Yeah, I'm wondering if they're going straight for 3D gesture and voice control type stuff.

They've already got the mind control covered.

an Apple proprietary chip is involved in that

I kinda figured that from the logo.

What's wrong with using the iPad as a second screen

Portable music production means not having to carry two devices when one device will do.

All of the compelling uses I read about for something like the Surface have boiled down to pretty niche uses that are really not sustainable.

Music production, NFL sidelines. Those are two pretty high-profile niches.

It's nice that you like your Surface now, because it's not going to be around for many more years.

"Nyah, nyah!"

For music production, a hybrid tablet would be great

I use one every day. It's called "Surface Pro". Full ProTools, full plug-in support, full peripheral support, touchscreen and power to spare.

You know, that mark you get as an extra when you pay to turn ads on /. off.

Interesting that you bring that up. I'm a long-time subscriber to Slashdot, but a few months ago, the subscription page stopped working for me. I simply cannot add money to my subscription. When I try to click the radio button for "Buy subscription for Pope Ratzo" nothing happens.

I've got Slashdot whitelisted in all of my blockers and Privacy Badger and Disonnect and I've tried it in Chrome and Firefox. It just does not work any more.

Robot death matches won't really be interesting until they become self-aware, and they realize we're having them kill each other for our amusement.

Yeah, tanks a lot.

Wait a minute. I want to hear more about dildo swings.

I'm starting to realize that I have lived a sheltered life.

I've often wondered why services like Facebook, Google, Snapchat and others don't just give their users the option of paying for the service in order to be left free from ads and tracking?

My guess is that it's because if consumers ever saw the real value that these services and their customers (the advertisers) place on our attention and our personal information, we would be a lot more careful about giving it away.

Obviously they're going to have to get money somehow.

So why not give us an option to pay?

Any relationship where the real customer is a third party tends to become an abusive relationship.

You are not the customer. You are the product.

You are not the consumer, you are the consumbles

No, it truly is easy if there is probable cause.

This is from: http://legal-dictionary.thefre...

Probable cause is not equal to absolute certainty. That is, a police officer does not have to be absolutely certain that criminal activity is taking place to perform a search or make an arrest. Probable cause can exist even when there is some doubt as to the person's guilt. Courts take care to review the actions of police in the context of everyday life, Balancing the interests of law enforcement against the interests of personal liberty in determining whether probable cause existed for a search or arrest.

If they are not planning to arrest someone, then why the warrantless search? The point is, if the police can articulate their suspicions clearly enough with a modicum of evidence, they get the warrant.

What I was getting at before is that with keyboard and mouse, and a powerful-enough tablet,

Absolutely. The problem is not that the Apple tablets are not powerful enough, it's that iOS is not powerful enough.

Or maybe that's not right either. Maybe it's just that iOS is not designed for production, but rather for consumption.

The question should be what is so fucking hard about getting a warrant? They are handed out like candy these days so what is so hard about getting one?

OK, here's the reason I'd like to see this convertible, as long as it runs OSX:

Right now, the only tablet that's useful in music production is the Surface Pro. Because, it's the only tablet that can run a full version of the professional music production software. If I want a tablet that runs Pro Tools, it's got to be a Surface Pro, and touchscreens are terrific for music production. Especially if you're going to be drawing waveforms, mixing, scrubbing, or any of the other tactile interactions that musicians/music producers use.

I run MaxDSP on my Surface Pro, and the touchscreen allows me to access the full power of that program. Same thing with drawing envelopes in professional sampling software like Kontakt. It's amazing how much more productive you can be when you can interact directly with DAW software on a touchscreen or stylus. Of course, you can get Wacom tablets for your Macbook Pro, but with a lot of location production, the name of the game is portability.

Plus, with the Surface Pro, I can run all my VSTs and VSTi's. You can do none of these things on any iPad. The peripherals for music production that are made for the iPad are all merely toys. But since the Surface Pro has USB ports, I can plug in any keyboard, MIDI controller, pad controller, mixing controller or audio interface directly.

If Apple has any interest in taking back primacy in music production, it needs to build a Surface Pro clone. They got caught napping on that one, and need to play catch-up.

Plus, I'm sure Apple would love to have gotten that deal with the NFL for the tablets on the sidelines. As popular as the NFL is, that every Sunday viewers see their favorite football players and coaches reviewing live game film and play diagrams on the sidelines with Surface Pros should be a little embarrassing to Apple.

The ads on the back of the New Yorker showing famous photographers on top of the Himalayas, taking photographs on their iPads are too ridiculous for words. Apple could really score big with an ad that shows some popular music producer actually using an Apple portable product with a touch screen to produce music. The phony shots of Dr Dre (or whomever) using an iPad to create beats are just silly.