 |
|
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon With its colorful cache of purples and oranges and reds, COLLARD GREEN SLAW is a marvelous mood booster --- not to mention just downright delish
April 18, 2014
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Clarifying one of the greatest philosophical conundrums in theology
John Ericson: Trying hard to be 'positive' but never succeeding? Blame Your Brain
The Kosher Gourmet by Julie Rothman Almondy, flourless torta del re (Italian king's cake), has royal roots, is simple to make, . . . but devour it because it's simply delicious
April 14, 2014
Rabbi Dr Naftali Brawer: Passover frees us from the tyranny of time
Eric Schulzke: First degree: How America really recovered from a murder epidemic
Georgia Lee: When love is not enough: Teaching your kids about the realities of adult relationships
Gordon Pape: How you can tell if your financial adviser is setting you up for potential ruin
Dana Dovey: Up to 500,000 people die each year from hepatitis C-related liver disease. New Treatment Has Over 90% Success Rate
Justin Caba: Eating Watermelon Can Help Control High Blood Pressure
April 11, 2014
Rabbi Hillel Goldberg: Silence is much more than golden
Susan Swann: How to value a child for who he is, not just what he does
Susan Scutti: A Simple Blood Test Might Soon Diagnose Cancer
Chris Weller: Have A Slow Metabolism? Let Science Speed It Up For You
April 9, 2014
Jonathan Tobin: Why Did Kerry Lie About Israeli Blame?
Samuel G. Freedman: A resolution 70 years later for a father's unsettling legacy of ashes from Dachau
Jessica Ivins: A resolution 70 years later for a father's unsettling legacy of ashes from Dachau
Matthew Mientka: How Beans, Peas, And Chickpeas Cleanse Bad Cholesterol and Lowers Risk of Heart Disease
April 8, 2014
Dana Dovey: Coffee Drinkers Rejoice! Your Cup Of Joe Can Prevent Death From Liver Disease
Chris Weller: Electric 'Thinking Cap' Puts Your Brain Power Into High Gear
April 4, 2014
Amy Peterson: A life of love: How to build lasting relationships with your children
John Ericson: Older Women: Save Your Heart, Prevent Stroke Don't Drink Diet
John Ericson: Why 50 million Americans will still have spring allergies after taking meds
Sarah Boesveld: Teacher keeps promise to mail thousands of former students letters written by their past selves
April 2, 2014
Dan Barry: Should South Carolina Jews be forced to maintain this chimney built by Germans serving the Nazis?
Frank Clayton: Get happy: 20 scientifically proven happiness activities
Susan Scutti: It's Genetic! Obesity and the 'Carb Breakdown' Gene
|
| |
Jewish World Review
April 2, 2010
/ 19 Nissan, 5770
iPad's Big Question: How Would You Like Your Content?
By
Mark Kellner
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
The anticipated April 3 launch of Apple Inc.'s iPad will bring throngs to many Apple retail stores and BestBuy outlets (even if the latter are rumored to only get 15 iPads per store), while others will await the arrival of the FedEx driver as if they were kids on the lookout for another "Harry Potter" novel.
If it's the iPad's new world, we'll just get to inhabit it.
But I believe the key to the iPad's success - and I say this without having one yet, though mine is on order - will be the content and the way that content is provided. If, as I fervently hope, the eBook reading experience is better on the iPad than on, say the Sony Reader or Amazon Kindle, that'll be a huge plus. And, since there are easily a half-dozen iPhone/iPad applications where readers of the Bible can easily navigate by chapter and verse - something all-but-impossible on the Kindle - that addresses one of the huge shortcoming of other eReaders so far.
In fact, let me go so far as to suggest the Bible example as a potential metaphor for the iPad: here, I hope, is a device that gives users the content they want, in the manner they want. Whether or not any of the senior managers at Apple are big-time students of Scripture, the iPhone platform - whose applications are expected to migrate to the iPad with relative ease - allows other programmers to come up with a Bible app, because those developers know there's a market for it. Ditto for the Qu'ran or the Bhagvad Gita - you can find the respective Islamic and Hindu scriptures in iPhone versions.
By contrast, the Kindle platform has been a tad more difficult to crack. That means consumers must adapt themselves to the device, content-wise, instead of the other way around. Of course, the iPad will have Internet Web browsing access, either via Wi-Fi or a Wi-Fi/3G data combination, making a literal world of information accessible. Internet access on the Kindle has been cumbersome at best.
And if all that wasn't enough, the iPad will add both eBook and PDF document formats to its reading arsenal, along with a word processor that'll handle Microsoft Word files along with plain text ones. Altogether, just about every electronic reading format of consequence is expected to be available on the iPad, and that means more variety for more people.
The same may not hold true for video, where Adobe's Flash animation software holds great sway in the market. There's no iPad version of Flash just yet. But there is a YouTube player on the iPhone, and there's one promised for the iPhone, so that's another plus.
What I particularly like about the iPad grows out of something we've seen on the iPhone: more and more innovative ways of delivering content. A few weeks back, your columnist noted the good points of PressReader, an iPhone program from NewspapersDirect. Since then, I've come across Pixel-Mags eponymous software, which lets publishers such as Britain's iCreate magazine, a Mac journal from across the pond, deliver a rather polished reading experience quickly and inexpensively.
America's MacLife magazine does the same thing using a firm called Texterity, which has made a raft of magazines, including the redoubtable Powder Bulk Solids, work on a handheld device. Publisher Conde Nast has come out with some of its titles in iPhone editions, and both The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times are reported to be readying iPad versions.
With analysts estimating that as many as 6 million to 10 million iPad units could be sold this year, and another estimated 78 million iPhone/iPod Touch devices out there capable of receiving electronic content, the future of words and information may be a tad brighter than has previously been feared. We'll know soon enough. And if you haven't pre-ordered, be sure to get in line early.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Mark Kellner has reported on technology for industry newspapers and magazines since 1983, and has been the computer columnist for The Washington Times since 1991.Comment by clicking here.
Archives
© 2009, News World Communications, Inc. Reprinted with permission of The Washington Times. Visit the paper at http://www.washingtontimes.com
|
|
Columnists
Toons
Lifestyles
|
