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denverd0n · 07-12-2012, 05:13

A tablet is just a small computer with an ordinary wifi connection built into it. Everything that you read on here about wifi applies to tablets as much as to any other sort of computer.

And internet phone is just a cellular telephone that creates its own wifi hotspot. So these work anywhere that you have a good cell phone connection.

Wifi and cell phones are "line of sight" devices, so you need to be relatively close to wherever you are receiving the signal from. In other words, these will definitely NOT get you any kind of connectivity when you are well away from civilization.

ArtM · 08-12-2012, 20:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by denverd0n

A tablet is just a small computer with an ordinary wifi connection built into it. Everything that you read on here about wifi applies to tablets as much as to any other sort of computer.

While not "untrue", this kind of simplification can be misleading. Today's tablets run different software than laptops, and are typically less flexible and capable in favor of being simpler and more compact.

Tablet = compact, designed for ease of use and enjoyable user experience

Laptop/Computer = runs a wider range of software, accepts a wider range of accessories, typically is capable of much greater range of uses, especially when offline from the internet.

You can buy a tablet that shares software with your phone, but not your laptop

In the NEAR future, you will be able to buy a Microsoft tablet that will run laptop software.

A laptop will offer a wider range of connectivity options, especially as you travel to other regions of the world and as technologies advance.

goboatingnow · 09-12-2012, 07:42

This is also misleading. Sharing software with the exception of certain obscure apps is irrelevant. Sharing the data is whats useful. If its any good the developer will have versions for most architectures.

Laptops and tablets do different things. But in reality you can equip modern tablets will all the things you need for office or offline computing.

The future is not laptops that's for sure.

robyn-bob · 09-12-2012, 08:42

I just went down to the Keys during Thanksgiving and picked up a Verizon MiFi for Internet access while on the water. We were out on Hawkes Channel and never had a problem with the signal.

I agree that laptops are a thing of the past. Tablets, phablets (phones that are in between a phone and a tablet and have a screen that is 5" or more) and smartphones are replacing them.

For a tablet, you can get a BlueTooth keyboard if you can't get used to tapping on glass. If you get a smartphone/tablet, make sure it has HDMI output so that you can pick up an AC/DC LED screen that has HDMI input. You can then connect your smartphone/tablet device to your screen and see your sailing apps displayed larger on the LED screen.

If you have the bucks, opt for a touch screen ($400 and up for a 19") and then it's like having a larger smartphone/tablet.

I lean more in favor of the Android than I do iOS/Apple.

If you have specific propeller head questions feel free to email me directly or post here.

Bob

Zanshin · 09-12-2012, 08:55

I'm looking at the KVH V3 system. It runs at about $1 per megabyte at high speeds and can be used offshore. Unfortunately, the hardware goes for about $13K. At that price, paying INMARSAT between $5-$10 per Mb but with a smaller initial cost looks quite attractive.

Inquisitive · 09-12-2012, 10:05

Very helpful thread! Thanks for all the info!

hellosailor · 09-12-2012, 10:43

Just wait for a few more exploits and hacks on cloud storage, and big bulky laptops with onboard storage may start becoming more attractive again.

There have been some cloud storage hacks that are usually hushed over, and even Google has lost data stored in their system--forever. The users weren't too happy to hear that.

For those of us who can type, tablets will never cut the bill until you add a keyboard either. Then you wind up with a hybrid which is...guess what? Just a lightweight laptop again.

The laptop, like Mark Twain, may well be commenting about the news of its death being somewhat premature. All that cloud stuff, very nice, very low effort, and very vulnerable to complete loss.

goboatingnow · 09-12-2012, 16:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Just wait for a few more exploits and hacks on cloud storage, and big bulky laptops with onboard storage may start becoming more attractive again.

There have been some cloud storage hacks that are usually hushed over, and even Google has lost data stored in their system--forever. The users weren't too happy to hear that.

For those of us who can type, tablets will never cut the bill until you add a keyboard either. Then you wind up with a hybrid which is...guess what? Just a lightweight laptop again.

The laptop, like Mark Twain, may well be commenting about the news of its death being somewhat premature. All that cloud stuff, very nice, very low effort, and very vulnerable to complete loss.

Perhaps you might read up on zoning in data centres etc or bone up on Amazon AWS . Then come back to us.

Dave

hellosailor · 09-12-2012, 17:49

Been there, done that, Dave. Every time someone invents an impregnable data storage scheme, someone else finds a whole in it. Data is only safe when it is offline, and then really only "safer" not safe, when you don't know who or how it is being managed.

I've seen triple-redundant systems go down, it isn't pretty. It was actually a triple-redundant triple cluster (9 machines in all) that went down along with an entire data center when a custom switch burned out during an unprecedented storm. Way before TS Sandy wiped out...well, in theory Wall Street learned a lesson on 9/11 and didn't lose any data this time.

And do you really think Google has improved things since their big crash? Batch of school boys after band camp, having a good time, but try to get real answers from them, try to simply ask "How are my Google Contacts backed up and secured? And why can't I encrypt them?"

You'll find no one answers.

Or perhaps, you heard about the DoD mass infection, what was that two years ago? When someone left USB sticks around to be found, and military top-security personnel carried them into secure areas and infected highly secured systems all over the military networks? You know how many months they worked on clearing that up?

Then there's Stuxnet...oh sure, the Iranians must have had really low security on their nuclear systems. There are apparently private versions of the stuxnet code, written for S*&Giggles by various black hats, being found in the wild now. Targeted at all sorts of other systems.

Google? Skydrive? Really? You think they're more secure and better protected than military networks? And that employees don't literally carry around, or ship around, masses of data files, the same way government and industry employees keep doing, while failing to encrypt and secure the data and devices?

ArtM · 09-12-2012, 18:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

This is also misleading. Sharing software with the exception of certain obscure apps is irrelevant. Sharing the data is whats useful. If its any good the developer will have versions for most architectures.

Laptops and tablets do different things. But in reality you can equip modern tablets will all the things you need for office or offline computing.

The future is not laptops that's for sure.

I'm not disagreeing with anything said, just extending it. I predict a convergence of laptops and tablets. Microsoft will have the first offering this month, I think.

Sharing of software is important FOR the purpose of sharing data. Sharing of data implies sharing of software. Although there are ways of "working around" that, they are at this time kludgy and unreliable.

By this time next year, though, I think there will be a full spectrum of options rather than the "this or that" option which is available now.

ArtM · 09-12-2012, 18:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Been there, done that, Dave. Every time someone invents an impregnable data storage scheme, someone else finds a hole in it.

Today's security schemes are all based on two methodologies. One is physical security, the other is data encryption.

Once data encryption is broken, all data security in the world as we know it will be essentially "gone".

Today, encyrption "security" is maintained through ever-increasing key lengths which make it more time consuming to break a code (on the order of many years of computer time). If a crack is ever created that is not dependent on key length, essentially all "secure" data in the world will become instantly compromised.

saw77 · 09-12-2012, 18:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

This is also misleading. Sharing software with the exception of certain obscure apps is irrelevant. Sharing the data is whats useful. If its any good the developer will have versions for most architectures.

Laptops and tablets do different things. But in reality you can equip modern tablets will all the things you need for office or offline computing.

The future is not laptops that's for sure.

Well, I wouldn't be too quick to consign laptops to the ash-heap of IT history just yet. For many people (like me for instance) who work on a computer all day, a tablet is just too small. I'm a software engineer- I need a keyboard and a mouse. I also need a fast processor, and you will always have faster processors in bigger boxes than you'll have in tablets. I also need plenty of local storage for performance reasons. People who do computer graphics, web site design, etc... are probably in the same boat (excuse the pun).

I love my iPad, and I can definitely see tablets replacing dedicated GPS devices for on board navigation, but for IT in general tablets will probable remain a specialty item for the foreseeable future.

hellosailor · 09-12-2012, 21:29

Convergence?
But there are already laptops where the screen swings around backwards on top of the keyboard, so it converts into a tablet. Can't converge much more than that.<G>

Art, I've seen several generatioons of "security" deemed obsolete either because someone found a flaw, or plain horsepower increased enough to make brute force attacks realistic. When a vendor like Google won't tell customers what level of encryption is being used--or if it is being used--and leaves you to presume there's only password security...to me that's no security. And frankly the current practice of making longer stronger passwords seems outright foolish, almost as bad as asking for a maiden name or city or birth--all readily available. Maybe you read the recent article in Wired and the NYTimes about someone who got hacked back, with the aid of some social engineering, Apple, Google, and some other weak systems.

There are better ways but there are being implemented slowly and rarely. One of them is verification of the user's "hand", that is, the timing of your typing. You type a short phrase of long word, and the system examines the time between each keystroke to see if you are you. Not perfect, but that tends to be very different between different people, and very hard to measure or fake. (Unless someone has a special logger running on your machine.)

Heck, it wasn't so long ago that "WEP" was considered "security", was it?

Meanwhile...I want some daylight readable screens, on ALL the gizmos. For less than two grand a pop.<G>

mausgras · 09-12-2012, 23:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by saw77

Well, I wouldn't be too quick to consign laptops to the ash-heap of IT history just yet. For many people (like me for instance) who work on a computer all day, a tablet is just too small. I'm a software engineer- I need a keyboard and a mouse. I also need a fast processor, and you will always have faster processors in bigger boxes than you'll have in tablets. I also need plenty of local storage for performance reasons. People who do computer graphics, web site design, etc... are probably in the same boat (excuse the pun).

I love my iPad, and I can definitely see tablets replacing dedicated GPS devices for on board navigation, but for IT in general tablets will probable remain a specialty item for the foreseeable future.

I have to agree with you.

We now have the choice of a desktop, a laptop, a tablet, an ebook reader and a smartphone a chartplotter and a GPS - 7 different machines, which is at least 5 too many. There has to be a convergence of some of them. You might even want to throw in entertainment such as video, music, games and camera.

I think the desktop is already on its way to join the dinosaurs. It might survive in a few specialist environments.

As a traveller and a writer a simple Tablet just does not have enough grunt. I need a full keyboard and high capacity HDD that gives me access to my files where ever I am no matter how remote. As for a kindle or ebook reader why bother, there are plenty of emulators around. We need a fusion of these ... say a "Laplet" - there are some already emerging.

I find the Galaxy Note, so called phablet. (I prefer to call it a phonelet) a great compromise. Sure, its a big phone but it still fits quite comfortably into your hand, it is very lightweight (most important) and fits into a shirt pocket. The 5 inch screen is very readable and I love the S-pen. It is very easy to use with navigation around the screens and keying input. Handwriting recognition has come a long way since the early iPAQs and Newtons (anyone remember them). The alternate SWYPE keyboard for input is also very accurate and speedy.

My phonelet gives me access to mobile broadband and wifi data connections and I can tether it to the laptop super easy.

The range of apps is excellent. I run Navionics charts on it when I am out on the boat. I find I use it more than the dedicated chartplotter because it is always in my pocket when I need it. (I think dedicated chartplotters are an endangered species too).

Its also a pretty good point and shoot video and still camera and music player.

One downside, the voice recognition software is getting better but not there yet.

I have settled on having only two appliances in my backpack. My ultrabook laptop for grunt and my Galaxy Note for convenience. I dont need anything else.