Posted on 01/03/2010 3:35:38 AM PST by Swordmaker
Isn’t the world as we know it filled with products that folks at the time or in anticipation said we had no need for? If we listened to these folks we’d be crapping behind bushes and wiping with leaves. If we were alive at all.
Well what are they waiting for lol
Actually one of the very cool things about my E2 beyond handwriting recognition (granted you have to print) that would type the letters as you wrote them (instantaneously) was it had a “notepad” that you could write/draw on just like a piece of paper. Very handy for drawing diagrams or jotting quick notes. Imagine if you had a device with internet you could send such notes to someone, even your home pc for instance.
Partially true, but more often it is because a great design suffers the death of ten thousand cuts at the hands of idiot beancounters and then is haphazardly slapped together by lazy union workers who couldn’t care less if the product is put together properly because they get paid anyway.
It isn’t just design, it is systematic failure. With our government leading the way.
Newtons could do that back in the 90s. However, the tech really wasn’t all there. You can do it today on an iPhone as there are several apps for that.
One of the things about the Jobs Restoration era Apple is that they do not release a product until it is ready and meets functionality standards. Unlike Microsoft who just kicks it out the door figuring that they can fix it later with a service pack you’ll pay for. (Vista/Win7)
FYI, posting this from my iPhone. :D
HTC is releasing an Android tablet at CES:
http://www.pmptoday.com/2010/01/02/htc-android-tablet-to-debut-at-ces-htc-chrome-os-tablet-to-follow/
Sorry. It is design. I don’t care about the excuses for why Americans don’t execute good designs. For the most part they don’t, and at the end of the day that is all that matters.
I love my iphone, think it is genius but at my
middle-age eyesight level it is too small to work
on. i would buy tablet.
That’s nice. Droid’s history so far isn’t so great. If you bought the G1 droid phone (also made by HTC) you are screwed because you won’t be able to do a factory upgrade to Droid 2.0.
Meanwhile, my iPhone 2G original phone and 3G phone (yes, I have two) are both running iPhone 3.1.2. I have had the 2G since 1.2.
You do know that the top designers at many of these foriegn firms are American, right?
Regarding Joe's opening line, "Apple's rumored tablet computer cannot live up to the hype, which has reached almost ridiculous levels of rumor, speculation and anticipation", I get a kick out of people whining about the hype, as if it's Apple's fault. Apple has issued nothing but denials, and rarely at that. The hype comes exclusively from the media, including Wilcox.
yep. The Mazda Miata was originally an American design. Our companies were not interested.
Ding, ding, ding we have a winner!
My son, who until recently was such a Microsoft zombie that he demanded a Zune instead of an IPod, has said how glad he is that this device is coming out in time for him to take it to college next year. Since his school has Wi-Fi everywhere he sees himself using the Google word processor to write papers, downloading class notes, accessing periodicals, playing music, etc., etc., on something that he can keep with him at all times. If it has a built in phone feature, all the better. When I point out that all these things "could" be done with existing hardware, I get a look that says, "Yeah, and I "could" walk five miles to school each way..."
Just as the IPhone took an existing device and made it better, so will the ITablet (or whatever it will be called) only it will replace the "reader" products and net books. It might not be the "best" reader, or the "best" net book, but it will be striking and innovative and will change the way the world looks at portable devices.
I predict that, just like the IPhone naysayers, those who are dissing this product will look shortsighted and thick a year from now. I am betting with my wallet. I bought stock in Apple and I suggest you do so as well.
Then you see my point. It is not necessarily the designer himself that’s the problem but the entire system or culture in most American companies.
A great example of this was the in-house produced spoof of internal marketing processes at Microsoft. Have you seen it? It is the one where they take an iPod box and completely ruin it with all the Microsoft branding BS.
One of the largest and better regarded manufacturers of flat panel TVs is Vizio. American company, they do all their design and engineering here then farm out production to Asia but install their own QC apparatus to avoid the beancounters and union drones.
Exactly!
Incompetent organization has become the culture of America, whether it our political organizations or legal organizations or our corporations, or our military. We have long lost the notion that smart people applying their brains to figuring out the right things to do and then doing them is the way we will stay a rich, powerful country. Having won WWII we have slowly learned our way into resting on our laurels and living off the largess of the rest of the world. Well, the world has figured it out, and we are in big trouble.
Our investment banks push paper rather than search out the best ideas worthy of turning into going economic concerns. [I just watched as a bunch of former traders for George Soros lost a fortune in the kind of market where Soros has made his bundles, and made one again, i.e. the kind of financial crisis that arises when distorted expectations finally meet an unavoidable reality].
Hell, our politicians are not even politically competent at the lowest basest level. They "solved" a "healthcare" "crisis" by pandering to extremes in their own party in a way that is guaranteeing that our other party of incompetent politicians will be returned to power.
We have a president who wants to fight a war by spreading flower power and love while we have a bunch of troglodytes on the other side who just want to blow stuff up, whatever the lack of purpose.
I have not lost faith in Americans. As individuals we are what we have always been. But I have lost faith in our slothful, incompetent, corrupt, inept institutions. All of them.
A couple of years ago I read that we had a negative trade balance on agricultural products of all things. We grow cheap corn and wheat and export it, and take back French butter and cheese, Indian delicacies, etc., all things we could produce here, but won't.
And so when someone does something well - which seems to be the exception - I am going to herald it. When the Italians stand for excellence and we don't something is rotten in the State of Denmark.
Then why did you disagree with post 24 which said much the same thing?
Well now that we have argued the point and found that we are in agreement in detail I will stop arguing. I was somewhat concerned that you were taking a blame the unions, government and liberals attitude, which prevails around here. Sure they are incompetent too, but a lot of good ol’ country club conservatives have gotten awfully fat and lazy, and prefer to tell tails [oops, I mean tales, but the Freudian slip is ok too] over their fourth G&T at lunch rather than go and do something useful and important.
I think what Wilcox is missing is mainly the “e-book reader” phenomenon. A laptop isn’t a good form factor for reading a book (think couch or bed). The iPhone isn’t either, the screen is just too small. The Kindle, from what I understand, is doing well for Amazon. There’s also a lot of excitement about the B&N Nook e-reader.
I think Apple may very well have another killer device, if their tablet is a good e-reader with a lot of content, can also play hi-def movies, and finally supports (modified?) iPhone apps. If it in fact is also a cell device, one could get away with not carrying an iPhone as well (Bluetooth headset, tablet in pack/briefcase etc.). I also surely hope the tablet has a USB port to support an external keyboard (game controller, etc). Apple would be foolish not to include one. Actually I suppose Bluetooth might suffice...
I’ll definitely want one if it (mostly) conforms to the above, complementing my iPhone and MacBook Pro. I’ve wanted an e-reader for some time, but none have quite hit the sweet spot. The Nook does look pretty good though, I have to say.
And flexible. I'm waiting on Plastic Logic's product to come out. Something I can use as a newspaper, reader, technical manual with a touchscreen and the ability to pickup signal from an anchor is what I'm looking for.
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