Illustrations from a 1972 research paper show ...the IPad???

[underpants]

Illustrations from a 1972 research paper show ...
Illustrations from a research paper by Alan Kay of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center published in 1972 called "A Personal Computer for Children of All Ages" show a conceptualization of a tablet computer called the DynaBook so easy to use that it would bring computing to children in this handout image released to Reuters by the Association for Computing Machinery in New York in March of 2011. With a plasma screen, no moving parts, a contrast ratio approaching that of a book and the ability to buy, transfer and download files instantly the device, descibred with a target price of $500, bears an uncanny resemblance and similarity to today's IPad. REUTERS/Images Reproduced Courtesy of the Association for Computing Machinery/Handout

[Quantess]

1. "so easy even a child can use it"

Haha. In reality, it's "so easy an adult can use it".

[Teaser]

2. looks like a Speak N Spell

.

[Tiggeroshii]

3. Or something similar to an ebook?

Course ebooks are slightly cheaper...

[tridim]

4. I was drawing iPhone type devices in 1978 at 8 years old.

I want my residuals.

[MrScorpio]

5. I had an iPad in 1969...

We called it an "Etch-A-Sketch"

[rzemanfl]

6. Five hundred was serious money in '72. n/t

[MineralMan]

7. I remember my Radio Shack Model 100.

Small screen, but I used it for a few years on the road. Nice little device for its time.

[Bozita]

8. the original ...

[Ezlivin]

16. The update...

[WilliamPitt]

9. Frank Herbert and Star Trek came up with the iPad decades ago.

Everyone relax.

:)

[Tesha]

10. Well of course! And Kay spent quite a while working for Apple. (NT)

From Wikipedia:

> Starting in 1984, Kay was an Apple Fellow at Apple
> Computer until the closing of the ATG (Advanced
> Technology Group), one of the company's R&D divisions.

iPhone and now iPad plus the enormous amount of data
stored "in the cloud" is certainly the realization of
Kay's Dynabook idea.

Tesha

[sfwriter]

13. Thanks for mentioning Kay...

[dkf]

11. Oh oh. Patent issues?

[Rick Myers]

12. 2001: A Space Odessey

Did the iPad in 1968... Dave watches the news while eating...

[Hannah Bell]

14. i've seen other stuff like that. it makes you wonder if the technology on

the market isn't something like 20 years behind the currently possible technology.

[Tesha]

17. The technology on the market right now is absolutely the best that can be accomplished...

...with current battery technology. The 'Pad could
go faster or have more memory, but its battery life
would become proportionally shorter; Apple seems to
feel that they've set an appropriate trade-off point
and I tend to agree with them.

Android devices seem to be a bit more aggressive in
performance and have proportionally-shorter battery
life; many folks seem to complain that their Android
devices don't make it through the work-day alive.

Tesha

[Atman]

15. Big deal. A lot of us thought of this. It took Jobs to pull it off.

I made a prototype of one of these back in the 90's. Geared towards kids and the education market. It was different, obviously, but basically the same thing. Mine was designed with more of a book metaphor. I got paid pretty good to do the conceptualizing. But it takes serious capital and the vision of someone like Jobs to bring these things to fruition. Apple had it.