Aussie Geek Podcast #32 :: The iOpinion Show
Welcome to the show this week, we have a cracker for you with lots of opinions and a few disagreements over the Apple thing. We also chat about lots of other news that we saw that was not branded with a big apple.
Unfortunately Cait is unable to join us this show, we tall all in this episode.
No I do not know what is wrong with the iTunes store and yes I noticed, just in case someone wants to point that out… and we are not the only ones 
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Show Notes
Welcome
Tech News
- FeedDemon Update
- iPad Discussion
- Mozilla Weave
Promo Spot: Channel Erk!
- Aussie ISP Cleared of Copyright Liability
- The Next Generation of Chips: Article Here
- Skype Over 3G
- Real Tweets from Space
Feedback
Farewell
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Featured Music
Frightened Rabbit
“Head Rolls Off” (mp3)
from “The Midnight Organ Fight”
(Fat Cat Records)
Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at Amazon MP3
More On This Album
“pads” and “tabs” is old theory. Look it up. Gates wrote about almost 20 years ago.
Already reading on my N900 which has an amazing camera, battery, euro 3G, GPS and linux-ish OS. Device in question would need to have at least 512meg of ram and a CPU better than the cortex-A8. Would like to get one for my partner’s Dad since he liked my iPod touch, before I dropped it the dunny.
oh and a microSDHC slot so now I have over 32GB storage.
Great to get a double dose in such short order. Great to hear that you’ve moved to the Lifestyle pod network!
Great show. Looking forward to more and love having Knightwise back, Sans him talking in the car.
yea. CPU. I’m running on a startrac at the gym when i listen.
Btw - we’re all about jails and VMs at the office. Awesome to bring up a VM in xen or esxi when a power pig dies.
Home going to be reduced to VMs on a 4 core amd runninf esxi and one Imac running vmware fusion 2
I love it when you talk geek like that :p
Re the iPad. You guys just don’t get it. You’re nerds and geeks. You like to tinker with stuff. It’s not a netbook. It’s not even a computer. You are not the target market. Get over it and move on.
If the touch interface on the iPhone is so shit KW and KD how come so many people have bought iPhones? OK so you like physical keyboards - fair enough, that’s your preference. But it doesn’t make the iPhone bad for not having one.
Can we get back to the more balanced Aussie Geek Podcast that loved technology for its own sake regardless of who makes it?
Hey guys
Love your show. I’d be so happy if you’d do a show on Ebook Readers - was thinking about an iPad just for that, but given comments on this week’s show, think I’ll keep researching. Please: more on Sony device - would love to hear about all it’s bells and whistles. I agree with you Dave, I think Ebooks are going to be huge just now and I’m really surprised that Electronic stores aren’t stocking their shelves right now (here in Oz).
I’m thinking the ultimate device is going to be the one that doesn’t entrap you into a particular book store, and is also a quality device hardware wise.
@Tom mate I think that your comments are a bit harsh mate! I don’t think that we were trying to say that we are the target market in fact I actually stated who I thought the target was - that said I think we were resonating what most of the tech community were disappointed with - it is a big iPhone and not a computer as such. It has major limitations as such and no changes have been made to the OS to do anything else.
I don’t think that the iPhones popularity have rested on the fact that it has a touch keyboard. Secondly KD and KW both have Blackberries - that makes them a user with different requirements and they will be critical of the touch interface. Nor do I think that they think the iPhone is bad - Keith having an iPod touch is testament to that.
Lastly it is a far cry to say that the show was/is not balanced - KW is a PC, mobile, Linux, apple user! KD is a PC and Apple user with a slant on portable devices - if anything I am the exclusive one in that I have only PC’s but I do have a touch and iPhone. I actually said during the show that I thought that the device while disappointing had a real market and was great for that application and user. And no we don’t like all technology for technology’s sake - in fact this was one of the worst “reviews” or opinion pieces we have ever given an Apple product; if you want to look at it that way - there is tech that sucks. Like the printer that I am installing as I write this
We are not going to have a rosy view of everything that comes onto the market - we will see the good, bad and the ugly and say what we think. Period.
If the iPad was different and was delivered in a slightly different way - there is the chance that we would have loved it. We did not, yes that might be due to the fact that we are bias - but this is the Aussie Geek Podcast.
I also think that our listeners want a balanced and honest opinion - I think we did that.
Sorry, it was perhaps harsh. I was just a bit riled and had had enough of being goaded by some tosser on twitter about the iPad which didn’t help when I wrote that comment.
I guess my main complaint is that instead of looking at the uses of it, 95% of the segment was about the perceived drawbacks. I say perceived drawbacks, because a) it hasn’t even been released yet so no one has seen it in the flesh or used it, and b) the drawbacks you did mention all relate to power-users who are not the target market. There was no mention of Keynote, Numbers or Pages. There was no mention of the A4 chip, a significant development for Apple who have previously relied on Intel and IBM chips. You briefly mentioned the iBook store, but no real discussion on the effect this may or may not have on the Kindle and Amazon (it could well raise Amazon’s game, so it’s not purely an Apple discussion). There was no mention on the effect it might have on the gaming world - there are interesting articles around about what the iPhone is doing to the portable gaming things, so imagine what the iPad might do.
Instead we were treated to KW gaffawing and laughing about the faults and saying how he’d go into the store just to ridicule it and walk out. The target user doesn’t care about USB or the ability to tinker with the OS. They will care about the lack of flash - that does pose a problem to its target use. But instead of just ridiculing it, how about wondering why? I don’t know the answer, but it’s interesting. Have Adobe and Apple fallen out? Does Apple think HTML5 is the answer?
And that’s actually what I meant by balance, an ability to empathise with what others might want in a product. I wasn’t referring to your coverage of Apple/Windows/Linux which is balanced and appreciated. Now to be fair on listening again Dave you did mention that it should be aimed at those with less technological ability, but that potentially interesting discussion was quickly shut down by KW and KD.
I’m also thinking back to your shows around the release of the iPhone, which none of you especially liked at that time, but which you treated fairly, talking about the leap forward it represented as well as the things you didn’t like. It was a lightning bolt in the mobile phone arena. Your blackberries and your HTCs have since released equally good or better phones depending on your point of view, but they were reacting to the iPhone and were fighting from behind at that stage. Is it not possible that the iPad, for all its faults, will have a similar effect on the netbook/ebook reader market (even though it’s neither).
And another thing! (Sorry, I’ve on a roll now!) I didn’t understand the comment on the price being high. The Aussie prices haven’t been released yet, but if it’s a straight USD-AUD conversion the cheapest wifi only one comes in below an outright iPhone. There’s no comparison in the US as you can’t buy an outright iPhone there from Apple due to the AT&T agreement.
Will I get one? Maybe. The Keynote excited me enough to go and play with one in the flesh but not enough to want one no questions asked. I’m not the target market. I have a MacBook and an iPhone. Is there room for something in between? Yes, when I’m travelling, and yes, when I’m being lazy in bed, on the sofa, or on the loo (don’t tell me you haven’t done that!). So do I need one? Nope. Do I want one? Sort of. I may well wait for version 2 or 3 (which I’m hoping will have a colour eInk screen if such things even exist).
The rest of the show I enjoyed, and I’m pleased KW sounded more Belgian and less Martian this episode!
Anyway, I do hope you understand what I’m saying and take it in the spirit it was meant. I love the AGP and if I didn’t I wouldn’t bother commenting, even if it’s to have a bit of a rant.
All of these eReading devices have the same flaws–they force the user to use the device in the way that the designers want them to use it, not the way the user wants to use it.
When Apple first created the iPod, it was built on the idea that most people had CDs at home, and most people had computers at home that could read and play CDs. All Apple needed to do was create a device that was capable of saving the digital content from the user’s CDs and play it back on a portable device. Easy.
The problem with electronic books is that there is no universally-agreed upon format yet. Amazon created the Kindle to force people to buy Amazon’s and only Amazon’s content. Barnes and Noble are doing the same thing with the Nook. Sony went a bit better by creating a device that was mostly open, but they also have a Sony eBook store with DRM locked content. Now users are forced to choose which company they are going to do business with for ALL of their electronic books, or buy several different eReading devices, one for each supplier. This is good for the seller, but not so good for the consumer.
The problem with the eReading devices themselves is that the manufacturers are fixated on making devices that will do everything except make tea for you. Most people who actually read a lot of books aren’t interested in a device that can play music and surf the Internet, they already have devices that can do that much better. What we need is a device that can display books and do that one job extremely well. It doesn’t need to cost as much as these other devices do–It should cost less than $100. It needs to be open and be able to display several different types of locked and unlocked content. It doesn’t need WiFi/3G access–The main purpose of the WiFi/3G access is so that deluded, I-need-it-now users will buy locked content from the creator’s websites. It should connect to your computer via USB and be able to sync via software, and it should be able to read content from ordinary SD cards. It doesn’t need to play music or audiobooks–We already have devices that will do that and they don’t cost anywhere near as much, although that would be a bonus. It doesn’t need to access the web. It doesn’t need a camera.
We need a device that is able to display large amounts of text in a static and simple way that doesn’t cause eye fatigue. That’s it!
What I envision for the future of eReading are two simple devices; one, lower-end model has a screen size about the same size as a paperback book, say around 5 by 7 inches, has a grey-scale static screen, is low-cost and is intended for the person who enjoys reading large amounts of text–your average novel reader. The second device has a screen sized around that of a sheet of paper and a colour touchscreen. This second device is intended for consuming content that you would get now in the form of newspapers and magazines, childrens books, picture books, etc. Obviously it would have to cost more as well. Both of these devices should be open and capable of displaying several different types of content, including your Amazon content, your Barnes and Noble content, your Sony content, your Kobo content, or whatever.
The other problem with current eBooks is that once the user has consumed the content, it’s worthless. You can’t resell your eBooks, or give them away, or trade them with someone else. If publishers are really serious about selling eBooks, then they need to start selling the electronic format WITH the physical format, or at least include a physical format, like a CD.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I am not interested in purchasing ephemeral products.
Aussie Geeks listed in top 10 geeks from downunder - wired blog
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/02/top-10-geeks-from-downunder/comment-page-1/#comment-35479