One thing that now seems ridiculous is the bank authenticator tokens, the blizzard authentication apps are a great example
Tablets
111–120 of 262 posts
Re: Tablets
#112> I wouldn't be surprised if by playing some clever tricks with the accelerometer you could even replace the bathroom scale. Galileo might take issue with that: http://www.jimloy.com/physics/galileo.htm
I'm glad there aren't too many dumb readers of HN. Otherwise we'd see a post 'I just stood on my iPad and now the screen is cracked'.
Re: Tablets
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
My phone's battery died last time I was flying home from a business trip because I was listening to music in-flight. I already freak out a bit when my phone dies -- I can't imagine being locked out and not being able to call anyone.
I agree this is a problem. While like the idea of a remote-controlled lock, from what I've read about how lockitron does it, this is a major problem. (Lockitron is basically a sheeva plug with wifi to the Internet talking over zwire to a commodity remote-controlled deadbolt) Also, it isn't always the case that you have signal in an entryway, especially in weird apartment buildings, basement apartments, etc. Also, I a…
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Re: Tablets
#114Developers have used the accelerometer in ways Apple could never have imagined. That sentence is one instance of this sentence: Developers have used in ways could never have imagined. What better argument for open standards, APIs, and community cooperation?
Doesn't the fact that the iPad is itself a closed...errr, integrated...system counter your argument? I'm all for open standards, API's and community cooperation of course. I just don't think that Apple is necessarily the antithesis. The fundamental difference between Apple's position today to Microsoft's monoculture of the previous decade lies in their motivations. Apple wants to make great stuff. Microsoft wanted to…
It does not counter his argument, but this doesn't mean he's right, either. His argument states that given a platform function, developers have historically used/exploited said function in ways that its creator had not intended. In terms of device functionality, this comes in terms of new applications for and of that device. The OP surmises that increasing the number of "opened up" functions via providing an API for developers will increase the usefulness of the device via the previous statement. Following his reasoning, the ultimate functional and useful device is "open" in the sense of FOSS because developers have the ability to exploit all functions of the device. My question to that conclusion would be, what if hackers made changes to the device that ran counter to the initial design philosophy of the device...which is what the users initially purchased the device? Is this a good thing always? Is this a bad thing always? The answer is neither, and this is why the implied (as interpreted by myself) conclusion is false.
The OP's argument doesn't necessarily follow because usefulness does not equate to functionality and hack-ability. Good design is not something you can quantify by "featurefulness". If it were, users would have stopped buying new copies of Microsoft Office years ago. Following from the end line of Paul Graham's post, if you give hackers an inch, they will take you a mile. PG doesn't state whether or not that is a mile in the direction your preferred direction of travel.
Re: Tablets
#115Worth 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…
This, in my opinion, is the genius of Apple's choice of form factor. By omitting any physical buttons apart from meta-functionality, and allowing only full-screen applications, an iOS device essentially becomes dedicated hardware for whatever it happens to be running. I remember marveling at the YouTube app the first time I picked up an iPad. It was the best YouTube experience I'd seen; it felt like I was holding a p…
Video on the iPad is its killer app for - I don't check email with it, I do a fair amount of Web browsing and I have read a few books through Kindle on it - but with video (a ripped DVD, iPlayer or a movie rented from iTunes) it is simply wonderful.
[NB I noticed the other evening that an iPlayer at the distance I normally cradle it is larger than our 50" plasma at whatever distance that is from where I sit - no wonder it feels so immersive]
Re: Tablets
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
Microsoft's control was superficial, and that's how they like it. They don't want to control what you put on your computer, they just want you to pay them the same reasonable price. Apple on the other hand clearly does care what you put on your iOS device, and in ways that go beyond a desire for good UX to a desire to control what is acceptable for society: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/apple-finds-christianity-offe…
Here's the difference: You don't have to use any Apple device if you don't want to. That choice is yours. I spent many years working in places where you had to use Microsoft products. There was no choice. Microsoft didn't care what you put on your machine because all they care about is making money selling you stuff.
I'm just saying but who knows if in x years you also have to use Apple? You know, there was always an alternative for Microsoft products like there is for Apple ones but people actually vote on this with their wallet: if the vast majority chooses Apple you will be forced to use their products too. I'm sure of this because I would never think about working with Objective-C and here I am doing iOS apps because that's where money is.
Re: Tablets
#117Other stuff being replaced by smart devices: watches, alarm clocks, portable radios, cheap digital cameras, spirit levels, dictionaries and perhaps soon your wallet and physical mass-produced books. Looking at some of the creative stuff people do with mounting their iPad in vehicles, perhaps iPad-like devices will replace traditional dials in cars in the near future. The only reason we even consider calling them "mob…
The car dashboard thing has been done. For Android I use Torque.
http://torque-bhp.com/
Re: Tablets
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
This, in my opinion, is the genius of Apple's choice of form factor. By omitting any physical buttons apart from meta-functionality, and allowing only full-screen applications, an iOS device essentially becomes dedicated hardware for whatever it happens to be running. I remember marveling at the YouTube app the first time I picked up an iPad. It was the best YouTube experience I'd seen; it felt like I was holding a p…
Video on the iPad is its killer app for - I don't check email with it, I do a fair amount of Web browsing and I have read a few books through Kindle on it - but with video (a ripped DVD, iPlayer or a movie rented from iTunes) it is simply wonderful. [NB I noticed the other evening that an iPlayer at the distance I normally cradle it is larger than our 50" plasma at whatever distance that is from where I sit - no wond…
That mono sound really sucks you in
Re: Tablets
#119The real thing that makes these "tablets" interesting is the number of features they have packed into them. The "ease of use" that people are talking about when referencing Apple's products is just a part of Apple's marketing for their devices. Android (and Maemo and MeeGo and etc) devices are much more capable and much more hackable. Why the praise for such a bland device such as the i-OSes when there's an awesome O…
"Capable" and "hackable" are completely different than "ease of use". Apple really does have great ease of use (for normal people), and part of how they get it is by reducing the other two.
I continue to disagree with that concept. Mac OS X would not suddenly become better for normal users if Apple ripped out Terminal.app and forbade anything that replaced its functionality.
Re: Tablets
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
pretty sure your iPhone doesn't have 16 GB of RAM- iPhone 4 apparently has 512 MB RAM...so still more than your old computer, but not so drastic.
To be pedantic, Flash memory is closer to DRAM than to disks, although it's used for storage. It has similar access cycles as DRAM, the chip architecture of controller plus array is closer than that of a HDD.
Surely it is more important what it is used for, rather than anything else.