iPad

[MahrinSkel]

On the other hand, I guess I have to finally admit there's something the iPad can do better than any alternative device.  I predict a boom in eBook editions of the "Bathroom Reader" genre.

--Dave

[Tebonas]

From what I hear from people who have both, the Kindle is still the better Ebook-Reader, though. Easier on the eyes.

[ghost]

We've got the Nook, and it is a thousand times better for reading books than the iPad is. 

Overall, I'm a bit disappointed in the iPad.  I had to get one for a work app (that still isn't out yet, even though it was promised months ago) and these are my overall thoughts:

1.  It's too awkward to type anything of merit on.
2.  There's no camera.
3.  E-reading doesn't suck, but it isn't as good as it could be.
4.  Browsing and email are as you would expect. 
5.  Comics look spectacular on it. 
6.  It plays Plants vs. Zombies very well. 
7.  It is too goddamn big and bulky for what it is. 

[Morat20]

From what I hear from people who have both, the Kindle is still the better Ebook-Reader, though. Easier on the eyes.

Also lighter, longer battery-life and a fuckload cheaper.

The iPad is many things, but it's no more an ebook-reader than my desktop is. It CAN display ebooks, yes. But that's not what it's designed for.

[naum]

From what I hear from people who have both, the Kindle is still the better Ebook-Reader, though. Easier on the eyes.

Also lighter, longer battery-life and a fuckload cheaper.

The iPad is many things, but it's no more an ebook-reader than my desktop is. It CAN display ebooks, yes. But that's not what it's designed for.

I have used both and disagree.

Kindle (though I haven't got my hands on new versions) text very washed out to me, and I like reading in the dark or low-light…

Also…

* …advancing and rewinding pages in Kindle is painful compared to iPad.

* …page turning, annotations, highlighting, dictionary viewing, etc.… all work better on iPad

* …for a device that mainly exists on work desk, bedroom nightstand and coffee table (or occasional jaunt to coffee shop), 10+ hours of batter life is more than sufficient…

* …able to pop into web browser or Wikipedia via hyperlinks

Advantages of Kindle:

* …reading on the beach, iPad useless outdoors, same as laptop screen.

* …much cheaper!

* …some see the distraction of popping out to web browser, FB, Twitter, etc.… as a minus and not a feature

Oh, just picked up a few new games…

* …Pocket Legends, 3D MMO (runs on iPhone too), free, haven't really played much, WoW-like (simplified) with a touch UI …

* …Madden 11, was skeptical about forking over $12 but it really sweet, you control with thumbs on each side (or tap on the screen to hike ball), pleasantly surprised… …no multiplayer, but they say they adding it in via upcoming patch…

[Engels]

I have both iPad and Kindle. All the things that Naum says are true. Its still just a fucking book and its better viewed on the Kindle.

Naum, the first generations of Kindle 2 had washed out screens compared to both the Kindle 1 and later revisions of the Kindle 2. I got my sister one recently and the ink is much better contrast.

[squirrel]

Got an iPad as a gift about a week ago. Still not sure where it fits in my 'lifestyle' given that I have an iphone and macbook. So far it's good for reading comics/ebooks/newspapers in bed or on the train and for web surfing at lunch or so forth. I can't honestly imagine doing any work on it, the lack of a filesystem and the apps I use make it difficult to do more than just jot down quick notes (although Evernote on it is great).

We'll see, I'm not sure it's going to make into my daily must have routine. But I do like the ebook/newspaper functionality. Certainly a content consumption tool for me, not a productivity one.

[Engels]

The one place I've found it useful is at conference lectures. Nothing like being able to read f13 on the wifi while some stuffed geek warbles on about port security.

[Nerf]

Got an iPad as a gift about a week ago. Still not sure where it fits in my 'lifestyle' given that I have an iphone and macbook. So far it's good for reading comics/ebooks/newspapers in bed or on the train and for web surfing at lunch or so forth. I can't honestly imagine doing any work on it, the lack of a filesystem and the apps I use make it difficult to do more than just jot down quick notes (although Evernote on it is great).

We'll see, I'm not sure it's going to make into my daily must have routine. But I do like the ebook/newspaper functionality. Certainly a content consumption tool for me, not a productivity one.

Serious question - have you used it while pooping? Pooping while surfing the internet is pretty much the best thing ever, and I suspect it's why smartphones were originally created - all the other stuff is just fluff to justify the purchase without admitting the real reason.

[naum]

The one place I've found it useful is at conference lectures. Nothing like being able to read f13 on the wifi while some stuffed geek warbles on about port security.

I will say, thus far, other than typing a sentence (or up to a paragraph or so), it is mostly a read-only device… …but then so is PSP, DS, Xbox, PS3, Wii, etc.…

It could be more, I really wish I could do the old Palm/Handspring Grafitti on iOS (there is an "unauthorized" version, as it got yanked from AppStore, patents and all, I think there is an Android version available (yay, open, though it might be in crosshairs too of lawyers, but creators could be safely nestled off shore somewhere…)… …back in those PDA days, I could scribble out letters on the PDA almost as fast as I can type (and I'm a fairly nimble typist) — people would gaze in awe at how quickly I could enter text…

…have been unable to touch type in landscape mode, about quickest I get is using left and right index finger to span left and right halves, but I always seem to tap (something that never seems to afflict my thumbs on the iPhone keyboard) a button that messes up the text or backs out (and the mobile Safari / most apps suck at this type of Cmd-Z recovery). Funny that I can bang out 3-4+ paragraph emails on iPhone no sweat but iPad still a clunky and unpleasant exercise… …have a wireless keyboard to pair with, but that just seems so pointless, especially when there's a 13" MBP nearby… …still, SimpleNote suffices for taking notes (it syncs to cloud and all other machines in house/work sphere).

Tried some of the mind mapping apps and they would be awesome if they worked the way my brain worked — i.e, tap an empty space for new node, tap a node to drag, hold to enter text, etc.…

I had it for over 2+ months now, and still use it quite a bit, nearly every day it gets used…

…at home, it sits on coffee table and bedroom night stand, while watching big screen I do email and the social web stuff, play games… …at night, read on Kindle or watch NetFlix on it…

…at work it serves as eReader for programming books and PDFs (never got accustomed to reading longer texts on computer but the device propped up, serves me well, plus I like to walk around with it while reading), as a last.fm / podcast player piped in to speakers or even NetFlix movies (usually rock-u-mentary / musical /documentary type stuff where I don't have to keep my eyes on it)

One of my colleagues at work, his favorite app (I forget the name) is a annotated voice recorder — for those 5 hour lectures and when you want to advance to a spot where you tapped a note in…

[Ingmar]

Ok, you are officially on one week ellipsis probation.

[Rasix]

The best is the ellipsis into ellipsis transition.  Takes skill.

Seriously though, period + capital letter.

[MahrinSkel]

He must have typed this on his iPad, and left his finger on the period key while he decided what the next sentence would be.  Although that doesn't explain the ellipsis at the beginning of some sentences.

Pro note: The ellipsis is used to indicate that you deliberately left something out of the sentence, so as to invite the reader to imagine what that might be without actually saying it.  It's the written equivalent of the "pregnant pause".  Next time you found you have used one, ask yourself "what am I leaving out, and why?", you...poseur.

--Dave

[Chimpy]

Actually: (Stolen from Wikipedia but corroborated from the MLA manual I have on the shelf)

In writing

In the United States, the correct notation for an ellipsis is "..." per Modern Language Association (MLA) standards.[citation needed] The use of ellipsis can either mislead or insult, and the reader must rely on the good intentions of the writer who uses them. An example of this ambiguity is "She went to … school." In this sentence, "…" might represent the word "elementary". Alternatively, in a usage more common in the 19th and early 20th centuries, ellipsis can be used when a writer intentionally omits a specific proper noun, such as a location: "Jan was born on ... Street in Warsaw." Omission of part of a quoted sentence without indication by an ellipsis (or bracketed text) would mislead the readers. For example, "She went to school," as opposed to "She went to Broadmoor Elementary school."

An ellipsis may also imply an unstated alternative indicated by context. For example, when Count Dracula says "I never drink...wine", the implication is that he does drink something else.

In writing the speech of a character in fiction or nonfiction, the ellipsis is sometimes used to represent an intentional silence of a character, usually invoked to emphasize a character's irritation, appall, shock or disgust.

The ellipsis does not have any requirement that it be at the end of the sentence.

(this by no means removes the scorn for the excessive use a couple of posts up)

[MahrinSkel]

 

...where did I say you couldn't use an ellipsis at the beginning of the sentence?  I just said that the theory that he was resting his finger on the period button on his iPad soft keyboard didn't seem to account for the ellipsis at the beginning of his sentence (although I guess it could), as well as the multiple ellipsis in sequence.  He's also —improperly— using the m-dash, something you almost never see on message forums, probably *also* a product of his iPad keyboard's quirks (you get one when you wait over the hyphen button).

Are we really going to turn this into a grammar slapfight?  Or can we get back to talking about what a useless, overpriced pile of dogshit with a logo the iPad is?

--Dave

[Merusk]

Are we really going to turn this into a grammar slapfight?  Or can we get back to talking about what a useless, overpriced pile of dogshit with a logo the iPad is?

<10,000 c.net Apple fans>  Then why are they undercutting laptop and PC sales Mr. Wiseguy?!  Just because you don't get Lord Steve Job's awesome intellect, foresight and godlike marketing doesn't mean it's not useful. </10,000 c.net Apple fans>

Sorry I just felt the thread was lacking some froth to continue on for as long as it has.

[naum]

/wow, wasn't aware that elipsis usage could conceivably result in grammar nazi eruptions…

[Miguel]

/wow, wasn't aware that elipsis usage could conceivably result in grammar nazi eruptions…

You have posted here before ... right? 

[Samwise]

/wow, wasn't aware that elipsis usage could conceivably result in grammar nazi eruptions…

... you have ... posted ... here before ... right?  ...

fify

[naum]

[Miguel]

Thread won.

[MahrinSkel]

The earliest representatives of the incorrigible malefactors are in the audience, bitches.

--Dave

[naum]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn4mcA-9WCE

[naum]

Apple 4th Quarter 2010 Results

CUPERTINO, California—October 18, 2010—Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2010 fourth quarter ended September 25, 2010. The Company posted record revenue of $20.34 billion and net quarterly profit of $4.31 billion, or $4.64 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $12.21 billion and net quarterly profit of $2.53 billion, or $2.77 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 36.9 percent compared to 41.8 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 57 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

Apple sold 3.89 million Macs during the quarter, a 27 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 14.1 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 91 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 9.05 million iPods during the quarter, representing an 11 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter. The Company also sold 4.19 million iPads during the quarter.

That's a lot of hardware being pushed.

~25M iOS devices (don't know the breakdown of iPods — how many were iPod Touches but I'm guessing it's at least half or more) in a quarter. And Apple can't make iPads fast enough to satisfy demand — but >4M units per quarter is a healthy clip for a version 1.0 product.

[ghost]

Apple's down.  Time to buy some stock.   

[Prospero]

25 - 14.1 - 4.2 = ~6.7 million

[KallDrexx]

So are you guys still using your iPads regularly?  I ask because I suddenly got an unexpected check from the Australian Government and I am contemplating using that money to get an iPad, mostly for web browsing, email, and gaming side by side with the girlfriend.  

Unfortunately, I still have to have my laptop around me for programming but I really do hate web browsing with a track pad, and the battery life on my laptop sucks so much that I have to charge every hour and a half (even with a new battery).  I also hate gaming on it (I don't have a desk so using a mouse is hard) so I have completely stopped gaming on anything but my Droid.

Thus I am trying to decide if I should pull the trigger and get one or not.

[Prospero]

I use it daily and not just to justify the expense. It's really nice for crashing out on the couch or bed to surf the web and watch TV. There are some fairly respectable games for it too. I also use it for my excessive number of meetings at work for note taking and firing off email. It could certainly be better, but I wouldn't even think of swapping it our a laptop for what I use it for.

[Viin]

I don't use it daily, but I do use it often - mostly when I'm going to be away from my computer but still need to reference documents (manuals, howtos, etc) or take notes.

[naum]

So are you guys still using your iPads regularly?  I ask because I suddenly got an unexpected check from the Australian Government and I am contemplating using that money to get an iPad, mostly for web browsing, email, and gaming side by side with the girlfriend.

Yes.

At home in bedroom: parked on nightstand and usually read via Kindle app in bed, or watch Netflix or some light surfing (FB/Twitter).

At home on living room coffee table: browsing web, IMDB/Wikipedia lookups, playing games

At work: serves as a "3rd" monitor display, have all my programming books and documents stored and use it as a reference book, plus it gets plugged in to speakers to stream Netflix, play audio podcasts, iTunes library, last.fm, university lectures, etc.…

Travel: if business, still need the laptop but for personal travel, definitely ditch the laptop and has served even better

Some new apps recently installed:

PocketLegends (iPhone/iPad MMORPG)
Dragon Dictation (haven't played with this too much yet)
PBS (shows)
TED (video and audio of TED talks)
A bunch of Greek lexicons, keyboard programs and vocabulary stuff that would only interest somebody studying Attic|Koine Greek

[schild]

So are you guys still using your iPads regularly?  

I play the rare game and use it as an oversized life counter for Magic the Gathering (which I don't even do anymore since someone cloned the app for Android). Other than that, it's just another piece of tech in my arsenal that fires blanks.

[Engels]

Not as much as I'd have thought. Occasionally on the weekends while having a mid afternoon liedown. Sometimes at work it coincidentally happens to be practical for one specific circumstance.

For the most part, I'm glad I have it, but it would not be the end of the world if it went away. I have an iPhone and that does 90% of what an iPad would otherwise do for me.

[Raph]

I am replying to this thread on mine.

I use it every day. The only reason i take my laptop with me even on business is because of Skype and Powerpoint.

[Lum]

So are you guys still using your iPads regularly?  

On a daily basis.

The only reason i take my laptop with me even on business is because of Skype and Powerpoint.

Skype and Keynote both can run on the iPad :D

[squirrel]

Yup use mine daily. It's settled into a nice spot where my phone is too limited and my laptop is overkill.