iPad vs "the rest"

Didn't know these guys went under. But then again, it's not surprising. I think I've played w/one of their devices at Fry's before and was unimpressed.
Tablet maker Pandigital no longer offering warranty replacements, reminds us it's now out of business

 

I'm not seeing many positive reviews of the Surface RT / Pro. The latest is a report that production is being cut in half. Am I missing something?

BTW, I got my serial cable for iPad Wednesday and it works great. Since our IT Security department insists on running their virus (every bit as unreliable and performance impacting as a malicious virus,) having an RS-232 console functionality on my personal iPad is a powerful advantage. Not tested, yet, is using the iPad to record Graham miniscanner data.

Also, what is with all this 'cloud' nonsense? Of all of the things a personal computer provides, independence from 'the data center' is number one in my book. Yet I see a lot of buzz about how great the cloud is. Are we going to get a TSO option next?

Bob Wilson

 

On the above note, Surface Pro info was released today. See Microsoft announces pricing and detailed specs for Surface Pro | ZDNet.

Re: cloud... yeah, that seems to be the new hotness. Everyone is trying to do cloud stuff (e.g. Apple, Amazon, Google, etc.) and get you to put/store your data in their cloud, use their cloud services and use their devices that depend on the cloud (e.g. Chromebook). And, we've got services like Azure and Amazon Web Services along w/companies like salesforce.com.

It does seem so funny as yes, the concept isn't new but just has a new name. Are we going to go back to the days of dumb terminals? Kinda on that topic, remember Oracle's Network Computer?

 

When you start using it, the "Cloud" offerings do make a little sense. I've only used Apple's extensively, and it's been nothing but benefits. Using it, I can still do everything I used to - media downloads to my computer like it used to, and I can manually copy it to other devices if I want to without any issue. However, it can now sync up wirelessly with my other devices without me needing to do anything. Pictures are the best example... I snap a picture on my iPhone, and before I get home it's also sitting on my iPad and my computer. I have the option of sharing my pictures through a "shared photo stream", so they can automatically be sent to everyone else in the group, in the case of group activities. For music, I don't have to worry about syncing over all of the songs I want to listen to to my iPhone before going on a trip... If I want to listen to a song that isn't on my device, it automatically downloads it for me as it plays!


The way I see it, the history of computing swung from one extreme to another. We had powerful mainframes and dumb terminals. Then we had smart terminals and basically no mainframe. With the rise of the internet over the past 20+ years, and now the push for cloud services, we're moving towards a middle ground - powerful mainframes working with smart terminals to give you the benefits of both, hiding the drawbacks off either one used independently. Add to this new wireless services like LTE that rivals wired internet (seriously... my iPhone is almost as fast as my desktop is now!), and it's really a great convergence of design patterns.

 

Dropbox is a godsend. I can't work without it now.

 

Got 50GB of box.com when I bought my phone. Got another 50GB with dropbox when I got my tablet. These cloud storage people seem to forget that most people have a 3-5GB limit of data monthly. How are they gonna take advantage of 50GB.

On another note, dropbox integrates with Android devices nicely. I got both my phone and my tablet under the same account. The pictures and videos taken from both the phone and the tablets get uploaded to dropbox automatically and into my computer. Now I understand the concept of the Samsung Galaxy 3G Camera. You don't ever have to worry about losing your pictures when you lose camera. Also once dropbox app is installed, it appears as a choice on ALL the apps that have the option to share such as gallery and file browsers.

 

The ability to Open a multitude of documents in Dropbox via different integrated apps is a killer feature.

For example, I can upload a Powerpoint presentation from my laptop PC to my Dropbox, then Open and show it on my iPad using Slideshark. I can even use the twin Slideshark iPhone app to control the presentation from the phone via Bluetooth.

Another great use is to share or transfer large music or video files. Once you open a Dropbox file on your mobile, you can download it to your device simply by selecting the Star icon to turn it into a Favorite.

 

Dropbox is the program/service all "Cloud" providers aspire to be. iCloud is a disaster. It works in the confines of the Apple products, confines being the operative word. iCloud is a dangerous program as it will erase all your content on all your devices if you decide to stop using. Lots of shock and awe when it did to millions of users when it was introduced. It is also "Cloud for Dummies" you cannot just save things to as though it were another device and you cannot see your files there to access and modify.

 

The Janus paradox:

I've never enabled "sync" or our systems from fear of automated delete.

Bob Wilson

 

The way too big jpg attachment with meaningless analogy paradox.

Good features and bad features, DropBox has all good features while iCloud has a few good features and many bad and even dangerous features.

 

BlackBerry CEO says tablets will be useless in five years | Mobile - CNET News

LOL! I'm sure he's more likely referring to his own tablet... Look at the share of "Others" at IDC: Android topped tablet share in Q1 at 57 percent, Apple led manufacturers.

 

Apple's iPad-Centric Event to Take Place on October 22 - Mac Rumors

AllThingsD is usually right on these types of rumors/dates.