iPad

[UnSub]

For clarification's sake, I was fucking asking what google had done that made it evil, since I haven't heard of anything in particular. The only thing I knew of that I don't like about Google is how they datamine fucking everything. If asking that question means you're interpreting me as implicitly saying Google isn't evil, then boy have you misunderstood the question.

5 Reasons You Should Be Scared of Google.

At the end of the day, if you use a corporate slogan like, "Don't be Evil", people are going to expect a certain positive standard of corporate behaviour from you. Every time you fail to meet that standard, it reveals a bit of information about where you stand as a company.

[Sheepherder]

The Apple one is more awesome.  Better material to work with.

[Mattemeo]

It's basically been you and Mattemeo that have been leading the hate parade.

Being flabbergasted by Jobs' systematic attempts at self-character assasination and taking his company with him by proxy means I hate Apple? Good one.
I have a big problem with their recent draconian policy turnarounds and attitude to web technology they simply can't rebrand as their own, and I think the iPad is 2 generations away from being genuinely useful and/or exciting. The only Mac product I actually dislike, not even to the point of hate, is the Air, because it's farcical.

[Jeff Kelly]

I'm sorry but it seems that I've created a monster.

Please lock before somebody get's hurt.

I am truly sorry :-(

[Lantyssa]

All hail the Mighty Blue Apple.

[Tarami]

I'm sorry but it seems that I've created a monster.

Please lock before somebody get's hurt.

I am truly sorry :-(

That's not how it works.

[Sheepherder]

I'm sorry but it seems that I've created a monster.

Please lock before somebody get's hurt.

I am truly sorry :-(

It's too late now, it wants to live, Frankenstein.

[Sky]

Frankensteen.

[Samwise]

FRAWNKunsteen.

[Surlyboi]

HEADly...

Wait, what?

[Samwise]

 

[Righ]

iMonster

[tgr]

$25/month or pr 2GB, whichever comes first

[Lantyssa]

I was coming to post this.

[Morfiend]

Steve Jobs announced the $30 unlimited data plan as "groundbreaking" and "revolutionary" I guess he forgot to add "for 2 months only".

[Quinton]

But was it "magical"?

[Morat20]

He probably realized that when you can't get porn, you don't need 2GB a month. :)

Although Stevie does need to keep in mind that if he's positioning the iPad as a cloud-access device and software services port, well, it requires unlimited bandwidth and porn.

Otherwise, you've just made a funkily shaped, crippled PC.

Charles Stross was blogging about it a few days ago -- the idea that Jobs is basically seeing the end of the PC in is positioning the iPhone/iPad to basically take advantage of cloud-world where all you need is an interface, and your data and apps just..keep up with wherever you are.

But, you know, you do need lots of cheap bandwidth and -- this is vitally important -- porn. No porn, people will go somewhere else. Because they can get an iPad knockoff WITH porn.

[Jeff Kelly]

Did I miss something or is Jobs now CEO of AT&T?

Please direct your vitriol regarding the change of the data plans to AT&T.

This change affects both the iPhone and iPad data plans btw.

I suppose AT&T desperately wants to get rid of the iPhone otherwise they wouldn't announce this less than a week before the WWDC starts. If they wanted to piss off Apple they used every chance they got expertly.

It's never a good idea to make Jobs look like a douche by changing the terms of your data plan after it was announced as groundbreaking to the frigging world.

I mean are they really that stupid? (rhethorical question)

They could at least do it the same way it's handled in the EU.

- Data is unlimited.
- after a certain traffic allotment is spent bandwidth is reduced.

BTW. $15 per month gives you unlimited data with HSPA speeds (7.2 Mbit/s) in europe which is limited to 128 kbit/s after 2 GB of data have been transferred including a tethering option.

$25 gives you the same but capped after 5 GB.

This doesn't screw over customers while reducing stress on the network.

[Surlyboi]

Let it go Jeff, it's obvious that Steve knew this would happen as far back as 1984 and has just been fiendishly rubbing his hands together all the while. Biding his time so that he could harness the generated nerd rage to power his world dominating weather machine.

Or maybe he was just as surprised as a lot of AT&T rank and file.

Nah, it's gotta be the first one.

[Morfiend]

Did I miss something or is Jobs now CEO of AT&T?

I'm not laying this at Steve Jobs feet. What I am laying at his feet is the exclusive deal with AT&T. I have been a huge iPhone fan for a long time, but AT&T is really fucking bad in my area. I live in Orange County, CA, and lately I can hardly get through a single call longer than a minute with out dropping, and not the usual "hello, hello, can you hear me" dropped call, but "FALL FAILED" instantly on the phone screen. Its actually gotten so bad I have been forced to consider getting a land line for any time I need to call tech support or the cable company or any place where I have to wait on hold.

It wasnt always this bad, this has been the last 2 months. Now, I know that a lot of this is the AT&T network, and limiting bandwidth will improve this. But for me, its just another nail in the coffin for AT&T.

I really am not a fan of the Android OS or phones, but I am actually considering moving to one, just to get away from AT&T.

[Morat20]

I really am not a fan of the Android OS or phones, but I am actually considering moving to one, just to get away from AT&T.

I've been considering getting U-verse, which is supposed to be pretty solid. I know people who have land, internet, and now TV through AT&T -- but scream about their cell phone service.

Ironic that AT&T seems to suck most with the phones.

[Morfiend]

I really am not a fan of the Android OS or phones, but I am actually considering moving to one, just to get away from AT&T.

I've been considering getting U-verse, which is supposed to be pretty solid. I know people who have land, internet, and now TV through AT&T -- but scream about their cell phone service.

Ironic that AT&T seems to suck most with the phones.

I have Cox cable for my Internet and TV, and I love it. I get almost 30mb down and 8mb up. And thats with just the basic package. ATT tried to sell me their U-Verse TV and internet thing, but is was around the same price for a quarter of the internet speed. Plus I hate AT&T. If it wasnt for the iPhone, I would never use their service.

[Morat20]

I have Cox cable for my Internet and TV, and I love it. I get almost 30mb down and 8mb up. And thats with just the basic package. ATT tried to sell me their U-Verse TV and internet thing, but is was around the same price for a quarter of the internet speed. Plus I hate AT&T. If it wasnt for the iPhone, I would never use their service.

I've got a choice between Comcast, and AT&T for cable service, and the only reason I haven't switched off of Comcast yet is (last I checked) I was still too far for U-verse.

Comcast has got to be the worst fucking excuse for a company in existance. Constant downtime, shitty hardware, fucking clueless techs, and godawful waits. And the customer service? Fuck.

I use T-Mobile for cell service, and it's been...acceptable. Pluses and minuses even out.

[Soulflame]

What data and apps do people "need" to have connectivity to at all times, and how is the iPad the device for that job?  Instead of a PC/netbook, or if for some weird reason you don't have either available, a smartphone?

I never comprehended the iPad in the first place.  It just looked like a mobile device that was too large to conveniently carry or hold, while being too small to do much more than consume web related media, and being inconvenient for creation of content.  Who needs such a thing, and why are they far enough away from a computer that they can't do it through one of those instead?

[Viin]

Start over on page 1?  

Seriously, as more and more if your "stuff" ends up in the cloud (flicker? facebook? gmail/yahoo/hotmail/whatevermail? f13.net? your blog? google docs? photoshop.com? etc..), you need a less capable machine and really just need a good UI to all that stuff. The friendlier the better.

Granted, I will never get rid of my desktop (until iPad 2.0 can unfold to a 30" screen, anyways) but there's a lot of casual stuff I do every day that doesn't need a laptop or PC to do. And, arguably, the iphone/ipad apps/websites do it *better* than the desktop version in a lot of instances.

[Morfiend]

What Viin said.

Also, a lot of people stream movies and videos to their iPad. I guess a streaming netflix movie takes up between 250mb and 500mb. You can hit a 2gb limit pretty quickly like that. If I was to take the train everyday, I would totally use the iPad to stream movies.

To Soulflame:

The iPad is basically a media consuming device. Movies, pictures, videos.

[Sky]

Granted, I will never get rid of my desktop (until iPad 2.0 can unfold to a 30" screen, anyways)

Just need to plug it into your hdtv.

[Morat20]

iPad seems more of a bridge to ubiquitous computing. You know, where all the hardware and code and programs and stuff is off...elsewhere...and all you really worry about is what interface you're using.

That appears to be what Jobs is positioning for, a future where you're just wandering around always connected -- or at least potentially so. Where you can pull up the movie you're halfway through watching on your TV, or your iPad or your phone to while away the time. Or check on a game, or a football score, and it's all similar interfaces and your ability to access the cloud is just there.

But the iPad is too...bulky. Available wireless broadband, in the US, still too slow. Interface is still pretty crappy unless you drag along a keyboard.

I suppose the fantasy goal is a place where your data is displayed on your contact lens, your input through twitches of your hands and fingers (ghost-typing, I suppose), connected to the cloud -- and your data, and everyone else -- through your cellphone, or something similar.

Don't really think it's that feasible. Sounds cool, future nerdy and all. But...privacy concerns, security concerns, bandwidth availability, miniturization, workable interfaces and such....

And, of course, total lack of porn.

[Malakili]

iPad seems more of a bridge to ubiquitous computing. You know, where all the hardware and code and programs and stuff is off...elsewhere...and all you really worry about is what interface you're using.

The terminal makes its triumphant return!

[Viin]

I agree the iPad is made for *consumption*, not *creation*. I don't see that as a shortcoming, but rather it's focus.

The only area where I think a keyboard is really nessecary is when you have to input large amounts of text, such as emailing or IMing or blogging. I won't be using it for that very much unless I get a lot better at the virtual keyboard or I have an actual keyboard hooked up to it.

Good point on hooking it up to my TV, though the only useful case I can think of would be to show a movie. Probably most useful while traveling if you can find a hotel room with a TV with the right hookups.

[Prospero]

Your milage may very, but I find I can touch type on the pad pretty successfully. I wouldn't want to write my great American novel on it, but I routinely use it for email and taking notes during meetings.

[Merusk]

Otherwise, you've just made a funkily shaped, crippled PC.

No no no, it's the first device of the "post PC era!"  Steve implied so himself at D8See! 

He does see it as a device for creation, not consumption, but one for the masses. 

You're just uncomfortable with the idea of getting rid of your PC because that's 'normal' right now.  Like owning software, not not uploading every facet of your business into 'the cloud' and not broadcasting your location to anyone with a GPS system 24/7 this discomfort, too, shall pass and become the new normal.  Give it time, you'll enjoy the Apple future. 

Or something like that.

[MisterNoisy]

Ironic that AT&T seems to suck most with the phones.

Seems that the wireless unit is pretty bad at PR too.

[tgr]

http://usb.brando.com/mini-plam-size-bluetooth-keyboard_p01651c036d15.html

Accessorize.

[Trouble]

Apple has done a FANTASTIC job of prodding the competition. Whoever tried to analogize the smartphone situation to the MMO situation is fucking wrong. HTC's recent offerings are better (and ahead of) the iPhone 4. Apple absolutely built the original market, but they are now offering not the best products on the market. I am super fucking glad they went for the iPad because I expect sometime in the next 6 months to 2 years that another player in the industry will be surpassing them by offering a non-dated UI and a non-Nazified app store. So yeah, my hat is off to Apple (as a 14 month iPhone owner) for building and prodding a market, so that multiple players could come along many months to years later to finally undo the bullshit things they do while maintaining the awesome parts of the original idea.