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Why the iPad is a creativity machine
Computerworld ^ | April 17, 2010 06:02 AM | By Mike Elgan

Posted on 04/18/2010 3:03:58 AM PDT by Swordmaker

The naysayers who argue it's only for consuming digital content are wrong

Computerworld - You've heard the case against Apple's iPad. It's a media consumption device for mindless couch potatoes. It's a step back in the evolution of computing, because it turns users into passive consumers of content, rather than creators.

"The iPad," journalism professor and blogger Jeff Jarvis proclaimed, "is retrograde. It tries to turn us back into an audience again." His evidence includes the TIME Magazine app, which lacks links and reader commenting, and the iPad's lack of iPad camera and USB port.

O'Reilly Radar blogger Jim Stogdill argued that "the iPad isn't a computer, it's a distribution channel."

The Slate Culture Gabfest podcast attempted an "audio unboxing" of the iPad. Unfortunately, they didn't know you had to plug it into a PC with an updated version of iTunes to activate. (They should spend less time watching The Wire, and more time on this Web site -- maybe they'd know these things.)

The cultural gabbers knew their "unboxing" was an epic fail. But they didn't seem to realize that the conversation about the tablet that ensued was an even bigger failure. They accepted as fact the false idea that the iPad is for content consumption only, and spent the remaining 20 minutes or so talking about whether a device useful exclusively for creating content is OK. One gabber talked about how people need to write e-mails and other things, adding, "I just don't think people are going to give that up."

(Excerpt) Read more at computerworld.com ...


TOPICS: Books/Literature; Business/Economy; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: ilovebillgates; iwanthim; iwanthimbad; microsoftfanboys
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To: Swordmaker

Gee, thanks. Coz I don’t get this hot news off the Mac boards I hang at.


41 posted on 04/19/2010 12:09:27 AM PDT by moehoward
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

Comment #42 Removed by Moderator

To: Post5203; Swordmaker
You were saying ...

Not getting bent out of shape about apple products at all. I just don't know why we have to have one company advertised by one guy on this site constantly.

Let him start his own apple tech site.

Well, the thing is -- Free Republic has ping lists maintained by various FReepers on various subjects, all of which are posted here, online, all the time. I maintain one myself, for the convenience of those who are interested in the subject that I'm maintaining.

And for "Swordmaker" -- he also maintains a ping list for all those interest in Apple Macintosh or other Apple products that various FReepers of Free Republic use themselves.

All these Freepers want to be on the ping list and ask to be and want to be kept up on all articles having to do with the subject.

I personally have asked Swordmaker to ping the others on the list for various articles that I've seen and/or that I've posted myself. And also Swordmaker posts various articles himself, and pings everyone to them and also pings those other Freepers to various other Free Republic articles that others have posted.

So, you might as well tell someone (all those other FReepers, too, with other ping lists) to set up "your own site" -- for all that they ping and post about, too ... LOL ...

The real "fact of the matter" is simple here -- and one that most FReepers follow and never have a problem. If you see a topic you're not interested in -- simply do not read and do not post there ... that works the best for all FReepers ... LOL ...


Sorry about the reference to your mother. That was stupid. Now you can ease up on the retarded reference too. LOL

Well..., it didn't make any difference to me. I'm not one of those who gets upset about any of that kind of stuff, so I throw it back just as easy... I just say "carry on" and keep throwing it out, because I don't care one way or another...

43 posted on 04/19/2010 9:59:28 AM PDT by Star Traveler (Remember to keep the Messiah of Israel in the One-World Government that we look forward to coming)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]


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