Max iPad

[Bilnick]

How do universities handle textbooks these days? A device like the Ipad or Kindle would be ideal for textbooks, but it would eliminate any used/resale market. A .pdf file of a textbook on a laptop might accomplish the same thing though.

[DaytonaUSA]

That video was amazing.

[Underball]

How do universities handle textbooks these days? A device like the Ipad or Kindle would be ideal for textbooks, but it would eliminate any used/resale market. A .pdf file of a textbook on a laptop might accomplish the same thing though.

too easy to pirate. textbook publishers would go out of business instantly.

[Bilnick]

How do universities handle textbooks these days? A device like the Ipad or Kindle would be ideal for textbooks, but it would eliminate any used/resale market. A .pdf file of a textbook on a laptop might accomplish the same thing though.

too easy to pirate. textbook publishers would go out of business instantly.

 

Then why don't existing Kindle publishers go out of business?

 

To me it seems like heavy college texts would be a natural on a Kindle or Ipad.

[moycon]

Then why don't existing Kindle publishers go out of business?

 

There are textbooks available directly from the Kindle store on Amazon and since readers like the Kindle and the eReader can read PDF files, any textbook available in that format is readable on them as well. It's just that at this time not every single textbook is available. (Not everyone is jumping on the bandwagon I guess) Maybe they are waiting to see if the publishers who do offer text books on these readers go out of business. It is safe to say they most certainly haven't gone under instantly, as many of these textbooks have been available for over a year. I will say this, it's not much cheaper to get a digital copy of a book. If the physical book is $75 expect to pay around $60+ for the digital copy. I've learned when you buy a book, your paying mostly for the content, not the paper and binding

 

For instance.... (textbook for sale)

 

Hardcover = $72

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159385174X?ie=UTF8&tag=atariage&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=159385174X

 

Kindle version $60.75

 

http://www.amazon.com/Clinical-Textbook-Addictive-Disorders-ebook/dp/B001QCYJ4E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1264798562&sr=1-1

[CPUWIZ]

How do universities handle textbooks these days? A device like the Ipad or Kindle would be ideal for textbooks, but it would eliminate any used/resale market. A .pdf file of a textbook on a laptop might accomplish the same thing though.

too easy to pirate. textbook publishers would go out of business instantly.

 

Then why don't existing Kindle publishers go out of business?

 

 

DRM

 

I have changed the text he responded to bold.

[Atarifever]

 

 

I must say though, each day I'm more and more interested in that Droid. Sigh, damn non-migratable programs...

I have a Blackberry because I have it for work, and well, no one working for a serious business (besides Apple) or Govt has an iPhone. When it comes to big business and Government, you can't beat the "allowed to use it on the work network" feature that only Blackberry has. Apple has no app for that. Droid even less so. That's why all the doom and gloom predictions over RIMM always seem stupid to me. I am a Government worker, and there aren't any Government employees carrying Government issue iPhones or Droids. There are very few business people doing it either. That makes Blackberry the Windows of smartphones. It may not be the prettiest or have the most gadgets, but it's what works well on a company level. So they own that market, and aren't in danger of losing it, and anything they have taken in the general consumer market is just gravy.

 

Meanwhile, Apple could take a poop and call it iCrap and you'd read 10000 stories about their stock price going up.

What the hell are you talking about?

 

I'm the IT director for a 100+ user Arch firm, we have 15 blackberry users, and 12 iPhone users.

 

They both have the exact same level of access to our corporate email, network, and resources.

 

The Blackberrys break down constantly. I have yet to have a single problem with an iPhone user, other than when they drop it and it breaks.

Well as cute as the two of your antecdotes are:

http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://images.appleinsider.com/changewave-081120-2.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php%3Fid%3D10444&usg=__gaqZFTQ8-2ma-hFk08lzg7KhcNA=&h=366&w=700&sz=37&hl=en&start=18&um=1&tbnid=CZbbdoMVBAxU-M:&tbnh=73&tbnw=140&prev=/images%3Fq%3Drim%2Bmarket%2Bshare%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

 

http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.techztalk.com/techwebsite/files/images/Smartphone_market_Share_Oct2009.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.techztalk.com/techwebsite/12-16-09-iphone-os-overtakes-windwos-mobile-user-share-in-us&usg=__beBBrzAtlXmyI3N33QvayphHiw8=&h=300&w=400&sz=64&hl=en&start=5&um=1&tbnid=g0BGVY4vQn8IRM:&tbnh=93&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Drim%2Bmarket%2Bshare%2B2009%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26um%3D1

 

As for the same level of access, that's not what I was saying. I was saying most Governments in Canada and the U.S. and businesses (your two not withstanding) won't let their employees connect with an iPhone. We (at the College I work for) are specifically not allowed (or indeed able) to access the Microsoft exchange server for our College with anything but a Blackberry. The IT guys have told me it is because the iPhone is "far" less secure. If you don't agree you can fight it out with the IT guys here (and at the White House; Obama has a Blackberry for a reason).

 

The iphone uses standard SSL port 443 exchange web access. Absolutely not one single bit different than the built-in Microsoft Exchange Web Access.

 

To say that "most businesses" won't let users connect their iPhones is pure, unadulterated Blackberry fanboy bullshit. There's absolutely no way you can substantiate this, because it so completely untrue, it's just plain silly.

 

Now this tells me one of two things:

 

1. Your IT staff is woefully uninformed about how any of this stuff works, and WAY behind the 8-ball on it, since it's technology that's existed for 8 years now since the release of Exchange 2003.

 

or more likely...

 

2. They're still running 12 year old Exchange 5.5, which doesn't have this capability natively and is a major pain in the ass to work with, never mind being 12 years out of date. But seeing as how the Government operates like this normally (being behind the tech 8-ball and way out of date on everything), this is more likely and wouldn't surprise me in the least bit.

All I can speak for is my College, all Government services I have ever had dealings with, and every University or College in Canada East of Quebec. Then there's the fact that at least until one year ag, more corporate people involved in the choice making wanted to go Blackberry than iPod. The general consensus in the business press (I mostly read CBC finance and The Economist), and the fact that a company that is otherwise completely behind the iPhone regarding all apps for SOME reason continues to be bought new by more corporate users all throughout North America.

 

If I am mistaken, I apologize, but I really didn't just pull that out of my ass.

[Bilnick]

How do universities handle textbooks these days? A device like the Ipad or Kindle would be ideal for textbooks, but it would eliminate any used/resale market. A .pdf file of a textbook on a laptop might accomplish the same thing though.

too easy to pirate. textbook publishers would go out of business instantly.

 

Then why don't existing Kindle publishers go out of business?

 

 

DRM

 

I have changed the text he responded to bold.

 

Yeah .pdf file was a poor example. I should have said some sort of copy protected proprietary file.

[CPUWIZ]

[Albert]

Just saw this linked somewhere:

 

 

 

..Al

[liveinabin]

Good. Hopefully, Apples' continuing decision to ignore Flash will stop website creators from using it. While I have nothing against interactive, animated webpages (my own site was exclusively Flash), I can't believe that even a simple Flash movie needs upwards of 70% of the CPU to run. It's a resource drain, a battery killer and has no place in modern computing.

 

Adobe should spend less time bitching and more time making Flash actually work properly. Seems to me, Adobe are as complacent as Quark used to be (and, incredibly, still are) - "We're the industry standard and we can do no wrong". Their products grow ever more irrelevant as time goes on.

 

Don't get me wrong, Apple aren't the eternal good guys, but at least continue to deliver solid product despite their success.

[Albert]

Good. Hopefully, Apples' continuing decision to ignore Flash will stop website creators from using it. While I have nothing against interactive, animated webpages (my own site was exclusively Flash), I can't believe that even a simple Flash movie needs upwards of 70% of the CPU to run. It's a resource drain, a battery killer and has no place in modern computing.

I agree, it is pretty ridiculous how much of a resource hog Flash is. There's simply no reason for it in this day and age except either incompetency or laziness to improve it. Perhaps a mix of both. Flash could also use some configuration options, such as prevent Flash apps from going full-screen (so a "mock" user interface cannot be created, potentially tricking the user), disabling Flash-based cookies, and so forth.

 

I do hope that Flash goes away and is replaced by open standards, some of which is promised in HTML5. I'm sure Adobe sees the writing on the wall, and I'm sure Apple is hoping to make that a reality sooner than not. It sucks, though, as end users are paying the price until that happens.

 

..Al

[Underball]

Flash wasn't such a terrible resource hog until adobe took them over.

 

Just Like every other adobe product. InDdesign anyone?

[Tr3vor]

Yeah, big Apple fan, but I'm not impressed with this.

 

No camera???

 

No 16:9???

 

No HD???

 

No microphone???

 

No multitasking???

 

Sticking with AT&T?????????????????

The thing is unlocked!

 

No horizontal dock???

 

$130 for a $2 3G chip???

 

 

No Flash???

 

No Downloaded programs from the internet???

[Albert]

The 3G version of the iPad also has A-GPS (Assisted GPS), which is missing from the Wi-Fi version.

 

..Al

[Emehr]

Yeah, big Apple fan, but I'm not impressed with this.

 

No camera???

 

No 16:9???

 

No HD???

 

No microphone???

 

No multitasking???

 

Sticking with AT&T?????????????????

The thing is unlocked!

 

No horizontal dock???

 

$130 for a $2 3G chip???

 

 

No Flash???

 

No Downloaded programs from the internet???

 

No Star Raiders?!

 

No cartridge slot?!

 

 

Oh wait, wrong thread...

[+SpiceWare]

Just saw this linked somewhere:

Saw that over the weekend. Tried most of those sites on my iPhone and they worked just fine - even the porno site that was changed to be the black square. As such, while humorous, his point wasn't well made.

Edited February 1, 2010 by SpiceWare

[+SpiceWare]

Pee-wee gets an iPad

[Albert]

Just saw this linked somewhere:

Saw that over the weekend. Tried most of those sites on my iPhone and they worked just fine - even the porno site that was changed to be the black square. As such, while humorous, his point wasn't well made.

That is interesting, in that it means companies are bypassing Flash in order to make their content viewable on the iPhone (and presumably iPad). Guess he should have actually tried these pages on an iPhone before putting that page up!

 

..Al

[KrazyKaiju]

Looks like it might include a video conferencing camera after all.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/mac/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=222600847

 

Now it only needs a USB port and SD slot.

[Austin]

http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/01/30/ipad-v-a-rock/

 

Sorry guys, I just had to..

[DracIsBack]

I do hope that Flash goes away and is replaced by open standards, some of which is promised in HTML5. I'm sure Adobe sees the writing on the wall, and I'm sure Apple is hoping to make that a reality sooner than not. It sucks, though, as end users are paying the price until that happens.

 

I'm interested to see how this plays out. Adobe has the ammo of having the Flash standard and also the tooling standards to make the Flash content. I often hear SVG brought up as a "replacement for Flash" and the argument is that it's part of HTML 5 therefore Flash is finished. My response is always, "how would the SVG graphics get made when content like that gets designed in tooling that Adobe dominates?"

 

Not disagreeing with the criticism of Flash, but it's very difficult to displace Adobe. Silverlight, JavaFX and SVG all have extremely low penetration because of the tooling problem. I think all have interesting technical viability but the question remains: how would content be made in those formats? Adobe makes Illustrator and Adobe makes Flash Professional and both dominate their tooling markets (Flash more than Illustrator). Adobe also controls the SDKs for those tools which brings limitations to how other formats can be authored out of them.

 

The alternatives are to force a designer or developer to use a non-Industry standard tool (good luck - especially with a designer) or for the graphics to be hand-coded (again - good luck). Sun is doing a good job with the JavaFX plugin to Adobe's toolings but there are both technical and workflow issues with it.

 

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

[DracIsBack]

No Downloaded programs from the internet???

 

 

Heh. That's been one of my pet peeves about Apple's "App Store" crowing. They have done a fantastic job getting an easy to use app store in one spot, getting developers to put in apps and getting consumers to use them. They've also done a great job convincing the press of their success.

 

But man - every time they put up a chart showing them against competitors and how many apps they have, they forget one small but important detail:

 

Apple forces all apps to be downloaded from one spot (unless the phone is jailbroken). Their competitors do not. Long before there was an iPhone or an App Store, there were tens of thousands of apps on competitors platforms. The difference is that the author of the app could distribute it how they saw fit. This could include carrier app stores, their own websites, third party app stores (ala MobiHand), the channel etc.

 

Every time Jobs or Phil S gets up and says, "Look at how many apps are on iPhone compared to elsewhere", they compare company App Stores, which is not the right way of looking at things. They should compare Apple's App Store against their competitors App Stores + all the other channels where apps for competitive platforms get distributed.

[Albert]

I'm interested to see how this plays out. Adobe has the ammo of having the Flash standard and also the tooling standards to make the Flash content. I often hear SVG brought up as a "replacement for Flash" and the argument is that it's part of HTML 5 therefore Flash is finished. My response is always, "how would the SVG graphics get made when content like that gets designed in tooling that Adobe dominates?"

You do bring up an excellent point that I hadn't seen yet, and you're absolutely right. The lack of good authoring tools to generate content in these "open standards" formats is going to do more to hinder their adoption than anything else. Adobe certainly does have a lock on that right now, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Developing a player for a Flash competitor is one thing, but creating good development tools is a huge undertaking, to say nothing about doing it well.

 

I think it would require a company such as Apple or Google to write their own development tools that go head-to-head with Adobe. If you have tools designers want to use, that would go a long way. Especially if said tools were free, such as all of Apple's OS X development tools. If Apple wants Flash to go away, they could certainly be more proactive in its demise.

 

..Al

[DracIsBack]

I think it would require a company such as Apple or Google to write their own development tools that go head-to-head with Adobe.

 

It's a tough battle. Remember - before Adobe owned Flash, even they couldn't do it. They tried to displace Macromedia with LiveMotion (http://en.wikipedia....dobe_LiveMotion) and the SVG viewer. Both failed to succeed and they bought Macromedia instead.

 

I think Apple might have a better shot though I wonder about Google's ability to make a design tool succeed? Apple does have the inroads to education and the designer audience loving their stuff at least. Apple products also get used in some professional design capacities (Aperture and Final Cut come to mind).

 

Google would be starting from scratch.

Edited February 3, 2010 by DracIsBack