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Will the iPad force Adobe Flash Out?
The Apple iPad has received enormous coverage these past couple of months. With devices in hand to the consumers, it’s just a matter of time before the final verdict on the device is passed. In the meantime, the “ultimate consumption” device has many users experimenting and stretching the device to it’s limits.
One of the limits however, is one brought upon by Apple itself. It’s the lack of Adobe Flash support. The keynote originally showed the lack of Flash when Steve Jobs ventured upon a website that contained Flash. Many people became sour at the fact that the device, like it’s iPhone/iPod predecessors lacked Flash support. If the device is supposed to replace the night time venture of netbooks and such, why is Flash still left out in the cold?
According to Steve Jobs, running Flash video on the iPad would cut its battery life from 10 hours to a measly 1.5. It is unknown if this is true, but what it does mean though is that it may force websites to rethink their adoption of Adobe Flash on their sites. If the adoption of the iPad into people’s lives becomes a hit like the iPhone, it can force webmasters into rethinking their strategy on consumption.
If a website wants to be seen, it’s important to adapt to what the consumers are using. The iPad could be the game changer in this market. Apple has given us a list web sites that rely on Web standards without Adobe Flash. This makes them ideal for viewing content on the iPad. They have also provided a submission form to include new sites to be added to the “growing list” of standard-compliant pages. This type of move will force Webmasters to rethink and redesign websites into adopting the HTML5 standard and dropping Adobe all together.
It has already shown that the WSJ and NPR have started redesigning their website to ensure the iPad will be able to view their websites. Virgin America has also dropped Adobe Flash to allow the iPhone to view their website and allow others to check on flight information.
So, “Will the iPad force Adobe Flash out of the scene? Probably not, but it appears that Apple has definitely forced the direction of the river when it comes to how websites are to be displayed. Being a thorn of web standards, Apple has also forced rejected apps from their App store to rethink their deployment, Much like Google Voice favored HTML5 to bypass the App Store all together. As long as Apple makes it a pain for others to get their Apps in the App Store, people will adapt to the way Apple has paved the road.
Adobe won’t die but Flash has probably seen it’s peak. This means it’s time for Adobe to step up the challenge. Any Flash developer now has to consider the iPad/iPhone/iPod market and wonder if it’s worth it to lose those potential viewers. It may be worth it as a whole. It all depends on how the iPad takes off and how many viewers are visiting via the iPad. But it probably won’t make much of a change otherwise when it comes to new development. Adobe still does have to make some game changing steps to ensure they stay in this market and not go the way of “Real Player”. Apple may have the upper hand this round. Let’s see how things develop in the coming months.
Why I Won’t be Purchasing an iPad
Apple has really taken the march into innovative gadgets that people seem to flock their hard earned cash into. Maybe it’s my conservative nature pounded into me by my Dad. Maybe it’s my tilt towards non-Apple products and saving on the “Apple Tax”. Whatever the case may be, I am not purchasing an iPad let along pre-ordering anything from Apple. Even with an estimated 90,000 preorders the first day, I don’t think the iPad is all that, let alone any sort of sliced bread. Here are my reasons…
1) There is nothing innovative with the iPad.
To broaden in this statement, let me just say that the iPad is an oversized iPod touch. Yep. That’s it. Even at it’s starting price of $499, why would I want to purchase this thing that doesn’t even handle any flash based web applications or multitasking? The iPad does not bring anything new to the table. If anything, it has kept the important things off. If anything, it’s an item with more surface area. I don’t need bigger things in my life to deal with.
2) It helps me with absolutely nothing in my life
My iPhone right now does the following…
a) Point and Shoot camera
b) Video Recorder / Live Streaming Recorder
c) Sync’s my email for both work and home
d) Address / Phone book
e) Games for off time
f) Organizes my calendar (in the offshoot that I actually have something to keep track of).
g) Alarm Clock
The list, as you can see, just goes on and on. the iPad replaces NOTHING. It’s actually a step backward if you think about it. With all the innovation Apple has demonstrated, this device brings nothing new. My iPhone does all (and MORE) than the iPad can do.
This is a simple list of reasons I will not be purchasing an iPad. It still baffles me why people are rushing out to pre-order this device that doesn’t bring anything new to the table and is just as capable of doing what the iPhone does. Until a new device comes around (or the Windows 7 Mobile gets into my hot little hands), I will stick to my iPad Nano.
Originally posted on Fireberry.org
Macbook Air
I went to MacWorld 2008 yesterday (Wednesday). This was my first time at any Mac event so it was an interesting experience.
First off, I did get the chance to handle the MacBook Air and I am not too impressed with it, and here are my thoughts.
1) There are no firewire ports.
2) There is no Network Plug.
3) The battery is built in.
4) The missing optical drive is just not cool.
I think it’s important to have some firewire ports for certain reasons. First, since the hard drive is obviously built in with no easy access to it, having the MacBook Air will make data recovery situations virtually impossible. I have worked in the data recovery business and I think not having any easy / exclusive access to the hard drive is a bad idea. Also, it eliminates remote reinstallation of the OS through firewire which again I think is a bad idea. I think that having a firewire port for failsafe type operations is extremely important in case things go south with the Notebook.
Not having a network plus I think is something bad waiting to happen. For example, software installation relies on the Wireless card. What if the wireless card goes sour? You would not only be looking at a notebook that would be internet-less but also a laptop that can not have software installed on it. That would suck if the laptop is out of warranty, you just purchased your new Adobe Suite and the card burns out. Bad combo. With laptop network connectivity, you should always have 2 ways of getting into the laptop.
The battery being built in is just bad. There have been many people who have experienced the issue where the laptop freezes and the power button does not work. Detaching the laptop battery and reattaching it gives the laptop a good cold reboot to resolve the issue. Since the battery is built in, how are you gonna do a hardware reset if the laptop has a little glitch. Not good.
The missing optical drive is just a way of apple saying, “Our product is cool, especially without an optical drive”. Sure they have the remote installation of software using a different computer, but that’s just a jenky way of getting around it. Apple tries to make having a missing optical drive look cool but fail miserably. What if you want to burn a CD? What if a client has all their reports on a CD? Especially with the price tag attached to this laptop.
I wish I had more than a few hours to explore all the booths in great detail, but we did have to skim through both the South Hall and the West Hall. Either way, I look forward to next year and dedicating more time into the Expo.
MySQL Learning Experience
I never considered myself to be a MySQL buff. In fact I don’t think I really am a SQL buff of any sort. when trying to first learn SQL about 4 years ago, I don’t think I lasted a week before I gave up considering MySQL to be extremely boring. Trust me … it is. However the power behind it is amazing. It’s like this…
Drinking water is boring. Water tastes boring. Water is boring. But when you get a lot of it, it’s really powerful and can’t be ignored. SQL is like that. It’s rather boring on the surface, but if you can harness the power of it and use it, then it can be an amazing tool, useful and something that can just be the best thing since sliced bread.
A coworker and I were working on a SQL project we started a couple weeks ago. It was amazing the progress a co-worker and I completed with some SQL queries that he came up with that resulted from a ‘how do you do this’ question. He was working on importing data into SQL from a text file. During that process, we learned what and what not to do for an import of data.
For Example, Did you know that if you perform a ‘Load Data’ query, SQL will import data. No matter what it is. As a dummy subject, I imported ‘notepad.exe’ into my SQL database. Yes, it does import, and no it’s not pretty. All this gook went into the database and god knows why SQL doesn’t check to see if it’s correct. I’m under the assumption that it just assumes you know what you are doing. Well apparently it assumes I like importing ‘.exe’ files into databases randomly.
The support file for data imports on the MySQL page is really not too helpful. It mentions seperating data by ‘tabs’ which in turn doesn’t work. We of course put tabs between the data sets. However, Instead of seperating the data into their appropriate fields, MySQL put all the imported data into one field set. I can’t tell whether the documentation people are not keeping up with the programmers or the programms just can’t tell which ass their heads are in, but I don’t think the instructions they gave us worked.
Through bad imported data and learning processes, my time working on MySQL at the hospital has been very educational. I have a good grasp on how MySQL works and how data flows through databases on it. I may not remember the queries by heart offhand, but working on this project definately gave me a good foothold on it. If it hadn’t been for me trying to relearn it at the hospital, I don’t think I would fully acknowledge it’s capabilities.
Wikidoityourself
Here’s what I am trying to do…
I am trying to find the resources necessary to start a Wiki and do this through an MS Windows platform. the problem is, that information on setting up a Wiki through a Windows platform isn’t readily available, let alone helpful in any direction. The resources to start a Wiki appear to be diluted. There are many projects and different types of wiki software out there, but there really isn’t a guide to help you get started on a Wiki project. the information just isn’t available. Especially if you want to learn more about it at home.
I think the main difficulties are finding the resources to make it easy in a Windows platform to any end type user. I’ve learned of many websites that offer wiki hosting. Obviously they are paid services, however I don’t think this route is the most effective. Sure it can solve any situation given that you can throw money at it, however what if you want to try this at home? I, myself am a do-it-yourself type of guy and a guide really isn’t available. However the direction I am approaching this isn’t the standard norm, but very overlooked either way. Who wants to host a Wiki from Windows? Well, I do. The resources I have seen are very Linux based resources and quite frankly, I am not going to setup another Linux box just to test out a Wiki.
I have 2 computers that are readily used at home. My main computer has Windows Vista, and my laptop has Ubuntu Linux 6.10. On the Ubuntu, i’ve already dedicated the box to learning more about Linux and Ruby on Rails programming. I even installed MythTV on it (which I shouldn’t have). I want my Linux box to be a learning experience for programming and Linux. Not for Hosting Wikis. Hence, there is my Windows box which I do a blunt majority of the work needed for anything outside of playing. It hosted a BBS, it downloads all my big Linux distros, it’s a media center for recording TV shows, it’s a server for Music and Movies. It’s the everything box. I want to host a Wiki from it for testing since it has more firepower for this sort of job.
The more recent resources (and most promising lead so far) in starting a Wiki is at this site…
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wiki_Science:How_to_start_a_Wiki
I will have to research it further, but the first hours of searching on information have been crap so far. As soon as more information is readily availabe, I will post it and hopefully my stumbling blocks so far can be made into building blocks to help others along…
Cable vs iTunes & Netflix
Trade your cable for Tunes & Netflix
I just recently read an article (link above) where a blogger traded his cable (being Comcast) in for iTunes and Netflix. The effect saving him $300 a year. The reason was, the shows he actually watches was on iTunes that being only a couple of shows – available for $2 each and whatever movies he wishes (Netflix subscription). I think this is a great idea for those who are really picky in what they watch and granted it’s on the iTunes store available for download. However, I think this only works for certain people, not everyone is apt to this general practice. One reason being is there are many shows that are NOT available on iTunes. Another reason is, that services (like Comcast) have on-demand capabilities that allow certain programming to become available.
Services like iTunes is great because they offer shows may have been the shows your missed the night before. There are even shows that have full downloads available free on their website, ie: ABC.com. There are many shows that are not available on iTunes (example, Mythbusters shown in Discovery) that you would have to download via bittorrent or any other illegal means. The legitamite reason for going to iTunes in the first place to to become legitimate, and second to have availability. However, if there are shows that are not available, you may be tempted to go the illegal route and find the bittorrents of the programming you missed and by-pass the buying all together. Esentially, you end up going free anyway, cancelling out the iTunes / purchasing all together. Bummer for the industry.
Secondly, you have services like Comcast that offer on-demand services. Programming that is free (including movies) that are avaialable. All you need is one of their digital boxes. Myself (for example), I have Comcast with basic cable. I also have their digital box (I believe it’s $5/month extra) with basic cable (that being $14 a month). If I am paying $20 a month (rounded up) x 12 = $240 a year. This also gives me the capability of using that for movies that I want to see and especially gives me the children’s programming that my 2 kids watch. They love the PBSKids stuff and anything else they can watch. The on-demand programming effectly gives me this type of programming available with their basic service. I also do not have a Netflix account either so I don’t even have that bill. I may not know what the Netflix monthly service usually costs, but I know it doesn’t match my $240 a year service.
All together, I think the model described in the link only applys to certain people. People with kids like myself don’t apply because they tune into different types of programming and in effect negates the need for movies and other downloadable iTunes programming.
Would I switch to a Mac after Vista is released?
My friend Ben and I got into this conversation. We were talking about the new Mac announcement set for Feb. 20th. I told him about the possible rumors set abound with Leopard, iLife ’07, the 8-core Mac’s and such.
Then he mentioned the oddest thing which I dared not ask in detail because that would be a conversation and a half. He then told me that if I could piece together a laptop from scratch, then he would give Windows (Vista) a positive thought. It really baffled me as to why I would piece together a laptop from scratch. Even Mac computers aren’t pieced together from scratch. They’re all manufactured (OEM) from Apple, not companies like Dell, HP, etc. I will ask him about the details about it later. Either way, I told him that my next laptop would not be a PC but instead a Mac.
My reasoning behind it is because I can not only have the Mac OS on it, but I can load Linux and Windows (respectably). A little hard core to have 3 OS’ on a laptop, but it’s something i’m interested in doing. Having an 8-core Mac to play on.. is well.. like having an ant killed with a sledgehammer. Who wouldn’t want that sort of power available. It definately would not become obsolete in the new few years, but it seems that hardware is caught up to their software predicessors.
Ben may be an Apple buff, but Apple does know where to put their money where their mouth is. I don’t know, I guess I need to be diversed. I haven’t really played with a Mac, just Windows and Linux. Don’t get me wrong, I can get around in a Mac, but it’s something that I definately need to get my feet wet in.
Would I use Vista when it’s released. Well, you won’t catch me in the Vista line. I’m already using Vista Ultimate (RC2–maybe..) but i’m not eager to rush out to get an OS that is a few hundred bucks. Yes, you can get OEM version on ebay but i’m not too excited to get out there yet. I’ll wait, my Vista is just fine the way it is. Same goes with Linux on my laptop (although the flash doesn’t work too well on Linux, but that’s a known issue in the Linux community).
Twitter
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Defective Kit 