iScroll?
The problem with tablet computers is that they’re too big and too light at the same time: Too big to fit into a soft and safe pocket, and too light to make a hard case feasible.
So products like the iPad will probably break all the time unless people put them into big cases, in which case they might as well have bought a notebook.
So I started wondering whether the solution would be to roll up the computer instead, and my father-in-law has now sent me a video that shows that I wasn’t the first person with this idea:
It looks like a great idea, although I’m wondering whether the outer casing won’t scratch the screen when it’s rolled up — I would have thought it needed to be soft on the outside. I also wonder whether it needs to be so big. An iPad rolled up wouldn’t be much bigger than an banana, I reckon, so it would fit into a jacket pocket or a lady’s handbag.
Sadly, however, this is just a design project AFAIK, not an actual product.
But perhaps somebody will make an actual product out of this one day. If it’s Apple, they could call it the iScroll.
Who’ll use the iPad?
I’ve been discussing with wifie who’ll use the iPad, and we find it hard to find a single group of people that it’s perfect for. Let’s have a look:
- School kids and students won’t like it because they can’t play the Flash games that are their raison d’être, and because they multitask all the time (homework is always done while MSN’ing in another window).
- Content creators (such as bloggers) won’t like it because it doesn’t have a proper keyboard, and because it’s hard to attach a camera.
- Gadget nerds will think they don’t really need it because they already have an iPhone, a netbook, a laptop and a portable DVD player.
- Mature technophobes who would really like a minimal solution for light web browsing and emailing won’t like it because the iPad requires a proper computer for synchronisation, too.
- Business people will not buy it because it cannot be connected to a lightpro for presentations, and they might also want a front-facing camera for conferencing.
- Commuters won’t like it because it’s hard to hold on to on public transport.
- Porn addicts will dislike that it needs to be held in the hands.
- Book readers will not buy it because the screen isn’t as good for reading as electronic paper.
- Women won’t buy it because of the name, and because it doesn’t fit in a handbag.
- Game players will only buy it if there are games available for it that are better than their equivalents on other platforms, and that’s not the case (yet).
So I must admit I find it hard to figure out who exactly will think it’s worth the money, unless some ground-breaking games are soon released for it.
How will you hold the iPad?
The usual crowd seem to love the new iPad, but neutral observers seem to be distinctly unimpressed (and not just because of the sanitary name).
I tend to agree.
If it’s supposed to be Apple’s netbook, it should be running MacOS, not the single-tasking OS of the iPod Touch and iPhone that is restricted to applications from Apple’s application store, and it should have at least one USB port so that you can connect a printer, a camera or a keyboard, and a monitor socket so that you can connect it to a lightpro if you’re giving a presentation.
If it’s a hand-held web browser, it should support flash (which is needed for 90% of the web games that are Marcel and Charlotte’s main reason for using a computer).
If it’s an eReader, would most people not prefer a “real” one like the Kindle which uses electronic paper instead of a back-lit LED display, especially as the iPad is only 132 pixels per inch (ppi) compared to the Kindle’s 150/167 ppi or the iPhone’s 163 ppi?
I can also see a problem with how to hold it. You typically balance a netbook on your legs or put it on a table, and you normally hold a smartphone in one hand while you operate it with the other one. Neither seems practical for the iPad: If you balance it on your legs or put it on a table, the angle is wrong for looking at the screen (and you could easily drop it if you’re using it on public transport), and if you hold it in one hand, you only have one hand to operate it with (which is not ideal for fast typing), and it could easily be snatched out of your hand.
I therefore think that most users will buy the keyboard dock and/or the iPad case, which allows the iPad to be positioned upright or at an angle (scroll down to the bottom of the page if you follow the link), but that makes it even more expensive, and even less practical to carry around.
To conclude, I really don’t think the first-generation iPad will catch on. However, Apple could easily design a very attractive second-generation device if they added a few ports, upgraded the OS and integrated the case.
Folding T-shirts
This is an impressive way to fold your T-shirt:
Unless you’re an engineer, in which case this is the way to go:
If you like that idea, but don’t want to build it yourself, it seems to be available here.
However, it seems that if you’re in the US Army, you don’t fold, you roll:
Watching the wheels
Shortly after I got my driving license, we went to Tuscany on holiday.
My parents, who we were visiting, thought it would be good for me to learn to drive on the right, too, so they let me drive their car, a Fiat Multipla.
One feature of that car is that it has split wing mirrors (see the photo): The top part is a normal wing mirror, while the bottom part is fixed to show the bottom edge of the car.
It’s probably designed to make parking easier (and it definitely works for that purpose), but I found it invaluable to learn to gauge the width of the car.
Basically, at first I had no idea where the edge of the road was, but once I learned to check the bottom mirror, I found I could see precisely where I was.
I probably only used it intensively for an hour or two, and I then got a really good feel for the width of the car.
Actually, when I returned to the UK, I realised that I actually felt less able to gauge the width of my own car.
It’s not really the kind of thing you need all the time, but it would be a wonderful feature every time you drive a new car.
Bilejer
Som jeg har skrevet før, bestod jeg køreprøven i sidste uge.
Phyllis’ forældre brugte det som en undskyldning for at skifte deres biler ud, og vi fik så lov til at købe Anns gamle bil.
Da Phyllis er ejer af vores Citroën C8, besluttede vi, at jeg skulle stå som ejer af den fire år gamle Nissan Micra S.
Vi er begge forsikret til begge biler, så reelt bliver Micraen nok bilen til småture og Citroënen bilen til længere weekendture.
Men det er altså min første bil, og jeg tror såmænd nok, jeg skal blive glad for den.
G1 × 2
Complexli got new mobile phones for all its directors today.
After looking at the various options, we decided to go for the G1 (also known as the gPhone or Google Phone) because it’s got a nice keyboard, a decent camera, 3G and a nice interface for Gmail, which we both use.
We thought the Blackberries had slightly too narrow keyboards, and there didn’t seem to be a model with both 3G and a 3 megapixel camera.
The iPhone is quite nice, but the lack of a keyboard would be an issue for emailing, we thought, and the plan is that we should be able to answer any emails while away from the office.
Marcel wanted us to go for the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1, but the keyboard looked a bit flimsy in the shop.
Now we’ve spent some hours playing around with them, and I really like it. There are a few shortcomings, though:
- For some reason Phyllis’ phone has upgraded itself to version 1.5 during the day, while mine is still running 1.0. That’s annoying, because 1.5 has many more features, such as video capture. It’d be nice I could somehow force mine to update, too.
- The Bluetooth support is incomplete, so my old phone can’t connect to the G1 to upload its address book.
- The battery life is bad, but I gather that’s a problem with most current smartphones. This also means that lots of features, such as Wifi, Bluetooth and GPS, are disabled by default to save power.
- There’s no flash, and the camera doesn’t seem to be well protected, so it’s likely to scratch.
But all in all it’s a nice device, and Anna and Léon really love watching YouTube videos on it – the quality is just so good.
Buying phones
As part of setting up our company, we decided to get two new mobile phones on a business contract.
The natural place for me to buy anything that can be delivered to your house is the Internet, so of course I surfed the websites of the different operators.
I found a decent deal, but there were a few small issues with it, so reluctantly I called their sales team.
They promptly offered me a completely different (and cheaper) deal from what I had seen online.
When I mentioned it to Marcel, he found it completely natural. According to him, there are just so many deals they can’t possibly list them all on their website, and you have to talk to them to get what you need.
I’m really shocked, though. I believe the best deals should always be available online, given that this saves sales rep salaries.
Surely it’s easy enough to design a system that allows you to enter your precise circumstances and be offered deals that suit you, without needing to list all the other deals on offer.
What’s up with them? Are they just weird because they sell phones, or are lots of companies like that?