01.27.10
Posted in Design, Technology at 9:47 pm by Ben
So here’s my thoughts on Apple’s new iPad.
The name is not that great, Slate or Tablet would have been better although one could argue that these are too generic. Sorry to see no camera, and I think another USB port would have added to its functionality (more devices it could hook up to). And then there’s the rigmarole with the App store and the limited iPhone-like multitasking.
It’s a game changer despite these limitations. Why? Because the future, which the iPad has finally opened up (at least to my view), is awesome.
Imagine when auto manufacturers include docking stations for this. Instant carputer. Imagine a docking station for this in the back of a car seat’s headrest. Instant car entertainment system. And then the fact that one could just undock it and take it with them when they’re done traveling – pure awesomeness there. It’s the little digital consuming platform that everyone secretly needs.
Some may argue that it doesn’t have a very good business application and that laptops are much more flexible and powerful. And I would say, for digital creation – yes. But for digital content consumption? A laptop is overkill. In fact an iPod touch does digital media consumption much more effectively then my laptop. But web browsing and reading on an iPod touch is…well, small. And so the iPad addresses this with a larger screen. The iPad could be that perfect digital companion for the professional. Imagine an iPad (or even iPhone) application that would record and transcribe audio. Doctors, lawyers, management – even college students – could then take an iPad around and capture their meetings, lectures, or whatever it is they need to capture. Then transcribe that audio into useful digital text that could be utilized by other systems within the individual’s workflow. Now also imagine an app that used a special stylus (“the horror!!!” you say – but think of a plastic pen-like object with something that would work with the touchscreen tech). Now imagine an app that would save images of your scrawls written with this stylus. Later you could get these images OCRd into useful digital text (probably by transferring the images to a more powerful machine for OCR and then re-uploading the now-digitized text to your iPad). None of this “try and recognize my handwriting right now” approach. I think this approach to hand writing has potential and the iPad could actually make it very palatable for end-consumers to use.
Although at first glance the iPad doesn’t look like much, I’m seeing glimpses of the future and it’s freaking awesome. Now I only wonder why earlier Tablet PC’s never showed me such promise?
Permalink
10.10.09
Posted in Design at 3:48 pm by Ben
Just some light updates to the stylesheet for the blog, bringing it up to par with my portfolio site. They should look pretty much the same now in Firefox and Safari. I don’t test personal stuff against IE as I’m not particularly looking for tedious things to do with my life at the moment. I get paid to do that at work, not here. And most of my audience here appear to be pretty smarts folks who use Other Browsers.
Anyway, the content should be fairly accessible even if it does look all wonky in “the worlds most widely used browser.”
Permalink
09.30.09
Posted in Books at 10:34 pm by Ben
Published in 1967, Vietnam: A Dragon Embattled is a two volume set written by Joseph Buttinger. Written during the rising crescendo of the Vietnam conflict, Buttinger lucidly describes the modern history of Vietnam from the colonial conquest of the French, to poor French management and overzealous French colonialists, the effects of World War 2, the resulting French return and the rise of the Vietmienh to Dien Bien Phu and the division of Vietnam at the Geneva conferences (due to US intransigence), finally leading to the US backing of the Vietnamese nationalist Diem until his dictatorial tendencies and rampant corruption brought about a military coupe that would lead to his ousting and murder. It is an amazing feat and Buttinger does an admirable job of fairly portraying all the different individuals, parties and policies involved – although he is quite harsh about French (and US) missteps that ruined the possibility of non-communist Vietnam. But he also levels appropriate criticism at the Vietnamese – pointing out Communist failures that led to useless suffering (collective farming issues that led to the only major north Vietnamese revolt against the communist government).
Buttinger, in 1967, clearly points out what could have been if better policies had been followed, if France had treated the Vietnamese nation with the respect and dignity it deserved, if the US had chose to back the Vietnamese nationalists instead of France, if the US would have forced Diem to make the essential and necessary political and social changes that were so desperately needed. It is fascinating and troubling to see the answers so readily apparent in 1967 and yet these answers were not followed (or possibly understood). It makes a tragic read to some extent.
In the end, “Vietnam: A Dragon Embattled” is an amazing, well-written social, political, and historical review of modern Vietnam (up to 1967 standards any way) and is amazingly prescient about the problems that would eventually turn Vietnam into a communist nation.
Permalink
« Previous entries