99 Year Old’s First Computer: An iPad
Virginia Campbell’s first computer, at age 99, is an Apple iPad.
Love it, hate it, think it’s overpriced or simply don’t care, the Apple iPad has garnered its fair share of media coverage, parodies, and jokes. While some people consider it nothing more than a giant iPod Touch (there’s no such thing as an “iTouch”, so stop calling them that), US shipments of the 3G iPad have been delayed and international shipments don’t even have a ship date, even I, a die-hard PC user think it has its specific uses.
Would I buy one? No. It’s overpriced, not widescreen, lacks a removable battery, USB ports, (digital) video out, and a whole slew of other features and connections that would make it truly useful to someone who does anything more than just play games, surf the Internet (without Adobe Flash) or read books.
For those not affected by those shortcomings, a centenarian is showing that it’s never too late to embrace technology. Virginia Campbell purchased her first computer ever at the age of 99. The iPad’s pinch-to-zoom and tablet form-factor allows her to read books and write, putting the English literature degree she earned in the 1930s to use.
Accessibility features like font sizes, pinch-to-zoom and other features allow her to use the iPad despite her glaucoma, an irreversible, degenerative condition that leads to loss of vision.
Below is a video her children posted of her using the iPad and it has over 400,000+ views.
Source: YouTube.com
Apple’s commitment to accessibility: http://www.apple.com/accessibility/
For all the PC users, all versions of Windows also have built-in Accessibility features:
- Windows XP: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/accessibility/
- Windows Vista: http://www.microsoft.com/enable/products/windowsvista/
- Windows 7: http://www.microsoft.com/enable/products/windows7/
First of all – It’s not a computer. Not anywhere close to being a computer. It’s an overpriced hype-enabled piece of ipod garbage.
Secondly – iTouch refers to the ipod touch. If you have some kind of stupid opinion about it, too bad.
You can argue semantics all you want. My smartphone has more computing power in it than the Apollo missions — does that make it a computer? On that bent, my Snapdragon 1Ghz-powered smartphone can pretty much everything the iPad does.
Just because people call it an “iTouch” doesn’t make it correct. Apple’s line of MP3 players are iPods and that encompasses the Nano, Shuffle, Classic and Touch. No one calls it an “iNano” or an “iShuffle”.
Similarly, Kleenex and Popsicles are brands of products, not the actual products themselves (facial tissue and ice pops).
It’s not an opinion, it’s just facts.
How wonderful! For her to be able to read and write again in her 100th year! Good for her…just goes to show that you never stop learning.
I hope she continues to enjoy her ipad
actually a digital watch is classified as a computer, so your smart-phone and the Ipad are both computers, what ever your opinions are. technically if it is digital, it is a computer.
it’s not an opinion, it’s just facts
Yes, I’m aware that any digital device that does computations and displays the results is technically a “computer”.
My comment was in response to Matt’s opinion, namely: “First of all – It’s not a computer. Not anywhere close to being a computer. It’s an overpriced hype-enabled piece of ipod garbage.”
As for the opinion part, that was in response to the “iTouch”.
Thanks.
Just because you don’t like people calling it an “iTouch” doesn’t make you right.
Like he said, IT’S A MATTER OF OPINION. To hear people say ITouch, in MY opinion, makes them sound lazy, because one’s BRAIN still has to figure out what the hell you mean. IPod Touch I know; ITouch I have to think about. So make it easy for everyone, and call it by it’s proper name, ok? Just sayin…
^ I believe that totally has to do with laziness, not brevity…
My name has 3 syllables and because of that, 9/10 people call me “Jer”, “J”, “Jerm”, etc.
2 syllables: iPod, Shuffle, Nano, Classic… iTouch…
It’s funny how you’re all are just picky about a name. It’s still an overpriced, overhyped practically useless ‘computer’. I mean, it’s great that Grandma there gets a new computer, but shouldn’t her grandkids have told her that there are better computers that she can use for other things that have zoom options? Just wait until her arthritis kicks in and she can’t pinch and zoom. Or take pictures of the kiddies on a memory card to print them out. If she’s figured out how to do that instead of film.
Oh, and who cares what they call it. The people I know who have an iPod Touch still call it an iPod, argueing about the name is a waste of time to just hear yourself spew.
^ and they’re not even arguing about the iPad, they’re arguing about the iPod!
*must not feed the trolls… but sometimes, it’s just too much fun…*
Like I said in the blog post, there’s no such thing as an “iTouch”. I could care less what one calls it. I personally don’t use iPod products due to their mediocre sound quality (digital-to-analog conversion).
They can argue all they want, but at the end of the day, here’s the official list of all of Apple’s legal trademarks: http://www.apple.com/legal/trademark/appletmlist.html