People really do hold in their own hands the greatest paper-replacement devices yet devised by man, and honestly ask how to print.
("How do I print from a Kindle" is also a distressingly common question.)
In their hands, the future; in their minds, only the past.
Upvote for insightfulness. However, that only works if the people you want to share with also have iPads. If you are a student with a paper to turn in, the ability to print would be really nice. I've only ever had a single professor (just got out of grad school) who didn't require you to turn in a written copy. Someday, when everyone on earth has fantastic e-readers, the ability to print might be redundant, but in the mean time it would be nice to have that on the ipad.
Paper replacement device? Far from it. Here are things I use paper for:
1. Cheat sheets! I have a number of pieces of paper tacked to the wall with things I use and reference. It was easy to print out, and put up. The iPad cannot do this.
2. Compare several documents at once. An iPad cannot do this. Many iPads can. The cost, however, is prohibitive.
3. Easy to distribute. I can hand off a document to a co-worker. I'd be less trusting with an iPad.
4. Etc.
Paper isn't useful because you can read from it. It's useful for everything else it provides.
Things iPad and like devices need before it will replace paper
1. Low cost. Sub-$100. Even that is expensive when compare to the power of paper.
2. Easy to share items. Really, I should be able to move a document from my device to another device just like I would hand over a document to a co-worker. This needs to happen cross-devices too. We can do this with email, but email is rather cumbersome with this.
3. Durable.
4. etc.
Look, you ever watch an episode of Star Trek? I remember an episode of DS9 where Sisco is reading through reports on pads. Each pad is digital, but he's still holding up several, comparing reports on each.
Don't get me wrong. iPads and the like are a great step forward, but so much work needs to be done before they come close to replacing paper. The scary part is, nothing that needs to be done on the technical end relies on new concepts, or can't already be done now. It's just implementing it on an open standard and actually doing it.
I don't entirely disagree with you, but some of the examples you cite as reasons for needing paper could simply be done differently.
For example: I don't feel any need to print things out and hang them on my wall to reference later - I have a sticky notes app for that. I can compare many documents side-by-side on my computer just by resizing windows appropriately, and if I had a giant monitor, I could compare quite a lot of things side-by-side without printing anything out. (That is considerably less easy to do on the iPad, however.) I also never deal with my coworkers physically as I work remotely; everything happens digitally. Some of us already live an almost paper-free life. :)
I'm pretty sure I was clearly referring to the iPad and similar devices. Even the original comment was referring to the iPad and Kindle. As it stands now, the iPad can't do these things. You can't resize windows. Sticky notes on an iPad don't solve real problems, or replace real solutions. As for you never dealing with co-workers physically doesn't mean the problem doesn't exist.
"1. Cheat sheets! I have a number of pieces of paper tacked to the wall with things I use and reference. It was easy to print out, and put up. The iPad cannot do this. 2. Compare several documents at once. An iPad cannot do this. Many iPads can. The cost, however, is prohibitive."
I was in a meeting with Apple reps once where we complained about the lack of a docking station for some users. Apple's suggestion: buy a laptop AND a desktop and replicate files between the two.
I'm not suggesting a tablet can replace all uses of paper today. Of course technology still has a bunch of ground to cover. ("yet devised" was the intended scope-limiter)
The frustration is that people aren't even thinking about integrating what they have into their processes.
They treat these new devices as just another new thing to do the stuff they already do, the way they already do it.
(I personally think multiple mobile screens is more a hack than a good solution. Wall-displays and table-displays are the way to go for mass data screening/sorting/comparison.)
(And convenient proximity sharing is an app away. One I also eagerly await. In the meantime, I'm probably not going to start serious work on a piece of paper someone hands me right that second, so email isn't much of a roadblock. But I do recognize the huge value of lower-friction, on-the-spot sharing.)
I remember some marketing for the iPad positioning it as something for parents to buy for their college-bound student. Those students are going to be disappointed when their new toy can't print out papers to turn in to their professors.
I'm reminded of a scene in one of the Miles Vorkosigan novels wherein a couple of the characters use a similar approach to get around some high tech military encryption in a pair of communication terminals...
Your reduction of brightness idea is brilliant! Minimum backlight gives this: http://jim.studt.net/ipad-print2.jpg which if you only have a black and white laser printer…
Taking the case off might also help get the image closer to the glass of the scanner.
It's probably a joke but could/does this actually work? Logical me wonders if you inverted the text to high contrast (white on black). Would the glare cause just whiteness to be photocopied? But maybe if you lowered the contrast/brightness down to barely visible levels?
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[ 2.5 ms ] story [ 51.9 ms ] threadPeople really do hold in their own hands the greatest paper-replacement devices yet devised by man, and honestly ask how to print. ("How do I print from a Kindle" is also a distressingly common question.)
In their hands, the future; in their minds, only the past.
1. Cheat sheets! I have a number of pieces of paper tacked to the wall with things I use and reference. It was easy to print out, and put up. The iPad cannot do this. 2. Compare several documents at once. An iPad cannot do this. Many iPads can. The cost, however, is prohibitive. 3. Easy to distribute. I can hand off a document to a co-worker. I'd be less trusting with an iPad. 4. Etc.
Paper isn't useful because you can read from it. It's useful for everything else it provides.
Things iPad and like devices need before it will replace paper 1. Low cost. Sub-$100. Even that is expensive when compare to the power of paper. 2. Easy to share items. Really, I should be able to move a document from my device to another device just like I would hand over a document to a co-worker. This needs to happen cross-devices too. We can do this with email, but email is rather cumbersome with this. 3. Durable. 4. etc.
Look, you ever watch an episode of Star Trek? I remember an episode of DS9 where Sisco is reading through reports on pads. Each pad is digital, but he's still holding up several, comparing reports on each.
Don't get me wrong. iPads and the like are a great step forward, but so much work needs to be done before they come close to replacing paper. The scary part is, nothing that needs to be done on the technical end relies on new concepts, or can't already be done now. It's just implementing it on an open standard and actually doing it.
For example: I don't feel any need to print things out and hang them on my wall to reference later - I have a sticky notes app for that. I can compare many documents side-by-side on my computer just by resizing windows appropriately, and if I had a giant monitor, I could compare quite a lot of things side-by-side without printing anything out. (That is considerably less easy to do on the iPad, however.) I also never deal with my coworkers physically as I work remotely; everything happens digitally. Some of us already live an almost paper-free life. :)
I was in a meeting with Apple reps once where we complained about the lack of a docking station for some users. Apple's suggestion: buy a laptop AND a desktop and replicate files between the two.
Rep: You want to compare several documents at once! Great, the iPad makes this easy!!!! Just buy more iPads!
Me: Wouldn't that get expensive?
Rep: Ink is expensive! On a per pound basis, iPads are less expensive then ink. So you'd be saving lots of money!
Rep 2: Just sign here (Pointing with pen to the paper contract)
The frustration is that people aren't even thinking about integrating what they have into their processes. They treat these new devices as just another new thing to do the stuff they already do, the way they already do it.
(I personally think multiple mobile screens is more a hack than a good solution. Wall-displays and table-displays are the way to go for mass data screening/sorting/comparison.)
(And convenient proximity sharing is an app away. One I also eagerly await. In the meantime, I'm probably not going to start serious work on a piece of paper someone hands me right that second, so email isn't much of a roadblock. But I do recognize the huge value of lower-friction, on-the-spot sharing.)
Taking the case off might also help get the image closer to the glass of the scanner.
https://gmr.privatepaste.com/download/446c8451b4 https://gmr.privatepaste.com/download/05f6ad4f26 https://gmr.privatepaste.com/download/53f9fedeae