City
Morning Brew: iPad Pricing Plans for Canada, TTC is Apologetic and Seeks Improvement, Gardiner Expressway Lights On All Day, New Rules for Dog Parks, Sensitive Data Stolen
Photo: "recycle it" by Rondel Jackson, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.
What's happening in the GTA (and sometimes beyond):
Apple unveiled the iPad - the latest must-have tech toy in the casual mobile computing world. Pricing, design, and functionality look impressive (although it is not much more than a giant iPod Touch). A few misses though: no camera (the thing seems perfectly fit for video chat), no multi-tasking (it can't be taken too seriously without it), and still no support for flash in the mobile Safari browser. What is yet to be determined and will be interesting to see is what kind of pricing plans Canadian mobile data carriers will choose to offer when the iPad eventually makes it here in a few months time (the telecoms are, no doubt, thinking "ka-ching!"). And with a massive glass surface, I foresee a lot of uninsured, non-refundable breakage in the future.
Sometimes all it takes is a phone call from a newspaper to fix a problem. But what if The Star hadn't been informed by a reader that the overhead traffic lights along the Gardiner Expressway were on all day? Would anyone have noticed? How often does this happen? Hopefully it was a rare glitch and not a regular occurrence.
The TTC is taking the opportunity to make vast improvements in customer service after a "perfect storm" of wrongs including a fare hike, major outage on the Yonge line back in November, and the recent PR nightmare that was the "TTC sleeper" incident. I must say, I really do like the idea of a Passenger "Bill of Rights" and hope that one becomes reality in the future.
Three laptops that were stolen eights weeks ago in Waterloo contained personal information about more than 8000 elementary school teachers in Ontario, most from the Toronto board. Sensitive data like names, addresses, birth dates and social insurance numbers should be encrypted for this very reason, no? What's also worthy of concern is that it took so long after the theft to inform the vulnerable, affected people. Hopefully none of them will be met with surprises like new maxed out credit cards or refinanced mortgages in their names.
City Council has approved five new off-leash parks for dogs in Toronto and has changed the rules for existing dog-friendly parks. Among the new, more relaxed rules: non-neutered males can now... join the fray. On the flip side, powers have also been given to the city's general manager of parks to revoke status off-leash parks at their discretion.
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http://www.untoldentertainment.com/blog/2010/01/27/you-wiid-on-my-ipad-or-why-youre-not-funny/
http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/01/27/apple-has-a-solution-for-the-ipads-missing-sd-card-slot-and-usb-port-adapters
Overall, typically Apple.
Much like netbooks, it's an awkward half-this/half-that device looking for a market
I don't expect the device to be as mainstream as ipod/iphone, or even macbook/macbook pro.. probably a little more ubiquitous than appleTV/macbook air, but nothing earth shattering.
how do they expect to you type on this thing? the only physical use cases I can think of:
* awkwardly hunched up with your legs at a 45 degree angle and the iPad on your lap so you can use 2 hands to type
* iPad sitting flat on a table so you have to crane your neck to look down as you type
* iPad sitting in some dock at a 45 or 90 degree angle and you have to elevate your hands/arms to type on the screen (that won't get annoying or tiring...)
* holding onto your big-ass clownphone with one hand while you single finger type on the screen
it's dumb as shit
Version 2.0 will drop next year, with a web-cam, with all the other fixes and go for the same as early adopters will be paying in 2 months, just so they can buy it again.
Steve Jobs is the modern day PT Barnum.
looks like a small typo, get some coffee in ya gang :)
I've spoken to some people regarding the RT system being built over in Isreal.
Try imagining building an RT system where construction is stopped sometimes for every 10 meters of progress, due to some new archaeological find, which needs to be documented and removed before construction can continue.
Torontonians whine too much about the street car construction. It's embarrassing how well just about every other country developing a transit system takes it in stride in comparison.
Plus, I agree with meh, there clearly are no women working on that team. I haven't spoken to a single one who didn't cringe at the name.
Does the TTC even know what those expectations are? Does it care?
The sleeping TTC guy has shown that there are problems with the system at multiple levels:
1. the cash/ticket/token fare system, which should be automated, electronic and reloadable instead of requiring people to fiddle with bits of paper and metal (less time wasted on fare payment = better passenger flow, possibly higher ridership)
2. people who are unfit to work performing duties that are not enough to occupy anyone (there shouldn't have to be someone in a booth at a low-traffic situation like McCowan, least of all at 9:30 pm on a Sunday)
3. the fact that the guy chose to conk out in public view says 'I'm on the job but I'm not helping YOU'.
Equally infuriating was reading this little gem in the metro this morning: http://bit.ly/9iMjcI
The last two paragraphs of the story paint a picture of the complete incompetence of this organization. To summarize: the TTC is spending almost $6 million on anti-fraud technologies which will be outdated in 3 years (won't be able to be used with new card technologies that won't be available until at least 2013) to save $1 million each year in fraud.
I'd be more than happy with the occassional nap from every employee at the TTC as long as one decision-maker possessed the ability to comprehend basic math.
its also priced very well for the technology and content offered. Of course, we'll never get the same prices as the US - we have a completely different business, industrial, and corporate culture up here, think hawaii or alaska or eastern europe. I hope it stays under $50/month unlimited data and 3G.
Disappointed that so many people hate-on Apple. If it wasn't for apple, we would be using crappy windows towers with DOS ver.2010, cheap and ugly laptops, and likely very limiting business-like smartphones with expensive music and video. High Design and awesome-technology cost money and it is our job to keep the wheels of innovation turning by paying fair and reasonable upfront prices for it - don't like it - go back to Russia and tell me how the 3G is over there. - bunch of whiny, spoiled children.
But I'm sure all the Mac fanboys who always dreamed of having one of those handheld touchpad thingys from "Star Trek: Next Generation" will declare it the greatest thing since sliced bread.
This is going to be another one of those cases where Apple removes functionality (or fails to add additional functionality if you're comparing to the itouch/iphone) in favour of aesthetics while Apple users convince themselves they didn't need those features anyway.
If you aren't, then you don't see that the portability, the price, the new applications they have (such as iWork for around $30) and the sheer innovations behind the glass answers all of my needs as a student.
Netbooks are much less powerful than the iPad. I mean, really? You're going to compare the netbook to any piece of modern technology? Netbooks are just totally outdated cheap computers that are meant for word processing on the go. Sure, you can get one for $200 but if you're going to pay $200 JUST to word process...you might as well get out some paper and a pen to write it out yourself. With all of the things that computers can do these days, netbooks just aren't going to cut it.
iPad may not be perfect but it lays the groundwork for a totally new generation of mobile computers and the way the user interacts with it. I think the second generation would probably hit the nail right on the head.
As for all of you people who complain about typing and breakage, Apple did think of that. If you took 5 minutes to watch their video about the product BEFORE you took 2 minutes to type out uneducated comments, you would know that they have one solution for protection and typing; which is the case.
Honestly. Without Apple, we would be so behind in technology. Who else would innovate like this brilliant company? Microsoft? Damn, they play catch up at the best of times when it comes to their "innovations"
I agree that there are some real apple fads out there- and yes, people look dumb lining up for them outside apple stores. I personally only have the first generation ipod nano, from 10th grade! But hell, that thing has lasted me 5 years. Not many pieces of technology can do that with regular use.
Just a thought. Don't bash when you haven't even used it yourself and you know next to nothing about the product.
I'd also like to point out when I watch videos on my netbook I can watch then in whatever format I like - no need to convert anything as I do when I load video to my Nano.
I'm not an Apple basher. I started with a Shuffle, moved on to a 3rd gen Nano and am planning on getting a Touch. While the iPad may be good for certain needs, it doesn't compare to the functionality of a computer. It's an oversized iTouch, which is fine if that's what you need.
Mad TV got the iPad 4 years ago.
Yes it's a horrible name. The jokes may be dumb, but who ever came up with the name is a bit dumber than the jokesters.
Seriously, are you for real? Even the cheapest netbooks still have a 1.6GHz processors (the same as most full-sized laptops), and 160GB harddrives (10 times that of the cheapest iPad). The only real difference between a netbook and a laptop is the size and the lack of a disk drive. Are you really claiming you can't do email, internet, music, watch movies, etc, on a netbook? Get the F outta here. You Mac zealots are hilarious.
Its obvious that Giambrone looks to the TTC as a way to harvest votes and support from contractors. So naturally he wants to grow it into a huge bureaucracy that he controls. If you compare the growth rate of the TTC vs the private economy you would think there is a bubble in TTC spending.
Name one department where iPad has an upper hand. Sometimes you just gotta take your head out of your ass before you get an orgasm from Apple.
They kept their product under wraps. It was the MEDIA and nerds who made a big deal of things, 'before they even saw the product' themselves.