Comments on: Crackworld Revealed

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 22:23:23 +0000

I am pretty pissed about the $20 fee on updating my iPod Touch… but it was “free” for iPhone users…

By: Dave Thomas

Dave Thomas — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 18:07:30 +0000

Sorry for belaboring — but right now if I want to zoom in on a photo on my laptop (using Picasa, for example), I just press my UP arrow. DOWN, I’m back out. Short of mind-ray technology, what could be easier?

I shut up now.

By: Dave Thomas

Dave Thomas — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 18:01:05 +0000

Yeah, we’ll see. That kind of display is well on its way and might well prove to be the succulent and vital fruit borne from the seed of this silly laptop.

By: blurb

blurb — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 17:43:11 +0000

@Dave Thomas, I wonder if you threw a 30″ display flat on a surface and could use your hands (and arms and shoulders and the various musculature in the upper body) to quickly sort through those photos? I think the words that might describe the multi-touch trackpad: baby steps. I can definitely see a two-handed pinch/expand gesture being really useful, but only if I’m looking at a photo and want to quickly see a detail on my laptop that I probably wouldn’t be looking at photos on (I’d likely bring more firepower to a shoot or to look at images in this way).

Having had to go through slides on a light table, I would imagine being able to do the same with a giant display and a few hundred images would be pretty sweet. But I think we’re still a few years away from Minority Report style photo sorting.

By: Dave Thomas

Dave Thomas — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 17:33:22 +0000

Yeah, I know from carpal tunnel. I also know that repeating a large, more involved action (pinching, for example) is worse than repeating a slighter one. Maybe the variety of actions you mention will save our digits and wrists — but that doesn’t mean any of them are easier to perform than just clicking a button. So what functionality does it add?

As I said, I think touch makes sense on the phone, which has much more limited input options (no keyboard, mouse, etc.). But if I had to scroll through five hundred photos from yesterday’s shoot, I feel that pinching and expanding and swiping shit will lose its charm.

By: minxlj

minxlj — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:50:05 +0000

Just thinking…in these days of ever-restrictive luggage controls at airports, a lot of people may decide that the Air is just what they need. The weight and size savings can be enough to just squeeze that baby into your case! In Apple’s case though, it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t have a massive market share, it’s the innovation that counts. Innovative things like the iPhone have broken the mould - now they have to keep on pushing the boundaries. I can’t wait to see what they do next. A tablet/touch laptop I hope

Dave Thomas - it’s REPETITION of movement that causes things like carpal tunnel and RSI…surely a wider variety of movements like pinching, zooming, multi-touch items instead of just one finger scrolling will actually be better for your hands? The multi-touch feature was bound to come to a laptop at some point - it’s no fad, it’s definitely here to stay. 5 years ago people would have said touch on a phone would be a fad…

By: Dave Thomas

Dave Thomas — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:59:57 +0000

Question about touch on trackpads: Is pinching, spreading, swiping and rotating with your fingers REALLY an improvement over simply tapping a key or button? Performing any of those touch actions with any frequency over any period of time seems guaranteed to be slower, more awkward and more liable to piss off your carpal-tunnel than clicking is. Touch is clearly a boon to phones, what gots no keyboards or mice; but on an actual computer, it just seems like someone’s been watching too much “Minority Report.”

So, touch on a laptop: Rad or fad? (I call “fad.”)

By: doug

doug — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:52:19 +0000

Is more double the price of a more-powerful, more upgradeable Macbook REALLY worth the (to me) marginal weight savings? Because, really, it should be more about the weight and not the thickness (or lack of).

Anytime I see/use more ‘lightweight’ devices like this, they always seem to get treated more carelessly, too. Something with more substance is more visible when not being used, and less likely to get tossed about, so I’ll be curious to see what the durability is like. Will it end up between someone’s pile of papers on the couch and have a textbook dropped on it, as an example?

And the Apple TV HD movie thing? [yawn] The box is limited to 1280X720, while my Blu-ray and HD DVD players will play 1080p and 1080i respectively.

Will my unlocked iPhone be able to use the map/locating feature in Canada? If so, that’s the only item of interest to me.

Very underwhelming, all in all.

By: Deva

Deva — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:48:45 +0000

I like the concept behind the air, and until actually looking at all that it had to offer (or not), I wanted one. Upon actually taking time out today to look at it and all of it’s features, I still want a MacBook Black. There’s that pesky affordability thing, though.

By: Dave Thomas

Dave Thomas — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:19:57 +0000

“[The slimness] is a major technical and aesthetic breakthrough, and a killer feature for those vexed by the fact that you can’t send laptops via interoffice mail.”

http://www.slate.com/id/2182227/