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Technically there's no reason it CAN'T work. and such hacks have been demonstrated on jailbroken ipod touches. But such apps have not gotten past the gatekeepers at the Apple store and the Federal Trade Commission has been asking some pointed questions to the folks at Apple, Google (who tried to market a VOIP app for the iphone/ipod touch), an AT&T who's got the current exclusive carrier contract in the United States.
Now if only a VOIP solution (ala Skype, Google Voice) can work with this... (it has the mike and a speaker)
While you are correct that those apps were blocked before, all true VOIP apps have been approved (Google Voice is not a true VOIP client) for use with wifi. Recently the stance has changed to allow 3G use of VOIP as well.
Google Voice however, is still an unknown / unapproved as of yet.
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Google Voice came out with a web app and it works just fine on an iPhone. (My friend showed me last night.)
One of the biggest problems I have with this device, besides the crappy name, is that Apple has control of what you can and cannot install on it. (I'm sure a hack to fix that will come out at some point...)
No USB slot isn't very helpful either.
It is just a XXXL iPod Touch.
If I had a spare $900 laying around I'd jump on this...
It's called what?
I am still waiting for them to release the unstable iRack.
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Apple makes great stuff, period. The design is top notch and the stuff just ... works. There is a reason iPods and iPhones are so ubiquitous.
I use a PC at work because I have to ... I use a Mac at home because I WANT to. You can bet I'll be one of the many people owning an iPad at some point ... :)
Apple DMZ
Awesome.
Chief Technical Officer
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...and, here might be one of the biggest, NO USB. Thats right! You have to BUY and adapter to use USB.
Out of curiosity, what do you want USB for? I'm not being a smartass here—I'm being genuine. I've never really had any desire to attach a USB device to an iPhone, except perhaps a keyboard, and they already have a pretty nifty keyboard dock for the iPad that also serves to hold the thing up.
I certainly don't need it for storage devices—if I want to move media around, I'll do that by docking it.
I'm reminded of when folks were outraged that the original blue-and-white iMac didn't have a floppy drive. The few thousand people that actually needed one could opt to buy one, while not including one reduced the cost for the several million of us who didn't need it.
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...and, here might be one of the biggest, NO USB. Thats right! You have to BUY and adapter to use USB.Out of curiosity, what do you want USB for? I'm not being a smartass here—I'm being genuine. I've never really had any desire to attach a USB device to an iPhone, except perhaps a keyboard, and they already have a pretty nifty keyboard dock for the iPad that also serves to hold the thing up.
I certainly don't need it for storage devices—if I want to move media around, I'll do that by docking it.
I'm reminded of when folks were outraged that the original blue-and-white iMac didn't have a floppy drive. The few thousand people that actually needed one could opt to buy one, while not including one reduced the cost for the several million of us who didn't need it.
Amazingly, I was getting ready to ask the same question. The iPad connects to your computer's USB port (Mac or PC) in the same way as your iPhone or iPod. The products you create in iWork can be moved back and forth between the device and your computer via that connection, or wirelessly.
In addition to the keyboard dock, the iPad will work with a bluetooth keyboard, and if you want a quick link to exchange info like contacts and emails, there's an app for that: Bump.
The talk of the device not being able to multitask is founded on the fact that the Keynote didn't show any two apps being used at the same time: this isn't evidence that the tablet can't multitask. How many things do you need to do at the same time on this kind of device, anyway?
I listen to music on my iPhone routinely while browsing my email, surfing the web, or reading a Kindle book. Twitter and messages run in the background already in the iPhone OS, and apps with push send and receive whether they're actively running or not. If I can do that on an iPhone, I don't know why anyone would assume it can't be done on the iPad.
I'm mostly put off by Apple's uneven (and sometimes downright stupid) approval record on Apps.
The best news is that it should put the rest of the electronics manufacturers on notice. They need to get their butts in gear or they'll lose another consumer electronics market to Apple, like they did with the iPod.
This looks like its going to meet my needs perfectly. Blackberry is my phone of choice, but I'm looking for something larger such as the Sony eBook readers or netbooks to use mainly for pdf viewing and casual surfing. This looks about right. I've played with iPhones and found the touch interface slick, but small for my blunt fingers.
Re: the USB debate, kind of pointless for me given bluetooth. I suspect it'll sync just like other Apple products, as long as it doesn't require MobileMe, I'd be happy. Ability to use a bluetooth keyboard is icing on the cake. Wifi plus Google Docs and Calendar. OOOoohhh!
I'm officially excited. :D
...and, here might be one of the biggest, NO USB. Thats right! You have to BUY and adapter to use USB.Out of curiosity, what do you want USB for?
Off the top of my head:
- webcams
- The above also includes those who want to transfer pics from their digital cameras to show other people without having them crowd around the tiny camera display. (Not to mention camera batteries don't last all that long, why waste them displaying?)
- external speakers
- card readers
- any other convenient little thing that consumer masses don't really care about that causes decent features to be removed because of a "lack of demand."
- The occasions when a friend pulls out a thumb drive at the local food/liquor joint and says s/he has something you need to see...
But maybe Kabump has other plans...
Apple makes great stuff, period. The design is top notch and the stuff just ... works. There is a reason iPods and iPhones are so ubiquitous.
I think you need to read the Mac forums.
Apple has great branding (the best), their product integration is fanastic, and their usability design is splendid.
Works? Hehehehe. The one Mac in my company is constantly in need of attention.
The iPhones are great except for the bad connection my boss gets constantly. And they ceased being special a long time ago.
Then there's the issue of Google apps.
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- webcams
- The above also includes those who want to transfer pics from their digital cameras to show other people without having them crowd around the tiny camera display. (Not to mention camera batteries don't last all that long, why waste them displaying?)
- external speakers
- card readers
- any other convenient little thing that consumer masses don't really care about that causes decent features to be removed because of a "lack of demand."
- The occasions when a friend pulls out a thumb drive at the local food/liquor joint and says s/he has something you need to see...
Note: I don't know if this works with all the devices you are mentioning. But as Vic hinted at, there will be a connector that adds an SD card reader and a USB port. I'm not sure if it will be able to read flash drives and/or hard drives, but it at least it there to allow getting pictures from a camera. It also was hinted that it might work with a webcam. The connector kit was displayed at the keynote and was made specifically for cameras, so that at least addresses your camera/card reader issue.
As for the majority of other usb items, it will at least fit in the connector kit, but only Apple knows whether it will work or not. With speakers though you can just hook it into the headphone jack. In fact I'm not sure why anyone would want to put external speakers on a USB... does it power it or something?
The exclusion of the USB port probably brought down the price for the product, which, lets be honest, is extremely low for an Apple product. Many were expecting it to be minimum $700, if not closer to $1,000. To bring the price down they probably had to take out features that many would want. In the next iteration or two we might see those features added back in as their production costs decrease.
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Most of the trouble I've ever had with Macs has been related to software that's not available to run on a Mac--which means I'm whining.
If they ship 10 million Macs a year and a thousand people have problems, that's pretty good. If more than half of those thousand are really only whining or incompetent (strong word, I know), then that's really good. The remaining 500 legit issues seem easy to live with.
I read the boards over at Apple all the time and frequently contribute. Here's some typical issues and the end cause:
-iPhone won't sync with my car...forgot to turn on bluetooth.
-Time Capsule takes four hours to back up my computer...backing up 2TB wirelessly.
-iPhone battery runs down before lunch...power-user who watches video for an hour on the metro, listens to music all morning, tweets and emails and surfs, and never conditions the battery.
-iWork crashes constantly...using a pirated, er, 'loaned' version of the software.
-My Mac overheats; it's really hot...didn't shut down from the heat, and the user has been running CPU or graphics intensive software all day.
A couple legit issues I've had:
-iTunes purchases that don't download because of an unresolvable error...Apple refunds the money and credits me a free episode/movie/song/book/etc.
-Bose speakers stopped working one day (I wrote about this on the boards here, actually, last year)...nothing wrong with the speakers, and no-one really knows why it happened, but it's happened to a handful of users; Mac was out-of-warranty, but the Genius Bar genius took my iMac for a day and the next day I had all new inputs and the speakers worked fine, and no charge.
iPad takes huge dump on 30 years of previous history just for the sake of change. Oh wait! This is completely different.
I cracked up as I listened to the radio this morning. Apparently some women take offense to the name. The disc jockeys didn't help the situation with their jokes. Yep, funny.
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I cracked up as I listened to the radio this morning. Apparently some women take offense to the name. The disc jockeys didn't help the situation with their jokes. Yep, funny.
I must be the only person in the world who didn't even remotely connect the name with menstruation. Of course, I understand it now, but come on! It's humor barely worthy of a 14-year old boy, much less the rest of us.
iPad takes huge dump on 30 years of previous history just for the sake of change. Oh wait! This is completely different.?
I would draw you a graph, but it would kind of ruin the joke.
I cracked up as I listened to the radio this morning. Apparently some women take offense to the name. The disc jockeys didn't help the situation with their jokes. Yep, funny.I must be the only person in the world who didn't even remotely connect the name with menstruation. Of course, I understand it now, but come on! It's humor barely worthy of a 14-year old boy, much less the rest of us.
Ur not alone. I didn't think about it 'til they discussed it like that.
When will the iDont Care package be released? Inquiring minds want to know.
I even googled this; no joy. I really don't get it.MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA.....................SODASNOT!I would draw you a graph, but it would kind of ruin the joke.iPad takes huge dump on 30 years of previous history just for the sake of change. Oh wait! This is completely different.?
Google edition wars. :)
Most of the trouble I've ever had with Macs has been related to software that's not available to run on a Mac--which means I'm whining. ...
One problem I have with Mac is that unless it's a user error problem you HAVE to take it into a Mac Store and pay to get it fixed. At least with PCs there's a possibility of you fixing it yourself if you know what you're doing. Mac doesn't even give you that option.
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One problem I have with Mac is that unless it's a user error problem you HAVE to take it into a Mac Store and pay to get it fixed. At least with PCs there's a possibility of you fixing it yourself if you know what you're doing. Mac doesn't even give you that option.
You're talking about internal hardware issues? Yeah, that is my biggest complaint, too.
When the headphone port flashed-out on my iMac last year, I could have popped the case and attempted a fix, but even with my mad skilz that's a process, and I don't even own the proper tools--did you know that the Apple Stores actually have (and they're not for sale) special tool kits for Macs? When there are no visible seams (like my wife's new unibody iMac), it's kind of hard to handyman it.
Nonetheless, I use to have a PC and while it was a lot of fun to retool its guts and comforting to know I could Frankenstein it, I actually spent waaaay to much time repairing the sucker. The headphone port is the only hardware issue I've ever had with an Apple computer--and I've owned 13 different Macs over the years. Now, I spend my free-time retooling software, which is way cooler than soldering circuit-boards.
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Out of curiosity, what do you want USB for?
Off the top of my head:
- webcams
- The above also includes those who want to transfer pics from their digital cameras to show other people without having them crowd around the tiny camera display. (Not to mention camera batteries don't last all that long, why waste them displaying?)
- external speakers
- card readers
- any other convenient little thing that consumer masses don't really care about that causes decent features to be removed because of a "lack of demand."
- The occasions when a friend pulls out a thumb drive at the local food/liquor joint and says s/he has something you need to see...
But maybe Kabump has other plans...
Its not the fact that I had any particular plans per-say, but that is a pretty good list. I dont know what I would use it for, but if I decided I WANTED to use some USB device on there, I have to drop 30+ bucks to use something Ive already bought? I see people keep saying "oh but you can buy an extension for that!" Really? REALLY? So its ok to overlook a design flaw by saying you can spend MORE money on something that quite honestly should be there in the first place? If you dont see a problem with this more power to you. I however see it as an issue, especially when you look at the fact that they are marketing this as a laptop/netbook "killer". Which is sad really, as I have had GREAT experiences with non-mac apple stuff, iPods and iPhones mostly. And at first glance, I REALLY wanted one to place all of my PDFs on to take for gaming, as the device looks fantastic. I don't know, maybe it will grow on me, and to be fair I would want to see it in action. I will more than likely wait till the 2nd or 3rd generation as well.
*edit* also leaving out a USB slot is hardly the same as leaving out a floppy drive :) It cant really make that much of a price difference by excluding a usb can it? If so, Ill shut up :)
Also, what if you aren't at home to sync up to your computer, because as we know, this device encourages portability. What if you wanted something off of a flash drive in the air port, or in a taxi on the way to a presentation, or any number of places where you were near a computer to dock to and get the information?
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The device connects to your computer's USB port. No, you can't connect a USB device to the iPad without a bridge, but you can transfer data wirelessly and you can transfer data via the 30-pin-to-USB dock.
Apple has a history of being the first to get rid of obsolete technology--floppy drives in all Macs and no drive in the MacBook Air. Despite being on the development team for Blu-Ray tech, there's no BRP in a Mac for one simple reason: the way-ahead is all-digital, wireless.
Are all digital cameras 3G radio or bluetooth-enabled today? No, but it's coming--and then you won't need a a physical connection to upload photos. The photos I take with my iPhone upload to my Mac and my MobileMe account wirelessly and from the field--I don't even need to be near my computer.
With applications like Bump, you don't need a physical connection to share data between devices, so the day is approaching when your bud at the grocery store won't pull out a thumbdrive to share that you-gotta-see-this thing, he'll just Bump with you.
When was the last time you honestly burned a CD? And at the office, does anyone still use thumbdrives, or do you use Sharepoint?
As to the utility of USB ports? Personally, they're dust magnets in the office and at home. There are four on my iMac, and they're all idle.
I actually answer your edit-remarks with the grocery store scenario. And if there's a computer nearby (like in the airport or at a meeting or at a friend's house, etc.), you can dock to it with the 30-pin connector.
But what if you don't have a way to transmit the data in the first place?
What if your PC isn't bluetooth capable?
I think at least one USB port would be essenatial, but Apple is also known for forcing people to buy their propitary tech to intergrate into exsisting systems.
NO FLASH SUPPORT so forget 99% of youtube content.
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The device connects to your computer's USB port. No, you can't connect a USB device to the iPad without a bridge, but you can transfer data wirelessly and you can transfer data via the 30-pin-to-USB dock.
Apple has a history of being the first to get rid of obsolete technology--floppy drives in all Macs and no drive in the MacBook Air. Despite being on the development team for Blu-Ray tech, there's no BRP in a Mac for one simple reason: the way-ahead is all-digital, wireless.
So USB is obsolete? News to me, I use it all the times. And way-ahead in even 2 years is still 2 years of reduced usability.
When was the last time you honestly burned a CD? And at the office, does anyone still use thumbdrives, or do you use Sharepoint?As to the utility of USB ports? Personally, they're dust magnets in the office and at home. There are four on my iMac, and they're all idle.
I burn CDs all the time, and use usb sticks religiously to transfer data from home to work. And your dust magnets on your computer are full of devices on mine, wireless card, mouse, external hard drives, chargers for my phone and iPod, etc etc.
I actually answer your edit-remarks with the grocery store scenario. And if there's a computer nearby (like in the airport or at a meeting or at a friend's house, etc.), you can dock to it with the 30-pin connector.
All well and good, but it still does NOTHING for me if I'm not near a computer, that I would have proper permissions to even use mind you, that I could connect to. In the taxi on the way to a big meeting? Cant pull that file your missing off the flash drive. And maybe my airports aren't super fancy, but I dont see any computers sitting out that would allow me to install the needed drivers so I could make a simple process longer by first plugging in my usb, copying to the public computer, plugging in the iPad and letting it install its drivers, then copying to the iPad. Especially when a USB drive will cut out all that middle work.
You never even address the main issue, that you have to PURCHASE a separate device, from apple, for 30+ dollars, to do something that should be standard.
Just because you don't see a problem with this, doesn't mean that I and many others don't. And as Ive said, Im not a apple hater, not by any means. Not a fan of the mac, but I LOVE their iPods and iPhones, fantastic devices for their niche and extremely well thought out. The iPad, as much as I want to like it, just has too many issues right now, and Im hardly the only one who thinks so.
The exclusion of the USB port probably brought down the price for the product, which, lets be honest, is extremely low for an Apple product. Many were expecting it to be minimum $700, if not closer to $1,000. To bring the price down they probably had to take out features that many would want. In the next iteration or two we might see those features added back in as their production costs decrease.
Apple has a history of being the first to get rid of obsolete technology--floppy drives in all Macs and no drive in the MacBook Air. Despite being on the development team for Blu-Ray tech, there's no BRP in a Mac for one simple reason: the way-ahead is all-digital, wireless.
Are all digital cameras 3G radio or bluetooth-enabled today? No, but it's coming--and then you won't need a a physical connection to upload photos. The photos I take with my iPhone upload to my Mac and my MobileMe account wirelessly and from the field--I don't even need to be near my computer.
There is no realistic rationale to justify excluding USB or SD on a price basis, certainly not a space basis with the larger iPad. The proprietary Apple connector already functions as a USB pass-thru, all the control circuitry is already there AFAIK (how it connects to your computer's USB port). The included Apple dock connector itself is basically just USB with some unneeded proprietary crap, and could really be replaced by USB if it wasn't for Apple's desire to control hardware accessories (or rather, make a physical/financial hassle for those who want to integrate with standard peripherals). So it really is a legitimate complaint because including USB / replacing Apple Dock Connector with a STANDARD interface would in no way interfere with the good stuff people like about the product (and there is really no argument that it is about USB being 'obsolete' because Apple's Dock Connector is no better).
Linux and Saltzsman fanatics are always fun to watch. I suspect that part of the angst is that Apple has acheived one thing that Linux still hasn't and probably never will.... It's put out UNIX for Grandma.
I can't really imagine why anybody would defend restrictions on installing your own software. There is absolutely no technical reason preventing installation of own software including codecs and extensions. Apple in cooperation with it's US-market exclusive carrier AT&T has already prevented functionality that it offers in other markets (tethering/ connection sharing w/ computer) as just one example. Of course, you can mostly get around this if you buy a developer's membership allowing loading of arbitrary software (though not extensions to core frameworks like codecs), but that costs a chunk of change.
There is also some controversy about the wired-in h.264/AVC codec being the only one supported, to the extent that all iPhones can ONLY support that codec because of single-function-design hardware (while flexible hardware is broadly available and used). ...The main problem here not just being a direct end-user / media consumer issue (you have to transcode any non-AVC/ non-mov/m4v/mp4 into approved format), but the fact that MPEG-LA plans to start charging content PRODUCERS and DISTRIBUTERS for creating, transmitting and streaming video encoded in h.264. We really don't know what the iPad hardware is like in this regard, but I HOPE it is at least open enough hardware-wise to support future codecs (whatever they are) via a software update and not be tied in FOREVER to h.264 (as current iPhones are).
I cracked up as I listened to the radio this morning. Apparently some women take offense to the name.
Apparently "iPad" is also the name brand for a push-up / padded brassiere :-)
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But what if you don't have a way to transmit the data in the first place?
What if your PC isn't bluetooth capable?
I think at least one USB port would be essenatial, but Apple is also known for forcing people to buy their propitary tech to intergrate into exsisting systems.
NO FLASH SUPPORT so forget 99% of youtube content.
99% of YouTube...? What? You must have missed the demo during the Keynote.
I watch YouTube videos every day; I even have my own Page. I also use an application called ClickToFlash because I ha...I'm not fond of Adobe Flash. ClickToFlash actually plays the videos on YouTube without the annoying commercials and ad popups.
Flash support is not necessary to view YouTube. Hulu.com is a different story, unfortunately.
Apple has a history of being the first to get rid of obsolete technology--floppy drives in all Macs and no drive in the MacBook Air.
Floppy drive obsolete? Not quite. Sure it is well on it's way... But I still find a need for them. Not just a use. Here is a hint: most motherboards prior to about 2007-2008 need floppy support in order to update BIOS.
When was the last time you honestly burned a CD? And at the office, does anyone still use thumbdrives, or do you use Sharepoint?
CD: Two nights ago. I burned a pfSense live CD (I have hardware issues, so that project is on hold).
Thumbdrives: Should be banned from the office. Not from any technical standpoint, but due to security vulnerabilities. Thumbdrive + Windows = wide open system, usually.
I'll grant you that not including a USB port in the iPad might "future proof" it against USB 3.0 since that will likely need new hardware (at least a chipset).
But dismissing USB as obsolete is very premature at this point.
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Floppy drive obsolete? Not quite. Sure it is well on it's way... But I still find a need for them. Not just a use. Here is a hint: most motherboards prior to about 2007-2008 need floppy support in order to update BIOS....
I'm not arguing with any of your points; they're all good. I am surprised about this remark though. I honestly haven't seen a floppy in a few years, at least. Not even in the Army SSSC warehouse where they still have--wait for it--typewriter ribbon.
Thanks for reminding me to ward against psychological bias--just because I can't imagine burning a CD anymore or using a 3.5 diskette, doesn't mean no-one else does. Apologies to all if I've come off a little heavy-handed tonight...I'd blame it on the Guinness...
Floppy drive obsolete? Not quite. Sure it is well on it's way... But I still find a need for them. Not just a use. Here is a hint: most motherboards prior to about 2007-2008 need floppy support in order to update BIOS....I'm not arguing with any of your points; they're all good. I am surprised about this remark though. I honestly haven't seen a floppy in a few years, at least. Not even in the Army SSSC warehouse where they still have--wait for it--typewriter ribbon.
Thanks for reminding me to ward against psychological bias--just because I can't imagine burning a CD anymore or using a 3.5 diskette, doesn't mean no-one else does. Apologies to all if I've come off a little heavy-handed tonight...I'd blame it on the Guinness...
Yeah, seriously, I burn CD's all the time. Couldn't listen to my music on my stereo in the front room without em, unless I got vinyl, as it's got a record player. But I can't put that on my iPod until I get one of those USB [there's that interface again!] record players.
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I cracked up as I listened to the radio this morning. Apparently some women take offense to the name. The disc jockeys didn't help the situation with their jokes. Yep, funny.
I must be the only person in the world who didn't even remotely connect the name with menstruation. Of course, I understand it now, but come on! It's humor barely worthy of a 14-year old boy, much less the rest of us.
Ur not alone. I didn't think about it 'til they discussed it like that.
So, am I supposed to believe that every time I've said, "Give me a pad of paper," women in the office have been cringing?
-Paper pad
-Pad Thai
-launch pad
-pad the report
-pad your resume
-paw pad
-Windows XP Wordpad
-sketch pad
-writing pad
-drawing pad
-legal pad
-notepad
-art pad
-number pad
-Army IPADS
-Fuji's iPad Inventory System
-Siemens' iPad magnetic card readers
-US Marshal Service B-PAD Behavioral Analysis System
-mouse pad
...and on and on and on.
All of these are offensive to women? All of these make you think of menses and feminine hygiene?
Seriously?
WHy doesn't anyone gripe about 64G of memory max?
How long is that going to last?
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WHy doesn't anyone gripe about 64G of memory max?
How long is that going to last?
The thing about this is that with only 10 hours of battery, there's no way you could watch 64GB of video, or listen to 64 GB of music, or read 64GB of books, and I doubt too many of us have 64GB of photos, and even less of us would like to see someone else's 64GB of photos origami-ed on their iPad for 10 hours-- so the memory isn't any issue.
I'm actually most disappointed with the battery life. I fly between Europe and Asia quite a bit. It's about 18 hours worth of trip to Europe and almost 24 hours to Asia (this includes all the layovers, so I mean 18 and 24 hours from the time I leave my house until I get to the hotel in Germany or Korea).
I'm hoping that I will be able to shut down processes I don't need in order to extend the battery--dim the screen, turn off WiFi, etc. Nonetheless, it's still better than I expected for a full-color device.
If there's one feature I was really dreaming for in this tablet, it was a built-in iSight camera and iChat, with video recording--think a visual Captain's Personal Log from Star Trek. I'd use the hell out of that.
