marguerite Posted March 30, 2010 Report Share Posted March 30, 2010 Watch the video on Apple's iTunes guided tour that covers Pages. Is there more than that feature set that you'd want? Orren And Pages now is pretty sophisticated, including being able to read and write Word files. Numbers still does rather peculiar things to Excel files, but the Pages/Word transition is pretty seamless. Pages doesn't yet preserve RTF styles, but that's one of my few remaining complaints against it. What we want is Storyist for iPad—even a stripped-down Storyist so that constant importing and exporting would be unnecessary. But since Steve was not one of the super-select inner circle of developers trusted with a pre-release iPad, we have to moderate our weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth until he actually gets his hands on one. Best, M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orrenm Posted March 30, 2010 Report Share Posted March 30, 2010 How much do you want to bet that we'll see a camera in iPad 2.0? Isn't that what I said way back right after the keynote? ...all the iPad is missing is the webcam and microphone. I guess that's for version 2.0? Anyway, the gossip sites are now talking about what they allege is the leaked stats of the forthcoming "iPhone HD." Is it true? Will find out this summer. But one of it's rumored features is a front-facing camera. How does this affect the iPad? The iPad runs the iPhone OS, so it stands to reason that any internal support added for cameras, multi-tasking, you name it, that hits the iPhone would then be in line to hit the iPad. But should we wait? As I tell every single musician on the pro audio forums who worries that if they buy the latest and greatest, it will be obsolete soon, it's all a matter of how much use you'll get out of it before it's obsolete. Besides, I'm sure that once video support is added, someone will make a video camera that you can hook up to the iPad 1st gen using the 30-pin jack. In fact, those might be better anyway, since you can have the camera and the iPad at a different angle, you never know. FWIW, this was the first real look I've ever had at the iBooks application, and it looked a lot better than I thought. Very nice! Orren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve E Posted March 30, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2010 FWIW, this was the first real look I've ever had at the iBooks application, and it looked a lot better than I thought. Very nice! How would you compare Apple's iPad to, say, Amazon's Kindle in terms of their e-reader applications and user experience? - Thoth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orrenm Posted March 30, 2010 Report Share Posted March 30, 2010 How would you compare Apple's iPad to, say, Amazon's Kindle in terms of their e-reader applications and user experience? Well, I've never owned a Kindle so my opinion is not based on experience. To me, the main difference is that the Kindle is a single-purpose device, and the iPad is a true internet computer. By comparison, regardless of how useful some people may find a Kindle, it is the technological equivalent of the Apple Portable. This computer served many people well at the time, I'm sure, but the difference between this and the iBooks/PowerBooks of a few years later are so profound as to almost make comparisons negligible, even if both ran word processors, versions of the Mac OS, etc. Anyway, AFAIK there is no two-page view on a Kindle (if there is, it's too small) and the Kindle is black & white. E-ink schmee-ink, I need color (ironic, as I dress in all black). I particularly enjoyed the "tap to disclose a menu of options" functionality of the iPad, which I don't think exists in the Kindle. But the bottom line is that I would never ever ever ever ever ever ever consider a Kindle (I refused it when offered by Amazon at manufacturing cost) and I would definitely consider an iPad. Orren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joolissa Posted March 30, 2010 Report Share Posted March 30, 2010 Better and better. How much do you want to bet that we'll see a camera in iPad 2.0? It's only a matter of time, Jewels. Only a matter of time. But should we wait? Can my poor heart take the pressure? ***AARG***- Thoth That is the question! Watch the video on Apple's iTunes guided tour that covers Pages. Is there more than that feature set that you'd want? Orren Welllll... I haven't used Pages at all, especially since it doesn't have an Autosave feature (come on... seriously Apple????), and I often leave some document open for hours on end, so Autosave/recovery is something I count on if my computer freezes when I'm working on a poem or a story. I am planning on exploring pages more, especially since it looks so cool on the iPad. I am wondering if there will be any competition though. I'm sure the iWork apps will be really expensive. And Pages now is pretty sophisticated, including being able to read and write Word files. Numbers still does rather peculiar things to Excel files, but the Pages/Word transition is pretty seamless. Pages doesn't yet preserve RTF styles, but that's one of my few remaining complaints against it. I would add no Autosave to the few remaining complaints. What we want is Storyist for iPad—even a stripped-down Storyist so that constant importing and exporting would be unnecessary. Exactly! FWIW, this was the first real look I've ever had at the iBooks application, and it looked a lot better than I thought. Very nice! Agreed! I like the look of it a lot as well. I'm currently really frustrated with Stanza for the whole italics thing. I am very interested in seeing whether iBooks will handle italics/formatting, whether it will be available on the iPhone as well, and if you can put your own books/PDFs from your computer into it. The video didn't cover those things. I'm also wondering if we'll see Apps being able to sync between the iphone and ipad or being able to send things to any of the iWork apps directly. I have an app or two that can export .csv or w/e and some to google docs, so it'd be cool if you could export directly to Pages or Numbers. Also, If I bought a note app for both my iPhone and iPad it'd be cool for them to sync, but I suspect any app syncing will have to be done over your computer. Also, does anyone know if Apps will be one device only? If you buy an app on iTunes, do you have to choose which device you want it for? Will you be able to transfer between them or have it on both? Oh the possibilities - Jools Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve E Posted March 30, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2010 Wow. Nice picture, Orren. The Macintosh Portable (released 9/20/89), that takes me back. Hard to believe that we used a Mac that ran at only 16 megahertz and came with only one megabyte of RAM (expandable to 5). But the point wasn't to compare computers with dedicated e-readers. I was curious about any insights you might have on the e-reader app on iPad and the e-reader on Kindle. Color is a big factor in favor of iPad when reading magazines or color graphic novels. Not so much for regular books. Well, I've never owned a Kindle so my opinion is not based on experience. Neither is your opinion about the iPad. Nor mine, for that matter. But that's okay. Lack of experience has never stopped anyone on this forum from having an opinion. And you already expressed your opinion about the iPad as an e-reader from viewing the commercials/instructional videos. You've seen the Kindle commercials/instructional videos on Amazon, haven't you? Okay. Okay. No pressure. - Thoth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orrenm Posted March 30, 2010 Report Share Posted March 30, 2010 I haven't used Pages at all, especially since it doesn't have an Autosave feature (come on... seriously Apple????) I didn't even realize that there is an Autosave feature in any other word processor. Personally, I have a literally neurotic CMD+S finger. I simply save constantly. Nearly every word. Sometimes I'll be sitting and thinking, staring at the screen not having made a single move, and I'll have hit CMD+S ten times! It's muscle memory at this point. In the condo complex I am, there are random power outs because of weak transformers, so you never know when the power might go. It teaches you to save constantly! I'm sure the iWork apps will be really expensive. $9.99 http://www.apple.com/ipad/features/pages.html Also, does anyone know if Apps will be one device only? If you buy an app on iTunes, do you have to choose which device you want it for? Will you be able to transfer between them or have it on both? Everything transfers. http://www.apple.com/ipad/app-store/ If you haven't recently checked out the entire iPad micro-site, it was updated once Apple started taking pre-orders. It does a very good job of explaining what it can do out of the box. Orren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orrenm Posted March 30, 2010 Report Share Posted March 30, 2010 You've seen the Kindle commercials/instructional videos on Amazon, haven't you? I have. I've even been in the room with one. I find them totally and completely uninviting. A Kindle inspires me to read about as much as a 1980s HP scientific calculator. So to me, the Kindle's feature set is irrelevant since it is not a device that I would ever use to read on. The iPad, however, is book-like and generally useful enough to be appealing to me. It doesn't strike me like looking at a calculator readout, but like looking at a book on a screen. And so I'd consider reading on one. But I will never read a book on a Kindle. I'd rather read on my little iPhone screen than on a Kindle. I know that others don't have the visceral gag reflex about the Kindle that I do, and that's fine--lots have sold, and I'm sure that those who enjoy them find them very useful devices. But it's simply not something that I could ever own or use. The iPad is. Better? Orren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joolissa Posted March 30, 2010 Report Share Posted March 30, 2010 I didn't even realize that there is an Autosave feature in any other word processor. Personally, I have a literally neurotic CMD+S finger. I simply save constantly. Nearly every word. Sometimes I'll be sitting and thinking, staring at the screen not having made a single move, and I'll have hit CMD+S ten times! It's muscle memory at this point. In the condo complex I am, there are random power outs because of weak transformers, so you never know when the power might go. It teaches you to save constantly! Yea I don't know about an Auto Save in Word or anything, but it has recovery, which has come in handy when my computer or word has frozen while I'm writing a poem. I suppose I could develop my cmd-s reflex. I just think it's a bit silly that Apple refuses to add it, though from what I've found on google, it's been heavily requested and there are people who stay with Word because of it. Do you think the iPad will save things? There isn't a cmd+s on the iPad (or is there?). $9.99 Oh yea, I remember that now. $30 for all three. That's expensive to me, though in reality it isn't for what it is, because I could easily blow a lot of money on Apps! So I have to agonize over buying any. I haven't bought a single one yet, though I have a few I'm planning on getting. Everything transfers. I know that everything that works on the iPhone will work on the iPad, but the site didn't mention about if you buy an App for your iPhone, can you also put it on your iPad or transfer it to your iPad without repurchasing it. If transferring an app is possible from one to the other, can you also transfer the in-app info? Say, I want to move one of my games over to the iPad, will it take the levels I've unlocked and my scores? I didn't see info about that stuff. If you haven't recently checked out the entire iPad micro-site, it was updated once Apple started taking pre-orders. It does a very good job of explaining what it can do out of the box. Thanks! I hadn't looked at some of that. - Jools Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marguerite Posted March 31, 2010 Report Share Posted March 31, 2010 According to something on the iPad site (sorry, folks, senior memory moment, but I think it was the iPad video, not the keynote address), you can use all your existing iPhone apps on the iPad, although they will either take up a tiny amount of the screen or you can double the size to fill the iPad screen with unpredictable and sometimes unpleasant results. I didn't even realize Pages had no autosave feature. Like Orren, I am a compulsive command-S saver, due to having grown up before the autosave feature became standard. And while MS Office does have recovery, it doesn't always recover the most recent version. I have learned to open the saved to disk file and check it before accepting MS Word's view of what my recovered document will look like. You don't have to buy all three iWork apps. You can just buy Pages for $9.99 if that's the only one you use. There must be some save feature in Pages for iPad, or what would be the point in changing your files? I do own a Kindle 2, and I like it well enough, but the e-ink screen does not, IMHO, save one's eyesight at all, since I spend half my time maneuvering the screen to capture whatever light source is in the area. And the Internet features are dismal. I can't wait to get my hands on an iPad, not least because it will let me read (sooner or later) all my Kindle books as well as the one or two books I bought when I was considering a nook and any other ePub and PDF books I already have on my computers, including my own. 11 pages: a pretty impressive thread, no? Best, M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thealtruismsociety Posted March 31, 2010 Report Share Posted March 31, 2010 According to something on the iPad site (sorry, folks, senior memory moment, but I think it was the iPad video, not the keynote address), you can use all your existing iPhone apps on the iPad, although they will either take up a tiny amount of the screen or you can double the size to fill the iPad screen with unpredictable and sometimes unpleasant results. I didn't even realize Pages had no autosave feature. Like Orren, I am a compulsive command-S saver, due to having grown up before the autosave feature became standard. And while MS Office does have recovery, it doesn't always recover the most recent version. I have learned to open the saved to disk file and check it before accepting MS Word's view of what my recovered document will look like. You don't have to buy all three iWork apps. You can just buy Pages for $9.99 if that's the only one you use. There must be some save feature in Pages for iPad, or what would be the point in changing your files? I do own a Kindle 2, and I like it well enough, but the e-ink screen does not, IMHO, save one's eyesight at all, since I spend half my time maneuvering the screen to capture whatever light source is in the area. And the Internet features are dismal. I can't wait to get my hands on an iPad, not least because it will let me read (sooner or later) all my Kindle books as well as the one or two books I bought when I was considering a nook and any other ePub and PDF books I already have on my computers, including my own. 11 pages: a pretty impressive thread, no? Best, M Pages doesn't need a save, it's autosave, all the time. Same with the other iWork apps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joolissa Posted March 31, 2010 Report Share Posted March 31, 2010 Pages doesn't need a save, it's autosave, all the time. Same with the other iWork apps. Are you speaking of the iPad app? That's what I was wondering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thealtruismsociety Posted March 31, 2010 Report Share Posted March 31, 2010 Are you speaking of the iPad app? That's what I was wondering. Yeah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve E Posted March 31, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2010 Better? Better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve E Posted March 31, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2010 11 pages: a pretty impressive thread, no? Ouî. When I started it I assumed it would end the day after Steve Job's gave his iPad speech. But these things possess a life of their own. 214 Comments. 1,707 Views. Not to shabby, people. - Thoth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve E Posted March 31, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2010 The iPad will be available for fooling-around-with this Saturday, April 3, 2010, at 9 AM, at The Apple Retail Story nearest you. Well, nearest me. If it isn't insanely crowded there I'll go and return with a report, and perhaps an iPad. - Thoth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orrenm Posted March 31, 2010 Report Share Posted March 31, 2010 Not sure how many of you enjoy (or enjoyed) comics or graphic novels, but here's one example of what a major distributor has done for the iPad. Should be good! http://www.cultofmac.com/iverse-comics-pre...-features/36003 Orren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orrenm Posted March 31, 2010 Report Share Posted March 31, 2010 The iPad will be available for fooling-around-with this Saturday, April 3, 2010, at 9 AM, at The Apple Retail Story nearest you. And iTunes already got an update to support syncing with your future iPad: http://www.macworld.com/article/150169/2010/03/itunes91.html If it isn't insanely crowded there I'll go and return with a report, and perhaps an iPad. Enjoy! In the words of Rob Sheridan, artistic director for Nine Inch Nails, when speaking of the iPad: "I've never been this excited about a product I'm not going to buy!" Orren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve E Posted March 31, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2010 Not sure how many of you enjoy (or enjoyed) comics or graphic novels, but here's one example of what a major distributor has done for the iPad. Should be good! I wonder how the collectors will react to this. I know I wouldn't want to give up my bound copy of Watchmen for a digital version. Let's hope this iVerse idea doesn't get too popular and they stop actually printing graphic novels. Every silver lining has its dark cloud looming. - Thoth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve E Posted March 31, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2010 In the words of Rob Sheridan, artistic director for Nine Inch Nails, when speaking of the iPad: "I've never been this excited about a product I'm not going to buy!" I understand completely. - Thoth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orrenm Posted March 31, 2010 Report Share Posted March 31, 2010 Let's hope this iVerse idea doesn't get too popular and they stop actually printing graphic novels. I'll be attending my first ever international ComicCon in San Diego this year, and the theme is the Year of the Writer. I'm sure I'll be sitting in panels involving just that question. From what I've read so far, thanks to Print on Demand, etc. there will never be a cessation of print, but rather there will be small runs and POD of books for collectors/luddites. By lowering the cost of entry/maintenance, the hope is this will keep the industry healthier and spur growth. Every silver lining has its dark cloud looming. You're so goth...thoth.... Orren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve E Posted March 31, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2010 I'll be attending my first ever international ComicCon in San Diego this year, and the theme is the Year of the Writer. If you don't mind, please let us know how it goes. We have some aspiring graphic novel writers in the forum. By lowering the cost of entry/maintenance, the hope is this will keep the industry healthier and spur growth. "From your mouth to God's ears," as my mother used to say. You're so goth...thoth.... Coming from you, I take that as a compliment. And a nicely rhymed one. - Goth...er, Thoth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orrenm Posted April 1, 2010 Report Share Posted April 1, 2010 David Pogue speaks: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/technolo...ch/01pogue.html Orren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve E Posted April 1, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2010 David Pogue speaks: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/technolo...ch/01pogue.html Those are two good reviews. Thanks. Here is NewsWeek's Cover Story on the iPad. Not as good (too fluffy) but I thought it was worth a read. I can hardly wait to play with one. - Thoth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orrenm Posted April 1, 2010 Report Share Posted April 1, 2010 Here is NewsWeek's Cover Story on the iPad. Not as good (too fluffy) but I thought it was worth a read. I did get a kick out of the one technology forecaster saying that he expected the culmination of advanced tablet technology "maybe by the second term of the Chelsea Clinton administration"...technological wishful thinking mixed with political wishful thinking? You gotta hand it to the guy! If we're going for fluffy cover stories, I preferred the Time Magazine story, written by Stephen Fry. For those unfamiliar, Stephen Fry is a rather famous British actor, who is also a writer and self-proclaimed "Apple Fanboy" who sheepishly admits being more nervous meeting Steve Jobs than Nelson Mandela. He also apparently owned the second Mac in Britain (after Douglas Adams). http://www.time.com/time/business/article/...76935-1,00.html BTW, as soon as the hacker/tech blogs get their hands on the iPad, I fully expect them to decry the iPad as a useless device because: 1) You can't install a programming environment 2) It won't run Linux 3) It won't run Flash 4) It is a closed system 5) It's shape isn't native widescreen, but 4:3 6) No USB ports 7) Apple sucks anyway 8) I hate Macs Or something like that. Orren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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