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I have wondered how people discover Dropbox. It seems to have penetration into the realm of non-techies, but I am not sure. Is this true, in your opinion? Th

I have wondered how people discover Dropbox. It seems to have penetration into the realm of non-techies, but I am not sure. Is this true, in your opinion? The iPad I completely understand the appeal. It does not look like a computer. It looks like an Etch-a-Sketch. It's basically a handheld game. I would love to read more about what your users want. It is interesting and educational.

m0nty 14y ago
I work in education so it's a mixed bag. Children like computers for youtube, facebook, etc. They have no inhibitions about technology and don't think it's OK to be clueless. The staff I work with divide into those who use computers all day, every day, and those who only do it occasionally and reluctantly. They tend to take up undue amounts of my time asking for support with trivial things, and I have on occasion been shouted at, whined at by email, screamed at from a distance of a couple of feet, and emotionally blackmailed by a teacher who would break down into tears if I didn't fix her problems immediately. But all the people who do stuff like that (i.e. show extreme discomfort with technology and take it out in inappropriate ways) just love iPads and iPhones. It takes all the crap out of the situation, and it (perhaps most importantly) takes me out of it - I think they feel less dependent when they can install their own apps, etc. The things I dislike about the iPad are what they like most. I think they discover Dropbox via the iPad rather than via the PC. I don't tell them about it because it can be a bit confusing explaining how it works. But there is no confusion if they find out (for themselves) that it syncs their iPad to their PC and vice versa. Solves a very immediate problem in a hassle-free way. I'm sure there are plenty of problems waiting to be solved in eduation. For example, multiple logins - to Moodle, Google Docs/Gmail, various other websites. Would love to see an app which sits in the tray and aggregates all these logins so a student can click to say "log me into everything" without ever typing a password except to get into Windows in the first place. (There's not much of a security issue with keeping all these logins in a central database since it's not that sort of login; just a way to play educational games or whatever.) Other things would include ways to get iPads out of the classroom. For example, some of our staff use them to film/photograph students playing sports so they can check their posture. For cricket, for example, it can be very difficult to prove to someone that their arm is bent at the point of delivery (which is a "no ball"). The iPad removes all and any doubt by showing the bowler a movie of his "action". Also, field science, etc - counting how many bugs are in a square meter of grassy ground, using image recognition to look up insects in a DB and say "That's a wood wasp" with a link to Wikipedia, etc. You did ask ;) I'm sure you could find hundreds of things to do if you're looking for a project.

m0nty 14y ago

I work in education so it's a mixed bag. Children like computers for youtube, facebook, etc. They have no inhibitions about technology and don't think it's OK to be clueless. The staff I work with divide into those who use computers all day, every day, and those who only do it occasionally and reluctantly. They tend to take up undue amounts of my time asking for support with trivial things, and I have on occasion been shouted at, whined at by email, screamed at from a distance of a couple of feet, and emotionally blackmailed by a teacher who would break down into tears if I didn't fix her problems immediately. But all the people who do stuff like that (i.e. show extreme discomfort with technology and take it out in inappropriate ways) just love iPads and iPhones. It takes all the crap out of the situation, and it (perhaps most importantly) takes me out of it - I think they feel less dependent when they can install their own apps, etc. The things I dislike about the iPad are what they like most. I think they discover Dropbox via the iPad rather than via the PC. I don't tell them about it because it can be a bit confusing explaining how it works. But there is no confusion if they find out (for themselves) that it syncs their iPad to their PC and vice versa. Solves a very immediate problem in a hassle-free way. I'm sure there are plenty of problems waiting to be solved in eduation. For example, multiple logins - to Moodle, Google Docs/Gmail, various other websites. Would love to see an app which sits in the tray and aggregates all these logins so a student can click to say "log me into everything" without ever typing a password except to get into Windows in the first place. (There's not much of a security issue with keeping all these logins in a central database since it's not that sort of login; just a way to play educational games or whatever.) Other things would include ways to get iPads out of the classroom. For example, some of our staff use them to film/photograph students playing sports so they can check their posture. For cricket, for example, it can be very difficult to prove to someone that their arm is bent at the point of delivery (which is a "no ball"). The iPad removes all and any doubt by showing the bowler a movie of his "action". Also, field science, etc - counting how many bugs are in a square meter of grassy ground, using image recognition to look up insects in a DB and say "That's a wood wasp" with a link to Wikipedia, etc. You did ask ;) I'm sure you could find hundreds of things to do if you're looking for a project.