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General discussion

Please help me understand today's tablet craze?!

Feb 22, 2013 8:12AM PST
Question:

Please help me understand today's tablet craze?!


I don't understand about the mobile tablets. I have used and
programmed computers for over 30 years. I have always told everyone
that laptops are so mobile. Now, everyone has gone nuts about
tablets. Why???? There is little storage. The keyboard screen is
pathetic. A tablet has no screen protection unless you buy a case.
Don't get me wrong, I use touch screen phones but typing on a
physical board is sooo much faster. Now, I was told that using a
tablet with a printer can be very difficult. What is going on? I
thought that maybe the cost is the key. Now there is an Apple iPad
that costs $1000. Great laptops cost less! Please help me understand
this craze, is this a fad? Your thoughts are appreciated.

--Submitted by: John C.

Discussion is locked

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Tablets Can Serve A Purpose
Mar 1, 2013 9:23PM PST

To begin with I am using the tablet right now to read the thread and to post a reply. I have used a laptop in a docking station for work and also have had a desktop at home. These computers, as others have noted, have not been replaced by tablets. Tablets have been another option available for content consumption and on a limited basis for content creation. The key is portability and ease of use.

I have found personally that by using apps like Goodreader, I can load pages of documents and PDFs to read or carry and employ the tablet like a large thing ring notebook. As I move about I am carrying in one tablet, newspapers, magazines, email, articles downloaded, reports and correspondence. I go to meetings with clients and carry a tablet rather than a briefcase. Even in content creation I receive draft documents and can quickly review and edit in many office type apps. I don't wait to boot up the tablet as I do with the laptop and I do not have to be carrying around a at times heavy or heavier laptop. I do not have to open up the tablet into two halves with a keyboard. Instead I hold this wonderful piece of equipment in one hand - portability, quick accessibility, convenience.

Is the tablet a necessary addition - no. You can live without it. However if you do buy one more often than not you will find you are or will use it quite a bit. Example is my wife who is somewhat computer illiterate. She could have been an "absorber" of content from cyberspace but was not one to sit in front of desktop for hours or hold a laptop. The tablet has opened up content and the cyberspace to her. I do believe the ease of access to the NY Times, for instance, has led to more and deeper reading of the paper than ever obtained with the hard paper copy. She reads more magazines, uses the Internet more, just consumes more information and data.

Steve Jobs conceptualized a content consumption device that was not bound to a desk or required booting and using a large frame like a laptop. Something you could sit with in the living room. I can add carrying with you on trains and planes, holding in a restaurant or a Starbucks. The fact that it has found uses in business such as a holder of business information, that it has or can substitute for a notebook or briefcase of items, that apps hav developed to assist in content creation, so if you primarily found the tablet useful for most of your tasks, you did not need to lug a laptop around just to do some creation - these may not have been anticipated but yet certainly explains the growing use and desirability of obtaining a tablet and working it into the type of equipment to rely upon.

So finally when I travel my laptop often goes into the suitcase. I keep it at the hotel if I have taken expecting to do more heavy content creation. But when I am out and about I have transferred what I need to this lightweight tablet and that is what I carry.

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todays tablet crazzy
Mar 1, 2013 9:32PM PST

i love tablet then can do something a laptop or desk top can not do. you can use tablet to control the light and everyything else in the house and they do not take alot of space. they have long battery life so watch movies outside where there is no power supply near without worring about battery life. with sd slot and usb slot can have unlimeted storage without adding much weight. some even come with qwerty keyboards if youn do not like touch screens. you can even use them for back up of a few important files . i hope this helps anyone who does not understand tablets. also razer is coming out with one just for gaming.

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I agree
Mar 1, 2013 11:05PM PST

I agree with you. I do have an older Color Nook. It is not as glitzy as the iPad, but I believe that it can do almost everything an ipad can do PLUS I can put in it my purse which is a great convenience. It is much easier to use than an iPhone because the print and keyboards are larger. I especially appreciated it during the times my husband was in the hospital. I was able to read in a dark room, read and send email, etc. but didn't have to worry about leaving it or carrying it everywhere I went since I always took my purse with me.
I still prefer desktop and laptop computers because, I type quickly and I love the big screen.
<div>Nel H.
</div>

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I just bought my tablet 2 weeks ago
Mar 2, 2013 2:01AM PST

And I can do things like check mail, browse the Internet without setting up my laptop. I can show a potential client a web design concept without hauling around my laptop. I am even answering this post from my tablet, which by the way is a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

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Tablets are for fun and light/passive use
Mar 2, 2013 2:36AM PST

Melanfred got the point. Tablets are passive devices for consumers and PCs/laptops/netbooks are for people who create things. I'm sure the big players in the tablet world would disagree, but that's how it seems to me. Tablets are great for apps that require a larger field of view than a smartphone. Some computer manufacturers are trying to merge tablets with laptops and PCs, aided and abetted by Windows 8, but I have yet to see a PC user who would prefer to be productive on a 25 inch touchscreen - it would sure build up the muscles on your arms! I like tablets for their immediacy - instantly accessing e-mail and websites without all the booting up tedium, and being able see text like on a PC. Lastly, tablets are fashion icons that make a statement about your life-style, if that matters to you.

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depends on your needs, they all serve a purpose
Mar 2, 2013 4:43AM PST

It all depends on what your needs are, and it applies towards any electronic device. i personally own a tower, a laptop, and a tablet. i don't compare them against each other, as they all have their strong points and that's what i use them for. i didn't care for the on-screen keyboard on the tablet, its OK for short entries, but long entries leaves a lot to be desired so to solve that problem i bought a tablet Bluetooth keyboard and i use that for long entries. as for other things my tablet is the Samsung galaxy note 10.1 with the s-pen, and i can do a lot with it, can do nearly precise photo editing, video editing, i use it to stream content across the network to my big screen TV, to my laptops and my tower, and i can stream content to the tablet from these devices. i even use it as an advanced tv (it has an on-board IR blaster)

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1001 uses, that's why.
Mar 2, 2013 5:06AM PST

To be honest with you, I never would have bought a tablet on my own accord. I have a decent desktop and a 17.3" laptop that is powerful enough to do your dishes if you dropped the cord in the sink, lol! Between the two, they have done everything I asked and more. The problem came when I went back to school. Unfortunately, with all that power (in the laptop) comes a relatively enormous form factor which I don't mind so much, almost 10lbs of weight without the power cord, and a pathetic battery life. Given that, I have to carry the cord because I don't have enough power to get through my school day without it and it alone weighs at least two pounds. I am a large man but I have had my spine fused at the base of my neck and carpal tunnel in both hands, one of which was also operated on. Add to all that a 20lbs accounting book I have to carry four days a week, and books for my other classes, and you get the picture.

All that weight was aggravating my neck and hands so I looked into tablets as an alternative and ended up buying a refurbished tablet with a 10" screen and built-in qwerty board. For a tablet, it has great power, a long battery life, and decent storage, which is expandable via integrated an microSD slot and USB port, all at just under 2lbs. So what do I use it for? School work (a program gives me full M$ Office integration for documents in 3/4 of that suite). All my work gets saved to a thumb drive and gets moved to my laptop when I get home. What else...how about reading the scriptures, listening to the radio, church work ( all the manuals, hymns, most of the docs my church puts out, and a few books written by authors from our religion are accessible via download), surfing the net, writing the occasional short email, watching movies online, taking pictures, playing games, using a PIM/calendar app, entertaining my kids with games, research, geneology, shopping online, and that is what I can think of on short notice.

My tablet is for me something that I didn't know I needed until I had it and now I don't know how I got so far without it as it has made my banged up world a lot easier to get around in. Will it replace my desktop? Probably not, and it for sure will never hold a candle to my laptop but like others have said, it serves a solid purpose in my life and will be around for a long time to come. I have to disrespectfully disagree about the claims that it's a fad like the netbook, simply because it has so many uses (current app count is 750,000 and growing). Maybe a tablet like device will come out that is even easier to use and carry and is even more powerful than a low-end laptop that will bring evolution to what we use, but I don't think the tablet platform is going anywhere any time soon. I also want to echo the sentiment that if you don't have a use for it, don't buy one. I consider them tools as much as toys and as such, would you buy a tool for a profession that you aren't in, just because they look cool, or have a "brag" factor? No. You buy what you need, for the tasks you have at hand. Carefully consider what you do in your personal and professional life and decide if it wouldn't be made easier with a tablet. If the answer is no, don't get one, but try to remember that just because you don't see a use for it in your world, doesn't mean that there is no use for it in anyone else's. I remember when pc's first came out that it was said by many people that these "gadgets" wouldn't last and that they too were just a fad and now look at them. So what did I type this on? My laptop, lol, but only because my handy little refurbished tablet had a bum speaker and is in the process of being replaced. Otherwise, I would have used it.

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Please help me understand today's tablet craze?!
Mar 2, 2013 6:41AM PST

A question mark replaces a period, as the sentence terminator. Therefore the use of the subsequent exclamation mark is incorrect.

I don't belong to the grammar Nazis. But this is so obviously sloppy writing, the author must have been drunk or half asleep when he wrote it.

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Wrong forum for that
Mar 3, 2013 12:11PM PST

The grammar nazis all hang out at slate.com, where they can discuss their woefully uninformed political viewpoints as well Wink.

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Re: Please help me understand today's tablet craze?!
Mar 2, 2013 6:44AM PST

I was given my tablet as a gift and I LOVE it. I mainly use it as a book reader, because, as I have failing vision, it's much easier to look at for long periods of time than a tiny phone screen.

Yesterday, however, I was having problems with my phone & as the tech person was attempting remotely to solve them, I was able to keep in touch with her using my tablet to check my email from the comfort of Starbucks. Now, I do have a laptop that would have done the same thing, but it's heavier, bulkier & just more of a hassle. My tablet fits in my purse nicely, along with my wallet and my phone so I only have one bag to carry and I have it with me at all times. (My wallet doesn't fit in my laptop case, for the record.)

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Bad vs Good tablets: ditching one, splurging on another
Mar 2, 2013 10:05AM PST

Hello! First time writing in one of these but the topic really hits home...
I currently use a playbook tablet that was purchased by my work. I loved it at first since it allowed me to have web access, access to work docs and my e-books. But as the months go by, I use it less and less, mainly now just to play Solitaire and read my e-books... But I really think this has more to do with the Playbook's very limited capabilities - it does not always pick up wireless signals, and has extremely limited apps, and has an inconvenient keyboard structure..
I do very much believe in the utility of this "tool" (as opposed to "gadget") since I travel very extensively. Though I don't believe I'd ever quite be able to leave my work laptop at home on my many work trips, I do think I'd at least get much greater utility from carrying a better tablet around instead of a useless playbook (like in airports, planes, hotel rooms after work...) I've seen my colleague really make extensive use of his Ipad-both for work and play, and I can attest to the immense utility of this technology.
And so now that my big heavy 17inch personal Toshiba laptop is nearing its third year and is asking me to replace its battery ($100) and is giving me trouble with Wifi (had to buy a USB wifi reader: $20), I definitely think I'm going to completely ditch buying a laptop and will splurge on a tablet (Ipad or Galaxy, not sure which yet). But this is a luxury I can take because I will still have access to my work laptop and to my husband's laptop..
Voila, my 2 cents!

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ipad is not a laptop replacement
Mar 2, 2013 3:17PM PST

a galaxy wouldn't be a full replacement for a laptop either, but it would do a better job, The galaxy has an actual file system you can access like a computer, along with all androids. The galaxy also comes with an office suite, word powerpoint and spreadsheet, you have to buy that on the ipad, and you can actually save the files. my galaxy tab has better wifi reception than my laptop or my moms iphone. If you start running low on storage you can add up to 64gb with micro sd cards that cost way less than buying the bigger ipad. Android has all the popular ios apps, so don't let anyone tell you it doesn't. On an ipad you can't use flash content, that includes videos, so 90% of CNETs videos won't play on it (to get flash player for android you have to go to adobes website, and search for android flash download, the link will come up with a list of archived versions to download (http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/archived-flash-player-versions.html). They say the screen is better on the ipad, but once you get about 4 feet away, you can hardly tell if you're looking, and the screen is still hd on the galaxy. If you already have an itunes library full of music, samsungs kies will automatically copy all your itunes music on your computer to the tab, file, in the file tab, import itunes playlist into library. and if anything it is less than half the price, and does more.

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For Future Reference
Mar 3, 2013 2:52AM PST

Hi SariataS: Nice review, and you're correct: which type of tablet someone owns makes ALL the difference.

Just F.Y.I., Samsung has announced that they are coming out with an 8.9" Galaxy Note, sometime this year! I am living a Goldilock's Life right now: the 5" Note is too small for me, the 10.1" Note is WAAAYYYY to big for me....and I'm holding out desperately for a WiFi/4G 8.9" Note. My original Galaxy Tab 7" is now 2.5 years old, running Froyo; compared to the dual core processor of my Kindle Fire HD 7", it's left in the dust by my Kindle. But, I still use the Samsung for work, I just respect that it's slow. So, if you can afford to wait and watch enough youtube videos of that the Note line can do, you might find the perfect future tablet for yourself. Happy

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Great info, thanks!
Mar 3, 2013 10:40AM PST

I was definitely leaning toward the Galaxy, thanks for your input guys!

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Tablets
Mar 2, 2013 12:34PM PST

Tablets are awesome. They have bigger touch screens than phones. You can buy a kindle or nook for cheap at amazon.com or barsandnoble.com. They're way more interesting than phones because they're newer and cooler.

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Different Forms, Different Uses
Mar 3, 2013 12:12AM PST

Today's computing power comes in many shapes and forms and the tablet format is just the latest in the progression towards smaller, lighter and more powerful computing technology.

As mentioned elsewhere in this discussion we tend to use different formats for different things depending on whether we are creating or consuming content but there are many people in the world who will just buy the latest gadget simply because they can. Other people will buy new technology because it helps them in some way that their existing technology cannot. For my own part I will look at the new stuff, decide if it is going to be of benefit to me then wait to see what the competitors bring out and watch the price come down a bit. (I don't like the Apple brand so anything that has an i in front of it gets ignored, except the iFruit perhaps!!)

I use a desktop PC to create AND consume content. I maintain a few web sites and look after various organisational activities as well as play the odd game or three. But I also own a Kindle (not the Fire) for reading. I travel a lot so the Kindle is ideal for carrying books and taking up very little space. I own a tablet (with detachable keyboard) so that I can review video footage from an on-board camera on my motorbike for the rider training that I'm involved in. I also own a smart-phone and although this has many capabilities it is used primarily as a communication device - for speech and text - and the occasional photograph (great for accident reports).

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Use what works for you
Mar 3, 2013 3:39AM PST

Most gadgets are fads, a few become trends, a very few become parts of our life. I have and use a desktop computer, laptop, 10-inch tablet, Kindle Fire and smartphone. There are times when I could find a netbook the best tool -- for instance, when answering e-mails at Starbucks, where a small, lightweight device with 10-inch screen and physical keyboard would be just right. At this point I might be better off replacing my bulky laptop with an ultrabook, which is (in one sense) just a more powerful netbook.

For me, a tablet is a great content consumption device because it is more portable than even a netbook or ultrabook, but has a larger screen than my phone. For other purposes I prefer different tools. Just use whatever works best for you, which might not be a tablet.

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Has solved problems the right way
Mar 3, 2013 9:18AM PST

I am far from a computer person, I am a computer newbie, a permanent one, I have been a newbie for 25 years during which I used them every day, I hate computers' impenetrable gobbledygook, geekery, wrinkles, timewasting, updates and complication. Hate! Hate! Hate! Angry

But I love my i-pad. So I'm guessing people who are knocking it must be engineers Devil technicians Devil geeks Devil .
I understand the late Steve Jobs had this revoutionary idea the engineers don't get, that it would be used, by people. I can switch it on without an engineering degree! I can even switch it off without a postraduate degree! (Well there was a bit of learning in those).

Then for the use. I have stopped buying newpapers. Where I am a lot of the time an English newspaper unreliably arrives at 4 in the afternoon, and days where there is really big news I might not find a copy. But now I can read it at breakfast! I couldn't do that even when in England, have to go out for a copy. Here the paper copy of the Economist arrived if at all maybe Sunday, Monday. (When I had a subscription it tended to arrive on Tuesday - this journal which is always preaching consumers and competitiveness). Considering it's published on Friday so the stories are from that week some of it had a distinctly stale air by the time I got it. And I don't have the house cluttered with issues I don't want to throw away yet because I hope still to get around to reading something. Same even truer of mewpapers particularly Sunday papers. The Sunday Times comes with 11 supplements! (which don't all arrive where I am). I never want to go back, and I don't want to sit at the computer either, still less my netbook, to read newspapers, magazines or books. Somehow I seem to be able to read them more efficiently and faster on the i-pad than before.

And I almost want never to buy a paper book again that I could get on the i-pad. I hardly have room for any more (OK the ones I have line the study nicely. And I buy secondhand ones I find around.) Before long most people will be like me about these things.

Another thing I'm never going to need again is a handheld scientific calculator. You can get things which will do the work of one that cost $100 or $200 free or for a few dollars or even free and instead of a poky screen of a few centmetres each way I have a lovely big one with gorgeous screen colour. Kids could enjoy math with one. Then I can get the whole world's radio. For e-mail it's useful, though I'll mainly use the computer; the device hasn't enslaved me. And I have used only a fraction of its potentialities yet.

Follwing a comment above I'm a bit worried me about it breaking and me not being able to get at what it has stored, but a lot of that would still be in my i-tunes store, I don't take it out of house much. But apart from that for now I find it brilliant and has really solved some long-standing problems of books and newpapers.

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Secret from the experts for you ;)
Mar 3, 2013 12:13PM PST

Open a nice bottle of beer, or glass of wine when you start to run all the crazy computer updates. Makes it go much smoother Wink.

cheers

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No brainer
Mar 3, 2013 10:23PM PST

My tablet is an extension of me now. Rather than sitting at a desk or balancing a laptop my tablet is always right there. Kick back in my chair and surf the net, read the news, shoot a quick email, play a game - I love it. Yes the keyboard sucks, but the battery life is great, it's so portable and lightweight and the larger screen is so much more useful than my phone. On Sundays I tote it to church and it's my bible library. You can't beat these things as e-readers and portable encyclopedias.

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Printing from a Tablet
Mar 4, 2013 1:46AM PST

Printing from my IPad to my HP 7510 is one touch. You have been listening to the wrong people talking about the wrong things. I hope this helps. Have a good day.

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Lexmark, samsung, and hp
Mar 4, 2013 3:13AM PST

On android, you can print to most wireless samsung, lexmark, and hp printers, with an app

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That's true but
Mar 4, 2013 7:39AM PST

as far as I have tried, you don't have much control over it. I haven't found a way to print out only a part of a several-page document. Must ask.

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It is harder to print
Mar 4, 2013 12:31PM PST

It is harder to print from tablets, I don't really understand why they haven't worked on that, with the right printer it is possible, but still not as easy as a computer. With apple and air print printer will be easier, with Samsung, a Samsung printer will be easier.

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They Are a Better Fit For Many
Mar 4, 2013 3:16AM PST

Tablets are all the craze because most people didn't need a laptop or PC in the first place. All of the web surfers, Facebookers, and email readers are served just fine with a tablet. There are many low cost options as well. Sure you can spend $1k on a tablet, but you can also spend $32k on a desktop. The entry point for a tablet that will surf the internet, let you purchase apps and check your email is very low. That is why they are so popular.

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The Illusion of computer mastery
Mar 4, 2013 7:53AM PST

Touchscreen applications are for those with little or no knowledge of computing, and thank the gods for them. Now I hardly ever get calls from friends with little knowledge of how to operate and maintain a computer as they've all opted for the low-end tech that smartphone/notebook operating entails. Sure it's a fad, but one that won't go away as people are lazy by nature and most are as thick as bricks; they'll pay a fortune for limited bandwidth and access while shelling out even more for applications of dubious worth (or of no worth compared to the free apps available on a real computer, or the ones you make yourself) just so they can be in with no effort. I personally dislike touchscreen tech for a raft of reasons, including oily fingerprints on the screen I want to look at and the limitations that such indelicate manipulations effect. I don't worry about being tagged a Luddite when those doing the tagging are simpletons with little or no computing skills... Having a tablet just because it's fashionable is not a reason to have one, much the same as being able to join a social network is a reason to join one...

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Thank you
Mar 4, 2013 12:37PM PST

I personally like my Android tablet, but It is by no means a necessity. The only reason anyone with any sense would get an apple device is what you said, it's like name brand clothing, they're no better than Walmart, and but since it has an apple on it everyone wants to say that they have it.
Pardon my strangely mixed metaphor...

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You make some bad assumptions
Mar 5, 2013 1:32AM PST

Your first bad/poor assumption is that people necessarily have tablets because they're fashionable and not because they simply would like a different interface for many of their daily tasks formerly done primarily via PC.

Second, you see to equate folks changing their usage patterns to touchscreen apps as (intentionally?) trying to hide their lack of technical prowess. Seems like the shark jumped out of the tank a little here. I'd wager that people actually in many cases found a way to improve their user experience instead of having to constantly call someone for help with an application that often has unnecessary bells/whistles.

If your preference isn't for a tablet, then don't use one. Simple stuff, really. Some of the broad brushstrokes in this thread are laughable, especially by the so-called 'computer experts' <vbg>.

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What is the big deal about tablets????
Mar 4, 2013 9:20AM PST

What is the big deal about tablets? Working with my clients and family this is what I have discovered:

1.Tablets are here to stay—At least in some form or another. The technology has come from PDA's to phones and it looks like it will be moving the TVs, watches and other devices—I have a smart pen that I use all the time.

2. As tablets, or really the OSs, mature there will be less and less need for a laptop or personal computers—outside business of course, but give it time.

3. I have more and more clients doing more and more on their smart phones, tablets, and phablets than on their computers. One client manages his business using his table and smart phone about 70% of the time. More and more of my clients are relying on their smart phones and tables.

4. My wife, my mom, the in-laws, my kids and many others in my life I have found do not need the use of a computer—and hate using one. All they do is email, Facebook, Twitter, surf the web for deals and information, play games and now are into Skype. A table has camera, GPS, and other hardware enhancements that are lacking in an off the shelf laptops or PCs. We have gone from a household of 6 laptops and PC computers to 1 computer and several tablets and smart phones and all seem happy. There is still a need use a computer from time to time, and certain software just works well on a laptop or PC, but that is changing also.

What the big deal is for me and for the people around me is the freedom to access information at any time any place and help me in my day to day activities to get things done faster and better than before. I like this quote by Mark A. Shields assistant professor of technology, culture & communication at the University of Virginia: "Technology doesn't make anything happen, but it makes a lot of things possible.

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It is a civilization-changing technology
Mar 4, 2013 10:12AM PST

Your comment is excellent in that it reflects the perspective of those of us who have not lived in the world of mobile and nearly ubiquitous content. It makes me wonder if someone from the 19th century might say: "I don't understand what how these tiny squares of glass (such as Android phones and tablets) could have any value; after all, I have very large window panes of glass in my home!" The transition to the new technologies have had a dramatic impact on those who use it, and we can expect a even more dramatic impact over the next 10 years as new interface methods are developed. But, your comments very succinctly reflect what is missing in these civilization-changing developments: a very clear explanation of the benefits of using the new knowledge-sharing technologies to those who don't currently have them. The young will just routinely pick them up and start communicating, but I sincerely hope training programs will be set up to guide those like you (and me!) towards the benefits of a new era of mobile interfaces.