On 05/09/2012 10:08 PM, Francois Labreque wrote:

>> On 05/09/2012 02:57 PM, Francois Labreque wrote:
>>> "Apps" are the software that you run on iThings.
>>>
>>> For example, the Wolfram Alpha app that you mentioned earlier.
>>
>> ...the Wolfram Alpha app I mentioned as an example of utter
>> pointlessness?
>
> Having a front-end client that sanitizes the user's input before sending
> transactions back to the back-end server is NOT pointless when you are
> dealing with devices that have limited (and/or expensive) bandwidth
> capabilities, or small screen resolutions.

In the case of Wolfram Alpha, it's /supposed/ to accept free-form 
natural language input, which it then does extensive sophisticated [and 
frequently changing] processing on at the server side. Attempting to 
work out whether a given query string will return any results on the 
client side would require a severe amount of processing, not to mention 
access to Alpha's multi-terebyte database... It's just not feasible.

> for example, on my phone, I could fire up the browser and access the
> phone book web site, wait while it downloads the logos, ads, etc... and
> then have to either zoom in and scroll all over the place to put the
> person's name and city and then scroll some more until I get to the
> "search" button, or I can use the app that acts as a front-end client
> for the web site and is more suited to the 640x480 resolution of the
> phone's screen. I suspect the Wolfram app is similar. (Disclaimer: I may
> be wrong, as I haven't tried it.)

Wait - they perfected web page zooming?? o_O

> Privacy concerns aside, I don't know of anyone who would want to have
> their phone vibrate whenever they get in the vicinity of a particular
> chain of clothing store. Then again, I'm not a teenage girl!

My lolrus!

>>> There are
>>> also word processors, spreadsheets, presentation packages, etc...
>>
>> How can you operate a word processor or a spreadsheet without a keyboard?
>
> Magic!
>
>
http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTWfurnBt-2DPkqVngr0dQE37Vj8xclsMZDmmuGo9_BR38Ne2-t

That must be the slowest, most awkward thing EVER! o_O

>>> Who said the only thing you could do on a tablet was surf the net?
>>
>> I didn't say tablet, I said iPad.
>
> And the iPad is what, in your opinion, if not a tablet?

An iPad is one specific model of tablet. From what I've seen, "tablet" 
covers a wide and vaguely-defined range of devices. (E.g., I once 
purchased a "tablet" that was merely a normal PC laptop with a touch 
screen. But it was the size and weight of a laptop, with a physical 
keyboard, running Microsoft Windows on a normal x86 CPU. None of which 
are things that describe an iPad...)

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