A sign! A sign of the Tablet! (Yeah, right...)

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  • Reply 21 of 32
    Quote:

    Originally posted by costique

    On the laptop front I could agree with you.

    Tablet or not, the fastest known way to input text is through a keyboard (I exclude scanning printed text). If you never use any word processors and speak English, French or German, Inkwell tech might be more than you need (since no one of you game zealots, keyboard-haters ever needs to write anything at all).




    Again for those who can't READ English....It doesn't matter that the keyboard is "the fastest known way to input text..." We all understand that. We all agree to that. We all KNOW that. I will always use a keyboard for TEXT! Now take a deep breath and try to be honest and think outside your own personal geek demographic. TEXT is not EVERYTHING! TEXT INPUT is not EVERYTHING. COMPUTING does not REQUIRE TEXT!



    Games; websurfing; iPods and music; QuickTime and multimedia, and now even iChating don't REQUIRE text!



    Quote:

    A computer without a keyboard is a play station.



    .... and an iPod and a pda and a TiVo and a multimedia player and a Wacom pad and a ....



    Quote:

    A touch screen, on the other hand, is a pointing divice of the near future. At least every time I work with a client or manager or disigner, they use my monitor exactly as a touch screen.



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  • Reply 22 of 32
    Quote:

    Originally posted by swizzmac

    Something more: All this tablet discussion has focussed on pen-based TEXT input. But the pen does allow a lot more: It is a quite good replacement for a mouse/trackball/trackpad (remember how long it took until you were used to your laptops' trackpad first?), especially when on the road. Furthermore, like on the Newton, we would use much more the painting abilities.





    Exactly.
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  • Reply 23 of 32
    macroninmacronin Posts: 1,174member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by G in the S

    It sounds like most of you don't use or even want to use an application like Alias | Wavefront (Ooops! just Alias now) SketchBook Pro.



    ...I for one hope that they do come out with one in the next few years and that they support applications like Alias SketchBook Pro.




    Uh, a Wacom Cintiq running off of a new G5 would run SketchBook Pro just fine, if Alias actually ports it to OS X...



    Along with being useful in Shake, Maya, Photoshop, Final Cut Pro; well, you get the idea...



    But I think that Apple WILL eventually produce a tablet design, to replace the iBook...



    Can you say educational market? Can you say vertical growth?



    Knew you could!



    ;^p
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  • Reply 24 of 32
    forget about an apple tablet,it aint gonna happen.

    i dont care how "cool" an apple tablet would be there needs to be a compelling reason for apple to build one.

    in case you havent noticed apple isnt into "me too" type products.

    unless a tablet bring some new until now unforseen application/need to the table why would apple do it.

    this is such a bad idea its not even funny.

    thats why apple hasnt gotten back into the PDA market because they know it would be a bad idea.

    im tired of hearing about this tablet thing.

    now if apple were to say make the ibooks more "tablet like" would not be such a bad idea,but it would not be such a huge innovative thing.

    no more "me too" type products.

    unless your truly gonna innovate:forgetaboutit!

    THINK DIFFERENT!
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  • Reply 25 of 32
    Quote:

    i dont care how "cool" an apple tablet would be there needs to be a compelling reason for apple to build one.



    How's this for compelling: Everything else on the market right now sucks.



    Quote:

    in case you havent noticed apple isnt into "me too" type products.



    Right, like there were no MP3 players on the market before Apple introduced the iPod (hint, hint).



    Quote:

    thats why apple hasnt gotten back into the PDA market because they know it would be a bad idea.



    No, Apple won't go back into the PDA market because of Jobs hatred for Scully. The Newton was Scully's baby, and any new Apple PDA will invariably be compared with the Newton. Jobs doesn't want to be seen as following in Scully's footsteps, nor does he want to admit Scully actually had a good idea...



    Quote:

    im tired of hearing about this tablet thing.



    Then don't read threads with "tablet" in the title... Simple problem, simple solution.



    Quote:

    no more "me too" type products.



    In case you haven't noticed, a whole slew of Apple's products are "me too" products. iSight. iPod. FCP. DVDSP. Keynote. Endnote. The "i" apps. NONE of them were first to market, but all of them are head & shoulders above what's come before. There's no reason why Apple couldn't do the same damn thing for a tablet or even a PDA.
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  • Reply 26 of 32
    Quote:

    Originally posted by geekmeet

    forget about an apple tablet,it aint gonna happen.

    i dont care how "cool" an apple tablet would be there needs to be a compelling reason for apple to build one.

    in case you havent noticed apple isnt into "me too" type products.

    unless a tablet bring some new until now unforseen application/need to the table why would apple do it.

    this is such a bad idea its not even funny.

    thats why apple hasnt gotten back into the PDA market because they know it would be a bad idea.

    im tired of hearing about this tablet thing.

    now if apple were to say make the ibooks more "tablet like" would not be such a bad idea,but it would not be such a huge innovative thing.

    no more "me too" type products.

    unless your truly gonna innovate:forgetaboutit!

    THINK DIFFERENT!




    Bumping this back up just to piss geekmeet and others off!



    Oh, and Apple hasn't gotten into the pda market because it doesn't need to...yet. What was the "compelling reason" for the iSight? You didn't know there was one until Apple made it. It was to make videoconferencing an EASY, ELEGANT and COMPELLING experience for consumers. If Apple can do the same for pda's and tablets and videoPods, they should do it. If they can't, they shouldn't. It isn't about being "me too" it isn't about what YOU think is "compelling" it is about making Macs the BEST digital hub in the world. A well designed tablet would help do that.



    Anti-tablet trolls are almost as bad as PC trolls....
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  • Reply 27 of 32
    costiquecostique Posts: 1,084member
    No trolling, but...



    I just don't get the hype over tablets. A tablet is a computing device after all and in this sense fits in the same broad category as desktops, laptops and PDAs. Consider their purpose and typical usage:



    Desktops ? any type of tasks. The only drawback is immobility.

    Laptops ? any type of tasks except for the most computing-intensive ones; plus mobility. Some restrictions arise, though.

    PDAs ? very restricted range of computing tasks. The greatest advantage is that you can put it in your pocket. They imply that you'd better have a fully functional PC, too.

    Tablets ? lighter than laptops, which are mobile computers in themselves; bigger than PDAs so they won't fit into your pocket. More restricted than laptops (less screen real estate, no keyboard; say what you will but the lack of a keyboard is a restriction rather than an advantage). Worse than PDAs because of their size.



    What is it you need a tablet for, which you can't do with a PDA? Modern PDAs are very good and in a couple of years they will be capable of running more software than you need on the road. Their screens are very small, though, but otherwise they lose their strongest point: palm size.

    Laptops are really impressive these days and when they get touch screens flippable over the keyboard as a standard feature, along with being fully-functional computers they will simply leave no space for tablets.



    Imagine you need a portable and you can choose between a 12" notebook with a flippable touch-screen and a similarly powerful 8" tablet. None of them is small enough for your pockets. Both fit in your case. One is fully functional, the other is not. Here comes the price factor. Right now you can get a decently crappy notebook for $800 and a good PDA for $350 (approximate US prices). In some 2 years they will be $500 and $200. A tablet will have to be priced between these, i.e. tablet vs notebook price difference will be even less. I don't think that the price alone will be a major factor since both figures are affordable even for schoolgirls. However, tablets may ultimately be more prestigeous than PDAs and notebooks, which may be their best selling point.



    All I meant to say is that the potential tablet market range between notebooks and PDAs will get squeezed as mini technologies advance. I don't insist on anything while I just can't imagine Apple seriously betting money on costly projects with little (function over style) future.
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  • Reply 28 of 32
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Aries 1B

    Ink Services: Apple is introducing a new Ink Services API in Panther so that developers can take advantage of Ink input for their applications and integrate Ink further into their software. Using the API, developers can put together customized Ink solutions such as lists of alternate word interpretations and direct manipulation of text using Ink gestures. Apple also notes in its developer documentation that Panther's Ink recognition engine supports English, French, and German.



    Nobody seems to be addressing Aries' point...



    Why would Apple be doing this API development if they weren't building a Tablet...?



    There can't be that many people with Wacoms out there can there? I don't know anybody with a Wacom who isn't a professional graphic artist, and these APIs are to do with things that graphic artists don't really need.



    For Apple to devote the personnel to implementing and documenting the API, surely there has to be more reason than "Let's throw in this nice feature for people who happen to have an Intuos lying around."



    Of course, it could be a giant red herring to make a certain William Gates wake up in a cold sweat, dreading the moment that Jobs get up on stage to unveil a sleek product that makes Gates' Tablet PC offering look like Fisher-Price crayon set.



    I want to believe a Mac Tablet is on its way.
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  • Reply 29 of 32
    costiquecostique Posts: 1,084member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by michaelb

    Nobody seems to be addressing Aries' point...



    Why would Apple be doing this API development if they weren't building a Tablet...?




    I agree with Aquatic who said earlier, Just wait for the laptops to have touchscreens and full hinges. iBooks may well get touchscreens, though it's pure speculation.
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  • Reply 30 of 32
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    Oi vey! Again with da friggin tablets?



    NO. Not yet. If Apple is good at anything it's making mainstream (affordable and proven) tech into a useable solution. Tablet tech is NOT mainstream, Tablet PC isn't doing very well, isn't very affordable, and the jury is still out as to it's reliability/durability. Touchscreen iBook? NO. Touchscreens add cost. iBooks need to be cheap. The technology isn't really there yet, not for a company like Apple to swoop in and make a few key changes/decisions that are needed to transform tablets from neat idea to a useful device (at a reasonable cost!)



    But we're also a lot closer than we've ever been to making a practical tablet computer. Apple might be first, but they won't do it untill they can do it right and sell a bunch.



    What's more interesting is subnote technology. From where I sit, it looks like Apple may be able to get a 12" PB down to 3.5-3 lbs while keeping it "full featured" (ie, no external batteries or drives, just the same package but thinner and lighter still.) When you get down to the 3lb range, slapping a rotating hinge on the lid and specifying a touch screen isn't so hard. Use some sort of Xwide (Sony picturebook) format screen so that the footprint is basically the keyboard and little else, and you have a great small subnote with a real keyboard, and a tablet function.



    To really make a useful tablet, though, you have to get the size down to an A5 footprint and the weight down to 1.5lbs or so, just like a trade paperback book. 1.8" HDD's will help, cooler CPU's will help, improved battery and screen technology will help. But it wouldn't be cheap, AT ALL! And even when you can spec all that stuff you need to make it right and for a semi reasonable price, you still need to solve the small screen-big res-squinty eye resolution problem. When web designers/protocols allow true resolution independence, then you can have a real tablet, after all the component costs drop.



    Short version: closer, but still a long way off. They're thinking about it, I'm sure, working on it, but not for anyone to buy any time soon ("soon" being a relative term in computer years).
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  • Reply 31 of 32
    Quote:

    Originally posted by michaelb

    Why would Apple be doing this API development if they weren't building a Tablet...?



    Why would Apple have developed voice control of their computers if they weren't building a keyboardless or mouseless desktop computer?



    (Still trying to figure that one out, even though their voice control solution has been around for ten years...)



    -- Mark
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  • Reply 32 of 32
    Quote:

    Originally posted by mark_wilkins

    Why would Apple have developed voice control of their computers if they weren't building a keyboardless or mouseless desktop computer?



    (Still trying to figure that one out, even though their voice control solution has been around for ten years...)



    -- Mark




    Because EVERY Mac has a mic and can use voice control. Graphics tablets are not mass market devices, and I've never seen Apple create APIs for 3rd party products before. Generic drivers, yes, but a public API is different.



    No, if an Ink API exists (and it does) Apple wants to stimulate 3rd party Ink support. This can only mean a device supporting pen input. While it may just be an iGraph rebranded Graphire, I hope its a proper tablet (not a Laplet).
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