[geeks] iPad - NOT a 'Miss' for me I'm afraid

[nate at portents.com]

> In order to decode ANY compressed video stream in "HD" (any as in all, not
> any as in one) you need to have a fast CPU and good video memory
> bandwitdth.

No, you don't need a fast CPU, you just need a reasonably recent GPU, some
good drivers, a solid API, and a video playback system which can actually
use all that.  Read this:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3678

Right now it is an ugly, horrible, mess.  And Adobe is terrible, simply
wrapping up MPEG-4 in their Flash wrapper for so many video streams and
taking months to patch serious security flaws in Flash and get half-decent
performance out of their stupid software.  Recently the best they could do
is commit to *quarterly* updates for their software, leaving millions of
computers at serious risk for vast stretches of time while known exploits
are in use.  And for some stupid reason Adobe also can't seem to create a
consistent updater system that actually works across their numerous
products.

> It would be ironic if it really went against Apple, and in order to
> produce the processing power needed for a 1080p netbook, Intel did produce
> the quad core Atom they claim they are not going to.

They're not, and there's no need to.

And Apple is best-served by drawing a line in the sand to stop Adobe from
taking over web standards with their lazy, badly written, poorly
optimized, security-hole-ridden Flash platform.  Apple can do better
performance video playback using optimized APIs on solid drivers to do GPU
assisted video decode in a more secure way and save more battery life than
any Adobe plugin solution ever could.

- Nate