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I am become Middle Schooler, destroyer of Macs
I spent the morning dealing with the fact that my beloved daughter has killed yet another Hackintosh. It's not exactly her fault. For example, the drive outlived its years. The power connector on the device-side is broken, too. Neither one was worth fixing -- especially given the years of service we got out of the devices and our max investment of about US$300 (outside of OS and software purchases). So here she is, a middle schooler, with the need to do research and writing, organize her homework, and perform light email duties. I don't want to deal with the headaches of hackintoshing a new system -- much as I love our Hackintoshes, it's such a pain to do Sys Admin for them. When considering a similarly-priced, used Apple laptop, we're looking at 2006-vintage MacBooks, bought over eBay or similar, from untrusted vendors. I really don't want to go there. And so it occurred to me: how about an iPad? Could she do all her light computing, research, and writing (she's a terrible typist, so we're not talking about a big step down in efficiency) using a 1st or 2nd generation iPad? Over at Apple's refurb store, the 1st gen starts at $300, the 2nd at just $350. So I pitch the idea to her. I asked her about possibly using an iPad in place of a laptop and suddenly she perked up -- SURE! As long as she can print. Can she print? And I am all "Yes, you can print." And here she is, not just a little enthusiastic, but basically over the moon with the idea. I'm getting concerned here -- that level of enthusiasm seems out of line. What does she know that I don't? Is it that her Hackintosh doesn't have as many games as an iPad? That it doesn't offer as much engagement or fun? So I'm turning this over to the TUAW braintrust. Am I being an insane mother considering providing my child with a full-time iPad in place of a laptop? You tell me. I've added a poll here and the comments follow after. Please jump in and lend me the wisdom of the TUAW readership braintrust. %Poll-74247%
You're the Pundit: Is in-app purchasing out of control?
When it comes to forecasting the next big thing, we turn to our secret weapon: the TUAW braintrust. We put the question to you and let you have your go at it. Today's topic is in-app purchasing, or IAP for short. We've been having a house debate recently about the proper role of IAP in game marketing and development. Some companies have been treating their customers as cash cows using IAPs. We find that attitude unacceptable. That said, many games (including Tiny Tower, Battle Nations and others) use IAPs responsibly and well. We feel IAP by itself isn't bad, but some companies (and let us be clear, those are actually the minority of companies) put in-app purchases over game play instead of the other way around. Our group take is that IAP, economically speaking, rewards bad game design. Developers can make more money from games with a high initial fun factor followed by a long, dull grind that players already in the groove will then pay out to avoid. If you're paying to avoid game play or to add cheats that put you at an advantage over other players, then in-app purchases are hiding bad game design. Similarly, if you're paying to "accessorize" your world ("collect all 12 fish"), we feel that IAP is taking advantage of customers. When IAP works in games, it branches, extends, or expands gameplay rather than cheats it. So is IAP out of control in App Store? Should Apple be cracking down on the more predatory uses of IAP? You tell us. Place your vote in this poll and then join in the comments with your take on this. %Poll-71599%
Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me find iPhone simulation games
Dear Aunt TUAW, Finding games (or any app) for iPhone, or iOS in general, is a series of hit and misses. Let me be frank. It's mostly misses. I was wondering if you knew of any good Empire Building or (preferably) Company building games out there. Any help would be most appreciative. Thanks, Your nephew Mike E.
TUAW reader braintrust: Filling up your iBookShelf
Let's face it. iBook offerings are, at least for the moment, pretty limited. They're also on the slightly pricey side for anyone who emptied their piggy bank on a new iPad. Even those public libraries that offer ePub lending aren't set up to make those titles available for iPad reading. You generally need special Mac or Windows software, and there's DRM aplenty. That having been said, there are many great readable books out there for the asking. The problem is, as with nearly all free options, a very low signal-to-noise ratio. Sure, you can download one of the top Project Gutenberg titles, but those top twenty lists tend to be uninspiring. Getting a peer recommendation for a truly excellent read is often a lot better indication of whether you'll like a book or not than popularity charts. That's why we thought we'd open up this post to your free ePub recommendations. Our TUAW reader pool is full of passionate book enthusiasts. We'll get the ball rolling with a few of our suggestions and then we invite you to chime in in the comments with yours. Don't forget to say why you're recommending the book and who it might be a good match for, taste-wise. Let's help each other to find some quality iBooks. And don't forget: Just because a book isn't already in ePub format, there's no reason that it can't be converted using a tool like Stanza or Calibre! Parnassus on Wheels is a warm, delightful novel about a woman who buys a traveling bookstore and the adventures she encounters. Its full of fun for anyone who loves books and practical homespun self-reliance. Recommended for: Readers who like chick-lit The Egg and I tells the nearly-real story of Betty MacDonald's days as a child bride and chicken rancher. This hilarious comedy is the source of the "Ma and Pa Kettle" characters you may have heard of. Recommended for: Readers, especially women, who like humorous first person memoirs. Wizards Bane wonders what would happen if a computer geek got transported to a world of magic. Could you create a programming language for spell casting? It's a solid but silly fantasy that's fun to read. Recommended for: Computer geeks. Sheepfarmer's Daughter demonstrates what happens when classic fantasy meets an author with a military background. There are elves and gnomes -- but also patrols, cold weather, wet socks and a heavy dose of realism. Recommended for: Readers who like fantasy, military lit, or both Five Children and It is one of E. Nesbit's many amazing fantasy books for children. It's full of that "sense of wonder" that so many children's books strive for and never achieve. If you like this one, you'll want to try some of her other titles as well! Recommended for: Children and former children Magic Pudding offers a classic tale of silliness and mayhem among the Koalas. Make sure you download the illustrated version of this children's book! Recommended for: Fans of Pooh who want to range beyond A. A. Milne. Good for story time with younger readers. Marvelous Land of Oz proves that the Oz story doesn't end with the Wizard of Oz movie. I loved these books as a kid, both the Baum ones and the later ones by Ruth Plumly Thompson. Recommended for: Fans of the original book Wizard of Oz even more than the movie Also of interest: iPhone OS 4.0: iBooks for iPhone Apple announces "iBooks" application for iPad iBooks app now available in App Store
TUAW Braintrust: What are your views on keyboards?
Over the last week or two, my keyboard (an inexpensive Macally Apple-style unit) has been dying a slow but inevitable death. When I found myself having to hit the space key about 5 times for each successful contact, I knew it was time to start looking around for a replacement. Of course, the most obvious replacement to buy will be the Apple wireless Bluetooth system. I've been dying to get one to play around with BTstack. That's the open source Bluetooth stack project that allows users to pair keyboards and other devices with a jailbroken iPhone. The problems with the wireless Apple keyboard, though, are the arrow keys (very very small) and home/end/pageup/pagedown cluster (apparently non-existent). Only the full size Apple keyboard offers those features. So I'm going to turn to the TUAW Braintrust. What do you guys out in reader-land like use as your keyboards? Have they been a success or not? What keyboards can you really recommend? And what keyboards are must avoids? (My Macally? Probably the latter.) Let me know in the comments, what your suggestions are. And, as a follow-on, what are your views on keyboard protectors? Worth the money or not? I'm living in a child-ridden dietcoke-danger environment. If I go all-out and buy Apple this go-round, should I pay the 30% premium to get a plastic shield? Help me decide with the following poll. %Poll-41093%
