So.. Lets Pretend You're Bill Gates

[Rysk]

Let's pretened that you're Bill Gates. Apple is about to release its new iPhone, with AWESOME TOUCHSCREEN TEKNOLOGIEZ. What do you do?

Release a touchscreen coffee table!

Click Here! (http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/sticker-shock/video-of-bill-gates-showing-off-his-expensive-table-264453.php?autoplay=true)

[Parkbandit]

Let's pretened that you're Bill Gates. Apple is about to release its new iPhone, with AWESOME TOUCHSCREEN TEKNOLOGIEZ. What do you do?

Release a touchscreen coffee table!

Click Here! (http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/sticker-shock/video-of-bill-gates-showing-off-his-expensive-table-264453.php?autoplay=true)

You dump a shitload of money into Apple Stock and wait for the split. Oh wait.. that's what I DID do.

[Back]

http://www.microsoft.com/surface/

[Tsa`ah]

I'm sorry ... that beats the shit out of the iphone.

[Rysk]

I'll second that. iPhone is useless in my book, this... this changes the way people interact with technology. When this becomes affordable, this will be the way of the future.

[Nieninque]

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Thats awesome.

[CrystalTears]

Just what I've always wanted. A table with the blue screen of death. :D

[Rysk]

I haven't had a blue screen in at least 6 years... :P

[Celephais]

Yeah, who gets BSODs now adays anyway? Personally I had more anguish from the apple bomb messages, those were goddamn frustrating.

http://www.essentialmac.com/images/window_bomb.gif

[Rysk]

BSOD is the old standby Windows hater joke. Getting old in my book. Now this... this is funny.

There is some language, be warned. Headphones!
Mac Love (http://youtube.com/watch?v=XqN76gYKHMs)

[Ignot]

Just imagine how this will change the porn industry!

[Drew]

I actually got a blue screen of death last night, was weird. No warning, nothing freezing or locking up just BSOD and restart all of the sudden.

[Rysk]

Last time that happened to me, it was a heating issue on my laptop. If you're on a laptop, check the CPU temperature. Don't end up with a 1700 dollar paper weight like me.

[Parkbandit]

I'm sorry ... that beats the shit out of the iphone.


Yea, because it's convenient to carry a table on my belt.

[Skeeter]

If I'm Bill gates I don't give a fuck because I've already retired to the Caymans with my Billions.

[Artha]

Imagine playing StarCraft 2 on that thing.

[Tsa`ah]

Yea, because it's convenient to carry a table on my belt.

Ok, let's be realistic here.

iPhone ... offers compact touch screen, but doesn't really do much more, if anything at all, compared to any other media cell on the market.

It plays MP3s ... like every other phone out there.
It plays video .... like every other phone out there.
It takes/sends/receives photos ... like every other phone out there.

Essentially what Gates' has done is look at Apple and their phone and say ... but can you do this?

The answer is no. Go spend a grand on a cell phone that doesn't have buttons ... because that's the only selling point, it looks frickin cool but it doesn't do anything new outside of the touch screen.

Now, an interactive touch display that allows you to physically interact with the software and manipulate it with nothing but your hands ... screw Apple.

[Celephais]

Essentially what Gates' has done is look at Apple and their phone and say ... but can you do this?
Uhh... Microsoft Surface has been in development since 2001 ...


...it looks frickin cool but it doesn't do anything new outside of the touch screen.

Microsoft based mobile phones have had touch screens for some time. What Apple did was introduced a multi-touch screen to the mobile market, which is absolutely ridiculous IMO. Not having keys sucks... Wizard HTC based phones are so much more practical, and can be had damn cheap.

[Apathy]

Apple's advertising and marketing sources will spin this as a win for them.

Great agencies in the industry today IMO.

[Back]

Yea, because it's convenient to carry a table on my belt.

2nd QOTW

To me its a natural progression for a work station. We’ve seen them in movies plenty of times. The first thing that struck me was having to look down at a table top because obviously we are all used to having vertical screens to work on. Ergonomically, will it really affect us that much?

PB is old enough to remember Galaga tables, possibly even Pong tables in bars. Those coin-ops had it right way back in the early 80s. Plus, who does not love a woman (or a man depending on your preference) bathed in cathode-ray tube light over a drink or four and was cool enough to play two players?

That its being marketed the same way as those coin-ops, but hooked into the wireless craze is a brilliant move. Average user? Not so much. Its a kiosk, not a PC. Once it has been honed down to a cost for the average user? It might take off.

[Jayvn]

Just imagine how this will change the porn industry!

Sex on the coffee table, while the coffee table plays a porno...

[Stanley Burrell]

Sony's bendable OLED, plz.

[Celephais]

Its a kiosk, not a PC. Once it has been honed down to a cost for the average user? It might take off.

Fully agree, consider how much plasma TVs used to cost... $10k easy... where did you see them? Not often in peoples homes but all stores and bars had them... Now that they've come down people are owning them in mass.

I've been expecting them to phase out the ordering process of food for years into a computer at each table... this is well beyond what I expected the entry of it to be though. Heh... I want to see a Fast Food chain that charges you by the content... Burger is $1, but if you get it without ketchup it's $0.97, or w/ extra pickles $1.02 etc... They assembly line that shit anyway, if the machines only provided them with what you asked... there would be no mistakes.

[Bobmuhthol]

<<Burger is $1, but if you get it without ketchup it's $0.97, or w/ extra pickles $1.02 etc>>

From a business standpoint, that doesn't sound like a good idea for the company. The price of a burger is relatively fixed and increases only when factor prices increase, but the cost of condiments, etc. aren't changing, only the fact that someone is using them. It doesn't cost the company any more to add something that they've already purchased to your food. The only factors that will really change the price of a burger at a fast food restaurant are changes in employee wage, the cost of all the food, or competition/changing preferences in the customers. (Note that calculating a range of prices like that based on what you put on your burger is likely to push a lot more customers away than it attracts, for a number of reaons. There'll always be a place that has one price for all burgers regardless of whether you asked for ketchup, and they'll start picking up business due to lost interest in the establishment that's obsessing over the contents of the burger.)

Economics final coming up, lol.

[Celephais]

Odd, because I remember Wendys charging extra if you had tomatoes on your burger when there was the tomatoe draught.

[CrystalTears]

A manager just got shot in a Wendy's for not giving the customer more condiments than the restaurant allows per order, so don't tell me that condiments don't factor into prices. Hell some places charge you for anything more than 2. You want a third Sweet and Sour sauce? That'll be a quarter please.

[Parkbandit]

<<Burger is $1, but if you get it without ketchup it's $0.97, or w/ extra pickles $1.02 etc>>

From a business standpoint, that doesn't sound like a good idea for the company. The price of a burger is relatively fixed and increases only when factor prices increase, but the cost of condiments, etc. aren't changing, only the fact that someone is using them. It doesn't cost the company any more to add something that they've already purchased to your food. The only factors that will really change the price of a burger at a fast food restaurant are changes in employee wage, the cost of all the food, or competition/changing preferences in the customers. (Note that calculating a range of prices like that based on what you put on your burger is likely to push a lot more customers away than it attracts, for a number of reaons. There'll always be a place that has one price for all burgers regardless of whether you asked for ketchup, and they'll start picking up business due to lost interest in the establishment that's obsessing over the contents of the burger.)

Economics final coming up, lol.


Wow.. good luck on your final.. sounds like you are going to rely on luck after that post.

[Tea & Strumpets]

A manager just got shot in a Wendy's for not giving the customer more condiments than the restaurant allows per order, so don't tell me that condiments don't factor into prices. Hell some places charge you for anything more than 2. You want a third Sweet and Sour sauce? That'll be a quarter please.

Well, that doesn't necessarily prove that the manager was worried about the cost of condiments. He could have just been being a prick and exercising the only power he has over other people. NO SOUP FOR YOU!!!

[Back]

Ok, let's be realistic here.

iPhone ... offers compact touch screen, but doesn't really do much more, if anything at all, compared to any other media cell on the market.

It plays MP3s ... like every other phone out there.
It plays video .... like every other phone out there.
It takes/sends/receives photos ... like every other phone out there.

Essentially what Gates' has done is look at Apple and their phone and say ... but can you do this?

The answer is no. Go spend a grand on a cell phone that doesn't have buttons ... because that's the only selling point, it looks frickin cool but it doesn't do anything new outside of the touch screen.

Now, an interactive touch display that allows you to physically interact with the software and manipulate it with nothing but your hands ... screw Apple.

I’m not sure you are being realistic because the iPhone *I think* will be priced like an iPod - $300-$500. iPods are the backbone of Apple’s recent success so from a marketing perspective this is a great move on Apple’s part... adding wireless to an iPod with a touch screen coolness factor. Remember, it has a web connection. Anything you can do on the web is now in your pocket.

Compare that to this Surface thing. So far from what I’ve seen it is essentially the same thing without cell phone capability but does have an even cooler touch screen interface. Its priced at $5000-$10,000.

Ultimately, however cool the interface is... the real factor that will determine its success is what can it really do for the user for the money spent? In this case hands down the iPhone will win.

[Rysk]

Once again I disagree. Everything I've read about the iPhone puts its starting price at 850ish. With a new plan you're still talking 500 dollars for it. There are smart phones on the market that you can purchase for 100 dollars with plan (Blackjack, Blackberry Pearl) that DO operate on a 3G network, thus making the iPhone obsolete. Yes, the touchscreen is cool, but so limited on a phone that it makes it pointless.

I think the Microsoft surface will prevail for this reason:

The price will come down, if you watch the video, they are putting the current ones together by hand. Once the process is streamlined, prices will drop. When the prices get to a reasonable level, I think that an interface like this for a computer will make the PC a more friendly environment for the people that have never owned a computer before. Still there are kids that grow up without a computer, and grow up not trusting technology. I have a friend that never had one, and refuses to buy anything online, will not bank online, won't use his debit card, etc. All this because he's scared of technology since he's never been around it. And hes only 28! I think its sad that people grow up in todays world with a fear of technology. I think a user friendly, intuitive interface like the surface will push technology to a greater number of people... that is ... once the price drops. But i can see something like this being used in schools as well.. I think its more durable than people think.

Oh well.. I'm rambling again. Bleh

[Celephais]

People keep saying the iPhone has a revolutionary touch interface... this is nothing new. All the blackberry/windows mobile phones have touch screen surfaces too, it's just that the OS for these phones is set up for more precision in the touches (stylus), they still work with your fingers (if they're not crazy fat). Multi-touch and the OS itself are the only new things.

This coffee table is not a competitor to a phone, what are you an idiot? It's a new OS and methodology for kiosk based embedded software.

[Back]

This coffee table is not a competitor to a phone, what are you an idiot? It's a new OS and methodology for kiosk based embedded software.

True but we can compare their relative success. Both should be winners.

[Rysk]

People keep saying the iPhone has a revolutionary touch interface... this is nothing new. All the blackberry/windows mobile phones have touch screen surfaces too, it's just that the OS for these phones is set up for more precision in the touches (stylus), they still work with your fingers (if they're not crazy fat). Multi-touch and the OS itself are the only new things.

In regards to touch screen accuracy. Check out this software from Microsoft.

Click Here (http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/microsoft/microsoft-shift-makes-cellphone-finger-input-easier-but-not-booger-free-261403.php)

[Celephais]

Neat. Wish my phone had that... finger works well as it is for everything but the little icons for sound and wi-fi... they are two close together and in the corner, it's a crap shoot which it thinks I pressed.

[Bobmuhthol]

<<Odd, because I remember Wendys charging extra if you had tomatoes on your burger when there was the tomatoe draught.>>


The only factors that will really change the price of a burger at a fast food restaurant are changes in employee wage, the cost of all the food, or competition/changing preferences in the customers.

An increase in factor costs yields an increase in market price.

Hey Parkbandit, that's interesting, since I have a 97% and my post was not at all wrong.