Doonesbury Say What?

[thewayne]

"I think this is the end of the laptop...It's portable."
— Rupert Murdoch on the iPad

Funny, and here I thought the laptop that I've been lugging around for over a decade was portable.

Thanks for setting me straight, Rupy!

Comments

[neefsck.livejournal.com]

In order to make mine truly portable (the ipad that is) I'm trying to find a decent Solar Charger for it.
It's an interesting project.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

You can't just run a panel through a regulator to the appropriate USB power pins?

[neefsck.livejournal.com]

I have no idea about what sort of panel to use, or regulator etc.
I am not exactly electrically inclined in this way. :)

Currently Im looking at stuff built specifically for the ipad / idevice - which will probably cost me more, just because its a 'product' as opposed to constructed.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

I never know who is or is not electronically-inclined. ;-)

Gee, if only you could look up something like this in Google or something. I couldn't recommend any, just a quickie search.

I'm not electronically-inclined, I have a very rudimentary knowledge of the subject that I've gleaned from having my amateur radio license and some self-study. I just bought a book on the Arduino and am going to be ordering an experimental kit for it Monday to learn more.

If you really wanted to be wacky, get a Prius with the solar panel roof and intercept the feed!

[neefsck.livejournal.com]

I wanted a Prius when we were looking for a new car, but we eventually decided against it.

We just couldn't look at the shape of the new models without shuddering. :)
Its an awesome idea though!

I have been looking on google though. :)

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

We considered the Prius, but it's not all-wheel drive and doesn't have much ground clearance, so it's questionable how well it would do up here in the winter. And forget about taking it off-road, so if the highway is blocked from an accident, you're stuck on the side opposite where you want to be. If we ever get to Hawaii, then it might be more practical, but not up here at 9000'.

[silveradept]

Ah, Rupe - if it gets as good of Internet signal and you can multitask on it like you would a laptop...maybe. But a lot of us are still enamored of our keyboards.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

As an information appliance, the iPad is a wonderfully useful tool. But it is not a general purpose computer.

[silveradept]

Definitely not. Far too many restrictions on customization, software choice, and the rest for it to be general-purpose.