Here's Hoping Apple Tablet Is Like a Car

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. (More computers stories.)