Good point. Yet another issue where the iPad should be a master USB device. One would imagine that the iPad is going to get an dock <-> master USB/A cable along with the needed software to make it work.
On Feb 1, 6:46 pm, Brian <[email protected]> wrote: > Something that occurred to me about the iPad. It's cool that they've > made Pages and Numbers (and Keynote) for it, but... how do you print > documents from the iPad? I'm guessing that you can't. It would be very > convenient to be able to use printers available wirelessly, but I > suspect they haven't bothered with that (at least not yet). Therefore, > I assume that you need: > > 1. a Mac (not a PC, see #2) to sync the iPad with > 2. iWork for Mac > 3. a printer (duh... though without one, you could at least still make > a PDF to share) > > I think this limits its potential use as a laptop replacement for > students. It also makes the $9.99 price per app a little less > surprisingly generous; you still have to have iWork for Mac to do > anything useful with the documents outside of the iPad. > > Again, this is pure speculation. Does anyone know/suspect anything > different? > > On Jan 31, 9:07 pm, Reinier Zwitserloot <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > The thing I _really_ want to know about the iPad is simply this: > > > Can you sync an iPhone to it? Can you sync a camera to it? > > > That first bit can most likely be taken care of via mobile.me (but > > what about music?). The second bit - that's more confusing. Wiring two > > slave-mode USB devices together is not simple, though I'm fairly sure > > the dock connector has enough free pins for 2 of them to form a master > > USB side. Given that the iPad is closed, a third party can't make such > > a cable. Well, they can, but without software it won't do anything, > > and you can't write the software without escaping the sandbox, which > > the appstore won't let you do. > > > Syncing to another phone isn't relevant; RIM/BlackBerry isn't relevant > > for iPad customers, WinMobile devices aren't used as smartphones, and > > android and palm sync via the cloud. > > > If it can do these things, then I see absolutely no reason to let me > > parents carry on with their current macbook. I'll give em both an iPad > > and they'll be far happier, and so will I. My dad has already > > installed far more apps on his iPhone than he ever managed on his > > macbook. > > > That's where I see the iPad going: As the _ONLY_ computer device for a > > very very large group of people. I really don't see the 'extra PC for > > the extremely lazy farts who can't get off their couch to go grab > > their notebook'. I don't have the numbers offhand, but I expect that > > the market of folks who are even going to consider buying one are far > > more likely to own a notebook than a desktop PC anyway. > > > I'd also be a little less ready to scream blood and murder about the > > closed nature of the device if at the very least this insanity is > > fixed: To become a developer, you don't _just_ have to cough up $99 > > bucks, you also have to sign an NDA. Which legally can't really be > > done unless you're 18+. I don't know about the rest of you folks, but > > I started on the path to learning programming when I was less than > > half that age. > > > I really don't have the time, but I'd love to make some sort of > > advanced logo-esque programming language for the iPad, abstracting > > subroutines and the like as blocks you can drag about with gestures, > > and syncing your programs to the cloud including a social aspect where > > you can see your friends' programs and the like. Technically even such > > a simple thing would run afoul of the TOS, but, god, that would be an > > awesome learning environment for young programmers, wouldn't it? > > > On Jan 31, 1:40 pm, Karsten Silz <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > First of all, I'm glad now that Oracle bought Sun since that probably > > > did save more jobs and kept more projects alive than being bought by > > > IBM. I was skeptic at first but not anymore. > > > > Now onto some comments to both Oracle and the iPad. > > > > Killed projects: Beyond Kenai, it seems that the Amazon-EC2-clone by > > > Sun (Sun Cloud?), announced at JavaOne last year, is dead > > > (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/28/sun_amazon_cloud_dead/). > > > > Glassfish: To put some necessary distance between the free Glassfish > > > and the "$10,000 per CPU" Weblogic, Glassfish "will be geared for > > > departmental use" (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/ > > > 2010/01/27/urnidgns852573C400693880002576B900002824.DTL), like Apache > > > Geronima and Websphere at IBM. So I expect high-end, enterprise > > > features to either wither away from Glassfish or not being added at > > > all, making Glassfish less attractive for some developers. > > > > Netbeans: I know that the slides said that Netbeans will focus on > > > dynamic scripting languages, but in the webcast Ted Farrell said that > > > Oracle wants to "invest into the community for dynamic languages", or > > > so, which I interpreted as Oracle handing those over to the > > > community. Time will tell. > > > > iPad: I think the iPad is a new mass-market platform platform with the > > > first new UI paradigm since "keyboard, mouse and GUI" became > > > dominant. With permanent internet connectivity, great media > > > capability and a large touch screen, I'm excited to see what > > > developers come up with. I think that one of the reasons that past > > > tablet efforts failed to gain wide traction where because both the OS > > > and the apps were built upon "keyboard, mouse and GUI" and just > > > slightly adapted; the iPad forces developers to start either from > > > scratch or from their iPhone apps, which is good. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en.
