iOS Skeptics and the Humna-Humna of the
Internet
From Michael:
It's nice to hear someone sort of famous like you failing to gush
over the iPad.
I find it heavy and impossible to type on. Also, I get very grumpy
when I see crappy iOS ports of open source software being sold in the
App Store. Now I have never been a big fan of buying software,
something which instantly becomes worthless upon purchase, but I have
never bought a single App, and I challenge all iPad/Mac users out there
to stop buying Apps and boycott [OS X 10.7] Lion. Most of the
passive media consumption activities it is supposed to be so good for
can be carried out using only free/preinstalled stuff.
It's also great to hear you criticizing it for its many limitations
and the glaring but largely unsolved problem of no good text
input method. Pipe dream: With a screen that big, Newton-style
handwriting recognition just might be tolerable. How about it taking
dictation?
Anyway, will this device reshape the Internet, molding it into a
passive, hypno-toad medium like television, by discouraging users from
interacting meaningfully - usenet discussions were interesting,
Twitter/Facebook is just the humna-humna* chittering of self-involved
monkeys - and discouraging the creation of (or even tinkering with)
anything? N.B. that I'm not talking conspiracy here, but the emergent
lowest common denominator: a giant community network which once aspired
to Encyclopedia Galactica slowly decaying into the home shopping
network. Why is it decaying? I don't know.
Most ominous is the App Store's invasion of the desktop OS. I
remember many of my redneck neighbors glued to the TV with a telephone
on their laps in the 1980s cable TV home shopping era. (I'm a also a
redneck, so no disrespect intended.) Old people addicted to buying
useless junk somehow reminds me of gambling addicts. (I believe this
insipid outlet of faux lladro and cubic zirconium may have originated
close to what's left of my home town in West Central Florida, but that
is another rant for another time.)
I still like to use the command line and good old fashioned shell
scripts. I'm a big fan of macports, fink, and X11. I'm getting a
sinking feeling that these open source wonders will be shut out of the
walled Apple garden (orchard?) of the App Store. (Or assimilated and
offered as apps, even though the developers intended them to be free
and open.) Perhaps the end will begin with a Microsoft-style FUD
campaign: all that did not come from the App Store will be a "security
risk" and one will have to jailbreak the latest Book (I'm thinking
they'll drop the "Mac" for the new model names.) One's computer will
become a kind of Home Shopping Channel (App Store), from which there
will be no easy escape. It might even violate the nebulous terms of the
incomprehensible 55-page EULA you had to agree to.
I'm hoping this message is just one of a flood of
"underwhelmed/depressed by iPad" emails in your box. But I have a
nagging feeling that you probably got about 4. Maybe you could do a
survey? Just in case there are more out there.
*The Humna-humna are bureaucratically-obsessed
onomatopoeically-named aliens from the 80s PC space trading game
StarFlight II. Think of them as less belligerent Vogons.
Hi Michael,
Sort of famous? I'm flattered. ;-) I've also
been called a redneck and even referred to myself as one
occasionally.
I've had both Facebook and Twitter accounts for a
couple of years now and have never done a thing with either. I don't
know where people find the time.
I hear you, although I hope you're a bit overly
pessimistic about the future of Apple computing. You may not be,
though. I just learned yesterday that Lion doesn't support Apple's USB
modem, which is a deal-breaker for me unless there's a workaround. It's
rumored that some third-party dialup/fax modems will work, but I
haven't been able to confirm that.
"Magic?" My magic epiphany was my first encounters
with Macintosh System
6 nineteen years ago, which came as a revelation compared to the
menu-driven word processor I'd been using. A another supplemental magic
moment followed four years later when I got my first PowerBook. Compared to those
magical revelations, my iPad is a distant also-ran.
Different strokes for different folks, and everything
would be hunky-dory were it not for Apple's full-court press to
"iOS-ify" OS X while concurrently ushering us to its iCloud a few weeks
hence. Actually iCloud is present reality with the ascendancy of the
Mac App Store, and landscape-altering changes like the download-only OS
X 10.7 Lion install. It may be the Post-PC Era for Steve Jobs and Apple
and legions of iPad/iPhone fans, but it's not for me - even if that
ultimately means switching to Linux, or even Windows if the latter
doesn't go touchscreen gesture-loopy too with Windows 8.
I'm also, like you, nonplused by the whole App Store
phenomenon, and text entry/editing/manipulation on the iPad is
unbelievably lame. However, I am happy to report that dictation is one
of the best-news iPad stories I can relate, thanks to Nuance's amazing
(and free)
Dragon Dictation app/service. Here's a link to a
recent full review of mine.
I agree: "lowest common denominator" computing will
make for a bleak future and probably the end of Mac computing as we
know it.
Charles
Tablets for Those Who Don't 'Get' Computers
From Lloyd:
Hello, Charles
I read your summary of the
Tech Republic story about tablets vs. computers with interest. Your
analysis, as well as that of the author of the article, brought to mind
the "car vs. truck computing" discussion you had with your readers a
while ago. Using a tablet like it's a truck is like using an El Camino,
a Chevy car body with a cargo area not unlike a truck's, for truck
work. Disappointment is bound to result for any serious business user
of trucks; they need the GMC "professional grade" truck, but a truck
lookalike.
However, for those who don't "get" computers or who just hate them,
a light-duty tablet makes sense, and we are in an age of de-skilling
computer developments that make everything "magic" and which require
none of the skill (and fortitude) that it takes to, say, fix a car
broken down in western Canada in the dark, their market share will
doubtless continue to grow, perhaps at the expense of computers, as
applications are developed that mimic what power users do with their
"truck computers" at present.
regards,
-Lloyd
Hi Lloyd,
Nice analysis, and I love the El Camino vs. GMC "Professional
Grade" analogy. A company I worked for back in the '70s had a '73 Ford
Ranchero that I drove quite a bit. A miserable excuse for a truck, and
it only got about 9 miles per Imperial gallon (351 CID V8 with
primitive emissions control), although I did end up doing a rings and
rod bearings partial rebuild of an Austin 1800 engine using its bed as
a mobile workshop one weekend. This is the only shot I have of it,
taken on a Christmas tree cutting excursion with my wife and a friend,
circa December, 1974.
As you say, the sort of use one applies it to will
determine one's level of satisfaction with the iPad, although I find it
has some shortcomings even for tasks to which it's reasonably
well-suited.
It's a decent casual web-surfing tool, provided you
don't need to quickly and efficiently copy blocks of text or images or
want to watch a Flash video and can live without keyboard shortcuts and
advanced settings configurations. It's a handy email checker as well,
although I don't especially like the bundled iOS version of Apple's
Mail app. However, for composing and answering email, not so much, at
least if you're going to write more than a few sentences, in which case
the iPad's online keyboard becomes a formidable roadblock to speed and
efficiency.
The iPad is definitely a lot more comfortable to use
in bed or when lounging on a sofa than a laptop.
Charles
Lion: Apple Forcing the iPad Model on Mac
Users
From Alex:
Praise God, the 2011 13.3" MacBook Pro
model with Snow Leopard reinstall CDs should be a much better iPad
control computer for that super-duper iPad 2 (hey, dual-core CPU and graphics
make my iPad seem like a giant iPod touch, but in my case a twice as
powerful giant iPod touch, since my iPod touch is a 2G model with only
a 533 MHz CPU and 128 MB RAM).
I don't get why Apple wants to force the iPad model of computing on
us full-blown Intel Mac users, especially ever since 2006 all the way
up to the iPad's unveiling the Mac was supposed to be the be all and
end all of computers. The iPhone, until the iPhone 4, was just supposed
to be a pocket extension of your Mac. I miss those days, and
wish Apple just didn't get to change their minds at the drop of
a hat.
MobileMe is so much better than iCloud it makes me cry, and I am not
going to say good-bye to MobileMe until my subscription runs out on
June 15th, 2012. And then I am going to give up on cloud computing,
since no one does it like MobileMe does it, not even iCloud (definitely
not, as Lion won't work for what I need it for). How much more can us
old time Mac fans (from the Compact Mac with 8 MHz MC68000 CPU
days) stand for Steve Jobs to eviscerate the Mac in order to get ever
increasing profits? I know those were his marching orders, but perhaps
he's carrying them out too literally.
Kindest regards,
Alex
Hi Alex,
No software reinstall media with the Mid 2011 Core "i" MacBook Airs at
all, alas (with the Late 2010
model they come with reinstall software on a flash drive), but
they're a lot more computer than any iPad for not much more money, at
least comparing the high-end iPads with the entry-level 11" MacBook
Air. Even closer if you go for a refurb Air.
I'm definitely not a happy camper with the iOS-ifying
of OS X. This may be a moot point for me, as I just discovered that OS
X 10.7 Lion doesn't support Apple's USB modem, and living where I do,
modem dial-up support is a non-optional backup necessity for fairly
frequent broadband outages. One of those a couple of months back lasted
five days, and I would have been up you-know-what creek without a
paddle if I hadn't been unable to log on to good old reliable
dial-up.
I've never been a MobileMe user, so at least won't
miss that.
I'm going to keep my powder dry about commenting on
iCloud until it's up and running. I love
Dropbox
, which almost effortlessly keeps
work-in-progress synced among my three production laptops and the
iPad.
Charles
The Onscreen Keyboard and a Disappointing Change in
iOS 5
From Alex:
The onscreen keyboard works great for those who hunt and peck. For
an incredibly skilled touch typist like you, the keyboard is indeed
necessary, but for me, who only had experience with Type to Learn (a
program I found most horrible), I didn't learn to type. For hunting and
pecking, the keyboard can even write three 8-1/2 x 11" equivalent pages
in the Notes application, and the only thing that grows tired is my
arm.
I like how iOS 3 and 4 on the iPhone and iPad call their music apps
"iPod". That, to me, is a perk for buying a device with a higher profit
margin than the iPod touch even. Yet Apple is going to take that away
if I upgrade my iPad to iOS 5, and so, just like my Macs being
unable to upgrade to Lion due to Apple wanting to replace what works
with stuff that doesn't, I won't be upgrading my iPad to iOS 5,
unlike you as well as Dan Knight and his wife with their iPhone 3GS
units, because, fortunately, I don't have to jump whenever Apple cracks
the whip on my back.
Sincerely,
Alex
Hi Alex,
Actually I'm not "a highly-skilled touch typist." Over
the years I've developed a sort of intuitive typing mode that's more
than hunt and peck but well short of touch. I can manage about 50 wpm
for short bursts. Definitely a lot slower on the iPad virtual keyboard,
though, where it is indeed more hunt-and-peck, and my arms get sore
fast.
Bummer about the iPod music app in iOS 5. I hadn't
been aware. As you say, it's a cool feature in iOS 4. What will they
have in its place?
Charles
Publisher's note: The iPod app will be replaced with
separate Music and Video apps in iOS 5. dk
Pentax Optio and Batteries
From Ian after reading Pentax Optio E90 Well Built,
Takes Great Photos, and a Real Bargain:
Hello Charles,
I am a long time user of an Optio camera. I started with the
original Pentax Optio S, for which I paid nearly £350, but it did
have a 3 MP sensor. I went mad and splashed out on a massive 256
MB SD card. It took superb macro photos and was pretty good at all the
rest, except for a somewhat limited flash range.
After a number of years of service and accidental physical abuse, it
failed. I replaced it with a larger Panasonic, because I could not
resist the wide range telephoto, and my wife found the controls on the
Optio S too small. However, I found myself hankering for the pocketable
Pentax. Amazon to the rescue, and £40 bought me a secondhand
Pentax Optio S5i, the same overall size as the Optio S but bigger
controls and LCD. If I know I am going out to take photos, I will take
the Panasonic, but if I only might take photos, the Pentax gets chosen.
My choice may also be determined by my wife taking the Pentax, now that
the controls are big enough.
Now to batteries. The Pentax Optio S and S5i both take the same
Lithium-ion battery, not much more than a fat postage stamp. They are
good for hundreds of photos and cost virtually nothing to recharge. I
bought a spare and just swap batteries when one goes flat. It is no
hardship to slip the tiny spare into my back pocket, and as a result I
have never been without a good battery. There also seems to be a good
market in batteries at much lower prices than Pentax (or Panasonic)
charge.
Anyway, I hope your wife enjoys her Pentax as much as I have mine. I
am sure she will.
Regards,
Ian
Hi Ian,
Thanks for the commentary and Optio lore. My Sony
Cyber-shot DSC-W330 uses a wafer battery that performs similarly to you
describe. Carrying a spare battery is of course ideal, but the
Lithium-ion Sony NP-BN1 battery sells for $50 to $60 - roughly
one-third of the camera's list price, and more like half as much as
some street prices. Seems like a lot, although, as you, say it's
probably possible to find third-party alternatives to the Sony-branded
Still a AA fan!
So far, my wife loves the Optio E90.
Charles
Cheap 'Beater' Mac Laptops
From Lloyd:
Dear Charles:
Thanks for some thought-provoking observations on cheap, mobile computing. I share your
concern about leaving a new Mac on a coffee shop table, even for a
minute, as status symbol items attract thieves in the best of times,
and more so perhaps in periods of extended economic decline. (Of
course, a smart thief would want the data more than the hardware, as ID
theft yields more profit than a trip to the pawn shop or a quick score
on Craigslist.) Aside from security concerns, the potential for loss
from pets, accidents - think spilled coffee - et cetera, make using a
high-value Mac in a mobile environment problematic.
In a previous exchange, I mentioned having picked up a $1 (plus
shipping) WallStreet.
It's fully functional and opens student .docx files, thanks to Panergy's
docXConverter program (which also opens .xlsx files, as well). WiFi
with a Dell TruMobile 1150 card is fast enough, and SweetMail or
Outlook 5.2 handle email tasks. The Classilla browser is still under
development, and it serves for most web tasks. Thus I can live for
fairly extended periods (3+ hours with a battery purchased on eBay) in an OS 9.2.2 environment on a
computer that has enough scuffs and scratches to qualify as a bit of an
ugly duckling, and which weighs enough to be a bit harder to purloin
than it's lighter, newer cousins.
For a total investment of about $90, I have a beater Mac.
Admittedly, many of your readers will have needs that go beyond what a
project like this can accomplish, but inexpensive, useful computing is
in the eye of the user. As you point out, it's more about finding the
right bargain than it is about securing a specific model. (I'd have
been just as happy, for example, with a Clamshell iBook that got away for $35
(shipped), in another eBay auction.)
In closing, I appreciate your analogy, as well as your advice. Your
choice might be the equivalent of a 1992 Honda Civic and mine might be
a Plymouth Volare with a Slant Six, but they both serve us in the same
way - basic transportation on the rougher patches of the Information
Superhighway.
Regards,
-Lloyd
Hi Lloyd,
Thanks for the comments. Glad to hear that old
WallStreet is working out for you. Heavy rig to lug around, but it's
rugged. My Pismos are a
bit easier on the arms.
Our actual current beater car is a 1991 Toyota Corolla
that we picked up for $300, although we spent about $400 more and a
fair bit of elbow-grease getting it ready for motor vehicle inspection.
My wife used it as her daily driver all last winter and it never missed
a beat. Probably has another winter in it.
Charles
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