tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36939759.post7805299274568962075..comments2024-01-17T07:03:57.842+00:00Comments on The Mad Ranter: Apple's iPadFlipChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09449939046593105926noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36939759.post-64755163509728883702010-01-29T12:56:50.231+00:002010-01-29T12:56:50.231+00:00More like using the phone while watching the TV.
...More like using the phone while watching the TV.<br /><br />As for Aspect ratios. Take a 4:3 screen and display a 4:3 picture and you're using up 100% of the screen with no waste (discounting overscan).<br /><br />Put on a 16:9 and you're using 75% of the screen and wasting 25%.<br /><br />Put on a 21:9 (2.35:1) and you're using 57% and wasting 43%.<br /><br />With a 16:9 screen you've got the zero waste on 16:9 obviously and the same 25% waste on 4:3, but you got roughly the same 25% waste for the 21:9 movie films.<br /><br />Now as the majority of movies are in 21:9 format and most TV is moving to 16:9 which screen is better for a device being touted to watch just these very films?<br /><br />Speaking of your TV have you got the new blu-ray hooked up to it yet? As for aspect ratio it took some minor twiddling, but I got mine to auto-switch regardless of input, I'm sure there's a way for yours.FlipChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09449939046593105926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36939759.post-30783821815583717022010-01-29T12:02:08.677+00:002010-01-29T12:02:08.677+00:00I can understand that multitasking is useful. For ...I can understand that multitasking is useful. For example, here at work my email program is always open, in case somebody emails me. (Of course, using Exchange you can tell when this happens. At home there's no point in doing this since IMAP lacks such a feature.)<br /><br />I'm just puzzled as to guy you'd have Twitter and IM running at the same time, given that they're both almost exactly the same thing. That would be like listening to the radio while also watching TV — nobody does this.<br /><br />Proprietry connections — great for Apple, but a great big reason not to buy this product from the <em>customer</em> point of view! :-P<br /><br />I still honesting can't comprehend where all this “widescreen” stuff comes from and why it's a good idea. There is <em>no content anywhere</em> which uses widescreen. All you're doing is paying extra for some black unused areas at the side of your screen. How is this beneficial?<br /><br />Maybe my mum's TV is just rubbish, but it can't seem to tell what aspect the image it's showing is supposed to be. Every single time I watch something that does actually have a different aspect, I have to manually cycle through all the display modes (including the “I'm going to bend your picture in half to fit a different aspect and hope you won't notice too much“) to find the correct one. And sometimes it isn't even that easy to figure out what <em>is</em> the correct one!<br /><br />Anyway, I guess a 4:3 aspect object is easier to carry? *shrugs*Orphihttp://blog.orphi.me.uk/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36939759.post-26526228684265621792010-01-28T16:13:23.152+00:002010-01-28T16:13:23.152+00:00Hey I'm all for producing something technicall...Hey I'm all for producing something technically innovative out there and saying "Hey find a use for this", but it's not innovative - it's a big iTouch heh see they should have called it the iTouch Max.<br /><br />Multi-tasking - I've got four spreadsheets, email, browser, Skype and the Google sidebar running at the moment and yep I use some of those in conjunction with each other. As I said view a document at a meeting and make notes at the same time - no can do.<br /><br />Proprietary connections, yep there's no reason not to use a standard mini-B USB slot even the Google mobile HTC models use one. Wait silly me there is a reason you can sell cables.<br /><br />4:3 screen, but the big thing is to play movies that come in 2.35:1 ratio or TV that is rapidly switching to the 16:9 standard; the decision for a 4:3 screen deserves a slap.<br /><br />As for resolution I thought it did? My television switches to 1080p for the Home screen on my PS3 and most often switches down to 720p to play games; both it and my dedicated player will black bar 4:3 and 2.35:1 formats so it knows what's coming through.<br /><br />"That is all" okay where have I heard that at the conclusion of some sort of radio broadcast?FlipChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09449939046593105926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36939759.post-87111908101226329982010-01-28T15:34:53.811+00:002010-01-28T15:34:53.811+00:00Well, some console manufacturer (I forget who) cam...Well, some console manufacturer (I forget who) came up with a machine called “pee”, and it's selling profusely. Maybe it's not that bad.<br /><br />I think the principle confusion here is that nobody's sure what the hell this device is supposed to <em>be</em>.<br /><br />Is it a phone? Well, no, you can't make calls with it.<br /><br />So is it a laptop? Well, no, it can't multitask, and will only run limited software.<br /><br />So is it a PDA? Well, again no, it's horrible to type with.<br /><br />So, uh, what's it <em>for</em> then?<br /><br />Anyway, while reading the various articles, I came across a few interesting comments:<br /><br />“Think of how you use your computer: you probably have a half dozen applications open right now, from a browser to a Twitter app to an IM client to a feed reader. You can't do that on the iPad.“<br /><br />Um… what?<br /><br />Who <em>the hell</em> uses their computer like that?! Why would you have a browser and a feed reader open at the same time? Why would you be running Twitter if you're using your IM client? Does anybody actually work like this??<br /><br />“I hope you don't care about streaming video! God knows not many casual internet users do. Oh wait, nevermind, they <em>all</em> do.”<br /><br />What the hell is this guy on about? Who actually watches video on the Internet anyway?<br /><br />“You need an adaptor for USB.”<br /><br />Oh… oh dear God. <em>Fail!</em><br /><br />“It's not widescreen. It's like owning a 4:3 TV all over again!“<br /><br />I have yet to figure out how owning a 4:3 TV is any kind of disadvantage. 99.998% of all TV content is broadcast in 4:3 aspect, so having a widescreen TV just means that you have to watch everything distorted so that people's heads look like squashed eggs, or you have to have black bars of wasted screen space down each side of the picture.<br /><br />Hell, even recordings which are <em>supposed</em> to be wide screen don't come out right! (Why did the HDMI spec not include a way to indicate which aspect ratio the signal has?)<br /><br />That is all.Orphihttp://blog.orphi.me.uk/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36939759.post-80110550904849702652010-01-28T14:49:41.360+00:002010-01-28T14:49:41.360+00:00The dumb thing is that the rumoured name bandied a...The dumb thing is that the rumoured name bandied about was iSlate which is kind of cool, but I suppose some wag pointed out the addition of a space made it iS late so they went for the iMaxiPad.FlipChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09449939046593105926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36939759.post-51312757461606638942010-01-28T14:45:17.629+00:002010-01-28T14:45:17.629+00:00I was amused by the article http://bits.blogs.nyti...I was amused by the article http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/the-ipads-name-makes-some-women-cringe/?th&emc=th in today's New York TimesDon Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08527913650847335006noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36939759.post-57516100326195261792010-01-28T14:30:47.395+00:002010-01-28T14:30:47.395+00:00Heh thanks Tav, I'd found 7 things Apple left ...Heh thanks Tav, I'd found <a href="http://dvice.com/archives/2010/01/7-things-apple.php" rel="nofollow">7 things Apple left out of the iPad</a> and <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=222600181" rel="nofollow">Apple iPad Backlash Begins</a> but not that one; oh just to note I found these sites after my entry so I wasn't copying :-)<br /><br />Orphi - yeah the great i- prefix even the damn BBC came out with iPlayer as for buying a Mac you still don't get the choice of games, you still don't get the choice of apps. It might be more stable as it's controlled, but I still can't see how they can get away with not having a second mouse-button.FlipChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09449939046593105926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36939759.post-15280802463871489912010-01-28T14:09:28.865+00:002010-01-28T14:09:28.865+00:00This might be of interest to you.<a href="http://i.gizmodo.com/5458382/8-things-that-suck-about-the-ipad" rel="nofollow">This</a> might be of interest to you.Tavhttp://www.wfa.org.uk/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36939759.post-19656631679314671032010-01-28T10:48:52.600+00:002010-01-28T10:48:52.600+00:00From where I'm sitting, it looks to me more li...From where I'm sitting, it looks to me more like everybody else likes picking product names that sound like Apple.<br /><br />Apple made the iMac and the iPod, and suddenly <em>everything</em> made by any company has to have an “i” at the front to make it sound cooler. And then when Apple themselves produce a similar product, the name is already taken.<br /><br />It's almost like the 1990s, where everybody suddenly had to have an “e” at the front. Email, e-business, e-commerce, e-banking, e-money, e-dating, e…valuating?<br /><br />I'm still waiting for the iSuck vacuum cleaner to turn up. ;-)<br /><br />Do you remember back when Apple just made computers? Some commentators are suggesting that they've taken their eye off the ball with that one. I saw a review of the latest iMac or something, complaining that it contains an nVidia GeForce 7300GT graphics card which you can't upgrade for something better.<br /><br />The review went something like “This is the Mac that will be bought by art departments and publishing houses for their high-end work, and it contains a entry-level, previous-generation GPU that can't be upgraded. What where they thinking?”<br /><br />Personally, I'm one of these people who occasionally thinks about buying a Mac, but then looks at the price tag and goes elsewhere.Orphihttp://blog.orphi.me.uk/noreply@blogger.com