A focus on the iPad could be a boon for [Flickr]. Although a lot of people don’t take photos on their iPad, they sure do like to look at images on it. Could Flickr create a beautiful magazinelike iPad application that allows people to skim through high-resolution images on the service?
As a still-dedicated Flickr user (along with other Newton users out there), it’s nice to hear things are maybe…kind of…hopefully picking up at Flickr.
And Bilton’s idea is great: a way to browse stuff that’s somewhere, quality-wise, between Instagram and 500px. My friends and acquaintances still use Flickr for their good stuff. It’d be nice for this hypothetical iPad treatment to be a nicer version of the Contacts tab on Flickr.com. The problem is that, at least for my contacts, the quantity of stuff has decreased over the years. That’s a shame.
But I still use the hell out of Flickr, and plan to for as long as its around in something like its current form.
While there’s clearly a range of active third-party development going on to bring handwriting recognition to the iPad, unfortunately in my tests they’re far from the quality and accuracy offered by the last version of the Newton OS.
Mikol reviews several stylus options and a few iPad apps, looking for a potential replacement for his Newton in the iPad. His advice: try the free apps first, then spend money.
Since the Macintosh division, as well as many others at Apple, saw the Newton as something that could very well make desktop computers extinct, they decided to develop a Newton-like Mac. Something that could act like a portable, slate-like device. But, unlike the Newton, these devices would run Mac software, with a full Mac operating system, and work with a keyboard and mouse. It was a bridge between the original Macintosh and the new, mobile powerhouse: the Newton.
What proceeds this is a fascinating tour of Apple’s history designing tablet computers – and not just the Newton, but tablet-style Apple IIs and Macs as well.
Reading through this, you get the impression that the folks at Apple have been obsessed with portables for a very long time. All these years later, it’s what the company is best know for.
As he says, it’s only proof of concept right now. You can see it lags just a tad. But imagine this thing running full-power and full-speed on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.
“Back in 1998, Apple killed the floppy drive with one fell swoop. Killing the PC desktop won’t be as quick and easy, but Apple will do it over time. It started with the iPhone, and in a few years we won’t even remember the Finder.”
– Sachin’s Posterous, in a very thought-provoking post. I often wonder what OS X+1 will look like. Not OS X 10.7 or 10.8, but after the tens are done. What does the next-generation, non-OS X-based operating system look like?
“A signature of Apple’s design philosophy is not to just fire-hose features into a product. They like to believe that if they add something, it contributes way more value than what its presence will cost the user, and that the feature is consistent with the ‘story’ of this product. I’ve seen Android tablets with every kind of port and other hardware feature built-in. Mostly, their purpose is to be something that the marketers and the users can point to and say ‘See? Look what this has that yours doesn’t.’
Sometimes they actually enhance the device. Mostly, though, they’re like a third nipple. Good for conversation, but functionally useless.”
– Andy Ihnatko. Feature lists are great, but they’re not everything. I’m keeping track of some Android fans that say, because the iPad is missing some items, it’s going to be a failure. They tend to concentrate on the wrong thing, like iMac haters did when Apple dumped the floppy disk.
So to heck with the iPad – you’ve dreamed of someday winning an Apple Newton MessagePad in some random site’s giveaway.
Well, ThinkGeek has heard your plea. They’re giving away an MP100 and a $1,000 shopping spree from now, April 1, until midnight.
I know, I know – it’s probably a joke, right? Especially considering second prize is an iPad. But Think Geek says, “And while the Newton may seem impossibly awesome, we promise it’s true–this contest is NOT a joke.” Who am I to doubt them? Besides the $1,000 grand prize, the bundled Newton is a heckuva money saver.
When you click through to enter, ThinkGeek asks if you want to receive their updates and promotions, so it could be a genius marketing scheme. Just don’t get me wrong: by “scheme” I mean “I’d love to have one.”
And here I had thought of doing something like this as an anniversary prize or something…