Re: [CGUYS] Just what is a computer anyway?
So is the innovator the one who came up with 'app phones' or the one who popularized them? YES Invention, creativity and innovation are essential in creating new and/or improved devices with intuitive, seamless operating systems, and also in developing the hype to convince people that they want the product. YES * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Just what is a computer anyway?
So is the innovator the one who came up with 'app phones' or the one who popularized them? On Wed, Feb 17, 2010 at 11:53 PM, t.piwowar wrote: > On Feb 17, 2010, at 7:22 PM, phartz...@gmail.com wrote: > >> Both of my co-workers most decidedly use their cell phones more >> often for texting, playing games or for taking and showing photos, >> etc., than they do for making or receiving phone calls. I had taken >> note of that over time at work, asked them about it, and they agreed >> with me. >> > > That's right. Most of us (except for the Rev.) are carrying around a > completely different device than the cell phones of old. The smart phone you > just described gets us halfway there. Today's app phones (iPhone and copies) > change the way we interact with our environment. That is a revolutionary > change. > > > > * > ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** > ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** > * > * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Just what is a computer anyway?
On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 7:56 PM, tjpa wrote: Perhaps they will look more like this guitar... http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/interactive/c498/ That place does offer some unique items. If I am not mistaken, they are located in Fairfax County, perhaps very near the Kamp Washington area just outside of Fairfax City on Lee Highway. Steve One of these locations may be a storefront, http://is.gd/8GWjk. Will their dogs let us in the door to play with their toys before buying them? * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Just what is a computer anyway?
On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 7:56 PM, tjpa wrote: > Perhaps they will look more like this guitar... > http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/interactive/c498/ That place does offer some unique items. If I am not mistaken, they are located in Fairfax County, perhaps very near the Kamp Washington area just outside of Fairfax City on Lee Highway. Steve * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Just what is a computer anyway?
On Feb 18, 2010, at 7:23 PM, phartz...@gmail.com wrote: So, when these portable computers, similar in size and appearance to the iPad or perhaps to tablet computers, along with netbooks and laptops start appearing on the market with phones built in, will they be called cell phones? Is it the form factor that distinguishes a cell phone from a computer? Perhaps they will look more like this guitar... http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/interactive/c498/ * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Just what is a computer anyway?
On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 1:15 PM, tjpa wrote: > If you look at the etymology of words you will often find that current > meaning has strayed far from the original meaning. True. > In 50 years I would not > be surprised to find the meaning of "phone" has significantly evolved. Perhaps we will not even have "phones" anymore. So, when these portable computers, similar in size and appearance to the iPad or perhaps to tablet computers, along with netbooks and laptops start appearing on the market with phones built in, will they be called cell phones? Is it the form factor that distinguishes a cell phone from a computer? I see cell phones getting bigger and heftier and altering their physical design, their form factor changing, yet they are still called cell phones. It is getting murky. Steve * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Just what is a computer anyway?
It already is a multi use device. Even home phones have evolved over the years,and it is possible that 50 years from now the concept of a home phone will mean a multi use communication/technology device. Stewart At 12:15 PM 2/18/2010, you wrote: If you look at the etymology of words you will often find that current meaning has strayed far from the original meaning. In 50 years I would not be surprised to find the meaning of "phone" has significantly evolved. * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Just what is a computer anyway?
On Feb 18, 2010, at 7:21 AM, phartz...@gmail.com wrote: If most folks actually use these devices less as one would use a traditional telephone, and more as one uses a full blown computer, why call them phones? If you look at the etymology of words you will often find that current meaning has strayed far from the original meaning. In 50 years I would not be surprised to find the meaning of "phone" has significantly evolved. * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Just what is a computer anyway?
On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 7:21 AM, phartz...@gmail.com wrote: > Should we not alter the nomenclature by which we refer to these, as > you put it, "app phones?" If most folks actually use these devices > less as one would use a traditional telephone, and more as one uses a > full blown computer, why call them phones? Were laptop computers to > be made available that had cell service capability, and if folks > carried those around using them both as phones and as computers, would > we call them phones? How about an iPad-like device with a phone built > in? Would that be called a phone? Just a simple question. Responding to my own post: Intel and Nokia making a mobile chip for phones, netbooks? "With the right x86 SoC, Nokia could tackle the range of phone-tablet-netbook devices that Dell is currently targeting with efforts like the Mini 5 tablet." http://tinyurl.com/yeamhod * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Just what is a computer anyway?
On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 1:53 AM, t.piwowar wrote: > That's right. Most of us (except for the Rev.) are carrying around a > completely different device than the cell phones of old. The smart phone you > just described gets us halfway there. Today's app phones (iPhone and copies) > change the way we interact with our environment. That is a revolutionary > change. It is certainly a change, though I view it as being more evolutionary than revolutionary. Should we not alter the nomenclature by which we refer to these, as you put it, "app phones?" If most folks actually use these devices less as one would use a traditional telephone, and more as one uses a full blown computer, why call them phones? Were laptop computers to be made available that had cell service capability, and if folks carried those around using them both as phones and as computers, would we call them phones? How about an iPad-like device with a phone built in? Would that be called a phone? Just a simple question. Steve * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Just what is a computer anyway?
On Feb 17, 2010, at 7:22 PM, phartz...@gmail.com wrote: Both of my co-workers most decidedly use their cell phones more often for texting, playing games or for taking and showing photos, etc., than they do for making or receiving phone calls. I had taken note of that over time at work, asked them about it, and they agreed with me. That's right. Most of us (except for the Rev.) are carrying around a completely different device than the cell phones of old. The smart phone you just described gets us halfway there. Today's app phones (iPhone and copies) change the way we interact with our environment. That is a revolutionary change. * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Just what is a computer anyway?
On Feb 17, 2010, at 6:35 PM, Rev. Stewart Marshall wrote: Tom at present you are one of the few who are interested. You just keep a tight grip on your brown Zune phone. * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Just what is a computer anyway?
On Wed, Feb 17, 2010 at 6:24 PM, tjpa wrote: > What has captured my interest is the elevation of relatively dumb phones > that were just used for yacking into phones that are an active device that > processes information and assists us in many different ways throughout our > day. This is a revolution. I do not think that phones were "dumb" prior to cell phones being invented. There was a time when a phone was a phone. It was just a phone just as a lawnmower is a lawnmower. What we have today, cell phones, and especially the so-called smart phones, are not actually phones as much as they are mobile computing devices. Indeed, it would not surprise me at all were it to become determined that the more modern cell phones are actually used less for telephone use than they are for other uses. I read just the other day, but cannot recall where, that more text messages are sent by cell phones than actual voice calls, thus putting vocal communications almost at the rear end of how a lot of folks use cell phones today. Both of my co-workers most decidedly use their cell phones more often for texting, playing games or for taking and showing photos, etc., than they do for making or receiving phone calls. I had taken note of that over time at work, asked them about it, and they agreed with me. I do not think that there is nearly as much similarity between cell phones of today and the old dial phones of yesteryear as there was between those old black desk phones of yore and the early mobile phones of the 1960s. Today's most modern "smart phones" are more akin to being a computer with a multitude of uses that also happens to have a phone built into it. Steve * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Just what is a computer anyway?
Tom at present you are one of the few who are interested. I see a lot of parodies and comedy skits on the Ipad right now. That might change in a few months we will see. You remind me a lot of the Cunard line before the Titanic sailed. Stewart At 05:24 PM 2/17/2010, you wrote: I think you are looking at it from an uninteresting angle. What has captured my interest is the elevation of relatively dumb phones that were just used for yacking into phones that are an active device that processes information and assists us in many different ways throughout our day. This is a revolution. * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Just what is a computer anyway?
On Feb 17, 2010, at 10:34 AM, Stewart Marshall wrote: I think 95% of us here would agree there are a lot of things out there that may not look like a computer (Screen, keyboard etc.) but are in reality computers. I think you are looking at it from an uninteresting angle. What has captured my interest is the elevation of relatively dumb phones that were just used for yacking into phones that are an active device that processes information and assists us in many different ways throughout our day. This is a revolution. * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Just what is a computer anyway?
I think 95% of us here would agree there are a lot of things out there that may not look like a computer (Screen, keyboard etc.) but are in reality computers. My simple MP3 player is a computer. Anything that has a type of CPU is processing commands and carrying out instructions is a computer. Writers make a mistake when they use their own definition of what something is, and then use that definition to write an article. Here is wikipedia's definition: A computer is a programmable machine that receives input, stores and manipulates data, and provides output in a useful format. From that definition the category is pretty broad. Stewart At 10:45 PM 2/16/2010, you wrote: The iPad does, in fact, have a keyboard, regardless of what the cited article says. If it is not a computer, then what is it? Is an iPhone, or other "smart phones" as they are called, computers as well? I'd say yes, most assuredly. If my Timex/Sinclair was a computer, then the aforementioned must surely be computers as well. Perhaps the makers of smaller mobile devices such as the iPad and "smart phones" do not like to refer to those products as being computers because of perception and marketing issues. Steve * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Just what is a computer anyway?
On Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 10:23 AM, mike wrote: > We've been calling the one in our cars computers for decades, what else > would it be? No keyboard, no mouse...no monitor. And you can 'tinker' with > an iPad or a car computer, it just takes more tinkering know how. The iPad does, in fact, have a keyboard, regardless of what the cited article says. If it is not a computer, then what is it? Is an iPhone, or other "smart phones" as they are called, computers as well? I'd say yes, most assuredly. If my Timex/Sinclair was a computer, then the aforementioned must surely be computers as well. Perhaps the makers of smaller mobile devices such as the iPad and "smart phones" do not like to refer to those products as being computers because of perception and marketing issues. Steve * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Just what is a computer anyway?
We've been calling the one in our cars computers for decades, what else would it be? No keyboard, no mouse...no monitor. And you can 'tinker' with an iPad or a car computer, it just takes more tinkering know how. On Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 6:54 AM, tjpa wrote: > Interesting (and short) podcast gets to the heart of a discussion we have > been having here... > > http://www.publicradio.org/columns/futuretense/2010/02/09.shtml > > "The Apple iPad: Is it a computer?" > "Some argue it's not, citing the lack of a keyboard, a limited operating > system, and the fact that users can't get under the hood and tinker. But the > iPad does have a CPU, memory, and lot of other computer-y components. > Whichever way you go on the iPad-as-computer question, there's no doubting > that our concept of the computer is changing as technology permeates our > lives more and more." > > > * > ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** > ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** > * > * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
[CGUYS] Just what is a computer anyway?
Interesting (and short) podcast gets to the heart of a discussion we have been having here... http://www.publicradio.org/columns/futuretense/2010/02/09.shtml "The Apple iPad: Is it a computer?" "Some argue it's not, citing the lack of a keyboard, a limited operating system, and the fact that users can't get under the hood and tinker. But the iPad does have a CPU, memory, and lot of other computer-y components. Whichever way you go on the iPad-as-computer question, there's no doubting that our concept of the computer is changing as technology permeates our lives more and more." * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
