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Steve Jobs' Prescience (Or: Who Wants A Stylus?)

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Re: Steve Jobs' Prescience (Or: Who Wants A Stylus?)

#51

Post by jasonlotito »

snom370 wrote: post #48
krschultz wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's funny because the desktop syncing is probably the worst part of the ecosystem. They didn't even attempt to make it work on Linux (fine, its a niche, but they also actively made it more difficult for open source software to work with newer models) and iTunes for Windows is one of the crappiest pieces of software on Windows, and that's saying something.

I'd say desktop syncing is a really great part of the ecosystem, since it means that I can buy a new iPhone and be completely up and running again in less than an hour. Upgrading the software is a breeze, which is something you can't say about Nokia phones (last time I tried). I'd agree that iTunes on Windows sucks, but that's not too surprising given that they are running it inside of their cross-platform Objective…

I hate, I hate, I hate iPod/iPhone syncing. It's intrusive, annoying, and constantly get's in my way.

First, it interrupts whatever I'm doing. I like to listen to audiobooks, and if I'm at my desk, I might plug my iPod in so I can charge it up, but I don't want to stop listening to what I'm listening to. But no, it stops everything and starts syncing.

Next, I need to jump through hoops to stop the syncing. iTunes starts up, and has to do it's thing. I can't just cancel the sync, I have to click through popups coming from iTunes to cancel the stupid sync before I can shut it down again.

And god forbid iTunes actually SYNC what you mark to sync! I hate installing it simply because if I do, I have to go find the place that says "Yes, when I tell you to sync an audiobook, you should, you know, actually sync the audiobook."

And then, after you are done syncing, I can't just jump back into listening to what I was listening to before.

Yes, this happens, it happens often. Really, the entire iPod/iTunes environment makes me regret getting the iPod.

Re: Steve Jobs' Prescience (Or: Who Wants A Stylus?)

#52

Post by jeduan »

Shorel wrote: post #39

Writing normal letters is very slow, sure. And making the system recognize ugly handwriting like mine is a torture for me and for the developers. But, there's this thing called shorthand, used by secretaries who needed to write faster than her boss could speak. It is still amazingly fast. The lack of proof of concept implementations of shorthand recognition is to me a failure in tablet user interface history. You can…

Still the user would have to learn a new way to write. Not great especially when you consider that things such as Dvorak have failed to get traction.

Re: Steve Jobs' Prescience (Or: Who Wants A Stylus?)

#53

Post by jujjine »

jasonlotito wrote: post #51
snom370 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd say desktop syncing is a really great part of the ecosystem, since it means that I can buy a new iPhone and be completely up and running again in less than an hour. Upgrading the software is a breeze, which is something you can't say about Nokia phones (last time I tried). I'd agree that iTunes on Windows sucks, but that's not too surprising given that they are running it inside of their cross-platform Objective…

I hate, I hate, I hate iPod/iPhone syncing. It's intrusive, annoying, and constantly get's in my way. First, it interrupts whatever I'm doing. I like to listen to audiobooks, and if I'm at my desk, I might plug my iPod in so I can charge it up, but I don't want to stop listening to what I'm listening to. But no, it stops everything and starts syncing. Next, I need to jump through hoops to stop the syncing. iTunes sta…

Deactivate automated syncing in the devices preference pane of iTunes.

Re: Steve Jobs' Prescience (Or: Who Wants A Stylus?)

#54

Post by fjabre »

"...for the universe of people using a PDA, 90% of them just want to get the information out. Only 10% want to do major input on this thing."

I love his line of thinking here. He really does have a knack for breaking things down to their simplest components and extracting useful information from that perspective.

Re: Steve Jobs' Prescience (Or: Who Wants A Stylus?)

#55

Post by jasonlotito »

jujjine wrote: post #53
jasonlotito wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate, I hate, I hate iPod/iPhone syncing. It's intrusive, annoying, and constantly get's in my way. First, it interrupts whatever I'm doing. I like to listen to audiobooks, and if I'm at my desk, I might plug my iPod in so I can charge it up, but I don't want to stop listening to what I'm listening to. But no, it stops everything and starts syncing. Next, I need to jump through hoops to stop the syncing. iTunes sta…

Deactivate automated syncing in the devices preference pane of iTunes.

Why? I want it to sync automatically when I plug it in. Just not when I'm using it.

Edit: Why is wanting this wrong? I have podcasts downloaded, and just plug my iPod in while I get ready in the morning, and it updates without me having to sit down and dick around with the computer. I really don't think this is unreasonable, and these problems occur every day.

Re: Steve Jobs' Prescience (Or: Who Wants A Stylus?)

#56

Post by catch23 »

krschultz wrote: post #28
JunkDNA wrote: post #9

I find this interesting from a historical perspective. You can really see the thought process that led to the design decisions on the iPhone and iPad: Get desktop sync right, optimize for user consumption of data, avoid handwriting recognition (since it's inefficient anyway), the PDA is dead (instead, a phone has to have PDA features). I also like the subtle way Jobs deflects the issue of whether or not tablet device…

It's funny because the desktop syncing is probably the worst part of the ecosystem. They didn't even attempt to make it work on Linux (fine, its a niche, but they also actively made it more difficult for open source software to work with newer models) and iTunes for Windows is one of the crappiest pieces of software on Windows, and that's saying something.

It's funny that you mention this because desktop syncing is where Android really got it wrong. Try buying a droid/htc/etc and try using the manufacturer's software for upgrading the firmware -- basically impossible for the average user. Jobs is trying to make devices easy for the average joe, not the power user who runs linux. Macs have always been in a niche market and quite happy with where it is.

Re: Steve Jobs' Prescience (Or: Who Wants A Stylus?)

#57

Post by kurumo »

froo wrote: post #46
kurumo wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the Pogo stylus. The problem with it, or rather with ArtStudio, Sketchpad, Brushes and all the stylus note-taking apps is the same: you cannot rest your hand on the screen. It registers touches from the hand instead of the stylus. That makes all of these apps pretty much useless as far as I am concerned: it is quite inconvenient to draw or write using these applications, even though some of them are extremely…

I use a SmudgeGuard with my Wacom Cintiq - I suppose the same thing would work for the iPad. I haven't received my iPad yet to test it out. EDIT - link http://www.smudgeguard.com/

Thanks, I will try it. Application-level solution would still be preferable, I think, and is an interesting problem, aside from the immediate usability benefits.

Re: Steve Jobs' Prescience (Or: Who Wants A Stylus?)

#58

Post by catch23 »

kurumo wrote: post #42
froo wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get stylus' for apple's touch devices, I recently ordered one for my iPad. It's called a Pogo Sketch I plan to use my iPad for doodling and whatnot of a night time in bed, aswell as reading and general media consumption - its really my "bed time" screen device.

I have the Pogo stylus. The problem with it, or rather with ArtStudio, Sketchpad, Brushes and all the stylus note-taking apps is the same: you cannot rest your hand on the screen. It registers touches from the hand instead of the stylus. That makes all of these apps pretty much useless as far as I am concerned: it is quite inconvenient to draw or write using these applications, even though some of them are extremely…

cheap way to solve that problem is just to wear one of those gloves with holes cut out for the fingers... I use my bicycling gloves and they work great. I don't think we need to use fancy technology to solve this simple problem :-)

Re: Steve Jobs' Prescience (Or: Who Wants A Stylus?)

#59

Post by ugh »

jasonlotito wrote: post #51
snom370 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd say desktop syncing is a really great part of the ecosystem, since it means that I can buy a new iPhone and be completely up and running again in less than an hour. Upgrading the software is a breeze, which is something you can't say about Nokia phones (last time I tried). I'd agree that iTunes on Windows sucks, but that's not too surprising given that they are running it inside of their cross-platform Objective…

I hate, I hate, I hate iPod/iPhone syncing. It's intrusive, annoying, and constantly get's in my way. First, it interrupts whatever I'm doing. I like to listen to audiobooks, and if I'm at my desk, I might plug my iPod in so I can charge it up, but I don't want to stop listening to what I'm listening to. But no, it stops everything and starts syncing. Next, I need to jump through hoops to stop the syncing. iTunes sta…

Next, I need to jump through hoops to stop the syncing. iTunes starts up, and has to do it's thing. I can't just cancel the sync, I have to click through popups coming from iTunes to cancel the stupid sync before I can shut it down again.

No you don’t. There is probably one of those annoying “Check if you never want to appear this dialog again” checkboxes (which are for some reason all too common in iTunes), but that’s a one time thing, after that you only ever have to click once to cancel.

Or you could just slide to cancel the sync on your iPhone or iPod touch. That’s actually the easiest way to do it. Then you are immediately back to where you were and can continue listening. It’s instantaneous and I do it all the time when I plug in my iPod touch for charging and not syncing.

Re: Steve Jobs' Prescience (Or: Who Wants A Stylus?)

#60

Post by tibbon »

jsz0 wrote: post #43
tibbon wrote: post #15

One of the better comments by Jobs, "It’s really true, if you’ve got a bunch of rich guys who can afford their third computer — you know, they’ve got a desktop, they’ve got a portable and now they’re gonna have one of these to read with… that’s your market!" I've got my iPhone, I've got my Macbook Pro, I've got my gaming systems (and we have a few Kindles floating around the house)... I need the iPad because?

You may not need or want one. I think the bigger point is our ideas about portability are evolving. In the late 80s people who wanted a portable computer were happy with 10-15lbs machines that were basically portable desktops. Throughout the 90s we started to get something that looked like a modern laptop but still too heavy an expensive for most people to carry around. In the mid-00s we get the modern version of a l…

Agreed. In the late 90's I thought a laptop could never replace my dual processor monster of the time in a workstation/server case (which I still happily carried to LAN parties and friends houses with a 19" CRT monitor)
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