Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, why animals freak out before natural disasters, Hustler’s rumored Rihanna sex tape, or paid Android apps that still have advertising (WTF?!?), Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
Like many of you, I spent a lot of time reading a bunch of reactions to Steve Jobs resigning as Apple CEO. One of my favorites was by Peter Pachal of PC Magazine. While I enjoyed the piece, there was a section that bugged me. Check it out:
The reason Jobs picked this time to leave active duty at Apple is apparent. He’s done. He’s finished executing a brilliant strategy of transitioning Apple from a PC-focused company to a company that’s leading the charge into what Jobs calls the “Post-PC world.” Over the past decade, Apple’s legendary success began with the iPod, evolved into the iPhone, and reached new heights with the iPad.
I definitely agree that Jobs changed Apple’s focus and transformed it into a drastically different company than it was in 1997. That said, I’m not buying the whole “Post-PC world” rhetoric. I hate that phrase. It’s a clever bit of marketing that reminds me a bit of the term “Retina Display”. Apple, Jobs in particular, has ingrained the terms Post-PC era and Retina Display to the point where a lot of tech writers think that the Post-PC is an actual era (after the Palaeozoic Era?) and Retina Display is an actual technology. It infuriates me. (For the record, I’m not accusing Pachal of either. His article just reminded me of the matter.)
See, I don’t think of products like the iPhone or iPad as post-PC. They’re just different kinds of personal computers. They’re personal devices, right? They compute things, don’t you agree? They just use different input methods, come in different form factors, and offer a different experience. I realize those sound like major differences, but I believe that my laptop, my smartphone, and my iPad are all personal computers. They’re just different kinds of PCs. Put it this way — my laptop is quite different from the Altair 8800, but they’re both considered personal computers.
Do you agree with me? Are smartphones and tablets just new kinds of personal computers? Or are they distinct device types that should not be considered PCs? Are you living in a Post-PC world? Are you a Post-PC girl? (Think Madonna.)
You got my vote, half way through the read I was thinking what you wrote in the second to last paragraph.
I agree in post PC as it relates to sales and availability. Go into BestBuy and it's very hard to find a traditional PC and even monitor. Your luck is slightly better with finding a laptop. This is totally opposite fro
Christmas 2009. Lots of PCs and laptops to choose from. In 2010 the selection was cut in half. 2011 showcases primarily tablets.
So I see it from marketing as a yes, but a traditional PC won't be exiting soon. Kind of a weird thought came to mind though, remember an old scifi movie where the computer had 50 buttons where each is dedicated to a specific function? Will our current interaction of mouse and keyboard be viewed just as archaic as touch matures and proliferates the market?
I don't see why. Most of the keys on a keyboard are letters and they aren't going anywhere.
The keyboard is considered context sensitive in comparison to old input, so I see touch and or eye tracking becoming more common.
Even the touch interfaces resemble the keyboard and I don't see people wanting to use those interfaces over what we have now. These interfaces are made for small devices, which although are becoming more common, that will not be replacing desktops for a long time. Typing is very important to the businesses world and can't be replaced within the medium to long range future.
I agree, it won't happen in the next decade but I think we'll move away from raised/dedicated keys. I honestly think Win8 will put us closer to this than Apple will.
I think there will always be a need for alpha numeric input, but the method and frequency will change.
I used to overclock my 486 with a turbo button lol.
There is no post-PC world right now. Maybe far off in the future, but not just yet. I have a laptop, but it doesn't fit my needs perfectly (namely, a great graphics card and a large hard drive). A tablet just wouldn't do; could you imagine doing projects for work using Excel or Word on your iPad? I can't. I need physical buttons for my typing, thanks. Plus, best part of PCs for me – You don't have to charge them. Haha! PC 1, tablet 0.
Yeah I bought Numbers on my iPad, it's horrible to use
Smartguy already spoke about Excel, but Word is totally doable. I take notes all the time on my iPad. I've covered press events using Catch. I've written longer pieces using Pages.
Also, every portable PC — laptop, tablet, phone — has to be charged.
This is the same person who sells his products as magical…
Haha!
So did Walt Disney and Erving Johnson.
Criss Angel bills his product as magic too… but it's not.
Earvin! His name is Earvin!!!
I swear that's what I put… I must be a victim of spell check.
I'm not a fan of Walt either. He stole ideas from others all the time and claimed they were his.
You have no idea how often that happens and happened throughout the history of business. People are still stealing Tesla's ideas and calling them their own. If you have a problem with that, you have a problem with capitalism… which as I've read recently only leaves socialism. People say prostitution is the oldest profession… but I think professional thieves started earlier if not at the same time.
I assume you have problems with religion too. Invisible man in the sky, walking on water, happy place to go when you die that is also invisible… sounds like magic to me.
The Catholics say if they splash some water on you… every sin you ever committed is now okay in the grand scheme of things. Is there a scientific explanation for that? Or are they trying to make money?
*Note: There's alot of me joking in this. I'm not calling you socialist or a blasphemer for refusing the magic of Jobs by any stretch. Even if you got all that, I reread this and almost took it the wrong way so I felt the need to make this edit.
So do any of you know why animals freak out before natural disasters? Apparently most of the animals at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. were going nuts 15 minutes before the earthquake. One exception was the panda, which didn't do FA. That's pretty funny.
Yeah my dog went nuts a day before Katrina hit. I wonder if ppl used to feel that way?
Smell and sound. They can hear and smell better than us.
People studying wild elephants noticed that they communicate using sub-sonic frequencies they produce by stomping their feet. One team would notice a pack of elephants perk up their ears and then start stomping their feet. 50 miles away, another team doing the same thing would notice the same thing drom an entirely different pack 'o' pachyderms at right around the same time. Then, both packs would move together in the same direction.
About 10 minutes later, a storm would come through from the opposite direction they headed.
So they then built microphones designed to hear these subsonic frequencies and placed them in the ground all over the world with special attention to high disaster prone areas.. What they found, is that not only does the earth give off a perpetual hum… but they noticed spikes in this hum in various places on the opposite side of where a disaster hit the next day. This has happened repeatedly.
Long story short… the earth itself warns us about these things… but we just don't know how to speak her language. Animals tend to be more in tune.