I want to like this “Magic” Mouse but I can’t get the tracking speed right and the scrolling is out of control when I’m using it on another machine through synergy. I’m using MagicPrefs but still!
I’ll post a review after I play work with it more. … Read More »
What’s so revolutionary about the iPad? Nothing, except…
The Apple touch of simplicity.
Anyone can make a hardware device like this, a lot of manufacturers are trying, but the Apple ease-of-use gives it the ability to be a family device, like the iPhone is already in so many homes. I could imagine having an iPad for everyone in the house to use: my wife could use it as her primary machine, Avery could use it to play on the internet and watch movies and I could use it for reading books and my nightly business email and calendaring on the couch. I strongly believe the iPad will strive as a home/family device not a personal device.
Many had their theories about how the iPad device would fit into the personal computer scheme of things, it’s apparent the iPad is nothing extraordinary. And with that lack of extraordinary we can forget about “why would someone want the iPad, a laptop and a computer” because it’s going to be used differently than any other device ( clearly ). A device that’s lying around the house, that immediately connects you to the most important areas of computing: Email, Media, Reading and the Internet; is the missing piece of computing that everyone needs ( which Apple is striving for ).
It will take a for the iPad to be considered a device like the home TV or the PS3/XBOX/Wii. Maybe a price drop to $299 will propel it there.
Update: I’m not forgetting the businesses upsides, like healthcare and education, but the success in those areas are dependent on application developers. The iPad out of the box is a device that fits into the daily life of a modern family.
Aside: see my iPad thoughts/review here.
If you follow me on twitter you already know that I’m not blown away by the new Apple iPad. I do believe the device will eventually revolutionize home computing ( I’ll get to that later ) but I’m not sold on the bigger iPhone at $499 right now.
In 60 – 90 days when more developers get their hands on the SDK and start creating apps specifically for it and when publishers start making interactive versions of their content sales of the device will undoubtedly take off. Many will be sold on the device when they see a subsidized version at $299, I will but…
$299 is highly unlikely, I’m willing to bet the subsidized price will be $499. Apple is already preparing us for a high priced subsidized version by having the 3G version almost $200 more. Maybe we’ll see the 3G version subsidized at $399 or $450 and my hope for a sub $300 device will for not.
Here are some more tidbits of speculation, since nothing is certain right now:
I’ll be following up this post with “Where the iPad will Revolutionize“.
After reminding myself how much flash sucks and YouTube’s push for html5 last week, I’m speculating:
Google’s want for HTML5 video embedding was more about mobile than the desktop.
Google’s choice to push HTML5 the week before an Apple Tablet announcement could be a coincidence but I’d like to believe Google knows something we all don’t. Whether it was collaborative or not, Youtube supporting html5 on day one of the Apple tablet’s release ( & announcement ) will help Apple propel their Canvas hardware ( tablet ) as a rich media device even further.
[Read the full post here, otherwise this is the main argument]
I’ve been called a fanboy too many times…an Apple fanboy. Let me get things straight for all of you anti-apple cool kids, “I’m
not an Apple Fanboy!”.
Possibly the best definition of fanboy is from wikionary:
Someone (normally male) who is utterly devoted to a single subject or hobby, often to the point where it is considered an obsession
By that definition I could call anti-apple trolls “anti-apple fanboys” since it’s their obsession to point out their distrust no matter what the original subject was about.
Anyways…
I do tend to show appreciation for my Apple products, only because they have a positive impact more than any other. And since I’m a “techie”/gadget hobbyist and I make a living from the technology and the internet I’ve spent a lot of time preferring one product over another.
One would take the opportunity to theorize a master planned conspiracy for world domination with that last point; instead I’ll refrain from concluding anything ( except [1] ); but if those unlikely theories do come to pass my continues review of alternatives will lead me to the best user experience and productivity in my digital life/work–regardless of the company.
[1] …except to point out that all media rights owners ( music and video ) and iphone application vendors have a choice to deal with Apple distribution channel and their restrictions.
I’ve been called a fanboy too many times…an Apple fanboy. Let me get things straight for all of you anti-apple cool kids, “I’m not an Apple Fanboy!”.
Possibly the best definition of fanboy is from wikionary:
Someone (normally male) who is utterly devoted to a single subject or hobby, often to the point where it is considered an obsession
By that definition I could call anti-apple trolls “anti-apple fanboys” since it’s their obsession to point out their distrust no matter what the original subject was about.
Anyways…
I do tend to show appreciation for my Apple products, only because they have a positive impact more than any other. And since I’m a “techie”/gadget hobbyist and I make a living from the technology and the internet I’ve spent a lot of time preferring one product over another.
The desktop computer: It’s arguably the most essential piece of technology in our lives and the OS plays the largest roll of providing what we need and how we need it. From experience OS X is hands-down the best operating system out there; Linux at a distant second; Windows at an even further distant 3rd last.
Yes, Windows is the most popular OS but even though Microsoft did something right with Windows in the past to get them into this position it doesn’t mean their doing what’s right with Windows now. The only advantage they have, which is huge, is the ability to install the OS on any computer hardware you want ( if you purchase the correct version out of the four
billion available 
). BTW: that’s not “freedom”, that’s a business decision.
With that bit of history out of the way, to hopefully distill and prevent the anti-apple fanboys ms lovers…I’ll continue…
Unlike any other OS: OS X allows me to work 10 hours in front of a computer without frustration, we all know if you useWindows you’re more than likely to get frustrated with it–daily; that’s my overwhelming experience ( I dread the 3-5 hours a week I need to use it ); I used Windows for a long time, too long, every job in my adult life included working at a Windows machine ( except one short stint at a GL where I was able go 80% OSX and 20% Linux as a sys. admin. ).
Another building block of the desktop computer is applications, regardless of what you believe Apple’s developer community is rich. It may not be as large but the quality of these applications are great, largely attributed by the developer tools that Apple provides. Anyone that says functionality defines an app is wrong, it’s the user experience. The iPhone is a great example.
Computer Wrap:
The phone may be the acclaimed as the number one technology tool it’s a close second for me:
Again, “why would I use an iPhone over a X?”, like OS X the iPhone user experience and functionality doesn’t frustrate me.
There’s only one other phone out there that didn’t frustrate me, it’s the Blackberry. Partly do to the BB stability.
I choose to use the iPhone over any blackberry or any other mobile phone because of it’s superior UE and quality
applications. There should be no doubt the Apple store was/is the best thing to happen to the phone application market, it accomplished something handango couldn’t and it’s something all major handheld venders ( MS, BB, Palm and Android ) are moving to. Even other verticals, like the DSi and PSP have adopted something very similar.
In comparison the difference between these new app stores are/could-be restrictions but no-one really knows. The
current stores ( android ) are rather small but still have their problems of removals and rejected apps.
Phone Wrap:
One would take the opportunity to theorize a master planned conspiracy for world domination with that last point; instead I’ll refrain from concluding anything ( except [1] ); but and if those unlikely theories do come to pass my continues review of alternatives will lead me to the best user experience and productivity in my digital life/work–regardless of the company.
[1] …except to point out that all media rights owners ( music and video ) and iphone application vendors have a choice to deal with Apple distribution channel and their restrictions.
I downloaded the beta for Postbox yesterday and I’m loving it. I should really post about some of the cool features it has but if you’re using Mail.app you need to switch or at least try it out and see for yourself.
One of the issues I noticed right off the bat was my labels/folders were not being checked for new mail. The inbox is always refreshed but with my extensive filtering with gmail (or google apps) not all my email hits the inbox.
The solution is easy though, very easy. You just need to use the Config Editor to look for new email in all folders and show unread counts for all folders.
First Step:
Go to Preferences (command+,) > Advanced Tab > Config Editor > Select the “I’ll be carefull…” button.
You’ll need to find to preference to change. They are mail.check_all_imap_folders_for_new and pb.accounts.show_unread_for_inbox_only . Both self explanatory.
Restart and that’s it.
Thanks for JasonB for the screenshot of the hacked macrumorslive.com site earlier this morning.
Turns out this was more exciting than the Keynote this am.
January 06
I searched the apps store tonight for Aurora Feint after some great reviews from Macbreak Weekly. After a few searches and scanning I couldn’t find it at all, apparently it was kicked off the iPhone app store – for security issues.
Luckily I was able to find a link from a “customers also bought” list.
I wont be able to give any reviews but I’m for sure not going to use any of the community features, since it scans your address book and sends it to their servers unencrypted to find your friends playing at the same time. A fantastic idea but poorly implemented. At least the developers knew it was wrong in the first place but they felt rushed to get it out for the launch.
aside: I do think apple did the right thing, I don’t think anyone in their right mind would think different. But Apple is supposed to be looking at all these apps first andI’m sure they wont let something like this fly by them again – especially since it sounds like they’re taking more time to review.
This is why I think an app store is a good idea, Apple doesn’t care to “control you”, they want to make sure you don’t experience something insecure or faulty. Then again, neither of which is happening to perfection just yet, whether its due to the rushed approvals for launch or not.
Update: That was fast. They’re back in the store with “apple’s endorsement”. Check out Jason’s comment below.
I hope this unexpected alert is a sign to come.
So, the alert is trying to tell me there are application updates on the computer it syncs (which is on the same network). This is definitly a cool feature but the functionality could be put to better use, like iTunes syncing over WiFi.
