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Muses and Newses (and iPads)
16 years ago
It's been a while since I've had a news update. There's nothing earth-shattering to really talk about, other than some speculation about future projects. My schedule is pretty clear for this year, and I can say that I'm going to be doing a quick project next, and it's going to involve Lucy and Tommy. I'm going to rely heavily on a POV theme, possibly trying to show most things as occurring from the point of view of Tommy. I know people have done those kinds of portfolios before, but I haven't seen any comics with sequential beginning-to-end sex depicted this way. It'll be an adventure and a challenge, and it'll involve drawing at some odd angles. I hope it'll be good practice. After that, I should be over this big early-year convention hump and have some more free time to plunge into the third and final installment of the Red Riding Hood story, which everyone seems to love. Red Riding Hood 2 was the highest performing release on the catalog and gave me my best month. And then, I still want to go back to the Haukaiu series after fixing up the way I present the stories. I just hope it isn't too far removed from the way I used to draw.
There's all the buzz hitting the street about the new iPad. There's a mixture of reactions. I think a lot of people in the artistic community were hoping for a touchscreen computer with OSX (this was the rumor I first heard as far back as a year ago). I try never to get worked up over rumors and speculation about "what would be cool", to avoid just this kind of disappointment. It skews our perspectives and doesn't allow us to look at a release objectively for what they are. We end up comparing it to what we thought they would be, or what we wanted. People criticizing the iPad because it isn't an OSX computer, aren't being fair, in my opinion. Although, I think an OSX touchscreen would be lovely. As far as I understand, touchscreen tablet-style computers are sought mainly by the artistic community, and not a wider consumer base, so Apple may have decided to just focus on something slated for mass appeal. With things like inexpensive tablets, and expensive plug-in touch monitors from companies like Cintiq, Apple may just have figured not enough people would want an "artist's computer". I'm not sure how well tablet/touchscreen PCs sell as an overall part of a computer company's line up. But then again, I've never seen anyone handling a MacBook Air outside of an Apple store, but they still have them for sale.
To really assess the iPad, you have to take it for what it is, and compare it to it's competition. I remember when I first got my PSP and found how nice it was to buy the biggest memory card I could and load movie files onto it for travel. It was a portable media device, as well as a portable video game system. There are also portable multimedia internet devices that aren't video game systems, like the Archos handheld machines. The point of them is to have all your digital media (music, movies, whatever) on a single portable electronic device, smaller than a laptop, and bigger than a phone. There are also people who are heavily into reading; so much so, that they purchase expensive electronics that do only one thing... store and display books for reading. As neat as this might be, I've never wanted to spend a lot of money on an electronic device that serves only one function. But I suppose if you read that much, it could be your version of a portable video game system. Anyway, the iPad is wading directly into these waters, not the tablet-PC waters or even netbook waters, and we have to compare it to existing ebook readers and portable multimedia devices, in order to treat it fairly.
I will have to be honest. At first it was fairly exciting, and then I analyzed my day-to-day and saw the "gap" the represents the "need" between my iPhone and my MacBook Pro. That gap is a very small one, and I don't think it'll justify my purchasing an iPad. It will be interesting to see it evolve in the next few years, though.
There's all the buzz hitting the street about the new iPad. There's a mixture of reactions. I think a lot of people in the artistic community were hoping for a touchscreen computer with OSX (this was the rumor I first heard as far back as a year ago). I try never to get worked up over rumors and speculation about "what would be cool", to avoid just this kind of disappointment. It skews our perspectives and doesn't allow us to look at a release objectively for what they are. We end up comparing it to what we thought they would be, or what we wanted. People criticizing the iPad because it isn't an OSX computer, aren't being fair, in my opinion. Although, I think an OSX touchscreen would be lovely. As far as I understand, touchscreen tablet-style computers are sought mainly by the artistic community, and not a wider consumer base, so Apple may have decided to just focus on something slated for mass appeal. With things like inexpensive tablets, and expensive plug-in touch monitors from companies like Cintiq, Apple may just have figured not enough people would want an "artist's computer". I'm not sure how well tablet/touchscreen PCs sell as an overall part of a computer company's line up. But then again, I've never seen anyone handling a MacBook Air outside of an Apple store, but they still have them for sale.
To really assess the iPad, you have to take it for what it is, and compare it to it's competition. I remember when I first got my PSP and found how nice it was to buy the biggest memory card I could and load movie files onto it for travel. It was a portable media device, as well as a portable video game system. There are also portable multimedia internet devices that aren't video game systems, like the Archos handheld machines. The point of them is to have all your digital media (music, movies, whatever) on a single portable electronic device, smaller than a laptop, and bigger than a phone. There are also people who are heavily into reading; so much so, that they purchase expensive electronics that do only one thing... store and display books for reading. As neat as this might be, I've never wanted to spend a lot of money on an electronic device that serves only one function. But I suppose if you read that much, it could be your version of a portable video game system. Anyway, the iPad is wading directly into these waters, not the tablet-PC waters or even netbook waters, and we have to compare it to existing ebook readers and portable multimedia devices, in order to treat it fairly.
I will have to be honest. At first it was fairly exciting, and then I analyzed my day-to-day and saw the "gap" the represents the "need" between my iPhone and my MacBook Pro. That gap is a very small one, and I don't think it'll justify my purchasing an iPad. It will be interesting to see it evolve in the next few years, though.
Also the ipad has the same type of screen as the iphone(As in, a color/bright screen. its not the same type, but looks the same) and is very hard on the eyes. I cant read for more then 1 hour at a time tops on my iphone. its simply to bright/harsh on the eyes. But if you have ever used a kindle its pretty much like reading off paper.
As an ebook reader, you're right it won't be worth it, and it will never beat out a tablet PC due to its lower memory and lack of a pen to write with (at least I haven't seen any pen for it). As a college student who will need a tablet PC for class, I don't think the Ipad will hold up. Of course as a pure media player, it does look fun. And my natural trekkie instincts makes me want to turn it into an Enterprise comp interface :D
I'd thought it would be a nice purchase but there wasn't any way I could justify the cost. Until I noticed that there's a small accessory that allows me to connect a camera to it to transfer photographs from the camera to the iPad. This it now changes from being something nice looking to something nice looking with a role which would be nice to be filled whenever I go on photo shoots or on holiday :)
Even before hearing this I didnt care for the iPad and now I really dont when you could buy a eBook reader + a portable media player for far less then the iPad. And as far as the operating system goes, the people that are complaining about it probably still use an Apple IIe
If it has the ability to be drawn on via a stylus or digital pen (much like a wacom tablet) then yea i'd see a need for something like that, But of course till I can get a steady flow of income then I could indeed afford to buy something as nice as that.
But considering I'm making plans to move to Georgia in June I really can't afford to buy something like that, cause as it stands I'm in need of finding a temp location to stay while I find a job to enable me to move out into my own apartment.
If you think about it, it could be used as a Cintiq-esque tablet due to the many drawing apps already released in the app store (i.e. Sketchbook Pro).
Though the price for the one I want is a little too high. Looks like I might have to wait a while before I get my hands on one.
Still, it's a reasonable price compared to what I've come to expect from Apple products, and since other companies are working on their own slates to compete with it, I suspect that it will be more useful than we realize... just not in the way people expected.
Give me a good old fashioned book of paper and leather any day.
And they'll call it the MaxIpad.