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If iPads are “post-pc devices” why must I sync with iTunes before I can use one?

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Re: If iPads are “post-pc devices” why must I sync with iTunes before I can use one?

#151

Post by tomkarlo »

recoiledsnake wrote: post #125
tomkarlo wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looking at Dell's price for the last 10 years ( http://yhoo.it/fCdFBo ), that doesn't seem to be a great business to be in. The upgrade cycle is slowing, margins are falling and the mainstream consumer just don't care much about the "latest and greatest" any more when it comes to computers. The reality is that for most users (non-gamers) the power of computers long ago exceeded what they need. Does is really matter i…

So in 10 years, when everyone has speedy tablets (and PCs?), won't the same thing happen?

No... if performance is already sufficient for most tablet users (and I'd argue it is - as an iPad owner I have my complaints but "it's too slow" it's really high on the list) then you won't see this happen. It will be some other product feature, like weight, or battery life, or cost, that will be the axis that you see competition focused on.

Marketing folks would love to have consumer focus on a metrics like performance that constantly keeps growing and outdating old products. Other metrics, like price and customer experience, are often just as important to buyers.

To give a parallel example, I don't think most HDTV owners are going to replace their set at this point for higher resolution. If you have 720 you probably don't care all that much about 1080 unless you're an AV geek. So that market is now competing on two other axes: cost (how cheap can you get it for a given size) and they're also pushing 3D.

Re: If iPads are “post-pc devices” why must I sync with iTunes before I can use one?

#152

Post by gvb »

WalterBright wrote: post #88
gvb wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dropbox works well.

Do I have to upload the file to dropbox.com in order to see it on my ipod?

Yes. You install dropbox software on all the computers you want to share the files on and dropbox synchronizes the dropbox folders on all the computers. When you copy a file to the dropbox folder on one computer, dropbox copies the file to the dropbox server (in the background) and then down to all the other computers you installed dropbox on.

Dropbox says they encrypt the files, but they hold the key so the encryption doesn't guarantee privacy. You can encrypt the file before putting it in the dropbox folder which will guarantee privacy (to the extent that your encryption is strong), but you have to decrypt it on the other computers.

Keepass is an example of an encrypted file that should be safe when copied via dropbox.

Re: If iPads are “post-pc devices” why must I sync with iTunes before I can use one?

#153

Post by ryannielsen »

noonespecial wrote: post #138

My iPad won't even charge right without my macBook. My brother works for Apple and gave me the party line about how "some motherboards are not capable of supplying enough power to their usb ports." I started Parallels on my macBook, plugged in the iPad and let it connect to the virtual XP that was running: "Not Charging". Shut down Parallels without even unplugging the iPad, well, boy howdy, its charging now. No OSX/…

It's not 'purposefully broken', and your brother wasn't giving you the 'party line' – he was relaying a fact. To charge over USB, Apple had break the USB spec without compromising compatibility or destroying existing USB peripherals. To do that, the hardware was modified to vend more amps over the bus but only when handshaking has occurred between the attached device and the OS drivers.

If you'd installed Apple's drivers in your XP instance, things would have worked fine.

If you want to argue that Apple should have made their changes public so anyone could re-implement, well, that's a different discussion.

Re: If iPads are “post-pc devices” why must I sync with iTunes before I can use one?

#154

Post by mickt »

noonespecial wrote: post #138

My iPad won't even charge right without my macBook. My brother works for Apple and gave me the party line about how "some motherboards are not capable of supplying enough power to their usb ports." I started Parallels on my macBook, plugged in the iPad and let it connect to the virtual XP that was running: "Not Charging". Shut down Parallels without even unplugging the iPad, well, boy howdy, its charging now. No OSX/…

"some motherboards are not capable of supplying enough power to their usb ports."

That's just lovely. At work someone ordered 2 western digital passports harddrives. They wouldn't work with any Apple laptops that we had (2 15in MBP, a 13in MBP, a Air) and would only work with desktops (2 iMacs). The box, WD's website, Apple's website all said these were compatible with any MacBook ... I suspected the problem was with underpowered USB ports. I even phoned WD's support (who were unprofessional) and couldn't get straight answer out of them, nor any useful info from Apple website.

Thanks for confirming my suspicions!

I never used a Mac until 1.5 years ago and I've been impressed with the quality and finish of the hardware, the overall smoothness of the UI, suspend & hibernate that work, AND a bash shell. And the ease in which non-Computer literate can use one is impressive (unless they've used other OS's for a long time).

But, the way Apple obfuscate information, and Bill Gates ... er I mean Steve Jobs apparent desire to lock users into Apple is disturbing.

Re: If iPads are “post-pc devices” why must I sync with iTunes before I can use one?

#155

Post by ugh »

dman wrote: post #40
ugh wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I don’t. If you could afford a computer ten years ago you can afford two today.

Ah that explains it, i grew up around plenty of people who couldnt afford a computer ten years ago :)

If my memory is not failing me completely I would say that lower middle class to maybe even down to slightly above the poverty level could afford some computer ten years ago. A majority could buy a computer.

Re: If iPads are “post-pc devices” why must I sync with iTunes before I can use one?

#156

Post by anonymoushn »

jujjine wrote: post #134
eitland wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are not alone. I've been using Mac OS X for two years and can't belive why the company that came up with iPad and iPhone still - have global menus (who really wants that with todays screen resolutions and two monitors?) - needs the worlds best trackpads because their laptop keyboards have misplaced ctrl and their default keybindings are so inconsistent that users would be lost without a good pointing device. - fo…

have global menus (who really wants that with todays screen resolutions and two monitors? I never had a problem with that. With a 13" device it's possible to have 2 to 4 windows open at the same time, since the windows themselves use space efficiently. So at best this argument is subjective to the user. needs the worlds best trackpads because their laptop keyboards have misplaced ctrl and their default keybindings ar…

Windows 7 ships with something similar to Shiftit (windows key+arrow keys). Between that and spaces' habit of randomly rearranging my windows on the z-axis I prefer Windows to OSX for window management.

I think the problem is solved, but only for people who don't use OSX or Windows and take a month or two learn how to use a scriptable tiling WM =/

Re: If iPads are “post-pc devices” why must I sync with iTunes before I can use one?

#157

Post by anonymoushn »

DaveMebs wrote: post #103
w1ntermute wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I hear a lot of complaints about iTunes, but it works pretty well for me - on a Mac. Are you using the Windows version? even after I secured a windows computer to run itunes

Apple's version of iTunes on Windows is so much worse than the Mac version, that I can only assume it is intentional. For example, only one user may run iTunes at one time on a PC while multiple users can run it on a Mac. It also shits all over your registry. As a long time Mac iTunes user, I've been pretty frustrated with the Windows version, which I started using 6 months ago. The counter point, however, would be m…

I don't mind if iTunes sucks on Windows, because Windows has foobar2000. What really bothers me is that there are no worthwhile alternatives to iTunes for OSX.

Re: If iPads are “post-pc devices” why must I sync with iTunes before I can use one?

#158

Post by nightpool »

rbarooah wrote: post #49
zaphar wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author mentions the data center and it's likelihood as a solution. His point was that until that DC comes on line and is used as a solution it's disingenuous to call the iPad a post-pc device because it isn't, it's a peripheral. If and when they fix that then you can start calling a post-pc device. Meanwhile an Android pad really is a post-pc device right now no waiting.

What can you do with an Android pad that you can't do with an iPad bought unlocked from the store?

Install applications from the internet

Re: If iPads are “post-pc devices” why must I sync with iTunes before I can use one?

#159

Post by dvdhsu »

ugh wrote: post #155
dman wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah that explains it, i grew up around plenty of people who couldnt afford a computer ten years ago :)

If my memory is not failing me completely I would say that lower middle class to maybe even down to slightly above the poverty level could afford some computer ten years ago. A majority could buy a computer.

In other countries, no.

Re: If iPads are “post-pc devices” why must I sync with iTunes before I can use one?

#160

Post by jodrellblank »

tomkarlo wrote: post #91
PostOnce wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you not do all your coding, photo editing, FPS fragging, word processing, and spreadsheets on an iPad yet? Don't you have one sitting in your basement acting as a home media and web server? I'm not even going to get into how much more upgradable they are than PCs. How could you ever possibly need more than the few hundred megs of ram that an iPad has? Dell might as well announce liquidation right now. ($75 on crai…

Looking at Dell's price for the last 10 years ( http://yhoo.it/fCdFBo ), that doesn't seem to be a great business to be in. The upgrade cycle is slowing, margins are falling and the mainstream consumer just don't care much about the "latest and greatest" any more when it comes to computers. The reality is that for most users (non-gamers) the power of computers long ago exceeded what they need. Does is really matter i…

If you're mostly using your computer to check email and facebook, you don't need a quad core.

I think there's a lot of unfulfilled potential here, and I'm really glad the emerging tablet space is exploring GPS, accelerometers, gyroscopes, pressure sensors, touch sensors, light sensors, Apple is pushing FaceTime, Android and iOS are getting augmented reality apps, etc.

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