Is Apple conducive to stealing?

Sick of the iPad? If you don’t have one, then most likely you are. Still, there’s constant news either because the device is changing some company, lacking something noticable now that it’s been out a week or, in this case, causing all sorts of problems for other industries.

The book publishing industry knows that it’s in trouble and has to make some serious changes because of e-books, but one of its fears is coming true because of the iPad: piracy!

TorrentFreak tracked downloads of books on BitTorrent throughout the week after the iPad launched and found that, yes, there is some illegal downloading going on. “The number of unauthorized eBook downloads on BitTorrent grew by 78% on average.” That is a huge number. The interesting part is that the books that TorrentFreak tracked were business books because that fit the “demographics of iPad buyers.” Looking at the general bestselling list on Amazon provided nothing. Those 10 books were not seen on BitTorrent, although they might be elsewhere (i.e. Pirate Bay).

One thing that the book publishing industry can relax about is that book piracy isn’t anywhere near illegal music downloading. Of course, the iPod has been out for almost a decade, whereas the iPad and other e-readers have only been popular a couple of years. So, while the number is small right now, it will most likely grow in the coming years.

True, it’s not Apple’s fault, per se. Apple is just at the front of a lot of technological advances right now and it’s the technology, not the company, that is making it possible for people to skirt around paying. No matter what company created the iPod or the iPad, people will find a way to get things for free. Because who likes to pay for stuff?

What constitutes changing the world?

If you Google “the iPad will change the world” you’ll get all sorts of articles by people who truly believe the new iPad will herald the end of computers as we know them. People clearly have very high hopes for the iPad. After all, it hasn’t even been officially released and it has sold hundreds of thousands. But will the iPad really “change the world?”

The iPhone is popular, there’s no denying that. But when people say things like the “popular embrace of iPhones has reached staggering proportions” I’m skeptical and hesitant. iPhone sales worldwide to date equal roughly 42.5 million. That’s impressive. Of course that’s less impressive when you realize that number includes people who have bought multiple iPhones and therefore that number doesn’t represent unique individuals who own the phone.

Still, let’s assume when a person buys an iPhone, they never buy another one and the 42.5 million represents unique sales. If those sales were only in the U.S. alone 42.5 million sales means only 14 percent of the country has an iPhone. Not a shabby number but not exactly what I would call “staggering proportions.” Worldwide the number is even less impressive. Of course worldwide includes the population of countries where the iPhone isn’t even available. So let’s make this fair. I did a rough count of the population of all the countries iPhones are currently sold.

iPhone sales worldwide only account for 0.7 percent of the population. Not even a full 1 percent of the world has an iPhone. iPhones are popular, sure, but they’re a very small percentage of the world. Therefore I can’t label them as “staggeringly” popular.

Even if the iPad has as much success as the iPhone, that is not nearly what I would call “changing the world.” I don’t believe that the iPad will ship out and suddenly everyone will want a tablet computer. In fact, I think a lot of people are going to continue to use their laptops, netbooks and (gasp!) desktops.

The very first iPod

Apple is popular, but look at the last decade. When you think mp3 odds are you think iPod. It’s hard not too. But when the iPod was first released in 2001 it took almost two years for the iPod to sell a million devices. It wasn’t until 2005 that the sale of iPods really began to increase by a lot. Over the last three years 20 million iPods were sold in each year’s first quarter. Just the first quarter. That doesn’t include the 9 million-plus sold in each of the next three quarters of each year.

The iPod could arguably be a game-changer, a world-changer. But it took 5 years for that and the CD industry is still around. No, the industry isn’t doing well, and yes, they just cut prices of CDs, but it took 9 years after the release of the iPod for the industry to respond as such.

The truth is that the iPad might change the world, but not right now it won’t. For technophiles and Apple enthusiasts, sure the iPad is revolutionary, it’s the future, it’s going to change everything. But for average people (who makes up a much larger portion of the population) the iPad is cool and new but not worth it, or something they don’t understand. So while people go on about the half million sold by the release date and the 1 million sold the week after April 3, keep it in perspective. That great 1 million is only .3 percent of the U.S., nevermind the world.

Even if in five years, half of the people in the United States own the iPad or some sort of very similar tablet computer, that proves that it’s a great piece of technology and popular. But when you remember how small that population is in comparison to the world, that means only 2.5 percent of the world owns a tablet.

When people throw around the phrase “change the world,” just keep in mind how big the world is. The U.S. and western Europe don’t constitute the world. You have to remember Africa, where people can’t even pay for medicine. Also, it will be almost impossible to find any Apple product in a Middle Eastern country. Those countries account for at least 6 percent of the world.

I believe the iPad and tablets are the future, which is, you know, not right now.

3D gaming without the dorky glasses

It’s funny how fast a technology can evolve once people become used to it. Computers went from clunky desktops and brick-like laptops to flat-screen desktops and netbooks and now tablets. All in about 10 years. Phones went from giant cell phones to small flip phones and then they added e-mail and the next thing you knew you could do just about everything: Internet, movies, songs, apps, books, etc.

For a long time, 3D technology was relegated to theme parks. Disney’s Muppet*Vision 3D and Honey I Shrunk the Audience have been around since the early ’90s. Universal has a Shrek ride and a Spider-man ride. In movie theaters, 3D films were hard to find at first until more and more theaters began including at least one 3D screen. This past year or two has seen multiple 3D movies and many large blockbusters are planned to be in 3D – this week’s How to Train Your Dragon, Clash of the Titans, Shrek Forever After, Toy Story 3 and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (there are at least 12 other, smaller movies that will be released in 3D).

Just two months ago 3D TVs were announced by big companies (LG, Sony, Panasonic, etc). And now 3D has shrunk: get ready for the Nintendo 3DS.

I was so skeptical. I always think of 3D as having to put on glasses and screens that look blurry without the glasses on. And this new handheld gaming device is supposed to be without glasses. And then I saw the video. Seriously. Watch it. Part of me insists that it cannot be real. The other part of me has been squealing “That’s so cool!” in my mind for the last 30 minutes.

You have to hand it to the minds at Nintendo. Whenever the company is getting into some serious trouble, they haul out some crazy idea that changes everything. Take the regular game console. Before the Wii, Nintendo struggled with the GameCube. The Playstation 2 was the market leader and the Xbox offered great online access. The Gamecube mostly had family games and a low price. And then they unveiled the Wii.

Now, Xbox and Playstation are playing catch up to the Wii. Xbox is releasing Project Natal — which, like the Wii, is based on motion sensor technology but there’s no controller — and the Playstation has Move, which also uses motion sensor technology and a controller.

And now, when Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch are stealing away gamers from the DS, Nintendo comes out with this really cool looking 3D model. Sure, people are going to say it’s a gimmick to get back customers. But isn’t that the point of a business? To create something so cool people want to buy it?

I’m pumped for the Nintendo 3DS, especially since it does 3D in a way I’ve never seen before.

The professor who really doesn’t like laptops

By now you’ve heard about or seen the professor who froze a laptop with liquid nitrogen and then shattered. Let that be a lesson to not bring gadgets into his class! Don’t worry, though, it wasn’t a student’s laptop, probably just an old, broken one that the professor decided to use for fun.

This got me thinking, though. I think our education system is sending us mixed messages. When you’re a child, or at least before college, school districts are practically begging for laptops and when they get them they’re pushing them on students. The high school I went to issued laptops to all students since about 1998.

There’s that One Laptop Per Child program. It seems to be the new trend that kids will learn better with their own computers. And the kids all love it.

They’re no Macs, but they’re still laptops nonetheless.

Suddenly you hit an age: college. Professors no longer want laptops in the room. They don’t allow laptops at all unless you have a very specific reason that you’ve cleared with the professor first.

I know and understand the argument. Laptops are a big distraction. Even if I’m not goofing off on my laptop, I’ve been known to become mesmerized by others. I once had a kid in front of me play DDR (which I hadn’t realized was possible) every Chemistry class. I didn’t do so well in Chemistry (though in the kid’s defense, it was never my forte anyway).

Professors don’t want students paying thousands of dollars sitting in class and not even bothering to learn. Laptops are evil that way. It’s too easy to check your e-mail, Facebook and  Twitter, go shopping or try not to giggle while looking at Failblog. I’ve done all of these in classes. To prevent these distractions, professors just don’t allow laptops, cell phones or mp3 players into classes. Texting is almost blatantly done and headphones can be hidden up a sweatshirt or jacket with the earbuds hidden by hair or a hood. I’ve done that in a Biology class (I really didn’t like science).

Note, all of the students are looking at different things on their laptops. Which one is actually paying attention?

But my main concern about laptop banning is: What is the difference between a student who is distracted online and one who daydreams or doodles on a notebook in class? Either way the student isn’t learning. If a student is so easily distracted by a 15-inch screen, odds are he or she doesn’t really want to pay attention anyway.

Some holiday shopping

Getting cool gifts for people is difficult. Getting tech gifts for people can be even more difficult because of the price tags attached to everything. But now that Thanksgiving is over and the leftover turkey is finally out of your fridge you can start looking for those gifts you still haven’t bought for the upcoming holidays.

On the low end:

For someone into fitness there are two cool options out there: The Nike + iPod kit and the Fitbit.

Now Nike + iPod is initially cheaper at $29, but it works with a Nike+ shoe, otherwise you should buy the pouch for the shoe sensor. This kit is nice because you can go online where your results will post and, thanks to the nature of competition, you can try to be better than others.

Fitbit is $99 and can automatically synchronize with your computer within a certain distance of it. Fitbit is also small so it can slip into your pocket or clip onto your clothes. The device also monitors your sleep patterns and soon it will also be connected socially online.

In the middle:

The Flip Video camera can be bought from as low as $149. It’s cell phone-sized camera records videos and can capture still images from the videos. Also, it has a built-in USB connector so you don’t need wires and cables to connect to a computer.

The high end:

There are so many to count, so I’ll give a general nod to smartphones and netbooks. These are expensive.

Smartphones, like Droid, Blackberry, iPhone, etc. are usually around $150-$200, but I’ve added them into the “high end” category because to make a smartphone really worth it the monthly fees for e-mail and Internet will really get the price up.

Netbooks are so convenient, especially for the person who doesn’t want something too big but wants to be able to get online. The Toshiba Mini NB205 is small with a 10 inch screen but it has a long, 9 hour battery life. And it’s $400.

Another neat netbook is the Litl. The screen flips so it can be used like a regular laptop or stood up like an easel or picture frame. However, this is pricey and will run you $700.