iPad: iBooks Software Will Have Dictionary Lookup?

That’s what I surmise from a list of iPhone OS 3.2 SDK features listed over at Engadget.

Included dictionaries: Apple Dictionary, New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus, Shogakukan Daijisen, Shogakukan Progressive English-Japanese Japanese-English Dictionary, and Shogakukan Ruigo Reikai Jiten (may also be used for a Dictionary app perhaps?)

I understand the need for a dictionary for Pages. That’s necessary for spellcheck.

But with a dictionary baked in the OS anyway, adding dictionary word lookup to iBooks wouldn’t be a difficult thing.

Models of the Sony Reader with dictionary word lookup use New Oxford American Dictionary and Oxford Dictionary of English.

The Kindle uses The New Oxford American Dictionary.

The Barnes & Noble Nook uses Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.

Also important:

Much richer text API including low-level access to font data and highlevel support for drawing formatted text

I don’t know if that will help eCrap ePub any. I suspect it’s more for a future use.

The iPad Perspective Everyone Is Missing

If you think that’s insignificant, here’s a flashback for you from when the iPhone came out:

After fiddling with it for an hour, I know how to work the iPhone better than the Nokia I had for the past 2 years, even though the Nokia has far less capabilities.

GarageBand for iPad?

I’m sure Apple has already thought of this. iLife — or at least bits of it — for iPad can’t be far behind.

Still, permit me my wee revelation for today:

No, Really, iPad Critics: Just STFU!

*whining keen* Oh it’s not open! Oh it has no webcam! Oh it lacks USB ports! Oh it can’t run Flash! *whine whine whine*

I was around when the Mac was released. Back in 1984.

All of the gripes today have an irritating similarity to back then.

*condescending sneer* A mouse? I can use a keyboard! Who need icons? I can type my commands! Who wants to paint on a computer? *sneer sneer sneer*

Really, just STFU. You were annoying back then and you’re triply so today, over twenty-five years later.

99% of those Mac haters are now sitting in front of a box using a mouse and icons and windows. The 1% are the hardcore wanking at the CLI of Linux.

You people don’t matter. You’re techies. You’re plumbers. Your notion of what constitutes useful tech is the same as that of a custom car tinkerer who sneers at a Prius.

I sit here using a graphical web page interface to the WordPress blogging system. You would have me using something like vi to compose the text and then have me dick around with FTP for upload.

You’re simply irrelevant to the real world of people who look to tech to accomplish things.

You want openness and USB and even Flash? Go buy the Notion Ink Adam. Have you heard of it? It runs that “open” Android OS.

All the billions of electrons wasted on cranking about the iPad — where were all of you to wank over the Notion Ink? None of you posted about it. Because if you had, you would have referenced it to contrast it to the iPad in your whiny posts.

So just STFU.

The rest of us want the iPad because we can get excited and do things.

We want to have fun too.

And we want to do those things without wasting time trying to contort our products as a cheap exercise in ego-gratification.

You’re dismissed. Go away.

It’s Time To Laugh At Microsoft Again

Now really, doesn’t this look like crap —

— compared to this —

Have a laugh at the video after the break.

Apple And eBooks: A Horror Story

This is the most difficult post I’ve ever had to write.

Steve Jobs hates ePub. He hates eBooks.

How can anyone with his refined sense of taste not hate them?

They’re an abomination. A tasteless — and incompetent — techie committee solution to electronic books.

Seriously, can any of you see Apple creating ePub? (If you can, leave now. You don’t know Jobs or Apple.)

And iBooks? iBooks?!!!?

From the company that gave us the delightful CoverFlow …

… we now get shelves?!

What tnkgrl Says!

My take on the iPad

First, let’s look at the hardware. As an engineer I don’t think anyone else could have pulled off a device like this – not for $500!

She has experienced plenty of gadgets. This is one of the best writeups I’ve read.

iPad: The Missing Heart Of It

Credit goes to Vincent Nguyen of SlashGear for asking a dangerous question during a demo of the new iWork Keynote app on the iPad.

It parted the mist in my mind and revealed the missing heart of the iPad.

It happens at near the 4:30 mark in his 15-minute video here.

iPad: The Portable Personal Social Computer

This is my reaction to seeing the Stevenote. I will save the bit about iPad and books til tomorrow.

This is the bit where some people got it:

Click = big

That’s Stephen Fry there. Entirely coincidental. I didn’t highlight the guy next to him even though he has the same expression of delight because I suspect that’s Jon Ive himself. Look at that woman. And the guy. They’re kvelling!

iPad: What Is Wrong With This Picture?

Updated! See after the break.

I’m finally able to watch the Stevenote video. Thanks to a kind soul who ignored Apple’s Copyright and posted it on YouTube, where I can rip it to an MP4 file that this crap PC can actually handle and let me watch. (Yes, Apple, I know I can get it from you for free via iTunes — but it’s 1.05GB and my PC can’t handle the strength of that gorgeous hi-res video!)

This is a slow process. I’ve been watching for over an hour and am less than halfway through. Because I’m analyzing as I watch.

The New York Times just came out and preened over its head-up-their-ass app. I noticed something that’s wrong throughout it. I can’t say yet if it’s only The New York Times app that’s wrong or if this is an issue at the heart of the iPad itself.

Anyway, look at this picture. See if you can see what’s very, very wrong here. Ignore the blur. It should still be evident. I saw it right off. Leave a Comment.