Technology catch-all thread

[StrangeSox]

You are crazy. I have swype and there's no way I could open up messaging and then swype accurately enough to write coherently. Maybe "I here"

 

Oh yeah it's not until I'm actually in the message box that I'm talking about.

[bmags]

Oh yeah it's not until I'm actually in the message box that I'm talking about.

 

Even so I'm going to try this and post back what I wrote.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

That's not why people praise Apple.

 

Nobody credits for Apple inventing smartphones or tablets, or even all-in-one desktop PCs.

 

They praise them because they take something others are already doing, but make it really GOOD and practical/usable. Apple didn't invent smartphones. Microsoft had them for eons, and I owned multiple versions of WM4.x to 6.x phones from Samsung ... and if you've ever used one, you'd know how bad they were. Apple took the smartphone and made it a device people wanted to use. Tablets were much the same, existed for years will full on desktop OS's clogging them up, and Apple took the idea and made it a device people would WANT to use.

 

Others have then taken Apple's design cues, and practicality, and arguably made even better devices than they did, too.

 

People credit Apple for great design, because they actually have great design.

 

You and I may know that, but the typical consumer does not. You may be surprised how many people I know think Apple invented smart phones, mp3 players (except they typically say things like "Apple INVENTED the iPod!" which is painfully stupid to hear), and tablets. I find most iPhone users to be completely oblivious to technology, which mostly consists of college girls. Seems in college that most of the girls have iOS phones and most of the guys have Android phones.

[RockRaines]

You and I may know that, but the typical consumer does not. You may be surprised how many people I know think Apple invented smart phones, mp3 players (except they typically say things like "Apple INVENTED the iPod!" which is painfully stupid to hear), and tablets. I find most iPhone users to be completely oblivious to technology, which mostly consists of college girls. Seems in college that most of the girls have iOS phones and most of the guys have Android phones.

They did invent the ipod, just not the MP3 player.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

They did invent the ipod, just not the MP3 player.

 

Right, but I mean no other company can invent YOUR brand name product. That's like saying Honda invented the Civic. Well....yeah....it's THEIR brand, no one else could have ever invented the HONDA Civic. That's why it sounds so stupid to hear people say that. It's probably because they have no idea that an ipod is not a category of devices, it's a brand of mp3 player.

[Y2HH]

You and I may know that, but the typical consumer does not. You may be surprised how many people I know think Apple invented smart phones, mp3 players (except they typically say things like "Apple INVENTED the iPod!" which is painfully stupid to hear), and tablets. I find most iPhone users to be completely oblivious to technology, which mostly consists of college girls. Seems in college that most of the girls have iOS phones and most of the guys have Android phones.

 

But who cares what the typical consumer thinks...even if you told them the truth, you'd not get them to believe you.

[RockRaines]

Right, but I mean no other company can invent YOUR brand name product. That's like saying Honda invented the Civic. Well....yeah....it's THEIR brand, no one else could have ever invented the HONDA Civic. That's why it sounds so stupid to hear people say that. It's probably because they have no idea that an ipod is not a category of devices, it's a brand of mp3 player.

You probably tell people they arent using a kleenex because they are using facial tissue.

 

The iPod revolutionized the MP3 player market in that it made it accessible by more than us nerds who were manually loading our devices with multiple tools. You cant deny that it made the portable music market what it is today.t

[bmags]

Taking things to mass market is a lot more revolutionary than just creating something nobody uses.

[RockRaines]

Taking things to mass market is a lot more revolutionary than just creating something nobody uses.

I had one of these. It was revolutionary for me personally, but the iPod just destroys it in terms of what it brought to the masses as well as tight integration with software.

 

Edited October 8, 2013 by RockRaines

[bmags]

I had one of these. It was revolutionary for me personally, but the iPod just destroys it in terms of what it brought to the masses as well as tight integration with software.

 

 

I was gonna say the CD MP3 player was unbelievable to me before I saw that picture was of those. Apple brought design consideration to the world. You see that everywhere now. They are not what they once were but no need to re-write what they brought to the table. Design is a big deal now for google, microsoft, etc. Before it was an afterthought.

[RockRaines]

I was gonna say the CD MP3 player was unbelievable to me before I saw that picture was of those. Apple brought design consideration to the world. You see that everywhere now. They are not what they once were but no need to re-write what they brought to the table. Design is a big deal now for google, microsoft, etc. Before it was an afterthought.

Downloading and loading MP3's onto one of those or even something like winamp took a decent amount of tech savy. Itunes/ipod changed the entire game on that.

 

Great link to show what this thing was and the screens. I forgot it took 8 batteries.

 

http://www.thg.ru/mobile/20001110/print.html

Edited October 8, 2013 by RockRaines

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

But who cares what the typical consumer thinks...even if you told them the truth, you'd not get them to believe you.

 

My original comment said "people". The typical consumer IS what I was referring to.

[Jenksismyhero]

Downloading and loading MP3's onto one of those or even something like winamp took a decent amount of tech savy. Itunes/ipod changed the entire game on that.

 

Great link to show what this thing was and the screens. I forgot it took 8 batteries.

 

http://www.thg.ru/mobile/20001110/print.html

 

I had a Creative mp3 player and it was a drag and drop system - download music off napster, drag the file to the Creative folder and drop. Very easy.

 

Itunes was the game changer. No other competitor had a ready made store to get music - individual songs especially - for cheap. All at a time when the whole Napster thing was dying and people were getting sued for ungodly amounts of money for downloading music.

 

Plus, they brilliantly made it difficult (and impossible for a while) to transfer your purchases, so if you spent enough money you were "stuck" with Apple products. Some continue to be that way because it's not worth the hassle of trying to get your content onto another device.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

I had a Creative mp3 player and it was a drag and drop system - download music off napster, drag the file to the Creative folder and drop. Very easy.

 

Itunes was the game changer. No other competitor had a ready made store to get music - individual songs especially - for cheap. All at a time when the whole Napster thing was dying and people were getting sued for ungodly amounts of money for downloading music.

 

Plus, they brilliantly made it difficult (and impossible for a while) to transfer your purchases, so if you spent enough money you were "stuck" with Apple products. Some continue to be that way because it's not worth the hassle of trying to get your content onto another device.

 

 

Yep. I had a couple Creative MP3 players and they were incredibly easy to add music to. Never had to fuss with that iTunes bulls***, which also kept me from ever being enslaved by the Apple ecosystem. I just wish they had made a good touchscreen mp3 player back then and I would have never had to have switched to a Zune HD because those Creative Zens never gave me any issues.

[Kyyle23]

Enslaved by the apple ecosystem, lol

[Jake]

Downloading my 4.3 update on AT&T w/ my HTC One

[Y2HH]

Enslaved by the apple ecosystem, lol

 

I don't find it all that bad, though I use a mac, and people have told me iTunes on the mac is far superior...I still don't get the hate.

 

It really sucks that I have to deal with a central repository for all of my media. Oh, wait, no ... it really doesn't. This is the part of the argument I don't 'get', because there is nothing to get. Could iTunes be better, more efficient, etc? Sure. But besides that, ALL of my media is MP3/MP4. I can easily port it anywhere I want. The only thing I cannot port is my apps...and big...f***ing...deal. And anything that's not MP3/MP4...there are freeware converters readily available that will make your music portable anywhere you'd like.

Edited October 9, 2013 by Y2HH

[Kyyle23]

I don't find it all that bad, though I use a mac, and people have told me iTunes on the mac is far superior...I still don't get the hate.

 

It really sucks that I have to deal with a central repository for all of my media. Oh, wait, no ... it really doesn't. This is the part of the argument I don't 'get', because there is nothing to get. Could iTunes be better, more efficient, etc? Sure. But besides that, ALL of my media is MP3/MP4. I can easily port it anywhere I want. The only thing I cannot port is my apps...and big...f***ing...deal. And anything that's not MP3/MP4...there are freeware converters readily available that will make your music portable anywhere you'd like.

 

No arguments here.

[Jake]

I've never been fond of iTunes. I still prefer Mac to Windows, though I really dislike iOS. Believe it or not, one company might be better at one thing and not another

[Y2HH]

I've never been fond of iTunes. I still prefer Mac to Windows, though I really dislike iOS. Believe it or not, one company might be better at one thing and not another

 

While true, it's still opinion.

 

I prefer OSX over Windows, and I prefer iOS over Android, but that doesn't mean you have to agree ... nor does that doesn't even matter to me. All that matters is what YOU like using. And whatever it is, use it.

 

There was a time I wouldn't have EVER said that, about preferring Apple to anything.

 

I've been doing this since the early 80's, and through that time, Commodore gave way to Microsoft (I even tried OS/2 and various forms of Linux through the years), which eventually gave way to Apple OSX... and I know from the fact I've already switched 3+ times in my life, that I won't have a problem doing it again when I truly believe someone is doing something I NEED to be a part of.

 

Also, as it stands now, iOS gets the best of both worlds. I get all of Google's apps, and use quite a few of them, and they're often/usually better than their native Android variants. So using Android has little appeal to me, since I already get all of their best apps on iOS, and I get the best of what iOS has to offer, too. Giving that up for an additional half/full inch of screen space just isn't in the cards for me.

Edited October 9, 2013 by Y2HH

[RockRaines]

Yep. I had a couple Creative MP3 players and they were incredibly easy to add music to. Never had to fuss with that iTunes bulls***, which also kept me from ever being enslaved by the Apple ecosystem. I just wish they had made a good touchscreen mp3 player back then and I would have never had to have switched to a Zune HD because those Creative Zens never gave me any issues.

I was referring to the Creative jukebox, it was difficult to use and manage. Most of the mp3's we downloaded were from file shares, s***ty PTP's or early torrents. Luckily we all worked out the bugs for you kids to enjoy later.

[Y2HH]

I had a Creative mp3 player and it was a drag and drop system - download music off napster, drag the file to the Creative folder and drop. Very easy.

 

Itunes was the game changer. No other competitor had a ready made store to get music - individual songs especially - for cheap. All at a time when the whole Napster thing was dying and people were getting sued for ungodly amounts of money for downloading uploading music.

 

Plus, they brilliantly made it difficult (and impossible for a while) to transfer your purchases, so if you spent enough money you were "stuck" with Apple products. Some continue to be that way because it's not worth the hassle of trying to get your content onto another device.

 

Minor yet major correction here, as nobody has ever been successfully sued for just downloading anything. Where they get you is for uploading/sharing, which is usually what makes Torrents so dangerous, as most force you to share, even a small part of the download. Any piece you've uploaded makes you accountable for the whole. Simply downloading something that's out there on the Internet would be a VERY hard case to press on anyone in a court of law...which is why nobody bothers.

 

All the big cases are brought up against uploading.

 

But, the rest of what you said is true.

 

As for Apple purchases, again, easy to mass convert and strip DRM out of them. Very easy. Can be done with music and movies...you may have to pay a small price for the programs that do it, but it's a one time expense to rid yourself of Apple/iTunes if you so desire.

[Kyyle23]

Raise your hand if you remember waiting for files to download on Napster, Limewire, Bearshare, gnutella, kazaa etc.

 

Raise your hand again if you would have a file download up to 99 percent and then stop and never start back up.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

Raise your hand if you remember waiting for files to download on Napster, Limewire, Bearshare, gnutella, kazaa etc.

 

Raise your hand again if you would have a file download up to 99 percent and then stop and never start back up.

 

My brothers and I used Napster briefly, and then KaZaa, and we'd each take turns downloading like 10-15 songs at a time, which took like 35-40 minutes a song. Movies had download overnight.

[Kyyle23]

My brothers and I used Napster briefly, and then KaZaa, and we'd each take turns downloading like 10-15 songs at a time, which took like 35-40 minutes a song. Movies had download overnight.

 

It seemed so awesome at the time. Now, so slow

 

Although me and my roommates used to use SIU's network to download songs before they blocked it. One night in the computer lab would get us a lot of mp3's