[glanglois]

<snip>

Does an iPad work for me? I love it! It can come with me and my camera gear and it can be used at night and in the morning from bed to watch a movie, read a book, or do the millions of other things it can do. Additionally, sitting around on the couches and stuff is GREAT with an iPad. So yes, I love the idea of the iPad. Does that mean everyone needs to? No.

And that's just fine.

You're right: we, as a planet, need something to improve the couch-sitting experience. We seem to be the only animal that's turned couch-sitting into a characteristic behaviour of the species. Well, with the possible exception of cats. And they didn't invent the couch so it doesn't count.

I wish I could make fun of all of this. But I'll admit that I've long carried a few magazines or a paperback with me here and there just in case the queue is long or the doctor is running late. Lately it may even be a notebook that, after a while, seems to weigh at least a stone.

I'll also admit that I don't like getting up from the couch and booting the PC just to see which actor is playing Mr Justice Stephen Whatever in the Miss Marple programme. It's rarely who I thought it was anyway.

I'll again admit that I'd like something small and easy to store the daily shoot and allow me to view and sort and delete whilst sitting in a corner of the pub with a pint. Or be able to share the photos with others - minus the squinting and lousy viewing angles associated with the camera's LCD. Or just enjoy my success, in the unlikely event that I took a few good photos.

I could carry a netbook, I suppose. But I'd really, really like a tablet for this. For the IPS display, if nothing else.

Now, if I could just find a way to roll it up like a magazine and whack the occasional moth in my family room ....

[Ben_Edict]

But the key is web experience, regardless of device. And iPad is supposed to revolutionize our web experience! And Steve told us that we don't need flash either

Alas no.

The more devices of various screen dimensions and brighter screens there are the more website designers will have to come up with sites that can be viewed satisfactorily on them all. This puts major constraints on what can be done and consequently websites will come to look much the same as the lowest common denominators are scrambled for, in other words it will become a far more boring place.

I think exactly the other way round: technical limitations will challenge web designers to come out with more creative new ways to stand out. At least those web designers I work with, see it exactly this way. The reason is simple: We have been doing websites for B-2-B oriented companies and in the professional world, you have to adhere to quite many rules, in order to make your website and your business really work.

If a web designer gets playful about technology, you'll loose customers.

If a designer gets playful with ideas and creativity, you'll win customers.

And that is all, that is important about a "web experience" for any commmercially viable enterprise. – That may sound boring, sorry for that. But in my personal view, the web contains already 98% noise and it gets harder to filter out the relevant stuiff by the hour. Web designers who substuitute creativity with the latest technology, add to the noise, in my opinion.

And as with anything creative, this is wholly subjective.

Ben

[Ben_Edict]

Now, if I could just find a way to roll it up like a magazine and whack the occasional moth in my family room ....

Now, that was the goal of the "digital ink" technology and it was already there. But a purely BW technology does not stand a chance in our colour-oriented world (the colour version was promised again and again, but the outlooks are bleak). So the iPad will be the beginning of the demise of digital ink (i.e. the Kindle), though it will certainly take quite a few years before you will have a iPAD successor which can be rolled or folded away.

Ben

[nosnoop]

If I read Apple's website correctly, everybody could have been fully aware of the limitations of the iPad before buying, by the way.

Would majority of iPad users understand the implication of "no flash support"? Not really. Most users do not know / do not care the technology used in web page presentation - be it flash, java, silverlight or animated gif.... They just click on a link and expect the page to load.

Only when your wife wants to go to LV web site to check out its latest handbags, or your brother wants to check out the specs for a pair of clearance Salomon skis, or your son wants to watch the live world cup video stream.... and they would find that they could not get the web site to load.

nobody is forced to buy it.

Of course not. But many would buy it because of all the hype.
"A magical and revolutionary product...." now, who wouldn't want one?

[Ben_Edict]

If I read Apple's website correctly, everybody could have been fully aware of the limitations of the iPad before buying, by the way.

Would majority of iPad users understand the implication of "no flash support"? Not really. Most users do not know / do not care the technology used in web page presentation - be it flash, java, silverlight or animated gif.... They just click on a link and expect the page to load.

Sorry, NO company can cater for prospect's or buyer's self-inflicted blindness. All of our consumer products industries produce app. 80% of things, bnobody really NEEDS in the nearer sense. But people buy it. Often enough poeple buy things, despite they know quite well, that it will not fullfill their requirements.

Reasons vary, but we have more than enough examples on this forum, when people complain about the performance of a certain lens AFTER they bought it (lack of macro focusing capability or whatever) or complain about the complexity of getting top results with a DSLR, coming from a P&S. Or wonder, why their 30USD tripod is not up to the task. That's how we consumers tick.

nobody is forced to buy it.

Of course not. But many would buy it because of all the hype.
"A magical and revolutionary product...." now, who wouldn't want one?

I don't want one. Everybody, who succumbs to "fashion pressure" has got a problem - you cannot dispose off your responsibility for your own actions and faults onto anybody else, especially not when it is about buying a gadget or not.

Ben

[Tonto]

I'm guessing this is now the default iPad thread!
Does anyone know if the iPad can grab photos to view from my network drive via WIFI?
Or is this more a computer/netbook thing?
I was thinking of doing this with my spare netbook anyhow but the screen resolution is abit low.
Anyhow I can't seem to find my iTouch after today so if I've lost it I may upgrade to an iPad at some stage to control my iTunes library

[Nimrad]

Yeah, there are tons of Apps for you to do that. I'm extremely happy with the program I use. Can't remember what it's called now, but it shares all my documents, including my pictures. In addition to that the built-in photo album app works awesome with those of us using Aperture combined with iPhoto.


I'm very happy with my iPad by the way. I don't give a shit about whether it's a fashion product or not, and it's very rare that I miss the lack of flash compatibility. I'm probably more often glad of its lack because I can now read my favorite newspapers online with no ads. I actually deactivated flash support in one of my browsers on my laptop also, so I just use internet explorer whenever I fell like using flash. But I guess you all call me stupid, ignorant and an apple-fanboy now because I kinda defended the lack of flash. I miss flash, and yes, I would like to have the opportunity to turn it on and of by my self. BUT, the war against flash as a standard is something I agree upon, and then it's necessary for at least one big company to strike hard against it to either make it better or go over to the use of a better standard (I've heard HTML 5 is supposed to be better, but I have no idea myself).


Now I'm just waithing for my dad to come home from the US where he's purchased the camera connection kit. Gonna be awesome!

[nosnoop]

IBut I guess you all call me stupid, ignorant and an apple-fanboy now because I kinda defended the lack of flash. I miss flash, and yes, I would like to have the opportunity to turn it on and of by my self. BUT, the war against flash as a standard is something I agree upon, and then it's necessary for at least one big company to strike hard against it to either make it better or go over to the use of a better standard (I've heard HTML 5 is supposed to be better, but I have no idea myself).

Flash ads are annoying, and I block it as well. But some current web site depends on flash for navigation and just to get around. You simply cannot view anything without flash. And there are still many live video stream based on flash (world cup for example). HTML5 may replace flash for many video application in the future, but that would be at least 2 to 3 years down the road. At this point, it is clear which one works better. And users are buying the device to be used now, not a year or two in the future.

And don't be fooled by Steve that the lack of flash is all technical and Adobe is the evil one. The whole reason behind this campaign is pure business. With flash support, one can potentially bypass appstore and bypass itunes - and Apple does not want any of that. And they have even banned Adobe's Flash to iPhone cross compiler, which should not present any technical problem for the apps it produces.

[kenyee]

Does anyone know if the iPad can grab photos to view from my network drive via WIFI?

Yep...here's a long how-to on how to pseudo-tether w/ the iPad:
ModelMayhem.com - IPad for Photographers, a REAL use

[qtopplings]

Wow, I can't believe all of the ridiculous, ill-informed, Apple haters on this site. I figured that photo geeks would appreciate Apple... Do all of you Apple haters get your talking points from the same place? How about actually *using* one before you talk?

Anyway, if you want a review from someone who actually owns an iPad...

I think its a spectacular tool, for photographers and as an everyday device. To give an example, I recently took a trip from San Fran to Istanbul, Turkey. Just having a device that could hold days of music, 15 movies, games, and a dozen books, and have enough battery life for a 12 hour flight is priceless. Lets see your laptop or Android POS do that.

It weighs a little over a pound, and is half an inch thick. I have the camera connection kit (2 week ship time, just wait and you'll get one), and was able to download the pictures I took every day. I have a few apps, like Photogene, that allow me to do all of the basic PP that I would do in Lightroom, and I could then upload pictures to Facebook, Picasa or to my website. It was the perfect alternative to lugging a heavy laptop with me, overseas. I was able to work with all RAW images. After uploading/emailing, I could delete the images I didn't want so I'd have room for the next day's shots. I have about 16 Gig to work with..

One reason for my trip was to attend a wedding. I put the best pictures and some video I took into an album, set it to music, and showed it to the Bride's parents the next morning over breakfast. Everyone was able to pass the light, thin, iPad around and view the pictures. The looks on their faces and the gratitude and amazement at what I was able to do in such a short time was touching. It made me not regret buying my "oversized iPod touch" at all.

[falconeye]

But some current web site depends on flash for navigation and just to get around. You simply cannot view anything without flash.

I am in the IT business and I would like to share a fundamental truth.

Yes, web designers love Flash because it allows them to "copy-paste" the content they have in mind from their drawing boards onto the web. And impress the uninformed customer.

And it's not only Flash. Web designers (well, 95% of them) do fixed width / fixed font size web designs because this is what they are used to. They are graphic designers, not web designers, actually (well, 95% of them).

So, over time the web has transformed from a place accessible by all to a place accessible by a few dedicated hardware/software combinations only.

There are millions of web sites locking out "incorrect" browsers.


This is becoming more and more ridiculous. The web has become the major IT infrastructure. Like streets for transportation. Think of streets locking out all Ford ...

And Apple is not better or worse than anybody else here. E.g., their MobileMe website is not universally accessible. E.g., it locks out Internet Explorer 7 ...


And making a website depend on a particular plugin is even worse because it makes the web depend on proprietary technology (except maybe for Java which is open source and platform neutral -- but let's wait and see if it evolves).


It is actually astonishing that the action against all this is coming from Apple -- because it is Apple's design-centric philosophy which made most of this happen -- after all, Adobe is a company grown out of the Apple community and most web designs are done on an Apple.

Actually, Macromedia offered tools to achieve much of what Flash does now adhering to HTML standards. Dreamweaver once had a timelime to do animations, anybody remembers? Then, Adobe purchased Macromedia and now you need Flash to do what used to be standard HTML...


I really guess that Jobs himself saw an opportunity to revert some of the recent bad movements for the better. Including Flash into iOS would have been one easy solution. Dropping it costs money (because of lost customers), including it would have cost nothing.

No, proprietary plugins and fixed "one size only" or "one device only" designs are a bad road the web has taken in recent years and anybody who tries to stop this ill-headed development must be applauded.

[Buschmaster]

You're right: we, as a planet, need something to improve the couch-sitting experience. We seem to be the only animal that's turned couch-sitting into a characteristic behaviour of the species. Well, with the possible exception of cats. And they didn't invent the couch so it doesn't count.

I wish I could make fun of all of this. But I'll admit that I've long carried a few magazines or a paperback with me here and there just in case the queue is long or the doctor is running late. Lately it may even be a notebook that, after a while, seems to weigh at least a stone.

I'll also admit that I don't like getting up from the couch and booting the PC just to see which actor is playing Mr Justice Stephen Whatever in the Miss Marple programme. It's rarely who I thought it was anyway.

I'll again admit that I'd like something small and easy to store the daily shoot and allow me to view and sort and delete whilst sitting in a corner of the pub with a pint. Or be able to share the photos with others - minus the squinting and lousy viewing angles associated with the camera's LCD. Or just enjoy my success, in the unlikely event that I took a few good photos.

I could carry a netbook, I suppose. But I'd really, really like a tablet for this. For the IPS display, if nothing else.

Now, if I could just find a way to roll it up like a magazine and whack the occasional moth in my family room ....

I spend some of my time every day exercising, so I'm not really sure if you're taking a shot on my laziness or whatever, but you would have a tough time finding fat on me.

[nosnoop]

Wow, I can't believe all of the ridiculous, ill-informed, Apple haters on this site.

OTOH, I find it disappointing that anyone who does not love the iPad or anyone who have pointed out some of its, dare I say, deficiencies are automatically labeled as Apple haters and being ridiculous!

I see now.... only the Apple lovers do "get it".
Anyone who does not "get it" with Apple gadgets is just plain ignorant and ill-informed. :ugh:

[mattdm]

No, proprietary plugins and fixed "one size only" or "one device only" designs are a bad road the web has taken in recent years and anybody who tries to stop this ill-headed development must be applauded.

I absolutely agree with you. However, I enjoyed this article from a former Apple engineer explaining the decision: Mac & the iPad

I don't think it'll convince anyone who feels strongly about open standards that Apple is doing the right thing, but I think it does explain nicely where they're coming from.

[falconeye]

I absolutely agree with you. However, I enjoyed this article from a former Apple engineer explaining the decision: Mac & the iPad

Thanks for what I think is a great article.

It confirms the picture I had and have about Jobs and Apple. However, it fails to explain why Jobs is and behaves like he does. You need to be able to feel the person behind such behaviour which probably requires to be similiar.

Some of things which have been said in the article are more universally true than they appear. Think about Java, its early days and evolution. Early Java supported a command line compiler and a text editor only. Same with HTML and httpd. It all has one thing in common: a clear vision.

Where vision differs from utopia in that it can be realized (if I am allowed to quote myself). And vision differs from idea in that every detail in a distant future is perfectly clear.


So, the article falls short when it comes to open standards. Jobs tries to destroy flash for a single reason: because he has a vision about how the web should look like. This has nothing to do with open standards in general but with a speciality of the web which can only florish while it is not owned by nobody.