Cambridge Council denies iPad plan
Cambridge City Council has said press reports that it is planning to buy a batch of Apple iPads are incorrect. The council has issued a statement saying that the touchscreen computers, which were released by Apple in the US just last month, are not being considered as an option in its plan to reduce the volume of paper, printing …
If so, it wouldn't surprise me if they were spunking money on gifts for themselves. My own Labour-run council thought it more important to retain their limousines than keep sports and community facilities open.
Libdem.
http://www.cambridge.gov.uk/ccm/navigation/about-the-council/councillors/
There are only 2 Labour councillors on Cambridge County Council. The rest are Tories and Lib Dems (mostly tories) with 1 Green and 1 UKIP.
Thankfully Labour have done pretty poorly in Cambridge in the last few years.
..at 28 seats with Labour having 11 seats.
I must say I am surprised.
And how does an iPad make one "green" anyway? Apple still have a poor rating according to Greenpeace.
You are confusing Cambridgeshire County Council (Tory-run) with Cambridge City Council (LibDem-run). There are more Labour councillors than Tory ones on the city council.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/08/greenpeace_electronics_guide_jan_010/
iPad will probably be a good tool once the productivity / business apps get mature, say in a year's time.
...that you didn't use the revolting "NuLabour" that I see here all the time.
But what your individual Labour council did is really bugger all to do with anything. I bet there are just as many Tory councils who have chosen to spend money on themselves rather than the ratepayers too.
It would be nice if you could leave your knee-jerk political posturing at home.
I've been telling anyone who'll listen (it's getting boring) that this is the way forward for tablets at work.
They don't need cameras, games, video, Windows 7, flash or 3G connectivity.
They need to be about A5 sized and replace the daybook / notepad that everyone carries around the office.
Seriously, a stylus, document reader, handwriting recognition, a USB socket and maybe a calendar. That's it. Basic, cheap and easy. Use it to sketch out ideas, read and write minutes and then sync it to your office laptop. You'd never lose meeting minutes scribbled on a scrap of paper again.
Hang on, isn't that pretty much a bigger, modernised Palm Pilot? They were brilliant. Somebody will make an app that does the same, but you'll still need nearly a grand's worth of Apple iPad to run it.
I want one! Now who'll build me one..?
"Seriously, a stylus, document reader, handwriting recognition, a USB socket and maybe a calendar. That's it. Basic, cheap and easy"
iPad, 2 outta 6 isn't bad I suppose, iPad has no stylus, no handwriting, no usb, it's also not cheap and easy, basic, yep!
Can anyone do handwriting with a stylus on a touchscreen faster than they can type?
What's wrong with a 150quid HP mini netbook.
Flash drive so limited storage for dodgy downloads, has a keyboard and can run word/outlook etc and already plugs into their existing IT systems.
iPads would be useless anyway unless they would be prepared to jailbreak it, as any custom apps one might need to use in the running of a council are likely to not be approved unless it has a nice icon that Sir Steve approves of. I don't know if custom apps would be needed, probably not but no doubt they would come up with something.
Want to rig a local election? There's an app for that!
Just not true...
You can develop (or have developed/buy in) and distribute your own app's to apple devices ipod/iphone without necessarily putting the app's on the App Store... Or jailbreaking. Go and Look into the apple developer connection and get back to me when you have a little knowledge on the topic. Thxbye.
In that case can someone hurry up and make a "When to grit the pavement app" or a "Stop pissing council tax money up the wall on fashion accessories app" please. Oh, sorry they don't need that last one as they are not buying iPads anyway. Thxbye
Surely there are much better devices you can use to cut down on paper waste. A netbook, an existing tablet that multi-tasks - hell even an etch-a-sketch!
Assuming that the iPad is just a big iPhone that is, any secure data kept on an iPad could be stolen in minutes, at least if you had a full operating system on a tablet PC you could run one of the hundreds of proper disk encryption software out there bitlocker/truecrypt/pointsec etc. etc. etc.
No business in their right mind would hold important data on an iAnything (well maybe the iTablet, but only because that's a real computer, if somewhat pretend)
I live in Cambridge. Last week the city council reported they'd be shedding a few hundred jobs, bcos the number of ppl in the city has shot up but council tax rises are capped, and central government isn't going to help them. So I'm glad this isn't true.
I think it is fair to summarise previous posts as saying something like:
+ small devices that can connect to the web and dedicated services are okay
+ some prefer iPad some prefer others
Yet the humble iPAQ did do very well (add gps realistic gps, route planning, gps logging, ... office compatibility without online-ness (unless one sacrificed a slot and paid a lot more dosh) but I think the public were not too ready or appreciative of such technology at the time.
Who knows?
Multiple calendars synced across devices accessible online with opportunity to publish online on a small(ish) device might just capture decision makers attention.
My own take is that I see no reason for Apple's way of doing things not favouring large organisations such as government and government bodies. Does one really need to employ a person to re-input data for the umpteenth time and then to attempt with greater or lesser degree of success (avoiding double and triplicate entries of the same events?) and making it so unpredictable when there is an easy solution so readily available?
I'd guess that there are good grounds for at least one UK local authority to pilot Mac and Apple way of doing things as doing no other will forever keep them blind to the obvious.
What do you get when you multiply 6 iPads by 9 iPads?
It depends whether you have 13 counting digits on your appendages.
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