Author: admin

Tablet fever

January 31, 2011

As we mentioned here on more than one occasion, CES was overrun by the tablet sensation. As was widely reported, CES had more tablets that one could shake a stick at. This morning at breakfast a client asked me where I thought technology was heading and these types of phenomenon make it such that you don’t need a crystal ball or be some techno-luminary to decipher this code: the desktop is dead and the laptop is circling the drain. To add to this Apple is cranking out new processing paradigms, Google is releasing an OS that is a ground-up

Watson takes down its first two humans

January 28, 2011

Ok so anyone not already familiar with IBM’s Watson needs to get on board immediately and check this thing out. I for one am impressed. This computer took and, and subsequently down, two human players in a game of Jeaopardy! They will be playing for real in February. Check Watson out here… As I constantly read about this project I cannot help but to dwell on phrasing used to describe its size. They say it is a room-sized computer with hundreds of chips, yaddah yaddah. Does anyone recall the stories told to us about the size of the first

Apple’s reported new processor

January 27, 2011

It is no longer a secret that Apple will be releasing a new iPad and iPhone in the near future. The big question on everyone’s mind, as is always the case, is “what’s in it”? As usual no one know for sure but the word on the street so to speak is exciting; multiple processors. The reports are exciting as they would lend credence to other rumors that the iPad is going to have an incredible 2048-by-1536 screen resolution. As someone in line already to buy a new iPad, this is incredible news. As it is always nice to

Keeping it simple rules mobile

January 25, 2011

Back in design school we had a professor who used to always quote someone who I cannot recall now. “Design is the absence of complexity”. I believe it was even posted on the wall for a long spell. And why not, it makes perfect sense. In a world with gadgets galore, more whistles that you can handle, and bells, yeah those too, we are understandably tempted to “doll it up” with all kinds of garbage we just don’t need. Correction: WE need it, our customers definitely do not. As with every tool, mobile is unique. It has its “thing”

Netflix queue relegated to website only

January 24, 2011

Movie giant Netflix made a puzzling decision recently: let’s make it more annoying to manage DVD queue’s for out customers. Now I suppose this is subjective but they did make it such that you could not manage your queue from anywhere but their website. While I admit I represent a minority of the population that is hyper tech-dependent, here is a newsflash: any product or service available to me that has an option of using it on the iPhone or only a website, the one that provides the mobile access is likely to win my business. In a world

Cresting 10 billion apps

January 21, 2011

Anyone who has ever been to McDonalds know that ridiculous sign that they had up forever with the burger calculator on it. At some point it just got silly to keep counting. We seem to be circling that number now with apps. The difference is that McDonalds had decades to sell that many hamburgers; Apple has had only a few years. (the app store opened in July of 2008). For those of you like myself who could not have done this math in any reasonable amount of time, that shakes out to about 60 apps per device out there.

4G is here and poised to blow us all away

January 19, 2011

That is what Verizon’s chairman/CEO Ivan Seidenberg said recently at CES. He is clearly referring to the impact that the proliferation of 4G networks will have on media companies and their ability to deliver content to anyone, anywhere, at ridiculous speeds. As app makers, this makes us very happy too. The unfortunate side of this is that while this is undoubtedly true, history tells us that it is going to take a bit to roll out. This means that I might have to buy a few more versions of the iPhone prior to having the experience I am envisioning.