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[Doug Winterburn]

[Lobby Dosser]

I have a tablet that runs the Android OS. Google makes Android. Google makes SketchUp.

Rassssberrry! :o)

[clare]

and android, for sure, possibly others)- and MANY smart phones can run "word lite" type applications like word mobile / office mobile - right onboard - not from the cloud.

[Bill]

It seems reasonable in 2-D. I think you'll have a long wait for

3-D--unless the processing occurs between keystrokes on a "cloud", or something...

Bill

[Lobby Dosser]

See Android OS. Google makes it. Google makes SketchUp, Picasa (Photoshop like), Google and others make word and excel equivalents for Android. A number of tablets run Android. I've got one I paid $100 for. It only has a

7" screen, but larger Android tablets are available.

[Lobby Dosser]

I wondered whose kid that was ...

[Swingman]

Bluetooth a keyboard to it and the iPad quite comfortably creates and edits most Office products - Word, Excel, Powerpoint.

Quicken, Photoshop, CAD ... the tablet OS is still a bit immature for fullblown apps of this type at this point, but, and it's a big BUT ....

John Gage of Sun was prescient when he uttered the phrase "... the network is the computer ..." With the advent of cloud computing, the "net" is indeed quickly "becoming the computer" and it won't be long before you won't need local copies of programs like Photoshop ... as above, you don't need most Office Suite software as we speak, which can be accessed on the cloud via any device that can run an http client.

Already, a desktop has basically become totally unnecessary for what I do, and a laptop appears not very far behind.

Then again, I've been around long enough to know that pendulums swing and things go in circles.

Reckon there could well be another resurgence of steam engines before long ... Steam Powered Aeroplane, anyone? :)

[Swingman]

My DroidX could almost be considered a tablet ... aspirin sized, but what the hell.

[Han]

Swingman wrote in news:dvWdnbPTUqhlaQHQnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

I guess I may have an iPad sooner than I thought I would ...

Thanks all.

[Lobby Dosser]

I suspect that very few people ever use the full potential of full blown apps.

As long as you are in range of a satellite, at the very least, and are willing to pay the connect charges.

[Lobby Dosser]

Nintendo has a 3D version of their DS game machine on the market right now.

Yes, I know you meant 3D as in computing power but it takes a fair amount for the games. MOF, PC power has been driven by the games market for the past few years. Intel is rightfully concerned about the Killer App that will need what they can build.

[Robatoy]

Not bloody likely. People on the flight-path would bitch and complain when those steam powered planes would blow their whistles on approach of the runway.

[Bill]

Well, I meant the computing power done by a graphics card, rather than that done by the CPU, per se. It's mostly a different animal.

but it takes a fair

[Steve]

Yes -- between ilife and iWork, those functions are pretty well covered. iWork contains Pages, which equates to Word (and will save files as Word .docs and open .docx), Numbers, which equates to Excel (and will save files as .xls and open .xlsx), and Keynote, which equates to Powerpoint (and etc. ...).

If full compatibility with the Microsoft apps files is necessary, then you'll find Apple's programs miss, but not by much... page geometry in layouts down with Word breaks (but Word ISN't, no matter how hard the world tries, a layout program!). Powerpoints with sound generally remain mute. Excel files are just gonna look different, but most of the world just uses Excel to build minimally functional databases, not spreadsheets, don't they?

In terms of a presentation program, Keynote beats the hell out of Powerpoint, if for nothing else that you can place an image on one page, change the size and position of the image on the following page, and marvel that the program animates the transformation on the page transition. You have to see this to believe it!

iLife contains iPhoto, photo database cum photo editor, iMovie, a fairly powerful video editor, and Garage Band, a music production tool that, apparently, really shines on the iPad.

There are 3rd party apps that come closer to Photoshop's capability than does iPhoto, though iPhoto does a respectable job of the common photo enhancements like fixing red eye, lightening an underexposed photo, or improving color in a photo.

Nope, I don't have an iPad. I have used the iWord products pretty frequently to open files sent by clients using more recent versions on MS Office apps than I have access to, but I only need the data from those files, not the client's (generally awful) formatting.

One final benefit of the iPad, regardless of program functionality: they seem to keep small children quiet and engaged for lengthy periods of time. Don't you have grandchildren, Han?

[Steve]

yeahbut. If you're on a data plan (this applies more to phones and tablets) that limits the amount of data before you start racking up surprise chages, well, SURPRISE!

Also worth considering: upload/download speeds. If you're on dial-up, you're gonna find anything other than text sux. If you're on cable and all your neighbors are streaming movies, you're also gonna find that anything other than text sux.

[Lobby Dosser]

Womder where the graphics on the DS 3D are processed ...

[Han]

Steve wrote in news:4d9d2ba0$0$4163 $ [e-mail]:

You make it sound more and more enticing, Steve!

4 Grandkids, between 15 years and 3 months ...

[Swingman]

Han, Check out my FaceBook profile to see my youngest grandson (3) in the UK pounding on the iPad I gave their mother for her B'day a few weeks back.

Kids love'em. The boys have an iPod touch they've been sharing with their Mom, so they have the technology down cold.

[Han]

Swingman wrote in news:odGdnQE_k7gMNgDQnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

I believe you, Karl!! Can't find the pictures, though ...

[Larry Jaques]

What are you guys paying for voice/data packages per month?

-- From the Book of Aussie Bush Etiquette:

Never tow another car using pantyhose and duct tape.