Day: 20 March 2012

Consumer Reports Sensationalism ⇥

Our test finds new iPad hits 116 degrees while running games

Oh fuck, 116 degrees? That sounds blazingly h…

it felt very warm but not especially uncomfortable if held for a brief period.

Oh. Never mind then. Or as Marco Arment put it:

Any reasonably competent, well-intentioned writer or editor would assume that most people reading this would think the new iPad gets hot, implying severe discomfort and a significant flaw that will affect nearly everyone who uses it, rather than merely warm, which would imply an occasional minor inconvenience for the few people who might notice and care.

As someone who has a new iPad, I can assure you, dear reader, that the increase in surface temperature is so unnoticeable I had to double-check I wasn’t using my iPad 2 to read these articles. Actually, I didn’t have to check, because OMFG RETINA DISPLAY.

From the Obvious Chronicles ⇥

Following up on reports from earlier today that the outer shell of the iPad 3 gets warmer than the iPad 2, Consumer Reports found that their iPad 3 reached temperatures up to 116 degrees after running Infinity Blade II for 45 minutes.

Running a higher-definition-than-high-definition game for 45 minutes causes a device to heat up? You don’t say.

Welcome to the Post PC Era ⇥

Jeff Atwood:

In 1975, Gates and Allen form a partnership called Microsoft. Like most startups, Microsoft begins small, but has a huge vision – a computer on every desktop and in every home.

The existential crisis facing Microsoft is that they achieved their mission years ago, at least as far as the developed world is concerned. When was the last time you saw a desktop or a home without a computer?