With things made out of plastic or metal, the acts of use require no advanced knowledge. Also, using plastic or metal to create other non-plastic or metal things, like board games or documents, may or may not require advanced knowledge of those disciplines. But the knowledge required to create or modify things made out of metal or plastic at all is extremely advanced. The vast majority of human beings will never scratch even the surface. Yet while beer and book printing are important, things made out of metal or plastic of all shapes and sizes control the global society. Things made out of metal or plastic dominates all aspects of our lives. No matter what your discipline, from farming, to defense, to printing, to lawyer-ing, to art-ing, metal or plastic is in charge.
Pretty much everyone is using a things made out of metal or plastic that very few people actually know how it it is made. Everyone knows how to, and does, use them, but almost nobody can modify or create them. Is that not dangerous?
With cars at least there are mechanics that you can go to, and you can go to any mechanic of your choice. With things made out of metal or plastic, there are almost no "mechanics". If they are any good, they are extremely expensive. With most things made out of metal or plastic there are no other options besides to have it serviced by the dealer. Some scientists have even gone so far as to create their own new production techniques, for use in new products. Thus, it is almost impossible for even us "wizards" to modify it in any way. This is extremely frightening.
And what is more frightening is how only those close to it can see the danger. Think about all those movies where one scientists can see how the experiment is going to have a very bad result because he is the only one who gets it, and then he's inevitably right and everyone get's eaten. This is not so dissimilar.
I object, simply because while Scott can be described in many ways, quite a few of them probably insulting, I do not think that he is an idiot. Arrogant, definitely, and foolish, maybe, but absolutely not an idiot.
Scotts problem is also that he's very dogmatic, incapable of forming logically sound arguments, unable to construct workable analogies, repeats himself endlessly, and is purposefully confrontational, or is it?
I somehow don't think you've made your argument sufficiently that what you expect to come to pass will in fact come to pass. How is the iPad a threat, especially when it's a clear tradeoff between control and simplicity/efficiency AND alternatives exist (Linux, Windows, Android, Pre, etc...) with a different tradeoff point?
When it matters, people drive F1 cars. When going to the grocery store, they drive Acuras. Should Acuras not exist, because they dumb down the driving process? Should everyone drive an MR2, and fuck everybody who spins out? We have push-button pizza ovens and old-school pizza ovens. Should we not allow people to use the former, lest they forget how long to cook a pizza?
You're making too many arguments in too many directions. Focus on this one. When is the tradeoff a bad thing, and when isn't it?
In this case he is being an idiot, but one I can appreciate. Will he ever admit he completely dropped the ball on this one? I bet not.
Even when I completely disagree with Scott or feel that he has blinders on to certain aspects of reality, I always have incredible respect for the fact that he genuinely cares and always has intriguing or interesting insights on various aspects of what he is discussing.
I've only skimmed this discussion and noticed Luke say the iPad isn't dangerous. Well, I would disagree.
The iPad is obviously marketed at people who know little about technology, computers, etc.. The danger I see is, that since Apple basically controls the access you have to the Internet, or even what information you get, the image you get of what ever your looking for may be a bit slanted. Since the iPad is so easy to use and your supposed to take it with you everywhere and use it a lot, the line more and more blurs between Internet and the real world. This may seem silly, but the more information I can get over a device which is always with me, the more I get used to using the device and the more the information isn't "information from the iPad" any more, but "information". I accept what is delivered to me by the iPad as the truth, without critically reflecting if it may not be. This is just natural human behavior. This may be a far stretch, but there may be a correlation between lack of critical thinking and being technologically inept. So the danger of information from the iPad becoming just information without being reflected is even bigger.
I hope my point is somewhat clear, though it's just a thought/ theory that struck me. English is a bitch.
Thanks, Apple. Now the prices for Amazon ebooks are going up. Usually competition is good for consumers, but not this time.
Book publishers are morons. Look at Steam. They drop video game prices down to ludicrous lows like $2. What happens? Sales go so far up that even with Steam taking whatever cut, the publishers are making more money than ever. If the book publishers were smart, they would sell ultra-cheap DRM-free E-Books, especially when the books are very old, unpopular, or out of print. They can sell the new books for $5-$10 depending. They would make so much fucking bank, but they're morons.
The danger I see is, that since Apple basically controls the access you have to the Internet, or even what information you get, the image you get of what ever your looking for may be a bit slanted. Since the iPad is so easy to use and your supposed to take it with you everywhere and use it a lot, the line more and more blurs between Internet and the real world.
That may be, but we have smart phones already, so we can already do this without an iPad. It's not really introducing anything new, just a bigger interface for it.
The danger I see is, that since Apple basically controls the access you have to the Internet, or even what information you get, the image you get of what ever your looking for may be a bit slanted.
It accesses the internet. The internet is the internet. Apple isn't about to change anything on the internet.
I accept what is delivered to me by the iPad as the truth, without critically reflecting if it may not be.
This is inherent to all information technology.
I see your arguments, but they have nothing to do with the iPad.
It comes down to the fact that by making every ebook 9.99, Amazon are subsidizing all new titles with old titles. They pay $4 to the publisher per backlist title sold, and make $6 profit. They pay the publisher $12 for all new releases, and make minus $2 profit for each.
If they decided to make a $2 profit on all ebooks, ebook prices could be between $6 and $15. But that way they can't say "Every ebook $10!!!!"
So if you only want to the latest releases, yes, Apple coming into the market is going to cost you money. If you want to read older titles, you're going to save more money with Apple than with Amazon.
The danger I see is, that since Apple basically controls the access you have to the Internet, or even what information you get, the image you get of what ever your looking for may be a bit slanted.
It accesses the internet. The internet is the internet. Apple isn't about to change anything on the internet.
I accept what is delivered to me by the iPad as the truth, without critically reflecting if it may not be.
This is inherent to all information technology.
I see your arguments, but they have nothing to do with the iPad.
But would you use a device horribly crippled with DRM? Sure, a jailbreak will come sometime soon, but would you still financially support Apple for their evil DRM ways? I admit that I both have an iPod Touch (now my mother's) and an iPhone which would make me a hypocrite, but in my defense I bought the iPod Touch before I knew what DRM was (which I promptly jailbroke when I learned of evil DRM). As for the iPhone, it was a gift to me last Christmas from my parents, and they spent a lotta money on it, so what could I do but accept it?
What DRM are you talking about? There is nothing on my iPhone or iPod Touch which I can't get access to. All the music is mp3, except the audible books, but that isn't apple DRM. The books on stanza are all ePub or html. Safari accesses the same internet as every other internet device. The calendars I can export through iCal as xml files to open in any other calendar. I can probably do the same with my contacts, I've just never needed to.
My device isn't crippled with DRM. It's just a computer that fits in my pocket. I know it can only run apps from the official app store, but I use a grand total of THREE apps, and have only ever downloaded four.
The fact that the app store has thousands of apps, and you are only using three I think says it all. If people could make any app they wanted, there would be a lot more than three you would be using.
My stance on DRM has always been such. Even if DRM does not affect you directly, the fact that it is there and that it exists at all is enough to get me to forevermore fight against it until it is nonexistent (which is sadly not on the horizon anytime soon), because there is always the chance I will be affected and I want to safeguard myself against such a threat.
The fact that the app store has thousands of apps, and you are only using three I think says it all. If people could make any app they wanted, there would be a lot more than three you would be using.
Oh, please. How many programs are you using on your computer Scott? You and Scrym always brag about how you only need the browser to do everything you do. So using only three apps says nothing, even if you could make such a gross extrapolation from one anecdotal point of data.
Oh, please. How many programs are you using on your computer Scott? You and Scrym always brag about how you only need the browser to do everything you do. So using only three apps says nothing, even if you could make such a gross extrapolation from one anecdotal point of data.
I use thousands of apps on my computer, just not all of them are visible. When I use Firefox I'm also using Firebug, adblock plus, etc. There are also features in Firefox that I can not duplicate in mobile safari such as bookmarklets, which I use constantly.
The app I use second most is the terminal. Inside the terminal, it's turtles all the way down to the kernel. I'm actually using hundreds of different programs at any given time, they're just all contained within just a few on-screen windows. iPhone/iPad doesn't even have ls which is the program I probably use more often than anything else.
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I mean, I'm just asking a question here.
Also I'll go back to my original point. Apple saved us from the aliens in independence day :-p
When it matters, people drive F1 cars. When going to the grocery store, they drive Acuras. Should Acuras not exist, because they dumb down the driving process? Should everyone drive an MR2, and fuck everybody who spins out? We have push-button pizza ovens and old-school pizza ovens. Should we not allow people to use the former, lest they forget how long to cook a pizza?
You're making too many arguments in too many directions. Focus on this one. When is the tradeoff a bad thing, and when isn't it?
The iPad is obviously marketed at people who know little about technology, computers, etc..
The danger I see is, that since Apple basically controls the access you have to the Internet, or even what information you get, the image you get of what ever your looking for may be a bit slanted. Since the iPad is so easy to use and your supposed to take it with you everywhere and use it a lot, the line more and more blurs between Internet and the real world. This may seem silly, but the more information I can get over a device which is always with me, the more I get used to using the device and the more the information isn't "information from the iPad" any more, but "information". I accept what is delivered to me by the iPad as the truth, without critically reflecting if it may not be. This is just natural human behavior. This may be a far stretch, but there may be a correlation between lack of critical thinking and being technologically inept. So the danger of information from the iPad becoming just information without being reflected is even bigger.
I hope my point is somewhat clear, though it's just a thought/ theory that struck me. English is a bitch.
I see your arguments, but they have nothing to do with the iPad.
It comes down to the fact that by making every ebook 9.99, Amazon are subsidizing all new titles with old titles. They pay $4 to the publisher per backlist title sold, and make $6 profit. They pay the publisher $12 for all new releases, and make minus $2 profit for each.
If they decided to make a $2 profit on all ebooks, ebook prices could be between $6 and $15. But that way they can't say "Every ebook $10!!!!"
So if you only want to the latest releases, yes, Apple coming into the market is going to cost you money. If you want to read older titles, you're going to save more money with Apple than with Amazon.
My device isn't crippled with DRM. It's just a computer that fits in my pocket. I know it can only run apps from the official app store, but I use a grand total of THREE apps, and have only ever downloaded four.
Why on earth would I want to jailbreak it?
The app I use second most is the terminal. Inside the terminal, it's turtles all the way down to the kernel. I'm actually using hundreds of different programs at any given time, they're just all contained within just a few on-screen windows. iPhone/iPad doesn't even have ls which is the program I probably use more often than anything else.
I can write any app I want, I'm allowed to install them from the SD card.