock off.

could be inverse, reverse and perverse:
and be a US knock off of a chinese product

What kind of crazy delayed-gratification maturity is this? :)

It's discipline that feels more like bondage to me.

You know the main effect of this thread has been to give me an overwhelming urge to go out and get a cheap netbook with a solid state drive and a mobile broadband adapter...

Me too... The iPad is pretty, but I am pretty much Not The Target Market -…

Given how little data a voice call uses, it might be cheaper than a mobile call :D

It would be possibly the largest mobile phone since the 1980s.

... actually if I set up Asterisk at home, I wonder if the latency across 3g…

I'll get the non 3G version with the larger storage, probably wait until the 2nd release. I reckon they'll put a USB port on it and maybe a camera.

Tear-downs have already revealed a space in the enclosure that actually fits a Macbook camera.

My take on this was that I have a 4Gb iPod because that's far more music than I actually listen to day-to-day

Horses for courses. The main place I listen to music is the car, so I invested in a good stereo that takes SD cards. At about $10 for…

or he is busy elsewhere.

Sorry, I was busy elsewhere.

Recovering Apple fanboy. I'll do the same thing I did with the iMac: buy the 2nd rev once the bugs are worked out. Though I doubt I'll be able to buy one of these in transparent orange (I loved that…

Meanwhile, people who've used the iPad all seem to remark on its snappiness — applications launch immediately in "it just works" style.

I wonder how much of this is because of solid state memory? I made a conscious choice to have this in my netbook, and I haven't regretted it.…

Perhaps not the best parable, given that Apple is running CUPS as an open-source project ...

To me it makes it all the more apposite, but whatever...

Old World and New World computing.

I was waiting for JackE to do so, but either he has, and I missed it, or he is busy elsewhere. Thought it made some interesting points, and sorry for the RT ;-)

I'll get the non 3G version with the larger storage, probably wait until the 2nd release. I reckon they'll put a USB port on it and maybe a camera.

It'll sit in it's cradle on top of the stereo,…

On the other hand, that IS the value. Not that you can write an application yourself, but that you can give and receive code. In the Parable of Stallman and the Printer Driver,

Perhaps not the best parable, given that Apple is running CUPS as an open-source project ...

Rumor: Apple Has Another Tablet In The Works. More Like A Mac Than An iPhone — and runs Mac OS X.

Meanwhile, people who've used the iPad all seem to remark on its snappiness — applications launch immediately in "it just works"…

There's something awfully paternalistic about the linux geek thing that linux is somehow better for you, in some abstract way. It's somehow better that one could potentially write a useful application rather than actually having it; it is better to have the possibility than to have the actuality.

I would…

One of my grandparents has just spent a couple of months learning her way around a Windows PC so she can communicate with the kids and grandkids, use the web, and…

There's something awfully paternalistic about the linux geek thing that linux is somehow better for you, in some abstract way.

Yes, all fanboyzngirls are nutz really. It's what works for you individually that matters. Apple hasn't worked for me yet, not because I'm an anti-fan, just because I'm not a…

What's the betting that Apple will try and move the App Store paradigm up the functionality chain until either Mac OS is a locked system, or the Mac is replaced by machines running an iPad derived OS?

Slimmer than the odds that I'm going to win the Grand National. Turning…

it's all ova when something
wicker this way comes

Eggs Ackley

Just back from Kiwiburn

How was it? – when you've caught yr breath.

The hobbling of the iPod's ability to act as a transfer device was, according to Jobs, part of winning over the record companies.

I seem to remember it being something to do with keeping the FCC, rather than the RIAA per se, happy.

Basically, it's a locked device, right? Apps have to be approved by Apple and distributed through the App Store.

For me, that's a worry. Having devices…

Although I've always found it ironic that the programme to copy stuff off your iPod, which apple seems to want to make difficult for you, is stored on mac.com, which I assume is an official Mac domain?

Like, in the case of music, Apple really cares?

The hobbling of the…

'Off-site Backup Copy' on some remote server which you can synchronise with your system whenever you need to. Some people may have this already.

Crash Plan.

the programme to copy stuff off your iPod, which apple seems to want to make difficult for you

Which... just... grrr. Danielle smash. (Also, you know who *didn't* make that really difficult? Creative. Or iRiver.)

There is a PC version at Tucows too I see.

It's just not what you'd call 'intuitive' is it? Although I've always found it ironic that the…

Podlift is a good tool that will at least rescue the music files from an orphaned iPod. It's free, easy to use, and it works.

Moving right along, I just received a panic call from someone who has lost their iPod 'Mothership', and wants to know how to re-create it from scratch with all the music on the iPod.

Umm, where do I start? Well, you can get this thing…

I suppose I'll have to 'lubricate it' eventually

NASA swears by Sperm whale oil
– doesn't freeze in space
(I heard on the radio at the weekend)

Maybe that's what the Japanese whalers
are really doing...
...Keeping the land-'lubers' running

We might run out of magnets though, and I suppose I'll have to 'lubricate it' eventually. Oh, yeah and some storage. Maybe I'll line up some Laptop batteries. We're sweet for Lithium…

You could say it's the most Xeroxy computer since 1980.

Let's pretend that's what I meant. :)

Electricity is free and abundantly available. It's just in the wrong hands ;-)

Can't we view the 'platform' as the foundations of a 'perfect world'?
Then it is up to the developers whether that's 'magic' or otherwise.

... and, for the things we click, thank you, Susan Kare.

Her influence is incalculable...

Absolutely. And she's still working.

Precisely zero workplaces I've worked in have had any Apples.

That's interesting. Every place I've worked at except one has at least started off with Macintoshes, or else didn't use little computers because they hadn't been invented yet. Ah, galley pulls, Grant Projectors, non-print pencils. I miss you all. Even…

popularized

noticed

unpopularizing

agreed

thanks, xerox

:-) I was pretty careful to say popularized rather than invented . Although it might be more accurate to thank MS for unpopularizing command lines.

thanks, xerox

... and, for the things we click, thank you, Susan Kare.

Her influence is incalculable... and, she created Clarus the Dogcow.

Moof

the modern GUI

thanks, xerox

And now the future where kids have no idea and think computers are just magic is upon us. /me sobs with overwhelming angst and premature nostalgia.

LOL, you're under-rating kids, like us oldies always do. The kids who are interested will know more than we ever did about computers. Well,…

Apropos reinventing file systems: this is no invention. Palm OS and the old Newton have worked just like this for years and years. It's a good idea though! Nice to see it get mainstream traction.

I seem to remember it was actually one of the main bitches that Apple fanboys…

Apropos the closed platform vs freedom to tinker: yes, I see how locked-down appliances are…

We've had closed devices before – cellphones, dvd players etc – but this is the first device that can potentially do anything a computer can (from the end users point of view) that is *designed* to *not* run unapproved software.

I understand your point, but that's a non-sequitir. If it…

Here's why.

Eventually no doubt it'll be 'jailbroken' – but that's a pretty crappy solution.

I prefer to call it "Housebroken" If it pees on the rug, put it out in the yard, in the rain.
Good post Mark, I couldn't agree more.
I, for one, do not welcome our digital overlords.…

Hitler has received news of the iPad and, as usual, he's not very happy ...

That meme always delivers.

Ok not Auschwitz. Maybe more like an animal Aramoana then.

Ah... Wrong again. Would you like to you use your call now?

My take on the iPad as 42 year old programmer who started out with the TRS-80/C64 etc...

I gotta admit, after thinking about it for a while I am extremely nervous about the closed nature of the iPad – it's effectively the first completely closed, DRMd up the wazoo…

Tedious as it is, scan the book of your choice and using Read & Write Gold (software without…

The great Apple ecology (ecologists?) promised us access to a huge world of content, like movies…

I'd suggest that if they have the same problem with 'pad' and 'pod', then it must be one LOL after another in that Boston. Or 'pat' and 'pot'. Well, you get the idea.

What I would like is a screen that folds in two so it is about an open paperback size, thin, and can download mags and books for reading on the train or in bed.

Ditto. The form factor troubles me. I have been waiting to see what would be on…

Bugger

Sacha,
It was worth another play. Eerily prescient, wouldn't you say?

Nothing is…

Oh, and MadTV seem to have got there first

So, you missed it yesterday, then. :) :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsjU0K8QPhs

the iSay

perfick

People are going mental for lovely old analogue stuff.

Yeah, I'm still a fan of the biro and paper notebook. Incredibly reliable and flexible. My graphic designer mate says he still mocks up with pen and pencil, then scans and uses software afterward – he found it just made his…

and sometimes they are free

vis-a-vis – a new Free Magazine – called
Tally Ho – launches tonight (friday 29) in Christchurch
with an early-start all-ages gig
at Franz Tormers (where the Green Party and Sammy's used…

I shall wait for the cheap Chinese knock off.

which must be days away.

which improved things for HTC.

The oft-stated notion that the iPhone has been the smartPhone killer is just odd, at least where I live. In Asia (population about 3bln, give or take), outside of Japan, the…

And a quarter of a century after the CD was introduced, vinyl LPs are a growth category in the music industry.

People are going mental for lovely old analogue stuff.

It's things like LPs, Moleskine notebooks, cocktails made from 1930s recipes, Chemex coffeemakers. It seems like a reaction against a…

The guy at Patently Apple led up to the launch with a series of "tablet prophecies" based on his reading of Apple patents. He's going through his list and placing the original patent art next to photos of the corresponding iPad features.

Probably the most interesting…

Next out of the rumor mill... The iWant.

Already exists. However not much use in NZ last time my wife checked.

But 270 posts in ~24 hours does qualify as lively.

If only Tony Veitch had launched this thing...

(The Copyright thread as I recall was long but not terribly fast.)

what will the RSA say?
no Macs for Auckland Grammar
or Lincoln then?

But Corporations don't act on heart. They act out of wallet, first and foremost.

The current Apple strategy will never force Corporations to change.

In my experience, corporations are politically driven first, and rational second.

We demoed a mobile application to a large corporate customer last year. Their first question…

Are you looking at the views by any chance? There are 30 posts to a page and this is the ninth page hence less than 270 posts. Not a record for PAS by a long long shot.

>

But 270 posts in ~24 hours does qualify as lively.

'The Scottish Thread'.

ZOMG. I guess that'll have to go in the pile of soporific reading to fall asleep over my iPhone, or maybe it should be used as punishment in the new Three Strikes system. 'Damnation, without relief'.

But there are some bits that need clarification for me — will this thing tether to my iPhone? If so, I won't need the 3G version.

No one seems to know yet. I'm hopeful though.

If it tethers, will that include feeding GPS data?

I doubt it. I think that…

> Wilson, Hopeful, Barnes and others — has it occurred to you that such considerations are more valuable to many of us than your emotional investment in hardware and software systems that are irrelevant to our needs.

Burn!

lol. Steve, good to hear from you. Irony: It was your own…

If there were no market advantage in buying CUPs Apple would not have bought it.

There was clearly a technical benefit — and a financial one for Sweet, who now gets paid by Apple — but as Michael says, they can't deprive anyone else of the code, even if they…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQnT0zp8Ya4

Have you heard the old saying – "Research is used as a drunk uses a lamp post; more for support than illumination".

Have you heard the other old saying – "Catchy saying don't actually prove points"?

When others want to view my availability, they have to at least buy me…

it's the prowling and
eviscerating that worries...

I'd like to challenge the 'companies operate [usually] to make money' bit, but lets not go down that road, or the godless communist in me…

"Not designed for business"

This is an interesting point. It argues that business is a driver in and of itself and that it is, in some cases, the most important driver.

But "Business" doesn't exist. It isn't a thing itself. Companies operate to do something, usually to make money. They…

and wouldn't write on because I like keyboards

Ah, we did establish that (a) it has an optional keyboard-and-dock, and (b) it's compatible with any Bluetooth keyboard.

Does the iPoop even have a microphone?.

Yes.

They also can't stop someone else forking the code and running with it, which is the point.…

Making a USB slot and an SD card reader optional extras strikes me as being pretty cheeky.

They could certainly have been clearer about it. But the specs page says it ships with a USB cable that plugs into the Dock connector. So perhaps not as good as as a…

has it occurred to you that such considerations are more valuable to many of us than your emotional investment in hardware and software systems

Woah, OUR emotional investment?
We build and tear down our machines and use them for whatever and whenever, we don't cuddle up to them and whisper…

This weeks' Listener has an extract from Kate De Goldi's excellent introduction to the new edition of my Dad's "great, unread New Zealand novel,' Sydney Bridge Upside Down, which is being republished by some Australians who know the marvelous when they see it.

Damn but I am so excited about…

You should obviously shop more... Nice new handbag perhaps?

Yeah, no. I think I can safely say that one thing I don't need to do is shop more. And I have a practically endless number of handbags. :)

the difficulties of going to sleep after reading on a screen

I've…

choose the tool suited to the task at hand, not because of what it looks like or how it makes you feel.

Actually no.

This and this are both devices for smoothing wood. They are different in many ways and there are times when perhaps the electric version is more…

I'm the anti-gadget kid, no ipod; the kids watch dvds on an ancient laptop; no mysky (our TV makes the laptop look swish), but I love the…

Naturally, when it's time to sleep, I read different things – I don't try reading cerebral stuff (when I converted Gio's thesis (I sought permission only slightly after the fact) I had a crap night's sleep, brain churning with postmodernism for hours. A very troubled imaginary, perhaps ;-))

Seriously, man,…

I nominate the iSay, although I don't know yet what it would actually do or look like.

iFry surely.

“It emits a blue light, which is one of the most stimulating lights to the little receptors we all have in the back of our eyeballs, which send messages to the…

That sucks to me.
People need to print stuff and now Apple© can pull the plug on the likes of HP, Brother, Canon...
Russ, can't you see the problem?.

Steve, the licence:

CUPSTM is provided under the GNU General Public License ("GPL") and GNU Library General Public License ("LGPL"), Version…

There are virtues – practical abilities – in shortsightedness,…

“Nowadays there are lots of environmental issues that play a role in altering people’s sleep patterns, and the most obvious would be the computer,” said Dr.…

And: Stephen Fry is our aesthetic overlord and I will be very disappointed if Apple doesn't honour him in his own…

Apart from being starry-eyed loons, we are also godless communists.

Linky love to the Creationist 'article'. I had to add this quote, it's just so priceless.

ADDENDUM IV (4/21/2002): Apparently anti-Christian…

In February 2007, Apple Inc. hired chief developer Michael…

Apple may yet prove you can fool enough people enough of the time to turn a buck. But I doubt it.

I don't know if Apple will fool anyone but I think enough people will want this to make it successful. You're focusing on what's missing but it'll probably turn…

(And I am not in any way an Apple fanperson. My hatred for iTunes is well-documented and I try to avoid it. I use…

GOLD.

Most people who buy one won't get a freebie in the mail and so will buy the 16GB model. The biggest drive…

Even non-white students used them.

I am so happy for you. And them. You've like, totally made a difference. To non-white people.

Anyway, I think the key to Apple's success lies in their blurb on apple.com...

"iPad. Our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable…

Most business people are trying to integrate the iPhone into a Microsoft legacy system. It doesn't really work.

I'm not sure what you are on about. And I guess I don't really care. But since you brought it up; my iPhone integrates just fine with our corporate MS Exchange servers…

Mac's are just UNIX for idiots.

And Apple just makes stuff white people like.

Are you a bit bored?
That's all rubbish anyway. Apple has been a big player in the education market for decades. We had 10 in our school in Whakatane in 1983. Even non-white students used them.…

Why is it that Apple have proprietary systems that are in actual fact more oppressive than Microsoft?

And what is it ok for Jobs to be so rich while you continue…

Apple now owns CUPS

That does explain why the printer test page says Apple on it, doesn't it?

I knew about WebKit and Darwin and all that, but CUPS was new to me.

The other classic driver for free software is someone needing it for themselves, and then doing the…

If you really think Apple can overturn legacy business systems because consumers love the brand, you are mistaken.

Corporations seek stability and breadth of service – this is where Microsoft still leaves Apple…

And Apple just makes stuff white people like.

Apple now owns CUPS

I own cups too, I just choose not to shout at my crockery.

Don't take it personally. I'm simply making a point that few outside the geek community seem willing to make.

I think you meant to say BOFH community there; there's a screamingly good argument that `fuck the users, we're in charge' is about as anti-geek a notion as you could possibly…

Including by Apple as a matter of fact, but see also IBM, MySQL, the FSF ... Should add I'm buggered if I know what IBM pays people to work on

Apple now owns CUPS, which they are still paying people to work on, along with WebKit, Darwin, launchd, and others…

"Which does not change the fact of Microsoft's comprehensive failure in the mobile sphere."

You are only looking at this from an individual perspective, which is surprising, given your political bent.
When you work in large organisations, the broader considerations are worth more than the odd individual getting hacked off…

Don't take it personally. I'm simply making…

Once again – I will say it again – it might not be sexy. It might not be cool. But that is the way of the business world.

You know, IBM used to think like this, and turns out, It Just Isn't True. You can't coast like that for very…

The iPhone and the iPad are all about the individual....they are not designed for business or integration...sounds like w*** to me.

Anyone remember how PCs got into businesses? How the early spreadsheets and databases slowly displaced the mainframes and minicomputers, over the protests of the centralised IT (or data processing,…

If Apple can engender real passion in their customers, more power to them. It wasn't so long ago the the personal computing industry was characterised as one massive effort to catch up with Apple. As of Windows 7, Microsoft may have finally caught up.

I like the wow factor of…

You are only looking at this from an individual perspective, which is surprising, given your political bent.

When you work in large organisations, the broader considerations are worth more than the odd individual getting hacked off…

Sorry I didn't see all above comments,…

Recordari – you obviously do not travel or attend many meetings. Syncing is an absolute priority, particularly when others want to view your availability.

Jock, I genuinely appreciate you signing up to argue your case — it's been the lively discussion I'd hoped for — but have you actually used…

Microsoft still dominates the business world – get over it and face it. Legacy systems are not going anywhere soon and Apple have nothing to replace the stability Microsoft currently represents.

Which does not change the fact of Microsoft's comprehensive failure in the mobile sphere.

Recordari – you obviously do not travel or attend many meetings. Syncing is an absolute priority, particularly when others want to view your availability.

When others want to view my availability, they have to at least buy me a couple of drinks first.

This [the Apple A4] is a huge deal. I got about 20 blessed minutes of time using the iPad demo units Apple had at the event today, and if I had to sum up the device with one word, that word would be “fast” … It is…

But; I remind you yet again. The point is – choose the tool suited to the task at hand, not because of what it looks like or how it makes you feel.

Recordari – you…

Talk to anyone who works in IT operations – I am not one of them – and they will tell you the problems iPhones present in the business context. They are not made to integrate into existing systems.

If they're selling millions just for personal use, do Apple really care?…

Recordari – do you use your iPhone primarily for personal or business use?

Refer my earlier comment about finding a device that works for you.

iPhone does not suit…

I was just remembering that. You'd barely know it these days, though

Oh, there's heaps of fun to be had there. Go back to the iPod launch:

The analyst on the iPod launch:

The iPod is another stab at Sony's success in the consumer market, Deal noted.

"Clearly Apple is…

This is a bit nonsense. `Linux' isn't a body like Apple that could be expected to take responsibility for paying developers. (Linux as a thing that acts probably means the kernel email list, but that's not really sensible.)

And, actually, 70-95% of Linux development is done by paid developers. Someone's…

And one reason why Apple is still consistently preferable to Linux, who as yet have provided no way for developers to earn the fruits of their labour.

This is a bit nonsense. `Linux' isn't a body like Apple that could be expected to take responsibility for paying developers. (Linux as…

-there are now at least 3 participants in the ww grab for book e-rights – Amazon, Google, and – v. recently – Apple.
Only one of those parties is seeking exclusive-to-their-machine rights: whoever do you think will win?

In June 2007 when the iPhone was launched I collected a long list of “not impressed”, “meh”, “big deal”, “style over substance”, “it’s all hype”, “my HTC TyTN can do more”, “what a disappointment”, “majorly underwhelmed” and similar reactions.

I was just remembering that. You'd barely know it these days,…

There's quite a lot more of this ...

Can I get a hell yeah from the starry-eyed loons please? I already liked Stephen Fry, now I think I'll reserve a special place in my iHeart for him too.

Ever heard anyone say they love the iPhone as a Phone?!

I…

I know there will be many who have already taken one look and pronounced it to be nothing but a large iPhone and something of a disappointment. I have heard these voices before. In June 2007 when the…

I challenge anyone to do what I do with my HTC on an iPhone.

Can you write a list, because having done just about everything on a PC and now doing most things I need to on my iPhone, I'd be keen to know what you do that I can't.

No. Definitely not.

Have you heard the old saying – "Research is used as a drunk uses a lamp post; more for support than illumination".

Other research…

I thought the Kindle was in fact available in NZ. I was spammed by Amazon on this very subject not two weeks ago.

As did I, but I checked on Amazon's site and no joy. Kiwis can order the BeBook from Australia, which looks interesting – but ebooks won't pick…

ebook readers like Sony's or the Kindle aren't available in N.Z., so this may open up the market.

I thought the Kindle was in fact available in NZ. I was spammed by Amazon on this very subject not two weeks ago.

I'm doing my thesis on gender-mediated discourse around the text "pad".

I'll supervise if you'll have me.

I'm doing my thesis on gender-mediated discourse around the text "pad".

You could have a chapter on the speed with which ideas from twitter get merchandised. iMaxiPad is on a T-shirt already.

And can I add, I just told my better half about this, and her immediate reply was 'Where…

Umm, has anyone used iWhisperPad yet (I presume it's as silent as an iPhone)? And I was going to say they should change the Apps to iApplicator, but that was done on Twitter 12 hours ago. Hey, it's still day one, right?

I'm doing my thesis on gender-mediated discourse around…

A few years ago a workmate was extolling the features of his iRiver. You could mount it as an external drive etc. I told him he'd traded cool for functionality. He didn't get it.

I know what you mean, but that's perhaps not the best example. iPods have been able…

I've been playing with them Apples since I was 13. After learning to programme sin waves on a ZX81, using tape disks, for various reasons I was fortunate enough to get my hands…

I like the wow factor of…

There are legitimate complaints about the App Store from developers. But compare the world before the iPhone, and after. There just isn't any comparison. For one thing, Apple made it possible for the people who developed this here site to move into mobile application development, where they now have an…

One thing I'm looking forward to is games, especially two player+ games. It can lie flat on the table and be any game you like. People can sit round these in a way that's not practical for a laptop.

Ooh, now I'm picturing spacies, old-school. New peripheral market for the…

Don't be silly, that went out with Ubuntu 7.2.4.5.7 rc. The Chicken has been replaced with a Heron.

That was three release cycles ago. It's a Koala now. Keep up!

A guy I knew at university who was working on his Masters in Engineering Science (or maybe doctorate) when I was an undergrad, and with whom I have caught up with a few times since has made a really cool…

I presume you don't own any gaming consoles or mobile phones then?

Gaming consoles, no. I own a mobile phone that's so old that nobody develops for it any more, but the apps that are available can be run at my choosing without having to hack the phone and void…