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Tablets

paulgraham.com

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Re: Tablets

#81

Post by blahedo »

Here's the thing: people who aren't geeks often like and even prefer single-purpose devices. There is, as has been noted (see http://g4tv.com/videos/44277/DICE-2010-Design-Outside-the-Bo...), a "pocket exception", but for larger devices, people who aren't us are often intimidated or confused by devices that do many things.

And of course there are dangers in making a machine more general-purpose than it needs to be. Machines that are too general-purpose becomes more susceptible and sometimes tempting targets for hacking. (As usual, ground well-trod by xkcd: http://xkcd.com/463/, http://xkcd.com/801/)

Re: Tablets

#82

Post by skalpelis »

cryptoz wrote: post #20
luigi wrote: post #15

I think they're still just computers, and will be thought of as such. Sure, they're computers you hold in your hand, not the kind that sit on your desk. Gaming consoles and set top boxes are morphing into general purpose computers too. Those are computers that sit on a table near the TV. But they're all computers the same. http://luigimontanez.com/2010/the-computer-for-the-room/

"Computers" still get viruses, require backups done by the user to be safe from data loss, have out-of-date software packages (each with its own broken update mechanism), take ages to boot up, are clunky and slow...the list goes on. Sure, none of those are specific to the "computer" form factor. But they are all things that people think of when they think about their desktop computer (some mac and linux users exclude…

I believe some Windows 7 tablets might still experience these problems.

Re: Tablets

#83

Post by revorad »

ulf wrote: post #14

I think a really disrupting and interesting field will be tablets as replacement for textbooks in education. The possibilities to create amazing educational material are endless. On the other side, you have textbook publishers, who generally learn a lot of money with ever slightly changing editions and will do a lot to not see that income stream dying...

These guys are trying - http://www.kno.com/ - but I think it's silly to literally copy the physical form factor of a textbook. I think textbooks will not be replaced by devices like this, but stuff like the Khan academy.

Re: Tablets

#84

Post by parbo »

ludwigvan wrote: post #48

"For historical reasons, the device in your pocket or purse - the one that you use to browse the Internet and send email, is called a "phone." We need a new name for that thing." Scott Adams. He suggests calling them "head". http://www.dilbert.com/blog/entry/phone/ On a side note, I really need an innovation for keys, they scratch my iPhone! So, go, that new yc company, go!

In Sweden, a mobile phone is called a "mobil". In Germany it's called "handy".

Re: Tablets

#85

Post by timcederman »

blahedo wrote: post #81

Here's the thing: people who aren't geeks often like and even prefer single-purpose devices. There is, as has been noted (see http://g4tv.com/videos/44277/DICE-2010-Design-Outside-the-Bo... ), a "pocket exception", but for larger devices, people who aren't us are often intimidated or confused by devices that do many things. And of course there are dangers in making a machine more general-purpose than it needs to be.…

This doesn't explain the iPhone though.

Re: Tablets

#86

Post by daeken »

rdl wrote: post #24

What's the YC funded startup which is a replacement for keys? As in "We funded one startup that's replacing keys."

I know you specifically asked about the YC startup, but there are a few really cool lock-related startups out there. There have been a lot of NFC (near-field communication) startups popping up for the last few years, but those require special hardware in the phone, so a company (I can't recall which one at the moment -- sorry) came up with a novel approach: have an app on the phone that plays a series of tones on the speaker, which the lock receives and uses as an audio key. While this could very well be dangerous if not designed properly, it's a really novel approach, and could very well be more secure than existing electronic locks; I know that in the hotel lock industry at least, security is horrendous as it stands, so hopefully this could help there.

Re: Tablets

#87

Post by duck »

asmithmd1 wrote: post #61
duck wrote: post #37

The fact that you can change font sizes easily means the iPad effectively replaces reading glasses. Really? I mean it might help someone not need reading glasses for the tasks they do on the iPad... but they still have to have them to read the dinner menu, instructions on the box of food, and so on. If you can't replace it fully how good is it? The iPhone replaced regular cell phones because of the fact you no longer…

I use my iphone to replace reading glasses all the time. Snap a photo, two finger zoom of the photo and you are done

So you don't own reading glasses anymore?

Re: Tablets

#88

Post by mortenjorck »

Azuldolphin wrote: post #44
dnsworks wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, Apple's shareholders are out there saying "I'm so glad we're making great stuff". Apple wants to make money, no matter how much fandom we bestow upon Apple for having a great design aesthetic, Apple is a corporation whose aim is to make money. Apple is a golden boy because they aren't Microsoft, and if we keep comparing the two, we never give Apple an honest shake.

I don't know. I've always gotten the feeling that Jobs is a perfectionist to the point of it almost being a pathology. I doubt his motivations are primarily focused on money, especially at this point.

It's probably safe to say titans of industry tend to have a diversity of motivations. In markets like finance, I don't doubt that it's often as simple as money, but the cultural currencies of other markets can be equally alluring pursuits. Industrial design, and in the last few decades, tech, have a currency of having a positive impact on users' lives. UX, basically, specifically with the opportunity cost of bad UX.

If there were any way to quantify this -- "quality-of-life improvement credits" -- Apple would likely be quite rich in these as well as simply in financial currencies.

Re: Tablets

#89

Post by othello »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #40

Worth noting here that most analysts feel that the reason the original iPod was successful was that it only did one thing in an extremely friendly format. I think the key question here is whether or not the app-universe grows in size until consumers desire separation of widgets again. I know from my own experience that I found I maximize productivity by having separate devices responsible for separate things. For ins…

When my iPhone runs the iPod app, it almost physically becomes an iPod.

In a sense, the tablet format is more than just a software or hardware platform. It's more akin to a new kind of material - one that you can mold at will, through software, into a myriad of distinct widgets.

Re: Tablets

#90

Post by sudont »

replicatorblog wrote: post #17

This is absolutely right. My company been working on a medical device accessory for the iPhone and the possibilities the "tablet" form factor are amazing. Lower Cost Structure - In our industry (diabetes) you give away hardware to get ongoing disposable revenue. This hardware is expensive to produce and develop. Plus you spend a lot of effort on areas that don't add much value e.g. reinventing the wheel re: display d…

Interestingly they're still devices. It's just that with iOS (and soon Android) this is the first time a general-purpose operating system is perfect for a device.

Cocoa's for-scientist, rapid-development ideology is perfect for using the OS to create an ethereal device.

Also, that's some solid hardware/software.

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