• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

iPad Reactions

I have a semi related question and didn't feel like starting a new thread. Before the 27th there was widespread speculation across the interwebs and in print media that Apple would be teaming up with Verizon for the iPad. Now we know Verizon is still out of the picture. Why were so many people convinced that Verizon was going to be the provider?
 
Me iTouch user. Me like. Stay. Not biggerizing.

I watch with a certain old fashioned excitement the way Apple can generate this kind of interest in a product though. Most companies sort of play it safe and boring. We do market research, test prototypes, gather wide feedback. Check patents. Check to see if we are going to be embarrassed by the name. All this caution at the expense of the super sekret-ring-decoder thrill of discovery.

So I see a nice but not too revolutionary extension of the iPod line. One of those instances when the anticipation was greater than actually getting here.
 
StanUpshaw said:
Except, as we've discussed, for grandmothers and chronic masturbators.
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Speaking of the latter, one may well wonder why this guy is so flippantly dismissive of the iPad, given that it allows the user to watch porn in the privacy of one's own home, rather than a public movie theatre.
 
The Verizon vs ATT thing is the one part I don't really understand, and I actually work in this stuff. Most 3G capable devices we get to choose. "Choice"... that is such an awesome concept, and hey it often works.

I live in one of those rural areas where the AT&T coverage is crap. So while my preferred device might have been an iPhone, it would be impossible to drive two miles and still have AT&t service. Even at&t's regular voice coverage is terrible around here, I don't care what their commercials charts imply otherwise. I've had both services and AT&T can't compare with my Verizon coverage.

So I suppose that for Apple, lack of choice in carrier equates directly to loss of their sales. I know they stay up late worrying about the loss of an iPhone or 3G iMaxiPad (giggle) customer. Maybe there are not enough of us rural customers to bother about, but I always hate being sort of blown off as expendable.

So saying that we would have Verizon, or even holding the hope that we might have a choice in the matter was cruel and heartbreaking. -sniff sniff-
 
On the matter of porn, I'm pretty sure that on my iTouch, as well as the iPad the only allowed apps are Apple apps and they are quite stringent about Verbotenness of Porn. Of course, you should be able to link onto a porn site that was not Flash.

The iPad seems a little large for porn though, although it might work better with some ky jelly on it.
 
Kopji said:
The Verizon vs ATT thing is the one part I don't really understand, and I actually work in this stuff. Most 3G capable devices we get to choose. "Choice"... that is such an awesome concept, and hey it often works.

I live in one of those rural areas where the AT&T coverage is crap. So while my preferred device might have been an iPhone, it would be impossible to drive two miles and still have AT&t service. Even at&t's regular voice coverage is terrible around here, I don't care what their commercials charts imply otherwise. I've had both services and AT&T can't compare with my Verizon coverage.

So I suppose that for Apple, lack of choice in carrier equates directly to loss of their sales. I know they stay up late worrying about the loss of an iPhone or 3G iMaxiPad (giggle) customer. Maybe there are not enough of us rural customers to bother about, but I always hate being sort of blown off as expendable.

So saying that we would have Verizon, or even holding the hope that we might have a choice in the matter was cruel and heartbreaking. -sniff sniff-
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As a former Verizon customer who switched to the iPhone (AT&T) because it is really required to have an iPhone if you want to do iPhone apps, I agree. We camp in Wyoming's Roosevelt National Park. Verizon - worked everywhere (in the park, Laramie, Cheyenne, inbetween). AT&T on my phone and everyone else's who also has AT&T - spuradic at best but mostly doesn't work unless near Laramie or Cheyenne. AT&T, they lie and their breath stank.
 
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I really need to get to the bottom of the video issue. Specifically the Xvid question.

This site says xvid will work, just not the .AVI container.

This site says only h.264 with aac sound will work.

So which is it? Can I take a standard xvid/mp3 file and re-mux just it into a .MP4, or do I have to re-encode the whole damn thing?
 
StanUpshaw said:
Ok, I've created two test files for someone who has an iPhone or Touch, so we can know for sure.

The first is xvid/mp3 in an mp4 container.
http://www.mediafire.com/?lgjkhmxyjy1

The second is xvid/aac in an mp4 container.
http://www.mediafire.com/?k3eojqhmh4j

Could someone download them and tell me if either works without further encoding?
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No go on iPhone. iTunes (et al) don't support most mp4 encodings. It must be converted if it's not in the proper encoding. Trying to add them into iTunes fails. Can't open them in QuickTime Pro either - errors out in the loading.
 
Quinn said:
Apparently I'm in a tiny minority, but ever since I got my iPhone a couple years ago, I thought it would be great to have "something like an iPhone, but bigger, and not a phone." Then again, I have a specific use in mind for it: replacing all the music books I might otherwise bring to a gig. I can't sit my laptop on a music stand, and my iPhone is too small to read from at a distance, but the iPad seems like the perfect solution. Combine that with the iBook and word processing features, and it's pretty close to exactly what I was hoping for. (I don't mind reading from an LCD screen.) So yeah, despite the widespread hate for this thing, I'll probably spring for one (and brave the contemptuous sneers that will follow).
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I didn't dig far enough to find out the price, but this seems a good product for what you need:

http://corporate.freehandmusic.com/products-musicpadpro.php
 
ZirconBlue said:
I didn't dig far enough to find out the price, but this seems a good product for what you need:

http://corporate.freehandmusic.com/products-musicpadpro.php
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I'm not sure what format Quinn's music is, but if it's just scans from music books, maybe a digital picture frame would work too.

Here's one that has a rechargeable battery and even offers MP3 playback:
http://www.nix-digital.com/latest_detail.asp?prod_id=128&id=&grpid=128&msg=&offset=

Kodak makes a similar one too:
http://www.digitalpictureframereview.com/2009/07/review-kodak-easyshare-s730
http://www.amazon.com/Kodak-Easyshare-P730M-7-Inch-Digital/dp/B0029U14V8/
 
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ponderingturtle said:
Who is the Ipad for then?
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It could be for parents who want their children to have a digital education with out some of the web's pitfalls. Supervision is still required. Nonetheless, piracy of digital media is much more difficult with this device.
 
quadraginta said:
One thing the Motion tablet did to make me a real fan was demonstrate an awesome real-life durability. I dropped mine in a six inch deep mud puddle. After I had gotten most of the slime and clay finings off of the circuitry inside, and it had had enough time to dry out completely (a couple of weeks :() it booted right back up, and I continued to use it for a couple of years. :)

Like I said, I don't think it's going to compete with real tablet computers, either. I do think it is going to make the tablet format more familiar to the average person, and then they are going to start looking at real machines. Hopefully this will get the tablet concept out of the niche category and provide some economies of scale. That Motion tablet was really nice, but the price to buy new was not easy on the wallet.
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Maybe this recession/depression will get Americans to demand hard quality products again instead of fluff.
 
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