$52 iPad for everyone, and gesture-controlled TV fails

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Gavin McGarry

 

$52 Aakash tablet launch in New Delhi: destined for millions of students in India

Yesterday we all waited impatiently for the iPad 3 announcement. It arrived — but we learned with great surprise that Apple is not calling it the iPad 3 but simply,  the ‘new iPad’.  Shrug.  As I write this the Apple store has posted “Oops an error occurred” on the main store screen while I try to access it.  A ploy to create ‘buzz’ ?  Good times.

India,  I’ve learned,  is getting tablet devices at slashed prices:  a Report on Business article about the company Datawind shows how they created a $52 tablet called the Aakash that the Indian government wants to put in the hands of 80-100 million high school students.  There are some great insights in the article and it’s also an interesting way of looking at the future of  communications.

Also, check out this video from Mashable. This is exactly the reason why gesture- and voice-controlled TV’s are a novelty at the moment: far too slow, not responsive enough. I played around with a similar kind of thing on my Xbox with Kinect.  I gave up using gestures in the end, as it was just easier to use the controller.  I have noticed my nieces and nephews doing the same thing. Sadly, Kinect seems to be going the way of the Wii.

 

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.