The Apple Tablet Event?

[Steve E]

I have officially joined your ranks.

I am typing this on my iPad.

Welcome to the club.

I am typing this on my iPad.

(God. We sound like ham radio operators. "I am speaking to you on a ham radio.")

Kind of fun but I expect the novelty to wear off soon.

Did you get the 3G?

 

Expecting the next model to have a camera.

-Thoth

[orrenm]

May the Force be with you, young Skywalker.

 

As long as you mean young "Luke" Skywalker, I'll take that as a compliment. Young Anakin...well...those movies never happened.

 

 

It is very cool, don't you think? (Although the typing part not so much, IMHO.)

 

Yeah, I'm having a bit of a bear with the typing. I can touch type in portrait mode but it cramps my wrists after a while. I don't really want to get a keyboard, as that seems to defeat the purpose of having an all-in-one lounging device.

 

Welcome to the club.

 

Thanks! It's club consisting of 2+ million of our closest friends, and growing all the time, much to Apple's joy.

 

Kind of fun but I expect the novelty to wear off soon.

 

Actually, the novelty of using it for typing large (hundreds of words) amounts of text wore of for me as soon as my wrists started throbbing...

 

Did you get the 3G?

 

No. The main instigator for me buying this iPad is that with apps available today, I can use it as a "software controller" for my audio software.

 

Quick explanation for those unfamiliar with audio programs: trying to move faders of multiple audio channels at once is a PITA with a mouse, so we normally buy a control surface looks like a mixer but doesn't mix sound, instead it has USB or ethernet and moves the onscreen faders of our audio program. But unless you're willing to buy a $15,000 software controller, they're all fundamentally flawed. There is an iPad app that is not only way-less-flawed than it's hardware counterparts, but far cheaper (even including the price of the iPad). So the iPad has become a hot item for musicians for this reason (among other reasons).

 

So in my case, I just bought the lowest end, cheapest iPad they make (16GB wifi) since this is just the home/studio iPad.

 

Expecting the next model to have a camera.

 

I agree. And that iPad is the one that I might buy with 3G, as the laptop replacement "FaceTime" iPad which I can use on business trips to video chat with the family, etc.

 

Okay, off to buy some apps!

 

Orren

[marguerite]

As long as you mean young "Luke" Skywalker, I'll take that as a compliment. Young Anakin...well...those movies never happened.

Gosh, yes. I wouldn't even think of Anakin and that phrase together. (Silly side note: There is, however, a very nice Chilean chardonnay called Anakéna, after guess who. No, not Voldemort, who probably should have gone with the helmet—apologies to Ralph Fiennes, who's pretty decent looking when not playing a Lord of Evil.)

 

Yeah, I'm having a bit of a bear with the typing. I can touch type in portrait mode but it cramps my wrists after a while. I don't really want to get a keyboard, as that seems to defeat the purpose of having an all-in-one lounging device.

Exactly. I'm going to test out a stylus and will post a review in due course.

 

Thanks! It's club consisting of 2+ million of our closest friends, and growing all the time, much to Apple's joy.

 

No. The main instigator for me buying this iPad is that with apps available today, I can use it as a "software controller" for my audio software.

I know Thoth and Julie G don't agree, but I think it makes a great e-reader, both for my own stuff and other people's. Especially iBooks, which can actually fool my brain into thinking I'm reading a book because of the shadows on the page and the graphic suggesting a cover. Shallow, I know, but it works. Of course, there are less expensive e-readers on the market, but it's not a bad price for an e-reader that can do so much more (think Kindle DX).

 

Okay, off to buy some apps!

Orren

I'd say let us know if you find any good ones, but they will probably all be for controlling music....

 

BTW, Lauren may have abandoned Storyist but her son Brent's Converter app is well worth its 99¢ (maybe $1.99, but I think not).

Back to Soviet football rivalries. Sigh,

M

[orrenm]

I'm going to test out a stylus and will post a review in due course.

 

A stylus may eliminate wrist strain from typing, but it also eliminates your ability to touch type. I can't imagine using a stylus to write even a few pages, for example, at the speed of pecking out single letters instead of touch typing 50wpm or so (and even that is slow compared to a real typist). So while a stylus may help in one sense, it also eliminates the iPad as a serious writing tool.

 

I know Thoth and Julie G don't agree, but I think it makes a great e-reader, both for my own stuff and other people's. Especially iBooks, which can actually fool my brain into thinking I'm reading a book because of the shadows on the page and the graphic suggesting a cover. Shallow, I know, but it works.

 

Nothing wrong with aesthetics! I'm very into the look and feel of things myself. I downloaded the iBooks App so I'll definitely give it a try!

 

 

I'd say let us know if you find any good ones, but they will probably all be for controlling music....

 

I've not checked them out thoroughly yet, but in my buying spree, here's what I got (some are free):

 

WebMD, Comics, Netflix, AC-7Pro (music), Air Display, Pulse News, Pinball HD, Goodreader, Simplenote, Quickoffice (this is my only productivity app right now, not Pages), Converter for iPad.

 

BTW, Lauren may have abandoned Storyist but her son Brent's Converter app is well worth its 99¢ (maybe $1.99, but I think not).

 

I've had the iPhone app for over a year and loved it. Upgrading to the iPad version was a no-brainer.

 

Take care,

Orren

[marguerite]

A stylus may eliminate wrist strain from typing, but it also eliminates your ability to touch type. I can't imagine using a stylus to write even a few pages, for example, at the speed of pecking out single letters instead of touch typing 50wpm or so (and even that is slow compared to a real typist). So while a stylus may help in one sense, it also eliminates the iPad as a serious writing tool.

Take care,

Orren

Good point. I can touch-type at something close to my normal speed in landscape mode if I prop the iPad case on its side (in portrait mode I tend to hold the iPad in my right hand and type with my left), although for some reason I find myself missing the space bar and producing strings of words separated by n or v, which is irritating. The auto-correct feature also has its drawbacks (come on, Apple, people write its or lets with reasonable frequency!). So I was thinking of the stylus more for menus or (I hope—don't know if this is possible yet) as a way of drawing attention to the specific spot on the page where I would like the cursor to move. We'll see if it works.

 

The Netflix app (and instant-watching Netflix films) is a surprisingly good experience on the iPad. GoodReader is nice, too. I also have a lot of free apps, including WeatherBug, a historical atlas, Memeo Connect, and something called Wallpaper or iPad Wallpaper, which has tons of great photos that you can import to your Mac through iPhoto and turn into a screen saver if you like that kind of thing. The dimensions are wrong for the Mac screen, but with 10.6 you can have them drift onto the screen like postcards, which is a very nice effect. The NY Times app is a bit disappointing, because you can get a much better display of the headlines through Safari; ditto the NPR app, but they are both free, too.

 

Have fun with your new toy!

 

Back to the bar brawl at my heroine's wedding (suggested, sort of, by Thoth—it's working out beautifully, Thoth, thanks!). The brawl is done, but I still have to figure out how that affects what happens next....

M

[marguerite]

Julia: I haven't used Stanza for iPhone/iPad. Can you e-mail a file out of it? Can it transfer files to your Desktop, either through iTunes or in some other way (via a browser, maybe)?

 

Isaac, you used Stanza for iPhone. Do you have any ideas about how to get a book out of Stanza once it's there?

 

I moved the answer here, since PDF transfer from the iPad is not really a "Using Storyist" feature.

Best,

M

[Joolissa]

My thanks also, Orren. My biggest annoyance was this:

 

Obviously it was to get you buy the product. Perhaps the poor ethics of their actions eluded them.

 

Another reason I'm glad I didn't spring for the 3G.

(Sorry Jools.)

- Thoth

 

I agree that it was low. I also think it's because they can't handle all the traffic, which to me is another reason why apple should make deals with all the other carriers too. Competition!!!!! Not to mention spreading out the traffic over all the carriers instead of overloading one.... but seriously, competition is what is going to cause AT&T to improve and make things better for their users instead of what they're currently doing. That's my opinion anyway.

 

I am glad I got the 3G though. It allows me to have internet when at my grandparents beach house, which only has a really unreliable wireless network from some nearby house who doesn't lock it

 

I did manage to use just over a gig (a few Netflix movies!) from Mon-Friday though and that was with supplemental wireless, so I'm currently debating about whether I should keep buying 3G to keep the unlimited plan. Does anyone know if once you've bought it you can always get it or if you stop buying it you'll only have the options of the new plans?

 

I may end up with a new plan for my iPhone though.

 

Apparently the family is going back to the beach again before my 30 days runs out, so I'll see what two trips in a month does to my usage and add that to my consideration.

 

 

This is a known issue, although it only affects some iPads—I'm not sure why (non-Apple routers, maybe?). I've been lucky, for example. Apple has promised a firmware fix, but not a schedule for it.

Hopefully it looks like my wireless issues have gone away, though we'll see. Of course I've traded them for other issues now. *sigh*

 

For me: A thin, hard case with a sturdy handle that can fold flat. It would have velcro seals for closure. The lid would have two parallel hinges so that it could fold over to form a stand, for horizontal typing, but the lid would also be able to fold over flat so the case could be carried open. Of course the device should be held in place very firmly yet be accessible at all point I might need to access (including the earbud minijack). When closed it should be able to pass for a small black portfolio case.

 

Beyond that, for the hip crowd (which would not include me), it should come in assorted colors (including the metallic, pastels, tan and camouflage) and textures (including diamond dust, vinyl, denim, leather and fur). And an option for personalization (from photos, fractal equations and any downloadable art). And it should speak Portuguese.

 

Yes, I've thought about this a bit.

- Thoth

Haha! Sounds nice, though I'd prefer Welsh.

 

 

Just found this stylus while surfing (Julia, I think you, in particular, said you wanted a stylus). Haven't tried it, so can't recommend it, but am passing on the information anyway. If anyone buys one (I may try it out myself), please let us know how it works.

 

Looks as if it may be usable on the iPhone, too. If not, there is a mini-version on the same site. There is also a foldover iPad case, similar to the Apple case except that it folds back vertically to hold the iPad in portrait mode (the case is what drew me to the site in the first place).

best,

M

If a stylus works on the iPad, it'll work on the iPhone, or at least I think that's how the technology works. Personally I have a Pogo Sketch stylus, but I am far from impressed with it. It works better on the iPad than my iPhone, but neither work anywhere near as well as a finger. This may be due to my screen protector, but I would rather protect my screen from scratches than use a stylus. Also, since the tip is made from "foam", it sheds pieces of it, which means it'll disintegrate with use. Also being OCD and a "picky" person, it's really hard for me not to pick at the foam.

 

I would really like one of these: The Dagi Stylus, but currently the only way to buy them is on the Taiwan Ebay and I don't know that I want to do that.

 

 

iPhone 4 looks great. I'll take one.

 

New iBooks app has some features that have been asked for in this thread:

* PDF Support

* Notes

* Live syncing of books (your own and purchased), bookmarks, place in book, notes, etc. between all iDevices

Not sure when it will be available for iPad, however. Will be on the iPhone June 21st.

Orren

Ditto & Yay!!!!

 

I have officially joined your ranks.

 

I am typing this on my iPad.

 

Orren

Welcome to the cult.... Have you been properly initiated and hazed?

 

 

Yeah, I'm having a bit of a bear with the typing. I can touch type in portrait mode but it cramps my wrists after a while. I don't really want to get a keyboard, as that seems to defeat the purpose of having an all-in-one lounging device.

 

Actually, the novelty of using it for typing large (hundreds of words) amounts of text wore of for me as soon as my wrists started throbbing...

 

 

 

No. The main instigator for me buying this iPad is that with apps available today, I can use it as a "software controller" for my audio software.

 

Quick explanation for those unfamiliar with audio programs: trying to move faders of multiple audio channels at once is a PITA with a mouse, so we normally buy a control surface looks like a mixer but doesn't mix sound, instead it has USB or ethernet and moves the onscreen faders of our audio program. But unless you're willing to buy a $15,000 software controller, they're all fundamentally flawed. There is an iPad app that is not only way-less-flawed than it's hardware counterparts, but far cheaper (even including the price of the iPad). So the iPad has become a hot item for musicians for this reason (among other reasons).

 

So in my case, I just bought the lowest end, cheapest iPad they make (16GB wifi) since this is just the home/studio iPad.

 

 

 

I agree. And that iPad is the one that I might buy with 3G, as the laptop replacement "FaceTime" iPad which I can use on business trips to video chat with the family, etc.

 

Okay, off to buy some apps!

 

Orren

Typing: I guess this is where my tiny hands come in handy. I'm doing okay with it and I can imagine doing some writing with it, but I wish the apostrophe was on the first keyboard screen. I am also having issues with the i not always auto capitalizing, but I'm not the only one according to google, so I'm not too worried.

 

Music Apps: Sounds really cool Orren. The most I do with music apps is plink on pianos and fool around with beat apps, but I can definitely see the iPad as a tool for musicians.

 

FaceTime iPad: Yea, I imagine we'll all want the 2.0. Personally I'm hoping I'll be able to sell mine and upgrade, or wait for the 3.0 .

 

This is the problem with every year releases *sigh*

 

 

I know Thoth and Julie G don't agree, but I think it makes a great e-reader, both for my own stuff and other people's. Especially iBooks, which can actually fool my brain into thinking I'm reading a book because of the shadows on the page and the graphic suggesting a cover. Shallow, I know, but it works. Of course, there are less expensive e-readers on the market, but it's not a bad price for an e-reader that can do so much more (think Kindle DX).

 

 

I'd say let us know if you find any good ones, but they will probably all be for controlling music....

 

BTW, Lauren may have abandoned Storyist but her son Brent's Converter app is well worth its 99¢ (maybe $1.99, but I think not).

Back to Soviet football rivalries. Sigh,

M

Reader: Hey! I agree. It's a great reader and I'm excited to have it and read with it. I just don't like current ebook technology, pricing, & licensing. It's wonderful for free ebooks though!

 

 

The Netflix app (and instant-watching Netflix films) is a surprisingly good experience on the iPad.

I have to say I'm entirely unimpressed with the Netflix app. It's a bear to use for me. It's painfully slow on anything but a really good wireless connection, and even on a good one it's not zippy. I'm used to interrupted video play since I watched a lot of things that buffered often on my computer, so that doesn't bug me so much, but the amount of clicks and waiting you have to go through to add something to your instant queue is really annoying. It's simple to add the DVD or immediate watch something, but adding it to the instant queue is annoying. That's really a fault of the Netflix website though and not the app. Scrolling isn't always smooth and it's just about given me a seizure a few times since it started flashing like a strobe light while loading things. That could have been the connection though Another thing that's annoying is trying to reorder your queues, since drag and drop doesn't work you have to number each item individually. Anyone else gotten drag and drop to work? I just end up scrolling the list.

 

I've also had it crashing a lot, but some have been low memory crashes (Grr) and the rest may be due to my gremlin issues (Argh) , so I'm not blaming the app for that.

 

Still, I am impressed (when I stop to think about it) that it is possible to watch a movie instantly over what ever connection I have on my iPad.... technology.. wow. Next to wow me is streaming over my Wii! Yay! I just got my first DVD in the mail too. Netflix is so much fun!!!!

 

 

Julia: I haven't used Stanza for iPhone/iPad. Can you e-mail a file out of it? Can it transfer files to your Desktop, either through iTunes or in some other way (via a browser, maybe)?

 

Isaac, you used Stanza for iPhone. Do you have any ideas about how to get a book out of Stanza once it's there?

 

I moved the answer here, since PDF transfer from the iPad is not really a "Using Storyist" feature.

Best,

M

 

I discovered it's really simple on your iPad. When you sync to iTunes go to the App Tab and scroll down to File Sharing. It will list Stanza and you can click on it, then click on your book, and save it to your desktop, where you can then add it to your iTunes book Library and into iBooks it will go. I don't think you can do it without the computer though, due to iBooks limitation to the iBook Store and iTunes it seems.

 

As for the iPhone, I would think that when iBooks/iOS 4 comes out for it that they will add the "File Sharing" bit and the process would be the same, but maybe not. If not, you could get it on your iPad and add it to iTunes that way and then it will sync to your iPhone. If you need to get something off your iPhone though, there's this article.

 

 

I'm going to start a new thread for discussing Apps. I think we'd all like to share our thoughts on our favorite apps and since that might be useful to other users I think it deserves it's own thread since who's crazy enough (other than me) to read through 20+ pages of this thread to find App recommendations!

- Jools

[marguerite]

Neat trick I recently discovered that works for anything on the second screen (and vice versa, I'm guessing): if you want an apostrophe, say, touch the .?123 key but don't release it. Instead slide to the key you want, then release. The keyboard snaps right back to the letters and you can keep typing. Something similar works for accents: touch the e and hold it, then slide to the diacritic you want and release--é.

 

One thing we haven't mentioned (probably because most people have no use for it) is that typing in a non-Latin alphabet is much easier on the iPad, where the correct keyboard layout is just a tap away.

 

Спокойной ночи, друзья мои!

(Goodnight, friends)

M

[Joolissa]

One of these days I'm going to remember to ask you where you get your russian connection in the right thread!!!

 

Thanks for the tip! I will have give that a try!

- Jools

[orrenm]

Neat trick I recently discovered that works for anything on the second screen (and vice versa, I'm guessing): if you want an apostrophe, say, touch the .?123 key but don't release it. Instead slide to the key you want, then release. The keyboard snaps right back to the letters and you can keep typing. Something similar works for accents: touch the e and hold it, then slide to the diacritic you want and release--é.

 

Unfortunately that doesn't work for characters on screen 3; in other words if I want to add UBB code and I need to get to the open and closed brackets on keyboard screen 3 I have to do the press and let go thing. Or is there another way?

 

How do you get to non-Latin characters? Is Hebrew an option?

 

Thanks,

Orren

[orrenm]

I'm going to start a new thread for discussing Apps. I think we'd all like to share our thoughts on our favorite apps and since that might be useful to other users I think it deserves it's own thread since who's crazy enough (other than me) to read through 20+ pages of this thread to find App recommendations!

- Jools

 

Sounds like a plan!

 

Orren

[marguerite]

Unfortunately that doesn't work for characters on screen 3; in other words if I want to add UBB code and I need to get to the open and closed brackets on keyboard screen 3 I have to do the press and let go thing. Or is there another way?

 

How do you get to non-Latin characters? Is Hebrew an option?

 

Thanks,

Orren

Settings > General > International > Add New Keyboard. Unfortunately, Hebrew is not (yet) an option: you can choose two kinds of Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and various European options but not Arabic or Hebrew. Once you add a keyboard, tapping the key next to the space bar that looks a bit like the world will cycle through your keyboards. The best part is that the keys actually change for the selected language; when I type on the Mac, I have to display the keyboard viewer so that I can match up the Cyrillic letters with the Latin ones on the physical keyboard.

 

Yes, I don't think the same trick works for screen 3, unless perhaps you are in screen 2 to begin with. If I find a cool trick for that, I'll post it.

 

In answer to Jules's Russian question, I went to high school in the late 1960s, when the U.S. Defense Dept. still worried about the Commies and funded language training in Russian, so my local high school offered it. I almost dropped it in college (the grammar is a bear), but my first Russian civilization class hooked my interest, and I never looked back. How can anyone resist a history that is essentially a blockbuster movie on a plate? Vikings, Mongols, wacko tsars who divide their country in two and prey on the half that they have assigned to someone else, tsars who kill their own sons and then worry about the succession, serfdom, revolution, war, disease, famine, and natural disasters galore. I could spend the rest of my life turning it into fiction and I'd never run out of plot points.

 

So that's my story.

Best,

M

[orrenm]

Thanks for the explanations!

 

Speaking of Russian history, my great-grandfather on my dad's side was a speechwriter for the czar by day...and a writer for the Bolshevicks by night (this was the early 20th century, obviously). He took his wife and young son (my grandfather) to America, but eventually decided he had to return and work for the revolution. He was assassinated when my grandfather was very young. Nobody in our family knew by which side.

 

Tangentially related to "Soviet" history, my paternal family was not Russian, but Ukrainian. They were the richest villagers in a small and old village outside Kiev. And because of that, I've always suggested that I'm descended from Khazarian nobility. (the medieval Khazarian empire encompassed northern Turkey and the Ukraine, and was in fact the longest lasting and most robust Jewish state in history.)

 

Orren

[marguerite]

Thanks for the explanations!

 

Speaking of Russian history, my great-grandfather on my dad's side was a speechwriter for the czar by day...and a writer for the Bolshevicks by night (this was the early 20th century, obviously). He took his wife and young son (my grandfather) to America, but eventually decided he had to return and work for the revolution. He was assassinated when my grandfather was very young. Nobody in our family knew by which side.

 

Tangentially related to "Soviet" history, my paternal family was not Russian, but Ukrainian. They were the richest villagers in a small and old village outside Kiev. And because of that, I've always suggested that I'm descended from Khazarian nobility. (the medieval Khazarian empire encompassed northern Turkey and the Ukraine, and was in fact the longest lasting and most robust Jewish state in history.)

 

Orren

Interesting family history. Clearly you, too, have lots of cool details to import into your stories if you choose! Many of the prerevolutionary Bolsheviks were also Okhrana (tsarist political police) informants, including some big names (most notably Stalin, although I think the evidence has been questioned). The Okhrana was pretty efficient, and the Bolsheviks not always circumspect. It gets pretty cold in Siberia, I hear, so I guess they decided why not turn in a few of the less reputable comrades if it meant staying in Tbilisi or Baku?

 

Yes, the Khazars were a fascinating bunch: Turkic warlords who established an empire, converted to Judaism (although probably only the elite, and that in the syncretic Judeo-Turkic mix of the period—my Tatars did the same thing with Islam four centuries later), and exacted tribute from the Slavs. They sat themselves smack dab at the end of the Volga/Caspian trade route, and the Vikings probably came down from Sweden to trade with them (until they discovered an alternate route along the Dnieper heading straight for Constantinople). The Russian princes finally got tired of paying tribute and destroyed the Khazar empire—bad move, as it turned out, since the Khazars were providing a buffer against the Polovtsians/Cumans/Kipchak, behind whom came Genghis Khan's Mongols. But then, Genghis would probably have wiped the Khazars out himself if they'd still been around in 1236.

 

There is a serious argument that the East European Jews are of Khazar descent, so your story may have some "legs" to it. Although I suspect a lot of the Khazar tribesmen just went with the flow, adopted the next religion that came along, and kept on worshipping their ancestor spirits and telling their origin myths the same way they always had.

Best,

M

[orrenm]

Interesting family history. Clearly you, too, have lots of cool details to import into your stories if you choose!

 

As the saying goes, "writers write about that which they know" so here and there, I find ways to bring information in.

 

the Vikings probably came down from Sweden to trade with them

 

In 2002 they found a Swedish viking horde that had Khazarian coins with Hebrew/Jewish symbols, so they must have.

 

There is a serious argument that the East European Jews are of Khazar descent, so your story may have some "legs" to it. Although I suspect a lot of the Khazar tribesmen just went with the flow, adopted the next religion that came along, and kept on worshipping their ancestor spirits and telling their origin myths the same way they always had.

 

I had also read that really, only the ruling class became religious, the rest of the population not really caring. I think that's how it was for most of the ancient world. In my family's case, there is even more circumstantial evidence. This is all "inside baseball," but there are two Jewish traditions, the "Safardic" (which is mostly from Spain/Middle East) and "Ashkenazi" from Eastern Europe. As you'd imagine, Russian/Ukrainian/Polish Jews are all Ashkenazi. The Khazarian traditions were Safardic. And—there are Sefardic traditions in my family, as well as Ashkenazi. Could this have been adopted at any point in time by someone who thought they were nifty? Of course. Could they be survivals of the practices of ancient relatives that were Khazarian? It's possible. And since it's practically impossible to prove one way or another, I'm going with the nobility story.

 

And I can read about all this on my iPad! Whew! Back on topic!

 

Orren

[marguerite]

I agree that it was low. I also think it's because they can't handle all the traffic, which to me is another reason why apple should make deals with all the other carriers too. Competition!!!!! Not to mention spreading out the traffic over all the carriers instead of overloading one.... but seriously, competition is what is going to cause AT&T to improve and make things better for their users instead of what they're currently doing. That's my opinion anyway.

 

I am glad I got the 3G though. It allows me to have internet when at my grandparents beach house, which only has a really unreliable wireless network from some nearby house who doesn't lock it

 

I did manage to use just over a gig (a few Netflix movies!) from Mon-Friday though and that was with supplemental wireless, so I'm currently debating about whether I should keep buying 3G to keep the unlimited plan. Does anyone know if once you've bought it you can always get it or if you stop buying it you'll only have the options of the new plans?

 

I may end up with a new plan for my iPhone though.

- Jools

Late-breaking news: A class action suit has been filed against Apple and ATT for deceptive advertising (luring people to buy the 3G iPad with unlimited data plans and free switching among plans, then pulling the plug). For more information, see today's iPad Nation Daily.

 

Jules, you may be able to put yourself through college with the proceeds! Or at least support your life as a novelist....

Best,

M

[orrenm]

Jules, you may be able to put yourself through college with the proceeds!

 

Or at least, buy a really nice meal at a fancy restaurant.

 

I was involved in the iPod class action lawsuit of 2004; The settlement was worth $22.5 million dollars; after millions for the lawyers, the actual individual plaintiffs named in the lawsuit got $1500 each, and the millions of us got $50 gift cards. http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/05/08...ction_suit.html

 

Maybe this lawsuit will be different.

 

Orren

[Steve E]

Late-breaking news: A class action suit has been filed against Apple and ATT for deceptive advertising (luring people to buy the 3G iPad with unlimited data plans and free switching among plans, then pulling the plug). For more information, see today's iPad Nation Daily.

HA! Good!

 

Jules, you may be able to put yourself through college with the proceeds! Or at least support your life as a novelist....

I hate to mention this but the plaintiff's portion of the suit will probably not exceed expenses over non-3G costs. At most we're talking the difference in cost between iPads (~$130) plus (and this is unlikely) the cost of the ATT plan per month since the purchase of the iPad to the date of the filing. So that's maybe $160 per person MINUS the lawyer's cut. What about pain and suffering you ask? Not applicable (sez dem). There might be more money if they could demonstrate a criminal conspiracy by prosecuting a Bait & Switch case first, but most states don't have Bait & Switch prohibitions.

 

So don't expect to put yourself through college on the proceeds. Maybe a few origami classes. But take a quantum of solace in the knowledge that some justice may be accomplished in this cruel and craven world.

- Thoth

[Joolissa]

So how does one get in on this class action thingy?

 

Gotta say that I'd like to sue Apple over the wireless issues. I have changed my routers settings and it still hasn't fixed the issue. I have had to put in the ridiculous password 4-5 times in the last few hours. It's dropped it more times than vie had to put the password in too. And unfortunately we got rid of all our linksys routers recently, so now if i want to try a different router I have to buy one. ARGH!!!! One more reason I hate fios, even if it isn't entirely their fault.

-Jools

[orrenm]

So how does one get in on this class action thingy?

 

Generally the lawyers put out a call for entrants to the "class" once it has been officially certified by a judge. It sort of works like this, if I remember correctly: the lawyers find a few people willing to sign their names to the case, and then file a class action lawsuit for everyone in their position. So at this point, only a few people are involved.

 

After that it will go to the judge to have the class "certified." In other words, the judge has to say "yeah, these group of people really do constitute a class of wronged people, you may go ahead with the case." This is so I can't, for example, sue McDonalds on behalf of all brown-haired people because I got soggy fries. The judge would say that no, this isn't a legitimate class, all brown haired people were not wronged.

 

Once the class is certified, usually the lawyers will go into the records and try to find you and get you to join the case (for the iPod case, I got a letter in the mail). The more people, the better the case, so it's to their advantage to add as many people as they can. If the data is classified, there will usually be a number you can call to sign yourself up.

 

But the suit isn't at that stage yet. When it is, you'll know.

 

 

Gotta say that I'd like to sue Apple over the wireless issues.

 

I've not had any wireless issues with my iPad at all, not a single dropped connection. Was there a bad run or something?

 

Take care,

Orren

[Joolissa]

Generally the lawyers put out a call for entrants to the "class" once it has been officially certified by a judge. It sort of works like this, if I remember correctly: the lawyers find a few people willing to sign their names to the case, and then file a class action lawsuit for everyone in their position. So at this point, only a few people are involved.

 

After that it will go to the judge to have the class "certified." In other words, the judge has to say "yeah, these group of people really do constitute a class of wronged people, you may go ahead with the case." This is so I can't, for example, sue McDonalds on behalf of all brown-haired people because I got soggy fries. The judge would say that no, this isn't a legitimate class, all brown haired people were not wronged.

 

Once the class is certified, usually the lawyers will go into the records and try to find you and get you to join the case (for the iPod case, I got a letter in the mail). The more people, the better the case, so it's to their advantage to add as many people as they can. If the data is classified, there will usually be a number you can call to sign yourself up.

 

But the suit isn't at that stage yet. When it is, you'll know.

 

 

 

 

I've not had any wireless issues with my iPad at all, not a single dropped connection. Was there a bad run or something?

 

Take care,

Orren

 

Is it better to be one of the people who signs their name to the thing? How do they find people for that? Pretty interesting stuff.

 

As for the wireless thing, there are really 2 separate issues. The first issue is having to do with the iPad having a hard time connecting due to poor signal or something, which I think people are chocking up to the complete metal back of the wifi only iPads. Since I have a 3G, this isn't an issue. I probably get better signal than the wifi only people because of the plastic piece.

 

The other issue is that "a very small number" (do they check their own suport forums or the internet?) of iPads can't stay connected to what ever wireless network they have. It's constantly dropped and the iPad "forgets" the password. Apple won't admit to anything except to put up this support Article: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3304

 

Searching around the internet reveals that Fios Actiontec routers and iPads do NOT get along at all. Sure enough, we have Fios and an Actiontec router. Some people have success changing their router channel to 1, 6, or 11, switching to WPA or WPA2 instead of WEP, splitting mixed signal networks, and what ever else that article says, but for most that doesn't solve the problem. It only temporarily fixes it or makes the asking for a password less frequent.

 

I've fiddled with our settings, which since I'm not the only person in the house, is a pain because it kicks everyone off and they have to rejoin/delete the network from computer memory and then rejoin. I've been asked to reinput the randomly generated number/letters password so many times I now have it memorized. *sigh* Since we don't have a linksys router to set up a separate network for my iPad, I'm going to have to fiddle with the network again and see if that helps before I go spend the money on another router.

 

I can only hope that Apple does take care of the issue (or may Fios!) soon, but it's doubtful. I have been keeping my 3G turned off so that I can gauge my usage accurately (thinking I wouldn't be using it at home), but with the plans having been changed and the wireless issues, I think I'll probably turn it back on and have to keep paying for it so I can keep the unlimited plan. We'll see.

- Jools

[marguerite]

I have a WiFi iPad and an Apple router (Dual-Band Time Capsule). I haven't had any connection problems so far, despite the all-metal back. The Time Capsule is a problem for other reasons: it sends Tiger machines into unpredictable, intermittent kernel panics. Apple says only that it needs to issue a firmware update (for the Time Capsule? the affected G4s and G5s? not clear). But Apple has been saying that since January and hasn't done anything about issuing the fix.

 

So I can't recommend the Time Capsule if you have computers running 10.4.11. It seems to work fine with 10.5 and 10.6.

 

BTW, y'all do know that my comment about JG putting herself through college was a joke, right? Hence the .

Best,

M

[orrenm]

Is it better to be one of the people who signs their name to the thing? How do they find people for that? Pretty interesting stuff.

 

Well, it's "better" in the sense that if you win, you get more money. For example, in the iPod case where I got a $50 gift certificate, they got $1500. But they also have to put a lot of time in, and they are the ones who become the plaintiffs of note if they lose the case. I'm not sure if that means that they might be liable for paying the defendants legal fees or not.

 

The way people become plaintiffs of note tends to be:

• Predatory lawyers are always out looking for class action lawsuits. Some want to do the right thing for the right reasons, of course. But others are in it for the money. For example, in that iPod case, I made $50, the plaintiffs made $1500, and the lawyer's team of probably 2-3 lawyers split something like $3 million. That's why class action lawsuits are often derided as "jackpot justice."

 

• The other way is that pissed off people look up class action lawyers specifically to sue a company.

 

The other issue is that "a very small number" (do they check their own suport forums or the internet?) of iPads can't stay connected to what ever wireless network they have. It's constantly dropped and the iPad "forgets" the password. Apple won't admit to anything except to put up this support Article: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3304

 

Searching around the internet reveals that Fios Actiontec routers and iPads do NOT get along at all. Sure enough, we have Fios and an Actiontec router. Some people have success changing their router channel to 1, 6, or 11, switching to WPA or WPA2 instead of WEP, splitting mixed signal networks, and what ever else that article says, but for most that doesn't solve the problem. It only temporarily fixes it or makes the asking for a password less frequent.

 

I actually had an issue almost exactly like that, but with a Firewire audio interface. It would simply cut out randomly. I did a whole lot of troubleshooting, with lots of companies, even had an Apple Engineer file an internal bug report on the issue. Ultimately, the problem was one that really was unsolvable, and not Apple's fault. Apple used a Texas Instruments based Firewire chipset, and the BridgeCo Firewire chipset of this audio interface had some issues with it. It was nobody's fault—it wasn't something either Apple or the developer of the interface could do anything about, they didn't write the firmware. The only solution was to use a different interface compatible with Apple's Firewire controller, or to buy a FireWire card for my G5 with a different Firewire chipset.

 

I can only hope that Apple does take care of the issue (or may Fios!) soon, but it's doubtful

 

I have no idea if the issue is between the iPad wifi chipset and the FiOS Actiontec chipset, but if it is, it truly may be "one of those things" for which there isn't an answer—neither Apple nor FiOS nor Actiontec would have known about this. Holding the Chinese manufacturer of the chipsets themselves to task is a non-starter. In that situation (if that's what it is) the only solution really might be to take an ethernet line from the FiOS router into a completely different wifi hub and create a network that is compatible.

 

But I could be wrong, and there could be an easier fix—I'm just guessing based on previous experience.

 

Take care,

Orren

[Steve E]

I have a WiFi iPad and an Apple router (Dual-Band Time Capsule). I haven't had any connection problems so far, despite the all-metal back. The Time Capsule is a problem for other reasons: it sends Tiger machines into unpredictable, intermittent kernel panics. Apple says only that it needs to issue a firmware update (for the Time Capsule? the affected G4s and G5s? not clear). But Apple has been saying that since January and hasn't done anything about issuing the fix.

So I can't recommend the Time Capsule if you have computers running 10.4.11. It seems to work fine with 10.5 and 10.6.

My friend (whose iTunes I've been using for my iPad) runs Snow Leopard and has the Time Capsule. I've had no problems using it with my WiFi iPad although I only use it for long downloads. Otherwise my local Optimum I/O WiFi is just fine.

 

BTW, y'all do know that my comment about JG putting herself through college was a joke, right? Hence the .

Oh, yeah. Everyone knows only lawyers get rich from lawsuits (usually).

- Thoth

[Joolissa]

It's a good thing I can contain the urge to throw this thing across the room every time it asks me for the password and/or drops the connection. Otherwise I think I'd be out quite a few iPads by now

 

Tomorrow I'll fiddle with the settings again and then if that doesn't work I'll probably end up with another router. The question is which type?

-Jools