Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Touched by the hand

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  • Lucy Stewart,

    BTW, if the literal definition of "unbelievable" is "I can't believe they're going to charge that much for it in NZ given the current US-NZ exchange rate" then perhaps the tag line will prove to be accurate.....

    Just the fact that they're advertising it that heavily at all without a release date or price is irritating. It's like being taunted.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report

  • Simon Grigg,

    Down at a couple of the malls here, both the licensed Apple Stores and a couple of private vendors have, so I'm told, a few 16GB iPads that are both touchable and purchasable.

    I'm not even close to being in the market but I'd love to be able to go and, y'know, play but sadly we have a wee, but increasingly scary civil disturbance underway and the malls have been shut for 4 days, so...

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report

  • UncleMike,

    Awwe nooo, not the Ad Show! Good on ya Jan for strapping yourself to the chair and taking it for 15. Makes me come over all creeepy like. Sh*t thats what it is, its reminds me of work!

    Since Sep 2009 • 8 posts Report

  • recordari,

    Umm, this feels almost sacrilegious. Oh look, it's my 666 post.
    The things people will do to get on YouTube.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report

  • FletcherB,

    Love this guy...

    West Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 893 posts Report

  • BenWilson,

    Mind you, I'm not alone on the Meola one -- it's a horrible slow surface, and steeper than it looks to the eye, for some reason. I do chuckle when I see people in fancy cycling gear blowing a bit as they get to the roundabout.

    It certainly is, I'm always surprised how fast I come down that - without hard pedaling it's around 50kmh.

    I'm not entirely sure how it's going to cross the Southern Motorway to get into Grafton gully

    I think I see it now, if it crosses the motorways on Upper Queen St, then it could skirt the cemeteries and go under the Symonds St on-ramp, then track along the side of the Wellesley St off-ramp. Which would be why it ends at Wellesley St. A cycle crossing right there, and it could do a lovely drop-off and track all the way down to Parnell Rise, at which point it's only a mile or so of painted lines on the road until it joins directly to the Tamaki Drive cycleway.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Kyle Matthews,

    The things people will do to get on YouTube.

    That's quite moronic. More money then sense.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • Don Christie,

    Russell, you are to Apple product launches what Garth McVicar is to "hang 'em high" laws. Go you good thing (tm)

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1645 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Russell, you are to Apple product launches what Garth McVicar is to "hang 'em high" laws. Go you good thing (tm)

    I'm genuinely fascinated by the media and cultural elements, as much as the device itself.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Steve Withers,

    I would prefer a tablet that does what the iPad does but also lets me do what I want to do with my own data.

    The best thing the iPad will do, in a broad sense, is set a benchmark for makers of tablets with other, more open and accessible systems on them. There are already several Android-based that look very attractive, will run over 35,000 android apps....and will probably be cheaper, too.

    I'm thinking if a huge iPod Touch is what I really need then I probably want it running some other system that lets me access files from any source, via wifi, bluetooth and mobile data *and* I can use them as and when I want to without requiring iTunes or the use of a single, Apple-censored app store.

    The removal of Wifi apps like WifiTrak and WifiFoFum from the Apple Store recently was further confirmation that the Apple eco system isn't one I'm interested in extending my relationship with beyond the iPod Touch I already own. You know...it's the Ipad Nano that came out a couple of years ago.

    My new Google Nexus One is doing a fine job of being multitasking netbook, phone, music / video player, camera, camcorder, webcam...and it fits in my pocket.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 312 posts Report

  • recordari,

    iPhone 4.0 to be released later this year will Multi-task. The iAd thing though is a great shame, as the last thing you need on an iPhone is bloody advertising clutter.

    Apple reveals new iPhone features

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report

  • Bart Janssen,

    I'm genuinely fascinated by the media and cultural elements

    Agree. I find it fascinating to see all the people who criticise the iPAD for not being something else (Steve above). But more interestingly the media who seem to oscilate between fans and doomsayers.

    It does seem as though the media really have no idea how to report the news that a gadget has caught the imagination of lots of people. And it really has.

    -------------
    And I am bummed out that Sunrise has gone. I won't turn on TV1 in the morning as I drink my coffee because watching Paul Henry is a danger to my TV, if they got rid of that arsehole I might watch it but by then I'll have found something on sky to be my wake up TV.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Karl from CactusLab's two year-old daughter's first five minutes with the iPad:

    Neat.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Karl from CactusLab's two year-old daughter's first five minutes with the iPad

    That's way cool. Now I want one to play with.

    Also, that two year old has about 20 times the technical ability with computers than some of the academics that I have to provide support for.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • Gareth Ward,

    That's very neat and given how much my 18m/o boy loves the laptop (he now associates it with photos of all his favourite people and Dorothy the Dinosaur via YouTube) he'd go nuts with that. His tendency to hurl things when he gets sick of them may put a damper on that.

    And surely this guy saw the irony of loading that on to a Flash-based video sharing site such that he'll never be able to watch it on said device? Or does Vimeo have an HTML5 iPad too?

    Auckland, NZ • Since Mar 2007 • 1727 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Or does Vimeo have an HTML5 iPad too?

    Yep. Since January.

    http://vimeo.com/blog:268

    Like YouTube's, still in beta, but it works.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Christopher Dempsey,

    I'm not entirely sure how it's going to cross the Southern Motorway to get into Grafton gully, though, do you have a link to the proposal?

    The nice man from NZTA presented the proposal at a recent Cycle Action Auckland meeting. Pretty cool video too. Unfortunately no link as yet, but next time I see the gentleman in question I'll ask.

    The way to get over the southern is via the Upper Queen st bridge - you know, the one that goes downhill and intersects with Canada Rd. The link will come up along Ian McKinnon Drive, then you ride onto the bridge, and then turn right off the bridge into ummm the wooded area near to the cemetery. It's hard to explain but it's clearer in the video.

    I think Ben has it:

    I think I see it now, if it crosses the motorways on Upper Queen St, then it could skirt the cemeteries and go under the Symonds St on-ramp, then track along the side of the Wellesley St off-ramp. Which would be why it ends at Wellesley St. A cycle crossing right there, and it could do a lovely drop-off and track all the way down to Parnell Rise, at which point it's only a mile or so of painted lines on the road until it joins directly to the Tamaki Drive cycleway.

    @ recordai - your link to a group of men bashing an iPad to pieces has the vague air of Mad Max II to it; groups of young men refashioning artifacts from the electronic past to refashion into chunky jewelry.

    Parnell / Tamaki-Auckland… • Since Sep 2008 • 659 posts Report

  • Gareth Ward,

    Yep. Since January.

    iStandCorrected...

    Auckland, NZ • Since Mar 2007 • 1727 posts Report

  • Steve Ballantyne,

    @ Recordari: That video you posted -- that's one of several reasons why I think the collective noun for iPad haters will be "dickheads" in a couple of years' time, if not sooner.

    @ Steve Withers: Since I'm a user rather than a Cory Doctorow-style f*ckwit (which you're not either, no doubt) I'm completely happy with Apple's policy about reserving access to their platform. When you look at what went down between Apple and Microsoft from the time of the original release of the Macintosh to the release of Windows 95 it's little wonder that Apple's attitude is somewhat hard-nosed.

    I'm sure Steve Jobs feels this particularly strongly -- that permanent frown he wears isn't entirely the result of years of Veganism, I'm sure. Google's early palling up with Apple, followed by its swiping of iPhone concepts for its own use, echos Microsoft's appropriation of Macintosh innovations so closely that it must give Jobs the here-we-go-again shudders.

    Indeed it is annoying that WiFi tracking software is gone from the App Store; luckily I happened to download a few of these before the ban was announced. But the ban is a consequence of Apple quite reasonably denying third party developers use of its private APIs. One of the reasons why they're private is that they're provisional and may change; so I'm not confident my WiFi apps will necessarily work with iPhone OS4.

    Anyway, it's not as if Apple has actively moved to stop you from jailbreaking your iPhone or your iPad -- do that and you'll be able to run anything you care to write.

    Although -- correct me if I'm wrong -- you won't be able to open an account with the App Store. So there's your choice -- software mostly written by Linux nerds or you, or the App Store, which has so much stuff in it that there's a good chance whatever you want has already been developed and is going for $1.99?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 27 posts Report

  • Geoff Lealand,

    Karl from CactusLab's two year-old daughter's first five minutes with the iPad

    Great stuff! I have sent this on to my PhD student Annemarie in Tauranga, for she is doing a study of preschoolers and their media use. Another reminder of the tactile relationship young children have with media.

    Have been away from PAS for a few days and I have missed it. Spent a few days ploughing my way through a pile of post-Easter essay marking--sitting in the sun by the gentle lapping waters of Collingwood (Golden Bay) made it less of a trial. The tide comes in, then retreats to the horizon, then returns again.

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report

  • Simon Grigg,

    that's one of several reasons why I think the collective noun for iPad haters will be "dickheads" in a couple of years' time, if not sooner.

    Damn, you sound like George W. : you're either with us or you're against us. Is there no acceptable middle ground?

    I have a friend who's a bit a MacBoy and I've always had a bit of fun tossing out flippant lines like 'Ives ain't much of a visionary'. I decided to stop doing it when the time it was taking in the day to be corrected was exceeding the fun of it all.

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report

  • Hilary Stace,

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report

  • recordari,

    I think the collective noun for iPad haters will be "dickheads" in a couple of years' time, if not sooner.

    Yeah. Anyone else wants to smash an iPad, let me know. I'll relieve you of the burden. We could make a video of you giving it to me and put it on YouTube. Then you could buy my bridge.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report

  • Steve Ballantyne,

    Yeah. Anyone else wants to smash an iPad, let me know. I'll relieve you of the burden. We could make a video of you giving it to me and put it on YouTube.

    @ recordari: What a very peculiar attitude. Like I said, that's dickhead talk -- and (Simon Grigg) I hardly think it makes me into George bloody Bush for saying so.

    @ Simon Grigg: This is the sort of thing I think is going to happen in the next few years:

    A: "I downloaded Kick-Ass IV onto my iPad the other night -- what a dag!

    B: "Apple sux, you dopey fanboi"

    A: "Okay, be a dickhead if you want to."

    ---

    A: "What'd you think of Jonathan's new novella? Isn't it perfect?"

    B: "I heard it's only out as an e-book, and you know I never go near those awful things. Paper or nothing, darling."

    A: "Jeez, what a dickhead."

    ----

    A: "Doctor Smith never gets his patient notes in on time -- he gets registrars to key them in from his unreadable hand-written notes instead."

    B: "Christ, what'd they give him an iPad for? What a dickhead."

    ----

    And

    A: "Hey, what about this -- the complete works of Tommy Cooper in H264 for the iPad Pro II. Fantastic!"

    B: "Apple is a filthy closed system that wants to control what you read, see and listen to and prevent you from expressing yourself through the mediums of C#, .Net, Flash, Lua and Visual BASIC. They'll never get a cent out of me!"

    A: "Lord, isn't it bad enough you're a dickhead? Why be a f*ckwit as well?"

    And so on ad infinitum, judging by recent rants from assorted Windroids and Penguin shaggers.

    I like this, from PatrickWeb:

    the iPad will change the model of personal computing -- not immediately and not for everyone, but for many millions of people the PC will begin to look like a dinosaur. One of my reasons for such a bullish view is the number of skeptics coming forward to say that the iPad is not what it is cracked up to be. Skeptics have been a reliable predictor of the next big thing...

    That's from a 38-year IBM veteran who used to be their VP for internet technology, among other things.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 27 posts Report

  • Simon Grigg,

    I rest my case.

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report

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