Thursday, January 28, 2010

[jules' pics] iPad - an iPod for the over forties


Today I am wearing my freshly laundered black turtleneck to celebrate the fact that Steve Jobs is still not dead. And a lot more convincing than Barack Obama he was too. Nevertheless, there are many situations in which my new iPad will remain impractical. For example, this photo was taken by my iPhone just before the train got busy. James is always lucky in these situations as he stands head and iPod above the rest which allows him to breathe.

As for the state of the laundry address: there remain issues to be tackled, but I am only half way through the manual, and laundered items are already showing signs of increased cleanliness and fluffiness, and drying times are dramatically reduced. Only in the next quarter will we know whether the new regime will decrease the water usage resulting in lower water bills.***


***(not that Japan is short of water, of course - I make no pretense that the new machine improves eco-ness in any way)



--
Posted By jules to jules' pics at 1/27/2010 07:46:00 PM

8 comments:

CE's GeeBook said...

LOL ... The title by its self made me laugh .. unfortunately I hit that 40 mark last year .. as still

The IPad launch will be a huge $$ maker for Apple. and this launches a whole new avenue for Apple on the revenue generation side. But with tha said ..

The first generation seems just to be another gadget to carry around. It can not replace a Laptop or even a NetBook for that matter. For even normal day uses ie. no multi-tasking, Flash support, Document processing ... ect.

Nor will it even replace the iPhone or iPod Touch ... try carrying this around in your pocket much less taking it to the gym.

It definitely looks cool but just will not be on my top list of have to haves.

jules said...

ce's geekbook:

You can try putting up a rational argument about why you wont buy one. I've done it myself in the past with Apple products, but all I have achieved by this is delaying the final purchase and being rewarded with a 2G or 3G rather than a 1G. :-) So I wont even pretend that I wont buy one of these at some point.

People always focus on missing features, but it is how Apple packages up the features it does have that makes their products so good. And indeed you only need look at the highly unintuitive feature "rich" Japanese gadgets to realise that it is the not including things that is the true art (and of course Apple uses it as a marketing ploy to make us buy one of each of their products).

I do think the ipad it is the ipod for people with not such good eyesight or who can't be doing with fiddly buttons and people who like to read books - the over 40s! I see it as something people will carry round the home, or on voyages abroad, or to St.Arbucks - not all day every day. One question I have is whether you can use it without a computer at all so it could be the one stop internet connection for an even older generation. When we came to Japan we bought my parents a Psion Series 7, which is in many ways is a similar device - being a similar size, ridiculously easy to use with just a few features, and a solid stable operating system. That had a keyboard of course. Not sure if older people will enjoy the virtual keyboard. Later I upgraded them to a PowerbookG4, which is a marvelous laptop, and although they manage to use it just fine it is clearly a lot more baffling to them (actually now it is just Pa). I should add that my parents were/are not computer phobes - my Dad is quite happy on a unix mainframe and my Mum was a computer programmer in the 1960s - it is just that learning these things gets harder as you get older.

It is a bit sad how may years it has taken Apple to catch up with Psion. The first iPods were in comparison _really_ disappointing in their lack of functionality, and I felt pretty cheated by mine after enjoying a Psion Series 5 for a few years. But with the iPod touch and App store Apple really invented something brilliant. We've even sold our Sharp Zauruses (fully functional linux computers that fit in the palm of your hand).

James Annan said...

Re: document processing, there will apparently be iWork apps at $10 each. Of course it'll need an external keyboard for proper work, but the touch screen might be acceptable for touching-up stuff and note-taking on the move.

The price of the bottom-end model is about the same as the original Eee PC which was basically useless...short battery life, small screen and keyboard, but still quite heavy. Mind you that was a few years ago.

EliRabett said...

Ms. Rabett's holding out for paperback size (Eli would say pocketbook size but he got whacked with a few of those thirty pounders in Jr. High)

jules said...

Dear Bunnies:

Hmmm. Unless it is truly pocketable, below a certain size, smaller is not better. Like the netbook. Steve Jobs was mildly disparaging about them in his keynote yesterday. Far better the beautiful statement from my Japanese friend, as we strolled through Yodobashi camera one day wondering about netbooks and how they ought to be really great, but some how aren't: "they are good for almost nothing".

Lighter may indeed be better of course - but then your battery wont last as long. And it is often worth waiting some time to avoid the early adopter tax/ and bugs - even just a few months - they do fix hardware issues incrementally.

EliRabett said...

Jules, exactly right, which is why House Rabett shops for portable electronics with the bags we intend to carry them in and pays careful attention to battery life. Lighter is better and that includes the damn power brick.

One Power Brick to charge them all,
One Power Brick to find for them,
One Power Brick to bring on board and in the darkness light them

Lame is good

Anonymous said...

http://www.ipadoripod.com

kinda funny

James Annan said...

Especially good when viewed on an ipadoripod!