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Here's Hoping Apple Tablet Is Like a Car

Computers should be as easy to use as vehicles, appliances

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Jan 26, 2010 2:42 PM CST
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(Newser) – Computers can do amazing things, but as anyone with a technophobic parent knows, they’re still way too complicated. That’s why Farhad Manjoo is hoping Apple’s new tablet will be “the first fully powered PC that is as simple to use as a kitchen appliance.” Sure, plenty of people understand the metaphors their OS is presenting them, but no other consumer product requires such advanced understanding.

Cars, for example, are extremely complex, but actually learning to operate one “is a five-minute process and does not require a lesson in internal combustion,” Manjoo writes for Slate. Though he has no inside info on Apple’s tablet, he suspects it’ll fulfill the dream of a computer that’s as simple as an appliance, for one simple reason: the iPhone already does. "Other than charging it, the iPhone requires no maintenance." It just works—even for your dad.

In this Sept. 9, 2008 file photo, Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs speaks at an event in San Francisco.
In this Sept. 9, 2008 file photo, Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs speaks at an event in San Francisco.   (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 19 comments
eester
Jan 27, 2010 12:45 PM CST
A regular computer with a touch screen is sure to frustrate the technophobes, that's why they're technophobes.
spraynard
Jan 27, 2010 5:54 AM CST
You seem like a person who's bad at analogies
RCAnder
Jan 27, 2010 3:23 AM CST
So Spraynard, you seem to be the type of person that gets pissed at a friend because youre not ready when they say theyll be at your house in 2 minutes and they are actually there in a 1:30...

 
iPhone • Apple • personal computers • cars • computers • automobile • home appliances • Apple tablet • iPad

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