What iPads Did To My Family
chucksblog.emc.com
chucksblog.emc.com
I don't have an iPad yet, but I do use my Cuisinart bread-maker twice a week to make delicious and substantial wholewheat bread for way less than you would pay at a store.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html
If you want to get all bread-geeky, this stuff is even better when you've got yourself a starter (I have three kinds :)
Honestly, though, looking at some of ways I've seen people using them in the very short time since its release leads me to think it is going to be a likely purchase in the near future.
That said, I've never had an issue with my iPhone's youtube app either, so I don't know if there's something fundamentally different about my network and yours.
A bread-maker isn't the same because it only does one thing. It makes bread. An iPad/iPhone does a million things and I am still discovering new ways to use my iPhone.
Now whether the same kind of usability translates from the iPhone to the iPad is yet to be seen, and I'm a little skeptical if only because of the reduced portability, but it is hardly on the same level as your bread-maker.
The same bread-maker argument could be made for a laptop, or a PC, or any number of things
Oh, and I sold my Kindle after 1 month as I prefer to read paper books and they're cheap.
So some gadgets have a 'useful' use, and some aren't really necessary.
The iPad does to the internet what the iPod did to music.
I don't really need that done to the internet for me, but I can see how millions of people would really like it.
I bought a 16gb iPad the week after they came out. I didn't really have a need for it, I just wanted to see if it was interesting. I had a very simliar experience as the author.
My wife has little but distain for my gadget obsession, but within minutes she wanted one for herself. Our three-year-old adores it. I put some educational games and cartoons on it, and she can get to it all on her own. Literally every person I've shown it to has wanted one.
Love it or hate it, but don't ignore it.
The iPad is an internet appliance. It streamlines the consumption of information/content. The iPad will hasten the bandwidth usage explosion.
OT, AT&T needs to get the message, both in the wireless and terrestrial wireline markets.
- Just a big iTouch.
- 256MB RAM!? Pfft.
- WTF, not widescreen?!
- LCD bad for reading.
- $500?? Overpriced.
- Can't see why anyone would need one.
- Fills a need that isn't there.
- Looks uncomfortable.
- You have to pay $99 to publish on it.
- Yeah, if you like to peck and type.
- It's gonna destroy the culture of content creation.
- Fine if you don't need to get real work done.
- Only fanboys will buy one.
- Give me a netbook so I can program.
- People who are buying iPads are sheep.
- It would not sell if it weren't for the marketing.
- Sure it's selling well now, but what about in 6 months/1 year/2 years …
- Sure it's selling well now, but no true intelligent scotsman …
- Just a toy.
- I can't believe people are buying this without being able to articulate why.
- Look, someone says they stopped using it! I was right.
- No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.
28 days and $1,000,000,000 in revenues later, still reasons Apple doesn't give a flying frack about, and maybe a sign that some of us should reevaluate how much we know about the buying habits of the non-comic book guys, and that there might be something there that warrants more than a knee jerk cmdrtaco response.
I will never buy a second iPhone, i will look for a good Android based phone, and using the same logic i will wait for a good iPad like product from HP or HTC
You basically have the iPad, and everything else, just like for music players there's the iPod and then everything else. Features on a comparison matrix don't get consumers excited. The iPad has a LOT of people excited.
For a "man on the street" the iPad "rocks". All the drawbacks are technical gripes - stuff we will notice and complain about but the majority of people will never consider/come across.
We all know it could be better in many ways and more open etc. they don't.
Also, the UI is stellar and will sell it to people.
shrug
Though here is a hack for this: http://thereifixedit.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/12915814498...
Good thing nobody ever had a complicated spread sheet, a document on letterhead for the office or a small programming job to do!
It's genius how Steve Jobs managed to identify that most people now use their computers as a media consumption device, I see mine as power tools.
There will still be dirt cheap fully featured PCs, so if anyone in the family ever feels like they not only could but will want to do more they can to that. That’s hardly depressing.
Even his daughter that wants one for college wouldn't want it as her ONLY computer. It would be a pain to write a paper on, or make a spreadsheet for your lab report, or probably even a powerpoint presentation. I had a tablet in college and almost never used it.
True, but there's also the possibility of a device either truly replacing previous technology or creating a whole new niche. For example, my iPhone was cool and fun when I first got it and I had been a Treo owner for years, so smartphones aren't new to my life. However, today, my iPhone is quite integrated into my life, way beyond just a cool new gadget.
I know for my family, the iPad fills almost all needs, such that we really only need iPads plus my own laptop which I can share with my wife and kids on the few odd occasions when they actually need to use a computer. I can definitely see that being the trend in other families.
He doesn't seem to realize everything is new and exciting when you first get it.At home? Most people don't.
Every computer I've watched my parents buy over the past 15 years, they buy Microsoft Office as a reflex response. When I visited for the holidays and helped migrate them to their iMac, I noticed the number of Word and Excel documents they had accumulated over this period.
About 40.
Outside of school assignments, what need does a child have for a productivity suite? Close to zero, and even then, 98% of what they do for writing assignments can be accomplished by a simple typewriter or standalone electronic word processor. Programming? Don't get me started...
My sister bought a 15" MacBook Pro over the holidays, and a copy of Office. She doesn't work on documents, just logs in to Outlook Web Access and maybe reviews something sent to her. She does the real work, well, at work. Aside from occasionally loading new photos into iPhoto after one of her 2 yearly vacations, it's a $1700 web browser and media consumption device.
My non-IT friends? The same. Webmail. Facebook. Funny pictures of cats.
The computer in the traditional sense is becoming a lot more niche. Why? It's what people want.
It's like the new 2011 Mustangs are hitting dealer lots. I want the V8, a 6-speed, the performance axle and the good brakes. Out of the dozens of Ford dealers in a 100 mile radius, only ONE dealer has manual transmissions. The only reason that dealer has them is because it's Bob "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday" Tasca -- a car enthusiast, catering to other enthusiasts.
We're computer enthusiasts. The virtues of SSDs are just as foreign as the virtues of powersliding to someone who's, frankly, just not that interested and just wants to get something done inexpensively and with a minimum of fuss that doesn't involve a debugger or heel-toeing.
- xchat (maybe that does work on the iPad, it could be)
- thunderbird
- varicad
- 20 or so terminal tabs logged in to just about as many servers
- about 20 browser windows, each with multiple tabs
- an ide (currently intellij, I hate it but that's what I'm using)
Just thinking about having to 'downsize' to a single non-multi tasking machine without a clearly defined local file store that I can back up to a server gives me headaches.
edit: I missed open office and okular, different desktop, same box.
It would be like looking at the world through a very small key-hole.
At work I probably have SQL Server Management Studio open, a tabbed text editor, Visual Studio, a Terminal Services client, an IM client, Chrome and MSIE both open, Outlook, several internal apps developed for our trading workflow and monitoring, internal design documents, specs and documents from data vendors... etc. My average window count is probably 16 across three displays, and I'm just a developer. Even in most offices that's absolutely abnormal. Heck, in your average office multiple displays is incredibly abnormal. I've worked in other quant shops and I remember in one even the guys driving the company's bottom line were given just a single 19" display.
But that's fine. I don't need most of that at home. At home I get by with a browser, iTunes and occasionally a Terminal Services client.
iPads aren't going to replace desktops for doing real work. They can't. They never will. However the average user -- and the average power user most of the time -- doesn't need a desktop either. I'm pending a home hardware refresh. I'll still get a decked out iMac, but I have a gut feeling it'll mostly be asleep because 95% of what I do at home is with a web browser. And my lounge chair and sofa are much more comfortable.
Oh, yes. Heck, yes. I've found that to be a big reason why I love my iPad.
Remember all that psychological research on multitasking? The research that concludes that even the people who claim to enjoy multitasking and have "lots of practice" at it are less productive and more stressed when trying to do more than one thing at a time?
Have you ever seen Cory Doctorow's theory of ebooks? The one that holds that long-form prose on computer screens hasn't worked, not because we're holding out for better screen quality -- many of us white-collar workers spend eight or more hours a day reading from our existing screens, after all -- but because our computers, and our habits when working with them, are so centered around distraction that we can't make ourselves concentrate when sitting in front of a computer? You start to read the novel from the browser window, but then your email beeps. Or, god help you, your mind starts to wander, your hands hit a key-combo, and you check your email as a sort of spinal reflex. And then you notice the RSS feed icon blinking, and then Twitter updates, and then a Skype call comes in, and before you know it you're reading Wikipedia about some band from the eighties while simultaneously watching a YouTube video of some kittens. Or (ahem) posting to Hacker News.
The iPad is relentlessly focused on one app at any given time. This is obviously a problem for some tasks -- yes, you can't really program on the iPad at the moment, or even blog very effectively; that's why iPad owners also have computers -- but for many other uses it is downright refreshing, even Zen. You do one thing. Then you do something else.
Guilty as charged. You have me almost convinced that I should cut down my screen real estate to something a bit more modest and a maximum of one open window at a time.
Maybe I should try that for a week and see how it works and do a write-up.
(Mind you, I'm still glad it's an all-purpose x86 machine.)
When I am programming I have one terminal window open for subversion, the IDE I am programming in, and the web browser for documentation.
When all three are on different screens life is awesome, if I have to move my mouse to switch between windows it becomes a burden and annoying. Having even one extra screen is an absolute must as a programmer. I don't think I could live with just a single screen.
Now on a day to day browsing machine, sure, one screen, like the iPad is perfect. Hell, I tend to sit on the couch with my iPhone browsing the web while watching TV.
X-Chat? Nope. However, I can personally vouch that IRC works on the iPad. And will work even better once we get Colloquy for the iPad released :)
- an ide (currently intellij, I hate it but that's what I'm using)
There's no JRE on the iPad. No bundling your own interpreter either. However, I can see someone making a very good web development IDE for the iPad. Hell, I'd probably pay a lot of $ for one..
I wonder if anyone has plans for an IDE written solely to run on jailbroken iPads.
This is also the problem with the ssh client on my G1. I can do minor tasks in the shell but I can't use my editor.
A more interesting scenario is when Mozilla's Bespin works properly on the iPad. It doesn't yet, but the developers have mentioned interest in getting it working.
You just might not use thrum every second. My sin use for my iPad, in s programming context, is coupling with Papers.app. I basically sit down at a coffee shop in the morning, do my morning email routine, and read an academic paper. If I'm riding the train, it's an easy way to fill wasted time with productivity. I find this much more desirable than using a tiny smartphone. What's more, I try not to waste smartphone battery on reading, I need to husband that for calls.
For you.
You represent a vast minority of computer users though.
I just assembled a new (fairly top of the line) computer at my house. And for the first few weeks I played on it, installed software, tweaked, etc.
After that I just started using it for email and the web.
Then I got an ipod, and I do all my facebooking, light websurfing, emailing, etc on there. I only power on my computer any more when I want to get some programming done. I don't even use Word all that often -- generally only to open a file that someone has sent me, or is a legacy file from my old computer.
While the general computer will never be replaced (especially at work, or for work-at-homes) I'm seeing a real trend in the desire for single-use, no-fuss hardware applications (the post on Hacker News about TurnKeyLinux is a good example).
For me: Watching Movies at Home: PS3 and a NAS Listening to Music at Home: PS3 and a NAS Music/Video on the Go: iPod twitter, email, facebook: iPod Touch light web browsing: iPod Showing pictures: Net-enabled Photoframe
Every time I visit home, there's something broken that I have to fix -- the printer doesn't show up on the network, the computer fan is making a funny noise, the video card is stuck at a low res, the windows file sharing folder disappeared, etc. If you could print via safari on the ipad, I'd probably buy it for them so I don't have to fix windows problems every time I visit home.
The other stuff was, likely, a lot more cumbersome to use. Waiting for machines to warm/boot up, waiting for software to start, etc, adds friction that can have bigger than expected effects on how often devices are used.
The iPad is far from perfect, but an almost instant-on and rapid interface, along with the form factor, makes for a game-changing device that's perfect for checking something on the Web, checking e-mail, or updating Twitter almost anywhere in the house or garden. Phones could do some of this before but the form factor provides a similar friction to usability.
An avid PC gamer, I suddenly, overnight, quit playing PC games after getting the Xbox 360. The gameplay experience was equivalent (the PC was plugged to the same projector), but the "hassle" factor went to zero on the Xbox 360.
Reducing friction makes users into fans. In the article's examples, sounds like people wanting to accomplish simple goals, finding friction reduced when using the new appliance.
It's unclear to me if I'll still be as addicted in six months, but the form factor certainly is appealing.
One thing nobody talk about the battery life - It's _not_ 10 hours. It's 10 Hours of _use_. Used on and off, I'll go close to three days before needing to plugin. That's very nice.
YMMV.
If you are sitting on your couch with your feet up dicking around on the internet (apparently the iPad primary use case), and you want to look at the screen at the proper viewing angle, either it needs to be tilted up by you holding it at an angle with your wrist (ergonomic no-no) or you need to tilt your head down (ergonomic no-no).
Considering that you probably want to use your hands to tap on it, that means it is likely resting in your lap and your head is tilted down putting strain on your neck.
Color me sensitive (broke my neck rock climbing about a year ago and still get some pains) but that doesn't sound fun over a long period of time.
I really think the amazing thing about the iPad is the screen no the form factor. Give me a macbook pro with a multi-touch screen and dual boot Mac OS X and iPad OS. Tell me you wouldn't prefer that. When you want multitouch, you have it, when you want a keyboard, you have it. When you want to sit back and watch a movie you have a built in stand .
I hate rebooting on my MBP so much that I'll download Software Updates and then not reboot for weeks at a time.
What I don't want is a half-assed multitouch implementation in OSX, and a half-assed mouse+keyboard implementation in iPhone OS, which is most likely what you'd get if Apple did such a thing. It's two different kinds of user interfaces, and they simply don't translate very well between each other.
Then again, Microsoft may pull something magical out of its hat after 10 years of trying with their combo tablet laptops.
Things it is good for: games, watching videos solo (as long as you have somewhere to prop it up - holding it is a pain). The instant-on is handy for extremely brief uses. Showing photos is great (except it ruins the quality of them with stupid downsampling and having to sync them with iTunes is unbearably annoying).
Everything else - get the laptop.
I found the iPad awkward to use without a case that does this, but after using the Apple case for the few weeks I've had it, I can't imagine using an iPad without it. It props up the iPad in landscape mode at the perfect angle for browsing/reading/typing, whether it's on a table, desk, or your lap. It also can prop it up at a more vertical angle for watching video.
I agree, the iPad by itself is awkward. Get a case for it and see how you like it then.
And Photos, it's so much fun to play with the "Places" map, I immediately went in to iPhoto and started tagging the rest of my photos. I don't think I will ever use my laptop to browse or show off my photo library again. I can pull up the Places map, hand it off to whoever what to see my photos, and let them go nuts. It's a supremely compelling experience.
I bought an iPad because I wanted to see how a pure touch interface could change traditional human-computer interaction; I haven't been disappointed.
And the iPad App Store isn't even available in my country yet. The iPhone/iPad-only WWDC sold out in 8 days, and I can't wait to see what developers come up with over the next year. It should be a hell of a toboggan ride.
It still has a couple of weaknesses - 2 onions will deal with any walking zombie + pole vaulters. It wont stop: * vehicles -- use a row of spikes * gargantuar -- cob cannons, etc. * Miner Zombies -- These are a pain. * pogo zombies -- I haven't got a great strategy for them.. - cob cannons, cat-tails, etc. (Or just put a pea-shooter (maybe the reverse one) to deal with these and the miners. * Flying zombies - the blower plant or the cat-tails. The risk is that it can fall behind your onions - and then eat through all of your sunflowers.
Basically - it works awesome for almost every level.. But probably not for unlimited.
For email, web browsing and those blasted causal games, it's glued to my fingers.
The argument thta people make is that once you go into some apps then the mouse/keyboard nature is exposed, but it appears that most people never dive into those apps. And in those cases, if the Windows tablet had an easy way to use a keyboard (convertible & detachable) then it would have the best of both worlds.
The only thing Windows doesn't have today is the app ecosystem, and I suspect we'll see that with Windows Phone 7 (and since all the apps are managed, the port will be easy, if not binary compatible).
It sounds almost if she became happy again. Scary stuff.
Sure, most people will still use PCs at work, but at home, you will just whip out your tablet.
I can imagine people traveling (sales people?) with iPads 3G checking their inventories in real-time, doing their forecast reporting, sending emails, reacting to on-line customer enquires...
Do you think this is something that will happen or my imagination just plays tricks on me? :)
I'd love to buy one for my grandma. She has a Dell right now, and she uses it only for e-mail. She seems to constantly be running into problems with Outlook Express (marking items as junk, blocking senders, etc.).
I'd like to find her a device that's friendly and easy to use.
The iPad seems like that device. The only thing it can't do is print photos in e-mail messages (easily). I'm not sure if that's a deal breaker, and I think the usability trade off might be worth it. She could always go back to the Dell for printing.
If anyone's set up a novice with an iPad, I'd love to hear about your (and their) experience. I'm especially curious about whether you set it up as a stand-alone device or if you showed the user how to sync with PC.
I got that quote from the post on patterns in Python, but believe it applies equally well here.
They wont lolcats on "magical devices!" long live America! What a waste!
Throughout time, people have used technology to incrementally make their lives better. Not everybody has the skills, goal, or even desire to found the next Facebook or Google. The people who make the most money in the technology space recognize this about their customers and don't look down on them about it.
And, just because you are ragging on intelligence, it is "want"...
Frankly the inly "skill" that you could rely on 20-40 later is programming and creativity.
And giving someone utensils doesn't make them a good cook. Yet, people use all sorts of technology in their kitchens now to make their lives better. So it goes with computers. You don't have to end up rich or wildly successful to appreciate quality of life improvements provided by technology.