What's most interesting about Marco Arment's (Tumblr, Instapaper) iPad post is not that his expectations of use for the iPad differed substantially from his real world usage. That's to be expected of any new technology device. It's that despite not being able to arrive at a good reason for the average person to go out and get one if they already have a traditional computing device (Logically, it doesn’t make a lot of sense for most computer owners.), along with his own candid reasons (It’s absolutely not a productivity device for me, but that’s OK;the iPad isn’t an all-purpose computing device ), he also cites the mere act of using one, the visceral nature of enabling a multi-touch experience on a larger screen and playing with it to do something, seems to confer good enough reason to buy one (using it is satisfying and delightful).
It once again reinforces the notion of Apple's amazing ability to widen a technology niche they pioneered through sheer force of will, brilliant marketing and inveiglement, and continues their streak of leveraging their deep understanding of how to create emotional connections between technology and the public, to the point where people are willing to part with their dollars even if they are unable to articulate a compelling enough reason to do so.
# § Apple, Technology, ThoughtsTog on the similarity between the history of the Mac, the iPhone and the iPad. # § Apple, del.icio.us, ipad, iPhone, link, Mac
Highlighting beautiful software # § Apple, Applications, apps, beautiful, del.icio.us, Design, Interface, iPhone, link, Mac, mobile, Software
I mightily covet the Kindle2, even with the DRM. But the barrier to hardware entry is too high. This amazon app could well be the marijuana / gateway drug to getting one. # § Apple, Books, iPhone, kindle, nytimes, Reading
PhoneGap is a development tool that allows web developers to take advantage of the core features in the iPhone, Android, and Blackberry SDK using JavaScript. # § Ajax, Apple, CSS, Development, iPhone, Javascript, objective-c
Photos, reminiscences, et al. Neat. Where was I in 1984? A nerdy Sophomore in high school in Chicago. # § 1984, Apple, History, macintosh
I keep up with "WebKit":http://www.webkit.org builds an a daily basis and have noticed a marked upturn in their release schedule. For the past three months or so, I would normally see an updated build roughly every five days (I'm completely guesstimating here from memory). For the past four or five days, I have seen a build every single day, which could be a signal of an imminent announcement of a Leopard release *any day now*. Who the hell knows? But it's fun to speculate on completely half-assed information. # § Apple, Browsers, OSX, Webkit
Pretty funny, but having used the iPhone, that Nokia feels positively Soviet-era. I get the point though. # § Apple, Humor, iPhone, Mobiles, Uncategorized
A overview from the multitouch-father. # § Apple, Hardware, HCI, Research, Uncategorized
Now this is worthy of the moniker, a fscking cool hack. Watch the You-Tube thingy to get the thousand-plus words. # § Apple, Cool, Hacks, OSX, Uncategorized
Interesting behind the scenes design philosophies and stories from the SxSW panel. # § Apple, Development, OSX, Uncategorized, Windows
Video from the very dedicated second person in line. Incredible building and incredible lines. # § Apple, Architecture, NYC, Uncategorized, Video
It's so predictable, it's become a science. # § Apple, Funny, Humor, Uncategorized
Really nice article about OSX key bindings. The included samples for partial Windows and Emacs (gasp!) keyboard emulation rule. # § Apple, Mac, OS-X, Reference, Uncategorized
The offending string found in "boot.efi":http://episteme.arstechnica.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/8300945231/m/905005537731/r/360002247731#360002247731:
BTW, anyone tried executing the "file" command on the file /usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi? This is the file that gets booted by the EFI (OpenFirmware successor). You get the following answer: /usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi: _MS Windows PE 32-bit Intel 80386 executable_ OMG, Mac OS X kernel is now loaded by a WINDOWS EXECUTABLE!# § Apple, Mac, OS-X, Uncategorized
"Hilarious writeup":http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060110-5940.html dripping with sarcasm on the Apple / Intel lovin' going on at MWSF today.
Apple opened up something like a million stores, or 135 total, and they will open more in 2006, with 26 million visitors during the holidays, a US$ 5.7 billion quarter. There will be more stores too, including stores in places the average American high-school graduate could not find on a globe, places in far away countries where they may not speak English, but where the universal language of money is understood. ... Finally, Steve got to the hardware, intoning, "We have had a really good year." As far as the eye can see, there appear to be quarters in which at least a million Macs will be sold, and just over the horizon is Intel—and then it changed to an Event Horizon and the "June of 06" became now. Paul Otellini was sucked into the RDF and clean-room bunnysuit, showing up on stage as the crowd reached a frenzy of excitement, and possibly a few seizures. The marriage—some say shotgun—was consumated less than a year ago, with over a thousand people working at Intel on the Apple Project. "Don't be encumbered by history, go out and create something wonderful," quote Paul. Steve replied, "We want to make the best personal computers in the world, which is why we chose Intel." Gangster-slap to IBM and Freescale.Though this doesn't change the fact that I'm still Apple-whipped six ways to Sunday, I think more reviews about the Mac should be written this way. # § Apple, Events, Mac, Uncategorized