a hopeful use for the apple tablet

[taylordeupree]

ok... i've been following these tablet rumors for a long time now... disapointed we likely wont' be seeing an OSX device that will allow us to run kyma or live or max. but rather an oversized iPod touch to watch movies, read magazines, play games, and run iphone apps.

all minorly cool, and i'm sure apple will make us all want one.

but.. i just thought of a potentially cool use of the tablet for art. what if PDFs become as standard to content delivery as MP3s are to music. i mean, they are already, but if apple succeeds in making the tablet to visual content what the iPod is to music... a very user friendly, ubiquitous device.... then i can see artists delivering cool PDF-formated art to the iPad content store.

using me for example... what if you, say, buy my "northern" album, but also get a PDF full of photographs and content to view on your tablet. yes, of course, you can do that today and view the PDF on your PC... *but* the tablet will make the viewing experience much much better. the menu bars will disappear, you wont' have a clock or a launch bar "uglying" up the screen...  it will be fluid, touch-friendly, super slick, and totally seamless and much more immersive.

delivering art this way is NOT new.. but, Apple has the ability to make it a totally different and actual worthwhile experience. there is the potential to have the experience be a lot different than simply opening up a PDF on your computer.... the way you will physically hold the tablet, closer to your face, viewing it more like a book than having it sit on your desk a couple feet away. the ful-screen experience, without desktop clutter, etc.

it could also make that failed attempt at PDF liner notes for the iTunes Music store become a much more usable and actually worthwhile experience.

of course, for this to happen, the tablet will need to become as ubiquitous as the iPod.. which it likely won't in the near future due to the price being 3X as much and the device being larger..

but, the apple tablet as a delivery of visual art, to me, holds some promise and inspiration.


(of course, this is all based on assuming the general rumors of this device are true...)

[mfischer]

brilliant.


it could be even more interesting if it could run Flash (cough, cough) so that you could make some kind of interactive content notes with photos, sound + video. 




(note: i'm sure that it could be done w/o the use of Flash but because of my background that is where my mind went first)

[radere]

I think the envisioned use for the Apple tablet all along has been as a flashy media consumption vice. After all, there's just been so much talk about being a "Kindle-killer" and with regards to how a lot of the major news publishers are looking to it as a savior as they scramble to develop viable digital delivery methods. I know Apple even started introducing more involved digital liner notes for some major releases in their iTunes store last year...a possible harbinger of the possibilities of content development for the tablet? Bottom line, I'm expecting a fairly limited toy to emerge from the product's debut this afternoon...but I'd really like to see a touch screen tablet that could support some sort of DAW, complete with a USB port for that new Apogee One unit. Probably won't happen, but a dude can dream!

Worth noting: there are rumors that Apple is developing multi-touch enabled desktops for release later this year. Now there's a gush-worthy prospect!

[steinbruchel]

Worth noting: there are rumors that Apple is developing multi-touch enabled desktops for release later this year. Now there's a gush-worthy prospect!

...and i heard rumours about apple releasing a touch screen imac in a few hours.
just have to wait a little bit more toyboys 

[billygomberg]

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

speculation is awful fun but I'm not looking to buy into any of this new tech any time soon.

[steinbruchel]

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

speculation is awful fun but I'm not looking to buy into any of this new tech any time soon.

come on billy, it's new GGGEEEAAARRR!!!
maybe they'll make a special bundle with teenage engineering (for teenangers only...)

[billygomberg]

come on billy, it's new GGGEEEAAARRR!!!
maybe they'll make a special bundle with teenage engineering (for teenangers only...)

well, I'm disqualified from the teenager dealy

[taylordeupree]

touch screen desktop? who wants to keep leaning forward to access their computer.. sounds quite uncomfortable..

[taylordeupree]

i think they actually bombed the design a little bit. it's sort of goofy looking. the bevel around the screen's edge is a LOT thicker than i thought it would be... looks like a screen ripped off of my old powerbook G3. and a 1/2" thick is NOT very thin.

[radere]

No USB, no real processor heft and a stripped down OS without the ability to run full applications. I'm officially not interested. Deal blown.

[taylordeupree]

yeah.. sadly.. unless steve is holding out on something.. this is nothing more than a big ipod.. with a couple cool features like iWork and a better interface.

cool? yeah, probably.. "revolutionary"? i don't think so

[radere]

I'll watch the presentation later once they post it up on the site, but I just don't see a need to buy this to supplement my laptop and phone. It just comes off like a toy, even though I'm sure there will be some developers out there putting together some super awesome apps to run on this thing. I just wanted USB and the ability to run a DAW of some sort...maybe like a stripped down version of Audiomulch or something. I dunno. This could've been a great tool for gigging electronically-inclined musicians, but it just seems so vanilla.

[taylordeupree]

yup, me too. big disappointment...

it doesn't come close to replacing my laptop, and i don't want to have to bring this and a laptop and an iphone when i travel.

[sublamp]

I agree with Create Digital Music on this thing, a total shame it isn't open. The potential for something like this to enhance the way we interact with media is huge, but the fact that it all gets filtered through apple via the itunes store is just depressing. They aren't walmart, but the power they have over music and now print and film is kinda scary.

[moodchannel]

I am also disappointed in this thing... though I am happy with the low price point... I was expecting higher.  it seems that they are basically looking to expand the ipod touch concept.

I do notice that it has "multi-touch" technology.  I'm not sure how far that goes... but I do see potential in using this with a beefed up version of touchOSC in order to create lemuresque interfaces at a much lower price point.