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Insomniac
03-10-11, 10:00 PM
iPad 2 tomorrow. Anyone in line? I was at a client's office for a meeting today and half of the people in the room (6 of 12, not including myself and another co-worker) had iPads that were "illegally" using VPN.
I can't believe MSFT has made so many mistakes in the last 5 years. Everything exploding now was in their grasp. :shakehead
racer2c
03-10-11, 10:26 PM
iPad 2 tomorrow. Anyone in line? I was at a client's office for a meeting today and half of the people in the room (6 of 12, not including myself and another co-worker) had iPads that were "illegally" using VPN.
I can't believe MSFT has made so many mistakes in the last 5 years. Everything exploding now was in their grasp. :shakehead
I might pick up a cheap iPad very soon. Looking forward to the OS update tomorrow.
cameraman
03-11-11, 12:55 AM
OS4.3 is already out.
cameraman
03-13-11, 03:48 AM
One of the worst, most idiotic things about Mac OS 10.5 & 10.6 is the feature of the Help Viewer where the help window floats above all other windows at all times. Often you can't see the program you are trying to get help for. It is truly, stunningly idiotic. It turns out you can turn it off. Fire up the terminal and type the following:
defaults write com.apple.helpviewer DevMode -bool true
Hit return. Now the help viewer window acts just like any other window.
racer2c
03-14-11, 02:19 PM
Apple’s claim of the iPad 2′s nine-times-faster graphics performance over the iPad 1 might be exaggerated, according to AnandTech’s reviewer Daniel Dilger, who said he’s “not sure that you’ll ever see 9x running real game code.” In fact, AnandTech compared the iPad 2′s graphics performance with the original iPad and the Motorola Xoom, and using GLBenchmark 2.0, the iPad 2 was between 3 and 7 times faster than the iPad 1, and was a surprising 2 to 7 times faster than the Tegra 2-packing Motorola Xoom tablet.
http://mashable.com/2011/03/13/ipad2-faster/
The AnandTech comparison (http://www.anandtech.com/show/4216/apple-ipad-2-gpu-performance-explored-powervr-sgx543mp2-benchmarked)
Insomniac
03-14-11, 05:28 PM
http://mashable.com/2011/03/13/ipad2-faster/
The graphics performance vs. the Tegra 2 is scary for NVIDIA. I don't think the screen resolution is much of a factor (1024x768 vs 1280x800, 25% more pixels).
Zune is dead. But never fear. You can still enjoy the Zune experience in the wildly successful new line of Windows phones. :gomer:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2381951,00.asp
In a way this makes sense. I imagine that the single purpose music player market is going to shrink rapidly from here. But it's telling that nobody really wants a "Zune Touch". Of for that matter, hardly anyone wants the Windows equivalent of a iPad, either.
Insomniac
03-15-11, 11:46 AM
Zune is dead. But never fear. You can still enjoy the Zune experience in the wildly successful new line of Windows phones. :gomer:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2381951,00.asp
In a way this makes sense. I imagine that the single purpose music player market is going to shrink rapidly from here. But it's telling that nobody really wants a "Zune Touch". Of for that matter, hardly anyone wants the Windows equivalent of a iPad, either.
The oddness continues in Redmond.
cameraman
03-15-11, 12:59 PM
So is it a bug or an Apple conspiracy to take over the world?
It seems that iOS 4.3 has a bit of a glitch (or is it a "feature") in the system. Most of the speed increase that came with iOS 4.3 came from the Nitro JavaScript engine added to Safari. It more than doubles the speed of a JavaScript app on any given iOS device. All fine and good. The thing is a user has the option of downloading those JavaScript apps and running them as standalone apps on the iPhone or the iPad, EXCEPT there is no Nitro engine outside of Safari so the app will run at half the speed. Needless to say the developers of open web apps are not happy. This makes their non-App Store products appear to run much slower than native applications at the same time that Apple is claiming full support for HTML5. "Full" support, just half the speed.
There are a couple more changes for the worse for stand alone apps. Stand alones can no longer access certain web caches, such as the HTML 5 Application Cache, that they previously could so many HTML5 games no longer play correctly offline and there is also a more truly bug-like issue with switching between asynchronous and synchronous modes. Offline the screen doesn't repaint as well and doesn't look as good.
Limiting access to the Nitro engine isn't a bug, it is a business decision. Apple is trying to have it both ways, they want to claim to have full open standards support but they want to drive business to the App Store. The iOS world is their sandbox and if they want to **** in it they can but if any of this sandbox crap carries over to OS 10.7 there will be hell to pay. Windows 7 doesn't suck.:irked:
Apple, the new Microsoft
Walled garden. I've been ranting about this forever. :saywhat: :irked: :shakehead
-Kevin
cameraman
03-15-11, 04:24 PM
Ah the warm and fuzzy side comes out. When you go to the Apple store to pick up you shiny new iPad 2 you can donate that prehistoric iPad and Apple will refubish it and send it off to http://www.teachforamerica.org/ . Apple will even let you take the tax writeoff even though they will actually deliver the iPad.
Of course drying up the used iPad supply can only increase iPad 2 sales but that is just me be cynical...
extramundane
03-15-11, 05:50 PM
Of course drying up the used iPad supply can only increase iPad 2 sales but that is just me be cynical...
And it also partially crimps my plan of loading up on cheap(er) 1st gen iPads for the classroom. :irked:
ars technica review of the iPad2 (http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2011/03/ipad-2-the-ars-review.ars/)
:shakehead
I just bought a couple of PC's to try. Typing this on one now. No, Windows 7 doesn't suck, though everything about this experience is just a little bit less shiny and slick compared to the Apple experience. But it costs about 1/3 as much, and it is way more than 1/3 as good.
cameraman
03-18-11, 11:20 PM
So it turns out that there is a logical reason why the Nitro JavaScript engine isn't available outside of Safari. It all comes down to the walled garden concept. There is the possibility that when Apple gets around to releasing the Webkit 2 engine that it will allow home screen apps to access the Nitro engine. It is a relatively complex explanation that can be read in all it's glory here. (http://daringfireball.net/2011/03/nitro_ios_43)
And if you think Nitro is a silly name, well the original webkit.org name for the project was SquirrelFish Extreme... (http://www.webkit.org/blog/214/introducing-squirrelfish-extreme/)
Insomniac
03-18-11, 11:51 PM
So it turns out that there is a logical reason why the Nitro JavaScript engine isn't available outside of Safari. It all comes down to the walled garden concept. There is the possibility that when Apple gets around to releasing the Webkit 2 engine that it will allow home screen apps to access the Nitro engine. It is a relatively complex explanation that can be read in all it's glory here. (http://daringfireball.net/2011/03/nitro_ios_43)
And if you think Nitro is a silly name, well the original webkit.org name for the project was SquirrelFish Extreme... (http://www.webkit.org/blog/214/introducing-squirrelfish-extreme/)
As far as I can tell, Apple has chosen not to divulge any of the detailed information he is sharing. I saw The Register (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/17/apple_confirms_ios_webview_apps_dont_include_same_ optimizations_as_safari/) note:
Web applications can also be saved to the iOS home screen and then launched with Safari. The developer – not the user – chooses which way the app is launched.
That was my first question when I heard about the issue.
There are some quotes from Apple about the JavaScript performance stuff in the article from The Register.
racer2c
03-19-11, 06:05 PM
"...And Adobe saw four horsemen of the apocalypse ascending from the sea, the rider of the white horse was Steve Jobs and he was bent on conquest. And a second horse, red, was given to iPhone to take away market share from smartphones, and to cause phone makers to wage war and to fall upon their own swords.
"And a third horse, black, was carrying the scales of the iPod touch, and it measured out music playback from iTunes and sold many apps and starved other mobile platforms of mobile application demand. And fourth horse, pale, had a rider named iPad, which pundits called Death. And it caused famine for tablets and plague for slates and killed with a sword. And none of the horsemen used Flash.
"And Adobe frightfully woke from its vision of terrors, and realized that its days of monopolizing the web with Flash content were over.
"...And then Adobe began building HTML5 development tools, and it charged reasonable prices and built cross-platform products and the people rejoiced and Adobe's death was spared and it lived comfortably for many days next to Apple.
"And Steve Jobs said thank you and Adobe said no, thank you. And they all lived happily ever after."
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2010/04/14/chronicles-of-conflict-the-history-of-adobe-vs-apple
It's all for the good of the world and universal harmony until they start using standard HTML5 to point to video encoded with proprietary codecs.
Some folks either don't remember or weren't around for the days when half the video on the web didn't "just work" because half of it was encoded for Apple codecs and the other half with Microsoft's.
WickerBill
03-20-11, 09:49 AM
Oh nrc, you know RealPlayer fixed all that :) :)
/buffering
racer2c
03-20-11, 10:30 AM
Microsoft Outranks Google in Ethics
Link (http://mashable.com/2011/03/17/microsoft-ethics/)
Score! :gomer:
Microsoft Outranks Google in Ethics
Link (http://mashable.com/2011/03/17/microsoft-ethics/)
Score! :gomer:
Someone has a creative definition of ethics. MS has been extorting companies over vague claims of patents that they refuse to identify for years. Now they seem to be rapidly making the transition to full-blown patent troll since few people really want to use their OS if they don't have to.
At least now they're having to put some of their cards on the table. Unfortunately, a lot of them just show the sad state of our patent system with trivial and obvious "inventions" getting the same protection as genuine innovations. See the Nook (http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/03/21/microsoft-sues-barnes-noble/) suit, for example.
Insomniac
03-26-11, 07:34 PM
Someone has a creative definition of ethics. MS has been extorting companies over vague claims of patents that they refuse to identify for years. Now they seem to be rapidly making the transition to full-blown patent troll since few people really want to use their OS if they don't have to.
At least now they're having to put some of their cards on the table. Unfortunately, a lot of them just show the sad state of our patent system with trivial and obvious "inventions" getting the same protection as genuine innovations. See the Nook (http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/03/21/microsoft-sues-barnes-noble/) suit, for example.
Microsoft was so late to the ridiculous patent game. They were one of the companies that felt copyrights covered software but then it became a war about IP.
Together with the patents already asserted in the course of our litigation against Motorola, today’s actions bring to 25 the total number of Microsoft patents in litigation for infringement by Android smartphones, tablets and other devices. Microsoft is not a company that pursues litigation lightly. In fact, this is only our seventh proactive patent infringement suit in our 36-year history. But we simply cannot ignore infringement of this scope and scale.
http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_on_the_issues/archive/2011/03/21/android-patent-infringement-licensing-is-the-solution.aspx
I wish I could find it, but a while back I saw a chart showing how many patents Microsoft applied for annually and it was crazy. Basically zero for a long time, then it just grew exponentially all of a sudden.
I agree with you on the state of the patent system. The USPTO is actually stifling innovation by granting all these "process" patents.
racer2c
03-30-11, 11:25 AM
Dell executive Andy Lark - "I couldn't be happier that Apple has created a market and built up enthusiasm but longer term, open, capable and affordable will win, not closed, high price and proprietary," Lark told reporter Lisa Banks.
Lark's other central rip against the iPad was price.
"An iPad with a keyboard, a mouse and a case [means] you'll be at $1500 or $1600; that's double of what you're paying," he said. "That's not feasible."
Apple should take some comfort in the fact that Lark's stinging criticism wasn't only directed at the iPad during his trip to Sydney. He also complained to his foursquare followers that Wi-Fi at the Sheraton where he stayed was overpriced... a critique he posted via his Apple iPhone.
:rofl:
indyfan31
03-31-11, 10:52 AM
"An iPad with a keyboard, a mouse and a case [means] you'll be at $1500 or $1600; that's double of what you're paying," he said. "That's not feasible."
Like most haters, he's missing the point of getting an iPad, you don't need a mouse and a keyboard.
Besides, where the hell is he shopping? :eek: A keyboard, mouse, and cover are under $200; third party stuff is probably half that.
Insomniac
03-31-11, 02:57 PM
Like most haters, he's missing the point of getting an iPad, you don't need a mouse and a keyboard.
Besides, where the hell is he shopping? :eek: A keyboard, mouse, and cover are under $200; third party stuff is probably half that.
Yeah, I don't know why you'd buy a tablet and then add a mouse and keyboard to it. Buy a netbook or laptop if those are your requirements. I wonder how begrudgingly Jobs allowed for that capability to begin with.
My wife ordered the keyboard dock along with her V1 iPad. She took it along traveling once or twice but never used it. It's now collecting dust somewhere. I don't think a mouse is even supported.
racer2c
03-31-11, 03:53 PM
My wife ordered the keyboard dock along with her V1 iPad. She took it along traveling once or twice but never used it. It's now collecting dust somewhere. I don't think a mouse is even supported.
I think I read that Android tablets can use a mouse as their USB port isn't locked down like the Apple hardware. I picked up a ZaggMate bluetooth keyboard that doubles as a stand AND a case. I can't imagine why an iPad owner WOULDN"T want the option of a physical keyboard. Its simply added functionality when needed (if ever).
I first bought the 12 South Compass stand which is a really nice easel style stand for iPads, after getting the keyboard I haven't touched the Compass stand. The keyboard also goes everywhere my iPad goes because its also the case! Shweet! When I don't need the keyboard I simply grab the tablet and off I go...nothing to unplug, so I don't get the whole "who would use a keyboard with a tablet" thing.
Now when the OC threads get rockin, I active my keyboard and bump my 20 words per minute to um...something a lot faster!! :)
12 South Compass stand
That is the one my wife likes best. She has been through a few cases/bags. I think she has spent more on those than on the iPad. :laugh:
cameraman
03-31-11, 10:51 PM
Switching over to phones for a moment, I've had an HTC Incredible for about 9 months now. I've been less than impressed as it has been severely buggy and crashed routinely. It finally just up and died today which sent me back to the Verizon store. I've never liked the phone very much and the camera on it has been a major disappointment, high resolution only outside at high noon on a cloudless day:flame: Anyway I decided that I've had enough and I dropped some coin on an iPhone 4. I've had it for about 3 hours and I can very safely say that it is vastly better than the Android. One nice thing is having had an iPad for quite a while I already know how to use the iPhone. And since everything else I own is Apple it just synced with everything else. It was fully set up in less than 5 minutes. Reception is just fine too.
Kiwifan
04-01-11, 12:20 AM
Just purchased an iPhone too after having loved my Touch. Love it! Thought it would be so handy when we are in the States next week but it seems like you jokers over there don't like foreigners using your phone networks. :) Here you walk in to my store, I sell ya a $NZ20 sim, you load some credit and off you go... AT&T don't play nice.
Any ideas about a cheap sim that will do for basic phonecalls (Hi TravelGal!) and checking if we are lost?
Cheers.
PS, I still HATE iTunes.
TravelGal
04-01-11, 01:02 AM
Hi KF. Um, I don't NEED a sim card when I'm in the US. :tony:
jailbreak the iphone and use it on Tmobile network?
Kiwifan
04-01-11, 03:52 AM
jailbreak the iphone and use it on Tmobile network?
I thought I would just be able to swap Sims and tell my 2 friends and 5 family my new number? That's all we have to do with 2degreesmobile down here. :)
extramundane
04-01-11, 08:17 AM
Switching over to phones for a moment, I've had an HTC Incredible for about 9 months now. I've been less than impressed as it has been severely buggy and crashed routinely. It finally just up and died today which sent me back to the Verizon store. I've never liked the phone very much and the camera on it has been a major disappointment, high resolution only outside at high noon on a cloudless day:flame: Anyway I decided that I've had enough and I dropped some coin on an iPhone 4. I've had it for about 3 hours and I can very safely say that it is vastly better than the Android. One nice thing is having had an iPad for quite a while I already know how to use the iPhone. And since everything else I own is Apple it just synced with everything else. It was fully set up in less than 5 minutes. Reception is just fine too.
The Missus went in to the VZW store intending to buy an Incredible back in October. The salesdude talked her out of it, as he had one and wasn't horribly impressed. He steered her to the Samsung Fascinate (Verizon's model of the Galaxy family) which wasn't even out on display in the store yet. 6 months later and, aside from the battery woes that seem to afflict Android as a whole, she's had zero complaints.
Meanwhile, I'm just hoping my iPhone 3G holds up 'til June or October or whenever they actually release the next one. Dropping it on an escalator wasn't the best thing I could have done, apparently.
jailbreak the iphone and use it on Tmobile network?
As long as you don't want 3G data, 'cause that ain't happening.
Insomniac
04-01-11, 02:20 PM
Just purchased an iPhone too after having loved my Touch. Love it! Thought it would be so handy when we are in the States next week but it seems like you jokers over there don't like foreigners using your phone networks. :) Here you walk in to my store, I sell ya a $NZ20 sim, you load some credit and off you go... AT&T don't play nice.
If it's any consolation, they don't want their customers using your $NZ20 sim either.
WickerBill
04-01-11, 04:05 PM
Surfing OC on my new iPad for the first time. Pretty handy... but man, Apple's version of "multitasking" sucks.
cameraman
04-01-11, 04:21 PM
Surfing OC on my new iPad for the first time. Pretty handy... but man, Apple's version of "multitasking" sucks.
It is a whole lot less frustrating to just pretend that it doesn't multitask...
Surfing OC on my new iPad for the first time. Pretty handy... but man, Apple's version of "multitasking" sucks.
In the future you will be able to use a four finger swipe to move through your open applications. Not sure when they are going to turn it on.
Mine is still two weeks away.:cry:
Mine is still two weeks away.:cry:
me too :(
Kiwifan
04-01-11, 08:07 PM
If it's any consolation, they don't want their customers using your $NZ20 sim either.
I tried to buy an unlocked iPhone in SF last year but all were locked. (I thought the Good Old USA was land of the Free and all that? ;) ) At least here you can buy one unlocked then use your sim from one of the 3 Telcos, top up and away you go.
Cost for us to Roam in the US and Canada =$NZ4 a minute to call and $1 to recieve a call. Ouch, hence the local sim question.
No worries either way.
Insomniac
04-02-11, 03:15 PM
I tried to buy an unlocked iPhone in SF last year but all were locked. (I thought the Good Old USA was land of the Free and all that? ;) ) At least here you can buy one unlocked then use your sim from one of the 3 Telcos, top up and away you go.
Cost for us to Roam in the US and Canada =$NZ4 a minute to call and $1 to recieve a call. Ouch, hence the local sim question.
No worries either way.
Yup, I totally get it. AT&T used to sell prepaid SIM cards in their stores, but I haven't been in an AT&T store for a while (I'm with T-Mobile and Sprint right now). They should be a lot cheaper than your roaming charges.
Kiwifan
04-02-11, 09:14 PM
Cheers! Will let you know in a week. :)
(Still no travel docs TG but it is Sunday here, tomorrow will be interesting.)
me too :(
My ship date got bumped up a week. :cool:
Guess Apple must have forced those slaves to work faster. :gomer:
WickerBill
04-03-11, 09:48 AM
It is wild that MS gave Apple a cash injection Of $150 million in 1998, I believe, to help Apple survive. Now, Apple's market cap is bigger than Microsoft's.
My ship date got bumped up a week. :cool:
Guess Apple must have forced those slaves to work faster. :gomer:
Same here :thumbup:
Insomniac
04-03-11, 10:48 AM
It is wild that MS gave Apple a cash injection Of $150 million in 1998, I believe, to help Apple survive. Now, Apple's market cap is bigger than Microsoft's.
I often wonder how high Apple's market cap would be with say a 10:1 stock split. Also, their balance sheets are getting more similar, so I wonder what accounts for the 100B difference in market cap?
Tabbed browser for your iPad? Yes. (http://www.macworld.com/appguide/app.html?id=377687)
Now I just need my iPad to try it out.
WickerBill
04-06-11, 10:47 AM
Tabbed browser for your iPad? Yes. (http://www.macworld.com/appguide/app.html?id=377687)
Now I just need my iPad to try it out.
I just got it and am using it now. It is pretty slick; worth a buck...
racer2c
04-06-11, 11:09 AM
Tabbed browser for your iPad? Yes. (http://www.macworld.com/appguide/app.html?id=377687)
Now I just need my iPad to try it out.
I sometimes use a browser called Terra. It supports tabs and password protection, page downloads and best of all its free. My only complaint is that it doesn't have the print option! I have to send the url over to Safari and print from there. Boo.
I don't do any real browsing on my iPhone so I haven't bothered to look for a Safari replacement. I'll have to check out a few once the iPad arrives. Tabs will be the biggie for me.
google bidding .9B for Nortel's IP to help block potential IP infringement litigation
cameraman
04-06-11, 01:51 PM
Okay we have a problem with this Mercury browser. As I am typing this the text is either white or just not rendering at all. It will be interesting how good my blind typing is:saywhat:
Edit to add it just seems to bit a bit of a buggy. Most of the time the text renders.
Edit some more. You can't load the bookmarks from Safari into Mercury. At least not using the iPad. You have to go to a computer with Safari & your bookmarks on it. Export the bookmarks from Safari. Transfer that file to your iPad using your file transfer app of choice:irked: and then you can upload them into Mercury. Obviously syncing of bookmarks isn't going to happen.
The Opera browser works nice on mobile devices.
http://www.opera.com/mobile/download/
Okay we have a problem with this Mercury browser. As I am typing this the text is either white or just not rendering at all. It will be interesting how good my blind typing is:saywhat:
Edit to add it just seems to bit a bit of a buggy. Most of the time the text renders.
Edit some more. You can't load the bookmarks from Safari into Mercury. At least not using the iPad. You have to go to a computer with Safari & your bookmarks on it. Export the bookmarks from Safari. Transfer that file to your iPad using your file transfer app of choice:irked: and then you can upload them into Mercury. Obviously syncing of bookmarks isn't going to happen.
99 cents. I think your expectations may be too high.
Edit:
We shouldn't expect or put up with bugs, I'm not surprised sync isn't there.
I'm hoping someday Firefox will come out for iPhone.
cameraman
04-07-11, 01:23 AM
Apple is kitting out their new North Carolina data center with 12 petabytes of storage space from the Isilon division of EMC. The rumor being iTunes in the cloud. It sounds like a lot but my computer has 10 TB of drive space which is 0.01 PB. I would think that the entire iTunes library would be larger than that. For example Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince iTunes extra version clocks in at 3.81 GB. Given all the movies, TV shows, music, videos, podcasts, apps and other stuff out there I would think that 12 PB would get full pretty fast.
IF they are going to store video for users I suspect it would be a small number of copies and the user would simply have a pointer to a real copy.
Apple is kitting out their new North Carolina data center with 12 petabytes of storage space from the Isilon division of EMC. The rumor being iTunes in the cloud. It sounds like a lot but my computer has 10 TB of drive space which is 0.01 PB. I would think that the entire iTunes library would be larger than that. For example Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince iTunes extra version clocks in at 3.81 GB. Given all the movies, TV shows, music, videos, podcasts, apps and other stuff out there I would think that 12 PB would get full pretty fast.
Hmmm....makes you wonder what Netflix has for storage. :eek:
-Kevin
WickerBill
04-07-11, 01:21 PM
IF they are going to store video for users I suspect it would be a small number of copies and the user would simply have a pointer to a real copy.
You got it, KLang -- it's data deduplication. They won't store the same row of 0s and 1s more than once. That's why they have to have Isilon storage... it's the fastest of the fast, with the highest I/O in the industry. For those times when 300,000 people at once ask to stream the same song.
Insomniac
04-07-11, 08:42 PM
Hmmm....makes you wonder what Netflix has for storage. :eek:
-Kevin
Not sure how much storage they have, but I believe they are using Amazon S3 or EBS to store it all.
A week sooner than expected but nearly 4 weeks after I ordered it, the iPad2 arrived yesterday. Spent more time than I thought in setting it up. Surprised that there is no documentation sent with it, other than an URL for the manual. Post-PC era is here? Not when you need a PC to figure out how to set it up, operate it, etc. Had already downloaded apps from iTunes. Can see a huge issue for Apple moving forward due to the sheer number of apps now available. Its very difficult to determine what you need/want. And better written descriptions of the apps are needed. Ideally iTunes needs a virtual machine within it that will allow the app to be demonstrated before downloading it. Quite frankly, iTunes sucks.
It is an impressive little bugger. Will be traveling this weekend and will pack along to keep tabs on F1 rather than a laptop.
racer2c
04-08-11, 09:25 AM
A week sooner than expected but nearly 4 weeks after I ordered it, the iPad2 arrived yesterday. Spent more time than I thought in setting it up. Surprised that there is no documentation sent with it, other than an URL for the manual. Post-PC era is here? Not when you need a PC to figure out how to set it up, operate it, etc. Had already downloaded apps from iTunes. Can see a huge issue for Apple moving forward due to the sheer number of apps now available. Its very difficult to determine what you need/want. And better written descriptions of the apps are needed. Ideally iTunes needs a virtual machine within it that will allow the app to be demonstrated before downloading it. Quite frankly, iTunes sucks.
It is an impressive little bugger. Will be traveling this weekend and will pack along to keep tabs on F1 rather than a laptop.
Amen! My biggest gripe is iTunes and the App Store. If I'm browsing through apps and find some of interest, why can't I bookmark it within the app store so I can come back to it (within the app store app, as opposed to searching through the web)? Searching for apps is weak. Most of the apps I have were recommended by friends.
With an advertised ~350K apps, the focus only seems to be the top 12 sellers which becomes a perpetual grouping.
Got mine yesterday as well. iTunes and the store don't bother me too much, I'm used to it with the iPhone. Mostly the same apps on the iPad.
The new iPad Smart Cover is very slick!
Got mine yesterday as well. iTunes and the store don't bother me too much, I'm used to it with the iPhone. Mostly the same apps on the iPad.
The new iPad Smart Cover is very slick!
Yes the Smart Cover is slick. However, going to pick up a sleeve to furhter protect it when I travel. Something like this (http://www.casecrown.com/ipad2/neoprene/ipad2-veritcal-neoprene-case-black)
Have two iPods but no iPhone so I didn't have any experience with apps before this.
RealRacingHD will output at 1080p if you have the HDMI adapter. :thumbup:
I plan to pick up a sleeve case as well. I think I want one with a pocket to hold the charger.
One thing to watch for in the app store. Some apps have versions specific to the iPad, like CNN and The Weather Channel.
Spent more time than I thought in setting it up. Surprised that there is no documentation sent with it, other than an URL for the manual.
Macworld has a free 'iPad 2 Starter Guide' in the iBookstore. You will need the free iBooks app.
racer2c
04-08-11, 03:15 PM
Macworld has a free 'iPad 2 Starter Guide' in the iBookstore. You will need the free iBooks app.
under the Safari bookmarks is the users guide. Not sure if its the same as the "starter guide".
Surprised that there is no documentation sent with it, other than an URL for the manual. Post-PC era is here?
Pretty much the case these days. Last couple of PCs I purchased came with a quick start guide and that was it. There was a backup partition on the hard disk for the crapware that was installed and OS. Same with the g Tablet I just purchased (and spent the past week rooting a now ROM on it :saywhat:).
-Kevin
under the Safari bookmarks is the users guide. Not sure if its the same as the "starter guide".
Different but I imagine mostly the same info presented in book form. Macworld may have some real world experiences to share as well.
racer2c
04-08-11, 04:01 PM
Pretty much the case these days. Last couple of PCs I purchased came with a quick start guide and that was it. There was a backup partition on the hard disk for the crapware that was installed and OS. Same with the g Tablet I just purchased (and spent the past week rooting a now ROM on it :saywhat:).
-Kevin
Yep...my new wireless HP Printer came with a poster that had a picture of the printer, an arrow pointing to the electric plug, an arrow pointing to the paper tray. :)
WickerBill
04-21-11, 06:00 AM
Quick question: who here has a corporately-owned iPad or works for a company that provides some employees with iPads?
extramundane
04-21-11, 09:15 AM
Quick question: who here has a corporately-owned iPad or works for a company that provides some employees with iPads?
{Raises hand}
'Course, being a school, we're a little different from the corporate world.
Don Quixote
04-21-11, 09:56 AM
Quick question: who here has a corporately-owned iPad or works for a company that provides some employees with iPads?No way. We are on our own for phones and laptops.
cameraman
04-21-11, 11:36 AM
The IT folks here have not been able to figure out a way to make an iPad HIPPA compliant. At least not within their windows-centric world view. Personally I think they are just being lazy/underfunded/pigheaded.
Apple has a couple new pdfs that list the capabilities pretty clearly.
http://images.apple.com/ipad/business/docs/iPad_Business.pdf
http://images.apple.com/ipad/business/docs/iPad_Security.pdf
Insomniac
04-21-11, 01:17 PM
Quick question: who here has a corporately-owned iPad or works for a company that provides some employees with iPads?
Any context? My company provides some with Apple/Android stuff for development purposes on those platforms. Not to use for other work though.
cameraman
04-21-11, 06:06 PM
There is this big stink going on right now about your iPhone creating a secret file that tracks your every move. There is an app that will even show you the data here (http://petewarden.github.com/iPhoneTracker/#faq) (OS X only). It even has Senators asking forceful questions:rolleyes:. Okay I've got an iPhone, where have I been?
Damned if I know. The data, and I use that term loosely, is only sourced from my iPad, the application can't find any data from the iPhone. The iPad data forms a grid covering large areas of the city but the points don't actually land on any spot I have ever been. Oddly enough the largest dot is directly on top of a downtown Enterprise Rent-a-Car office, I've never been there in my life.
So who knows, my Verizon iPhone doesn't store the data. My ATT iPad does but the data is less than useless. Maybe people with ATT iPhones are being tracked to within an inch of their lives but I am not. It also makes me wonder if ATT is doing the tracking not Apple.
Here is an explanation I found in a thread at MacRumors. No idea if it is actually valid but it makes more sense then all the hysteria I'm seeing in the press.
I figure this thread is as good a place as any to brain dump on this. I went to WWDC last year where the new Core Location system was discussed in great detail. If you went as well, or have the videos, look at the video for session 115, "Using Core Location in iOS". Skip to around 13:45 for the discussion of "Course Cell Positioning" where they discuss the cache in detail.
The purpose of this is offline GPS. Normally, each cell tower has an identifier and Core Location sends that identifier to Apple and asks for the lat/lon for that tower. This requires a data connection, and the use of data. Since cell towers don't move, however, it's inefficient to keep going back to Apple for that information so they cache it. Now if a tower appears with the same ID as the cache, tada! you have a cache hit and a faster fix with no data use. Which also means you can get a "course location" (as in rough) if you are near known towers and don't have a data connection.
That's all this is. It's a cache of identifiers (cell and wifi), locations, and their age (it's a cache, after all). Someone made the decision to never clean it out so they would have more and more information about those GPS "assists" (you know, A-GPS) and so they'd use less and less power and data over time for the places you frequent. It's a great idea, technically.
Practically, yes, you can track location over time. The file is readable only by root and you're free to encrypt your backups for now. I'm sure Apple will either encrypt the file or truncate the data in a future update (I would prefer encryption as I think it's technically sound, but I know many will disagree). I'm also sure someone is considering a toggle for the feature or a button to clear the database. Both are great ideas.
cameraman
04-22-11, 02:28 AM
So here is the data, real world off my iPad. If you use the widely distributed iPhoneTracker app you will get a map that looks like this:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii35/Cynops/iPaddata.jpg
Pretty much useless because the guys that wrote the script put in a filter to obscure the data because, well I don't know why they just did. But it was a simple script so somebody just stripped out that masking bit and here is the same data unmasked...
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii35/Cynops/towerdata.jpg
Can you tell where I was when I was using the iPad? I can't and I know the answer.
Storm meet Teacup. :shakehead
racer2c
04-22-11, 10:34 AM
Read today that Android is capturing the same data. I wonder if it has anything to do with apps that use a location based request.
cameraman
04-22-11, 01:08 PM
It is more fundamental to the operation of the phone than just geolocation software. All smartphones have to keep a cache of the tower locations in order to function on the most basic level. In order to stream that youtube video the phone has to keep a cache of all the towers it is talking to. No cache, no video.
Every phone with GPS has this information, it's just a question of whether it's shared or transmitted anywhere. I assumed that every device had options similar to the Palm Pre where you can choose whether to share that information and when.
iPhone and iPad let you turn off location information to individual apps but I don't think that stops the device from keeping track of where it is. Remains to be seen if the info is sent back to the mothership. I expect there must be a little going back, how else would they develop their database of cell tower locations?
I don't think this is a problem but the press is sure running with it. Apple and Google are going to have to comment eventually.
racer2c
04-22-11, 02:46 PM
Well, if you guys knew all along...you should have mentioned it. ;)
What is going on?
Two researchers this week published a blog post that said Apple devices like the iPhone are keeping track of where you've been via location-based services, and logging that data in an insecure file on your device—a file that can also be accessed on any computer with which you've synced your iPhone.
Isn't that a bit Big Brother of them?
It depends on how you look at it. Location-based services can be rather helpful. How many times have you used Google Maps on your iPhone to pinpoint your location and get directions, find a nearby ATM, or see which subway stop is closest? It can also help when using recommendation apps like Yelp or MenuPages; narrowing a search for "Thai" in your immediate vicinity is much more helpful than searching every single "Thai" listing available on either of those services.
Apple finally responds (http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/04/27location_qa.html)
Much ado about nothing, although I doubt the media will drop it yet.
Apple finally responds (http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/04/27location_qa.html)
Much ado about nothing, although I doubt the media will drop it yet.
yup.
Here (http://www.macworld.com/article/159528/2011/04/how_iphone_location_works.html)is a pretty good article on how the iPhone determines where you are.
chop456
04-28-11, 11:46 AM
A non-story is always more fun when imaginary big brother is involved and they feel like they can do something about it. Apple is much more accessible than the NSA. :gomer:
Insomniac
04-28-11, 11:52 AM
Apple finally responds (http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/04/27location_qa.html)
Much ado about nothing, although I doubt the media will drop it yet.
Well it did help them find a bug. :D
iCloud coming soon it seems. Just trying to wrap up deals. Supposedly ready to launch immediately.
HP has a series of ads featuring Russell Brand showing off their new TouchPad.
Warning: Contains Russell Brand
-SJshO4Ys4M
KGbeakalXa4
WebOS is very nice. The best thing that could happen right now would be for HP to buy RIM and put WebOS on Crackberries. Between Blackberry business and what's left of Palm they might have a contender.
WickerBill
07-08-11, 06:50 AM
The BlackBerry is so badly behind now (ever tried to use a Storm's touchscreen?), it might almost be better to put BBM and BBPIM on WebOS devices vs. the other way 'round.
RIM had a chance to license their software for use on other devices, but wanted to stay in the hardware game... that decision will shorten the life of the company, IMO.
The Blackberry Storm drove my wife to the iPhone. :laugh: What a piece of crap.
Agreed on all counts. The Blackberry OS is beyond terrible. The number of people who actually have a Blackberry by choice is dwindling rapidly. WebOS has everything it needs to be a contender except market share and apps, plus the Playbook picked up all it's better ideas from WebOS.
GOOG's 'answer' to FB and Twitter called Google+ has started a public beta.If anyone wants an invite to join (but not necessarily 'friend' me), I can pass along an invite. Just send me a PM. It's an interesting concept, but the UI and functionality are a bit wonky @ this point.
https://plus.google.com/
-Kevin
WickerBill
07-10-11, 10:47 AM
i kinda like it. the ability to separate streams so certain updates only go to certain people is nice.
i kinda like it. the ability to separate streams so certain updates only go to certain people is nice.
That's its best feature by far. Integration with Gmail contacts is nice as well, but that part doesn't work 100%. I have contacts with multiple addresses, but + is only showing one. The invite feature should work better. Integration with Picasa is a nice feature, but adding photos last night was more difficult than it should be since some of the 'drop downs' or overlays covered up buttons to save or submit and could not be easily dismissed. Could just be issues with FF 4. I'm sure they focused Chrome. Haven't really delved into Sparks and Chat yet (I'm sure with be like GTalk.)
The thinking behind this type of social networking. (http://www.slideshare.net/padday/bridging-the-gap-between-our-online-and-offline-social-network)
Interestingly Paul Adams was a Googler who left for FB.
-Kevin
Insomniac
07-10-11, 03:52 PM
i kinda like it. the ability to separate streams so certain updates only go to certain people is nice.
Facebook does that with Lists (but I think Google will have more success). I wish Google did a better job of integrating in the Google Apps accounts. It's really dumb to have 2 accounts with the same e-mail address.
I wish Google did a better job of integrating in the Google Apps accounts. It's really dumb to have 2 accounts with the same e-mail address.
The problem is the many, many companies that have to be integrated with all of the acquisitions they have made over the past few years. It's a nightmare getting the various disparate platforms to talk to one another. I've dealing with those issues since CompuServe led the way with Virtual Lock back in '96 or so. That was the basis for the current SNS/ONS authentication we've been developing for the past several years. And don't get me started with the integration of Netscape and LDAP. :saywhat:
-Kevin
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