Courier killed, iPad to blame?

[Lotus Esprit]

Originally Posted by cmdahler

I watched that video, and the whole time I was watching it, I kept thinking, "that's just a really big iPad..."

Not really as the iPads surface is just used for input while the Microsoft Surface can interact with devices that are placed on it. The coolest thing was when he took the picture - it downloaded to the surface - manipulated it - then it was uploaded to the phone.

The video clip was from back in 2007.

I guess that we will just have to suffer with what we have for now.

[richman]

Gee, I read this thread title the wrong way.
I thought some courier (UPS, postal worker) was killed delivering the IPAD 3G to some guys house.

Courier killed (UPS worker), Ipad to blame.

[cmdahler]

Originally Posted by Lotus Esprit

Not really as the iPads surface is justed used for input while the Microsoft Surface can interact with devices that are placed on it. The coolest thing was when he took the picture - it downloaded to the surface - manipulated it - then it was uploaded to the phone.

The video clip was from back in 2007.

I guess that we will just have to suffer with what we have for now.

I agree that the interface has the additional capability of interacting with devices (that are presumably enabled for the surface OS as well), but how hard would that be to program? From what I saw in that mockup video, you take the iPhone/iPad OS, add that bit of additional functionality to it, and you've basically got what you saw in the video.

[Lotus Esprit]

Originally Posted by cmdahler

I agree that the interface has the additional capability of interacting with devices (that are presumably enabled for the surface OS as well), but how hard would that be to program? From what I saw in that mockup video, you take the iPhone/iPad OS, add that bit of additional functionality to it, and you've basically got what you saw in the video.

Not really as the MS Surface uses camera's to identify objects and you can manipulate multiple areas of the surface simultaneously as the with the iPad you are limited to one object at a time.

I think that the surface would work with all existing wireless, bluetooth devices as to have to have a special surface enabled device to work with it would definately hurt market penetration.

[cmdahler]

Originally Posted by Lotus Esprit

Not really as the MS Surface uses camera's to identify objects and you can manipulate multiple areas of the surface simultaneously as the with the iPad you are limited to one object at a time.

I think that the surface would work with all existing wireless, bluetooth devices as to have to have a special surface enabled device to work with it would definately hurt market penetration.

You'd have to have some way for the wireless device to recognize that there is an incoming connection/transfer request from the surface device. If the mobile device had such an open OS environment that any bluetooth device such as the surface could arbitrarily send a group of pictures or pull pictures/movies off the mobile with no initial user interaction (input a PIN, etc.), can you imagine the security nightmare that would be on that mobile phone? Ultimately, such functionality cannot be as easy as shown in the mockup video without creating enormous security holes in your mobile device.

Multiple simultaneous hand gestures is merely an extension of current multi-touch technology; it hasn't yet made its way mainstream just because the devices haven't been big enough to make use of it. There's no physical limit right now on simultaneous gestures on the Android, iPad, etc.; it's merely a matter of programming the OS to know what to do with it and putting enough CPU horsepower to make it look smooth.

I don't really see this surface thing as being a high priority in current computing trends, though, so if MS is focusing their development teams on this sort of thing, I think they're making a huge mistake. Current computer development is trending away from the traditional desktop-style computer (which is effectively all this MS Surface thing is - when you get past the eye-candy, it's just a desktop computer with a big screen and a multi-touch UI) and on toward more personalized and portable devices like Androids, iPhones, Slates, and iPads. These devices easily meet the computing needs of 90% of the typical consumer public: how many people really need the horsepower of two Core i7's and 8G RAM with a 2TB hard drive and a 27 inch screen just to check Facebook? Profit margins on PCs are already minimal at best, and that marketplace situation is only going to get worse, which is what is driving companies like HP and Apple into the tablet market where margins are much wider and can probably remain sustainable for several more years. In the current and near-future computer marketplace, I doubt a hugely-expensive table-sized surface computer would sell very well. The enormous screen (what would be the cost of a 40-inch 130 to 160 PPI LCD monitor?? Yikes!), all the cameras you mentioned, the processing needs with associated RAM requirements to make that thing work smoothly: this would not be a typical consumer device by any stretch of the imagination.

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by Crowl

Just put this as your sig, it will save so much time on here.

But then I'd have nothing to talk about since I don't really care about e-readers anymore!

Originally Posted by Crowl

Given the extra features there are probably plenty of people who would be happy with lesser battery life, the question companies have to ask themselves is whether the more features less battery product is what the mainstream wants or if it is more of a niche item that should come later when they expand their range.

Yeah, very true. IMO the evidence points toward that being a niche given how tablet PCs, slate PCs etc. have been very small niche items for years.

But to be fair, those tend to be very expensive, so maybe there is more of a market smaller tablet/slate pcs with prices around $500. Time will tell on that front.

My money is on devices like the iPad being watch catches on with the mainstream if any tablets do. I think the vast majority of people are fine with desktops, laptops and netbooks for their computing needs. So I see more room for media consumption tablets with long battery life etc. But even those catching on in the mainstream is far from a given.

Incidentally, there are now other reports on the gagdet blogs stating that the slate hasn't been killed off, so it might be a bit soon to announce it's death.

Yep. Like I said they're probably just killing the Windows 7 HP Slate and will rework it around WebOS since they just bought Palm.

[Lotus Esprit]

My money would be on the future voice interface. The smartphones are really to small to do anythng with. It is torture to web browse on them even with multi touch it just plain doesn't cut it. The current iPad is nice and will be a good entry into the market when OS 4.0 comes out. Multitasking on a 3.5" screen is not neccessary but not being able to do it on the iPad is a problem.

We will deal with the current offerings until they evolve to the point where we have speach recognition and true AI.

[scottjl]

Surfing with your voice..? "iPhone, surf to h-t-t-p-colon-slash-slash-w-w-w-dot-m-o-b-i-l-e-r-e-a-d-no-d-no-d-dot-c-o-m-no-m" Then have it read the whole page back to you? Cumbersome at best. Unfortunately the only solution for some people. Could you imagine a subway car full of people all trying to talk to their phones and listen to their responses? Never mind the privacy concerns.

While Audiobooks are very popular (I listen to them quite often) people actually viewing content with their own eyes is not going to go away any time soon. And how would the masses look at porn?

Surfing on a 3.5" screen is not going to go away any time soon with all the new phones that are announced daily, and it's perfectly fine for quick content like directions, looking up a restaurant review, ordering movie tickets. Hell I fly Delta with a ticket on my iPhone's screen, I don't print anything out, they just scan the bar code right off my screen.

Mobile devices aren't going anywhere any time soon, and (limited) multitasking is coming to the iPad this fall, the iPhone this summer.

[Lotus Esprit]

Originally Posted by scottjl

Surfing with your voice..? "iPhone, surf to h-t-t-p-colon-slash-slash-w-w-w-dot-m-o-b-i-l-e-r-e-a-d-no-d-no-d-dot-c-o-m-no-m" Then have it read the whole page back to you? Cumbersome at best. Unfortunately the only solution for some people. Could you imagine a subway car full of people all trying to talk to their phones and listen to their responses? Never mind the privacy concerns.

While Audiobooks are very popular (I listen to them quite often) people actually viewing content with their own eyes is not going to go away any time soon. And how would the masses look at porn?

Surfing on a 3.5" screen is not going to go away any time soon with all the new phones that are announced daily, and it's perfectly fine for quick content like directions, looking up a restaurant review, ordering movie tickets. Hell I fly Delta with a ticket on my iPhone's screen, I don't print anything out, they just scan the bar code right off my screen.

Mobile devices aren't going anywhere any time soon, and (limited) multitasking is coming to the iPad this fall, the iPhone this summer.

I was refering to voice interaction replacing the current offerings for input like the keyboard, mouse, and multi-touch. Would you rather dictate a document or type it?

[scottjl]

Originally Posted by Lotus Esprit

I was refering to voice interaction replacing the current offerings for input like the keyboard, mouse, and multi-touch. Would you rather dictate a document or type it?

Again, depends on the setting. When flying on a plane, or some other public location, I'd rather type. When alone in my office, home or a hotel, dictation is fine.

The iPad does have a Dragon Dictation application, I've only dabbled with it as I don't do much creation on the iPad, but it does seem to work very well.

Dictation also depends on the field, having a spouse who is a doctor, she transcribes many patient charts over the phone. But a human has to listen to the tapes and do the actual write-up. It will be many years before Dictation software can handle what she does, then there's the whole legality of mistakes..

[dmaul1114]

I'd prefer typing for my writing work. Dictation I just can't see being good for all the editing and revising required for real writing. I suppose you could dictate and then go back and edit, but I revise so much on the fly I don't think it would save me much time.

[rock]

Erm droid has surfing with voice kind of, and it is definitely not the exaggeration of saying each letter. I can also have my droid type out my text messages by saying the words and it is pretty accurate.

I mean it is really accurate. I say walmart, and it pulls it up for me. I say a local comic shop name, and it pulls it up for me. Pretty darn good.

[Lotus Esprit]

The full voice recognition barrier will be the next one broken. There are arguments on this each way. For instance, most people can talk faster than they can type. Also most people work in an office and not on an airplane. Before laptops people did not carry around typewriters for in flight productivity.

[scottjl]

ok, but can you imagine everyone in an office of cubicles talking to their computer at the same time? what if someone stops in your office to talk to you and your computer starts thinking they are giving it commands? without a completely 100% accurate AI to interpert the context of what is being said there will always be a need for a keyboard and pointing device. and when we get that 100% accurate AI, humans better watch out!

voice recgonition has been around since the 80's, it still hasn't hit mainstream. it's good for things like voice menus on phones, general dictation software, maybe even some games. but it falls flat on many other tasks. how would you organize your photo albums? play freecell? navigate a hard disk of folders to find a file you want? at best, voice recgonition is going to augment our existing input methods, i don't think it will ever replace them entirely.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by Lotus Esprit

The full voice recognition barrier will be the next one broken. There are arguments on this each way. For instance, most people can talk faster than they can type. Also most people work in an office and not on an airplane. Before laptops people did not carry around typewriters for in flight productivity.

Certainly in europe the majority of people tend to work in offices that are at least somewhat open-plan rendering voice control pretty useless there. so it's not just on the plane that it wouldn't work, just imagine the chaos when the person with the overly loud voice needs to reboot their machine all afternoon.

Voice control has times when it can be useful e.g. voice dialing on your phone when driving, but it simply isn't a control method that will be useful enough for full mainstream usage and it doesn't seem that likely that it will be heavily pursued when there is still plenty of room for touch interfaces to keep improving.