Well, no, but the only time I ever hear of one is when someone is apologising for using it to send text. I don't think I've ever seen one.

Does an i-phone count? I've often seen those.

You must have seen someone using an iPad or other tablet on a plane or in the airport. Quite common on the London underground these days too (you know who to ask). Even hospitals, schools, hotels are using them? Very useful they are too, very different from a laptop.

If you say so, I haven't noticed but perhaps the users are furtive.

My, admittedly limited, understanding is that tablets are just laptops with squidgy little screens that make it hard to see what's happening and bad keyboards that make it difficult to type coherent messages. Sort of like an Osborne machine but lighter. I wondered if the titchy screen accounts for the odd column format of post made from them, like a teletype.

Don't they just run Windows or a variation of Unix like laptops? If so, apart from being more portable, how are they very different from laptops?

Well they're not something to do work on for a start. They are more for reading content, watching video, photos, and using a myriad of apps. Not unlike an iPhone, but the larger screen makes them a better experience, and easier to use a virtual keyboard when you want to. Plus they're always on which is more convenient than firing up a laptop. They're basically optimised for use when you are sitting on a couch rather than at a desk.

In sum, more portable than a laptop and always on. Smaller screen than a laptop. Better than a telephone for looking at pictures but not as good as a laptop.

I'm not seeing the value but, I suppose, if having one means you don't buy a laptop and you can live with the inconvenience of the screen and keyboard it'd make sense so long as it was a good bit cheaper than a laptop. Are they less than $100 to buy?

You can probably get unbranded (Android OS) ones at that price as in the UK they start at around £50. The hot seller this season is one that Tesco has brought out at £100 (the "Hudl") and Amazon web-based Kindles are £100 upwards. Cheaping out on a tablet is penny wise pound foolish though, as you end up using them quite a bit, and the last thing you want is jittery functionality. Go check them out at Guelph's Best Buy, it is Black Friday after all, maybe you can have fisticuffs on the side.

An attractive proposal but I try to avoid buying anything that cannot be consumed within 24 hours of purchase and I have the use of a company laptop.

Nasty post.

Nothing like as common as we are perhaps led to believe.

"Almost three-quarters of a million UK adults say they are gay, lesbian or bisexual - equivalent to 1.5% of the population, a survey suggests."



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11398629

I have to speak to my 4 granparents, they all had big families...9-12, my aunts and
Uncles, not one was or is gay...not even a paedophile among them....
What did the do wrong...tttttt


that what is what I find so fascinating about the internet

Sometimes when it gets to be so bad I fervently hope that those reading my 'contributions' at least bother to read my standard warning 'beware occasional sarcasm'

it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out his post was not meant to be taken seriously

so how, pray tell, how can it be nasty?

e Really? Pish and tosh. It was nasty, anyone with an ounce of sense would not have posted that as a joke.

The poster is backtracking now he's been called out. IMHO

from wiki

The purpose of black comedy is to make light of serious and often taboo subject matter, and some comedians use it as a tool for exploring vulgar issues, thus provoking discomfort and serious thought as well as amusement in their audience. Popular themes of the genre include murder, suicide, depression, abuse, mutilation, war, barbarism, drug abuse, terminal illness, domestic violence, sexual violence, paedophilia, insanity, nightmare, disease, racism, homophobia, sexism, disability (both physical and mental), chauvinism, corruption, and crime.