Linked by David Adams on Wed 7th Jul 2010 19:09 UTC
A Forbes article notices that while the iPad's reception from the public and the mainstream press has been overwhelmingly positive, the prevailing sentiment among some alpha geeks has been negative to the extreme. The conclusion, of course, is that these people aren't reacting to what the iPad is, but rather what it represents: a violation of the ethos of the personal computer. The author of the Forbes article concludes that much of the anti-iPad vitriol is hyperbole, and doesn't help advance the cause. It's a thought-provoking question.
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RE: Here is why this geek hates the iPad:
by ssa2204 on Sat 10th Jul 2010 19:03
in reply to "Here is why this geek hates the iPad:"
Member since:2006-04-22
Apple released a pedestrian device. It was up to Apple to do their magic and give me a tablet that raised the bar for all other tablet devices and do things we hadn't thought of yet. They did this with iPod. They did it with iPhone. We expect that of iPad.
I have to ask though, what did the iPod actually do that was simply so new and revolutionary? I ask because so many seem to think, and talk, as if the portable digital music player was somehow invented by Apple. Funny, because I seemed to remember owning Mp3 players years before the iPod came out. The funny thing is that I have seen some argue that it was the Apple software that was what revolutionized the iPod. To which I reply...really? Are you serious? Consider that statistically speaking you will have more people running iPod software on Windows, this is a bad argument to make. Also, I seem to have thought over 10+ years ago the software that was used with my Rio to be more functional that the Apple iTunes. So what do we have left but the iTune store, which really is not all that revolutionary.
The old saying still holds true, Apple doesn't make computers for people who know anything about computers. That's not always a good thing. It's all flash, no substance, and goes back to the joke from two decades ago... First week you own a Mac you'll be amazed by what it can do, the rest of your life you'll be amazed by what it can't.
Agreed. So agreed. I resist the urge every time the name Apple comes up, but sometimes it just gets too damn much and I can not control myself. This statement above pretty much is 100% my sentiments exactly.
RE[2]: Here is why this geek hates the iPad:
by mlankton on Sat 10th Jul 2010 22:21
in reply to "RE: Here is why this geek hates the iPad:"
Member since:2009-06-11
2001. From what slim options existed for linux and the BSDs at the time, (which I'm pretty sure was limited to one KDE and one Gnome app, neither of which was worth a damn, and command line options) and the sad state of Windows solutions (I'm thinking whatever Roxio made for Win32 might have been your best bet back then) iTunes was a revolution. 2001. Don't think so? Been using various BSDs, linux, Digital Unix, Windows and Solaris, not to mention OPENSTEP throughout the 90s. If you want to tell me some Rio software back then was better at importing, cataloging, burning and exporting than iTunes I may be interested in what you've been smoking.
It's a moot point: we're talking iPad, and there is simply nothing compelling about it.
RE[2]: Here is why this geek hates the iPad:
by mlankton on Sat 10th Jul 2010 22:24
in reply to "RE: Here is why this geek hates the iPad:"
Member since:2009-06-11
"
The old saying still holds true, Apple doesn't make computers for people who know anything about computers. That's not always a good thing. It's all flash, no substance, and goes back to the joke from two decades ago... First week you own a Mac you'll be amazed by what it can do, the rest of your life you'll be amazed by what it can't.
The old saying still holds true, Apple doesn't make computers for people who know anything about computers. That's not always a good thing. It's all flash, no substance, and goes back to the joke from two decades ago... First week you own a Mac you'll be amazed by what it can do, the rest of your life you'll be amazed by what it can't.
Agreed. So agreed. I resist the urge every time the name Apple comes up, but sometimes it just gets too damn much and I can not control myself. This statement above pretty much is 100% my sentiments exactly. "
Alright if you are going to reply to my comment, identify what you put in block quotes. I will respond to the above nonsense, but first tell me where it comes from. It wasn't me, which is implied since you are responding to my post.
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:33 UTC
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
Linked by Anonymous on 06/18/13 22:26 UTC
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:25 UTC
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:45 UTC
"I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:32 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)".
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:58 UTC
"The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:52 UTC
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 21:03 UTC
Jon Rubinstein, former CEO of Palm: "Well, I'm not sure I would have sold the company to HP. That's for sure. Talk about a waste. Not that I had any choice because when you sell a company you don't get to decide that. Obviously, the board and shareholders decide that. If we had known they were just going to shut it down and never really give it a chance to flourish, what would have been the point of selling the company? I think the deal we had with Verizon really hurt us, but who knew that at the time? These things are all hindsight."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 20:46 UTC
"And so it is with Dell's Alienware X51 R2, a small form factor gaming PC in console digs. It's shaped similar to Microsoft's Xbox 360 Slim, and though it's slightly larger than either a 360 or PlayStation 3, the X51 R2 would be right at home in a living room setting nestled next to a large screen TV. Indeed, it's adept at running Steam's Big Picture mode, and if your primary objective is to play games in the living room, go ahead and consider the X51 R2 a hybrid game console." This is obviously not the only machine like this - still, these are very valid console alternatives even for those that don't like being hunched over with a cramped WASD-claw. Also, PC gamers among us: could you get away with the $699 model for gaming?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 17:32 UTC
From Bloomberg: "Microsoft, the world's largest software company, provides intelligence agencies with information about bugs in its popular software before it publicly releases a fix, according to two people familiar with the process. That information can be used to protect government computers and to access the computers of terrorists or military foes." The lid has officially been blown off.More News »
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Member since:
2009-06-11
Apple released a pedestrian device. It was up to Apple to do their magic and give me a tablet that raised the bar for all other tablet devices and do things we hadn't thought of yet. They did this with iPod. They did it with iPhone. We expect that of iPad.
Given the choice between an iPad and an Adam from Notion Ink, I am far more interested in the Adam. Much closer to what the Apple device should have been.