Wait, what? The State of the Union address is tonight? Someone was supposed to tell me these things.
Also, what is Obama thinking? Doesn’t he realize that he’s going to get swamped by the release of the Apple Tablet? This is madness!
Mmmmm… Apple Tablet.
This might be slightly OT, so if ‘The Hammer’ comes out, so be it..
I’m re-reading John Brimingham’s Axis of Time trilogy. The ‘flexipad’ and ‘slate’ gadgets bear an uncanny resemblance to the I-phone and new Apple Tablet. It begs the chicken and egg question. Premonition or were the Apple geeks inspired by the story?..
Well that’s why Apple is launching today! Obama will be using his to promote world peace. There’s an app for that you know………
Brain C:
Not off-topic because it’s about the Apple Tablet. And of course there have been lots of prior speculative art for such things, so it would not be too surprising if they have something in common.
I’ve heard that if you take two apple tablets and slather peanut butter in between them… oh wait, there’s an app for that.
I don’t know Brian, the tablet computer idea isn’t that new. AoT was published in, what, 2004? Star Trek The Next Generation had tablet computers all over the place back in the 90s (interestingly enough, the show’s run was concurrent with the Apple Newton’s run) and you could argue that ST:ToS’s communicators and tricorders were a primitive vision of such.
“Maybe the tablet will have a function that explains to us why we all crave a tablet” -gizmodo live blog
Wait, what’s an Obama? Is that code for the new Apple iCod, the codpiece/smartphone?
Sarcasto@5,
No dispute, examples such as Heinlein’s prediction of the water bed and remote manipulators ( Waldos) are numerous. I was struck with the AoS detail descriptions being so close a match.
I thought “Obama” was a linux distro…
The ICOD runs linux?
Scalzi! Did you just make a “yummy” noise for an Apple product? You status-seeking beta monkey, you. XD
(‘sokay, I’m sitting here listening to live coverage from Leo Laporte. Everybody shhh, now, the line is moving into the hall…)
I’m waiting for the “Plop, plop, fizz, fizz” app for the tablet before I’ll buy one.
I’m following the Apple reveal eagerly. However, the State of the Union? Why would I listen to the President give *another* speech, when Mass Effect 2 is out and there are explosions and spaceships to be had!
Well, Fox News has been advertising the State of the Union speech — something along the lines of You Listen, We Decide.
Dr. Phil
Tablet? I like Greg Bear’s “slate” better. I think of asprin when I hear the word tablet. I would have called it the Pi.
State of Union: I’m betting the semantic content will be snooze worthy. Give me the low lights tomorrow, please.
iPad? Srsly? Clearly not one single woman on the marketing and development team. iFail.
Well, he’s already rescheduled once so he wouldn’t conflict with the Lost season premiere; he can’t work around every nerdy event.
Did anyone see yesterdays Doonesbury?
http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/dailydose/index.html?uc_full_date=20100126
lucyp is right. I’ve been watching the Gizmodo liveblog and can’t get past the feminine hygiene connotations of “iPad.”
Jobs should hire The Gray Area: Apple Pi = brilliant.
I am a fan of Macs and a lifelong user. I don’t have an iPod (don’t need it) or an iPhone (don’t want to be constantly connected/not worth it financially), and thus, will probably not be owning a tablet.
I suspect I’m in a very, very small sector of that particular Venn diagram.
Mr. K@13: But this State of the Union will *have* explosions! And spaceships! And a pony.
The Gray Area@14 – sounds like a good idea – I can just see the ads now for the “iPi”. The only thing I know for sure about the new Apple saviour of the world is that I won’t be buying one.
Eh. Today is my birthday, and I’ve found it in my heart to forgive both Apple and the White House for trying to steal my thunder. I’m sure that there will be enough headline space for all three of us.
Also, I’m on Team “iPad? WTF?” I get that they were trying a clever play on iPod, but when countless esteemed and award-winning SF authors have already named your tech, it’s a pretty good bet that you aren’t going to come up with something better.
Then again, the Phillip K. Dick estate is suing Google for calling their phone the Nexus One, so what do I know?
And for those of you who want a bit more, there’s the i-maxipad. And it has wings.
http://www.pinkapple.com/Product/Kotex/520/kotex-maxi-wings.html
I would love it if the Republican response to the State of the Union came from John Boehner and consisted of only two words (or is it just one?):
iQuit
I am less than impressed by the iPad. It’s a scaled up iPod touch. And it lacks a webcam. That’s really not cool.
I suspect the Republican response to the State of the Union address will be one word.
No.
Waiting for the aftermarket mods and skins that will make it look like a ST:TNG datapad.
More importantly, our President is speaking tonight rather than on 2/2 which would have put ABC in a quandary regarding preemption of LOST.
I’m only vaguely aware of the iPad, but on the “SF that predicted it” front, there is also the Newspad from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. Don’t recall if it was also in the book.
Madness?
….
….
This!
Is!
Far too obvious a lead-in!
State of the Union? Hell, I had to be reminded that The Really Big Football Game That Is Really Protective Of Its Name is this weekend.
#29: Two weekends.
Just put an angry cat in a cage covered in keyboards. Be sure one of the keyboards can only type a capital I.
(I don’t like any of these speeches, I find them offensive. I’m gonna go apply a marker to all of the masingil bar codes at the local store and entertain myself by listening to the price checks)
My joke is so dated.
I was worried too about which would receive more coverage!
As for iPad I’m in team “not a thirteen year old boy.” I don’t find menstruation hysterically funny or at all giggle worthy. Pad means lots of other things too – we don’t giggle at launch pads or legal pads do we?
I DO worry though about support calls between people of various accents and bad phone connections – was that an iPAD? or an iPOD?
@Mr. K. #12
You make an excellent point. You know, I’d vote for Captain Anderson…
Was that at me Nadya? If so, I understand, It’s a base comment/joke, but you should lighten up a touch. Watch the old jokes as expressed on screen about that situation, it has less to do with the facts of the moment and more about the irrational terror of the male feeling emasculated when said situation occurs.
Heh I’m in Norway right now and my friend was checking out what was on the TV and asked “who would stay up until 3am to watch a speech by someone not the leader of our country, is it a particularly important speech?” and I replied “I don’t think so, there’s not really any big speeches at the end of Janu– oh wait”
At least I realized before I finished the sentence? Not staying up til 3am though, even if he is the leader of my country.
RT niloayson
So far, State of the Union is better than the iPad news!
Doug -
No, definitely not at you in particular – there were lots of comments in the world about this yesterday and this happened to be the place I said my piece. Yes, it’s to me frustrating that something normal, and healthy, and oh my goodness frequent, is a source of terror. If people had just said “it’s a bad name” I probably would have agreed. It was the endless junior high school humor that got my back up. That’s what I get for setting a Twitter search for #ipad. I deleted that search by dinner time yesterday.
One of the best pieces of marketing advice I ever heard was that all product names and URLs should be run past a 13 year old boy. Ever since I heard it I keep finding examples of its wisdom.