Apple Using Its Religion

NEW YORK - In a surprise announcement, Apple has disclosed that beginning today, all products sold in New York will be free of the state's typical 4.5% sales tax. The announcement follows a story from the Associated Press revealing that yoga studios are exempt from New York sales tax due to their status as religious institutions. According to the AP, the Department of Taxation and Finance found that yoga "is predominantly a spiritual practice" and should therefore be exempt from the tax.

Astute industry observers may recall a study performed by the BBC last year which found "Apple was actually stimulating the same parts of the brain as religious imagery does in people of faith." According to Apple, it's own stable of godly gadgets far surpass yoga in religious significance. We received the following statement from an Apple spokesman:

Where you find religion, you find disagreement. Nothing has caused more derision in the history of the world than religion. But yoga, really? Who hates yoga? If yoga studios have achieved religious status, surely Apple's decades-old crusade of fanboys versus haters should be granted religious status.

We have reached out to Google for comment, but they have not responded. However, a reliable source has found references to an unannounced Google project named "G-had" that is believed to be the company's planned response to the Apple announcement.

Developing.

In other Apple news:

• Apple Patents Conversational Speech
• Proof of iPhone 5 Redesign

Apple Patents Conversational Speech

In a surprise announcement, the US Patent and Trademark Office has granted Apple a Siri-related patent that covers conversational speech. Patent 990,225,666 - dubbed the '666 patent - covers common grammatical structures for questions and statements used in conversational communication.

We reached out to Apple for comment and were immediately issued an injunction for violating the '666 patent. They did respond, however:

"We realize the broader societal implications of this patent. However, we strongly feel that this technology is not standards-essential and we will not be licensing it under FRAND terms. We fully intend to allow users of Apple products to continue to communicate with each other and with Siri as they do today. For others, we can recommend several iBooks on topics ranging from grunting, to cave drawing, hieroglyphics, and runes. Please keep in mind that mankind has been communicating for millenia; far longer than communication in its current form has existed."

Shortly after the announcement, Samsung released a prepared statement announcing a new version of their wildly popular Android customization known as TouchWiz. The new version, named "TouchWiz Yoda UX", works around the '666 patent by contorting common grammatical structure like a Cirque du Soliel performer. When asked for a comment, Samsung responded "like Yoda UX, you will. Mmm hmm."

Samsung will be debuting TouchWiz Yoda UX on its upcoming Jelly Bean updates. They have vehemently refused to provide schedules for said updates and have deferred to the carriers. We reached out to multiple carriers who in chorus simply replied "Huh?"

This story is still developing. Stay tuned for updates....maybe...ask the carriers.

Student Creates Black Hole by Crossing The Cloud Storage Streams

An unnamed Computer Science student at Stonehill College near Boston has shocked the scientific community (and presumably his missing roommate) by creating a black hole while simultaneously using multiple cloud storage services. It all began when he placed his SkyDrive folder into his DropBox folder, his DropBox folder into his Google Drive folder which also contained his SkyDrive folder. The resulting sync operation created a black hole into which all of his data and most of his dorm room were consumed.

The student has declined interviews, but the following statement is on record with campus police:

"I just wanted as much free storage as possible. I hoped that by syncing the various products with each other, I might achieve some form of storage amplification. I never imagined I would shake the foundations of physics or cloud storage file compatibility."

During the cataclysmic event, the student observed a sustained appearance of the Higgs Boson particle. However, after several seconds, Google Drive renamed the particle "Higgs Boson.gdoc." The resulting format is incompatible with known physics and is therefore lost to science. Unfortunately, the previous version was sucked into the black hole and cannot be recovered.

We contacted CERN for comment on the story and its implications for the Large Hadron Collider

"We cannot comment at this time as our internal IT policy strictly forbids the installation of storage solutions utilizing a public cloud infrastructure. If the LHC manages to unlock the secrets of time travel, we fully intend to go back in time and make sure that our IT administrator's father and mother never meet."

Police began a universe-wide search for the missing roommate, but it was abruptly called off and declared a failure when the International Space Station reported that he wasn't on board.

Incontrovertible Proof of iPhone Redesign

The image above, leaked by an unnamed Estonian fastener manufacturing company, has been identified by sources as a pivotal component of the upcoming iPhone 5. The screw is said to have been designed by Jony Ive himself, and is a clear indicator that the iPhone 5 will feature a 5.2" screen, LTE-Advanced++, dark matter-ion battery, a uniform tapered back that may or may not be tapered at all, a transparent Liquid Metal back, a gorilla glass 4.0 front, and an antenna forged in the fires of Mount Doom.

Industry experts have posited that the screw will most likely be compatible with liquid thread-locking adhesives which would be necessary to stand-up to the normal vibration and rigors of a physical home button. In addition, analysis of the angle of the threads on the specialized screw indicates that the home button will be elongated to such an extent that it may or may not be mistaken for a perfect circle.

The screw is rumored to be a marquee feature of the iPhone 5 and will be dubbed the "iScrew". To build momentum for the expected October release, iScrew will be announced at WWDC and will be accompanied by a special iTunesU catalog of lectures and diagrams entitled "iScrewU: How Apple screws you to the iPhone." Apple is also expected to launch a corresponding "Fastenation/Fastenating" marketing campaign around the innovative fastener.

In a wholly unexpected turn of events, Apple responded to our request for comment:

"We don't know why you people keep calling it the 'iPhone 5'. Don't you realize this will be the sixth iPhone? This is not Siri, by the way." - unnamed Apple spokesperson who may or may not have been Siri

Some industry analysts have opined that Apple's rare response to rumor speculation is proof that Tim Cook is indeed running the "House that Steve Built" into the ground. They have subsequently trampled many small children on their way to their stock brokers shouting "sell, sell sell!" Others feel we may have simply called the wrong number.

In related news, the same Estonian company has seen a significant uptick in orders for a certain washer that can be used in applications such as securing the base of a flat screen TV to the panel. One highly reliable source has verified that this can only signify the release of an 8K Apple TV that also makes toast on June 22nd.

The story is developing and we will provide updates as they become available.

Flooding the rumor mill

In a recent TIMN podcast, Joshua Topolsky stated that he had no idea what the next iPhone would look like because there are so many rumors about the device. This got me thinking, what if that was Apple's strategy all along. And, if not, should it be?

Apple plays things close to the vest. Inevitably, however, plans leak out or a prototype gets left behind in a bar. Apple fights vehemently to dispel the rumors and to recover lost devices. What if they took a different approach? Instead of secrecy and tight lips, what if there was a steady stream of rumors coming from the company - through unofficial sources, not PR - and seed fake devices were intentionally left in bars, airports, etc.?

Employees could be randomly assigned rumors or tidbits of fake plans then encouraged to "leak" them to tipsters at technology blogs and other websites, spread among friends outside the company, etc. Likewise, Apple could create 10-20 fake iDevices, ranging from incremental updates to flat-out ridiculous concepts. Then task employees with "accidentally" leaving them behind. One key would be to include Foxconn, or at least the impression of Foxconn, as one of the sources of leaking information and/or devices. It would probably be good to include a case or accessory partner in the shenanigans as well, since that's a common source of industrial design leaks.

Eventually, there would be so much misinformation in the tech press that one wouldn't be able to discern a true leak from the noise.

I know what you're thinking. This would be impractical and improbable. But wouldn't it be fun?

T

[Update:  Either Topolsky reads my blog (unlikely) or we're on the exact same page.  On this week's podcast he alluded to this exact same strategy.]

Things don’t have to change the world to be important

In the wake of the news surrounding Steve Jobs’ resignation, the Wall Street Journal posted a list of Steve’s best quotes.  Among them, was this gem:

“Things don’t have to change the world to be important.”  [Wired, February 1996]

I latched onto this for a couple of reasons.  One is that Jobs’ keynotes and persona often come across as ego-laden and overplay Apple’s implementation of existing technologies as “world changing”.  I’ll leave that for the fanboys and haters to debate.

The more compelling reason this piqued my interest is that start-ups and the press that covers them (I’m looking at you TechCrunch) are obsessed with how these fledglings will change the world.  In fact, there are two boilerplate templates about how start-ups pitch themselves:

1.  Start-up X is the Y for Z.  For example, YouPud is the YouTube for corporate sexual harassment videos.

2.  Startup-up X is changing the world by …  For example, MyNicheNetwork is changing the world by creating an online community of people who are left-handed and right-footed.

I think number one is the result of laziness.  Not on behalf of the start-ups, but on behalf of the VCs.  I would venture to bet that this format was borrowed from Hollywood, where new movie ideas are pitched as similes.

But it’s number two that really annoys me.  In fact, it’s why I left YouNoodle in a huff.  I got tired of so many start-ups pitching themselves as “changing the world”.  Especially when they were targeting a very small niche, doing something that was easily emulated, or just copying another successful company.  If you are doing any of these, you are not going to change the world (at least in a positive way).

But even if a company really is doing something new, unique, and innovative, it most likely WON’T change the world.  There may be one company in a generation that really changes the world.  An you know what, that’s OK.  You don’t have to change the world to be successful, to make money, to impact the world. 

Tablet Virtual Keyboards: A Typo Comparison

I have been surprised at how capable my iPad 2 has been at content creation.  The virtual keyboard and autocorrect are surprisingly efficient at capturing meeting notes, jotting down thoughts, etc.

Over the course of the last few weeks, I have had a Motorola Xoom to play with as well.  I have been using both my own iPad and the Xoom at work, alternating which I use at meetings.  I’ve been astonished at how much better the iPad is at typing.  It’s surprising, given that both keyboards are roughly the same size; actually the Xoom is slightly wider due to the screen aspect ration.

This is far from scientific, but as a demonstration, here are a few sentences I typed out on each tablet.  The only corrections were autocorrect.  I explicitly prohibited myself from using backspace:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation.
iPad:  Four sore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation.
Xoom:  Four score and seven years avoum our fathers brought fir kn thus continent a new nation.

The quick brown fox jumped over the two lazy dogs.
iPad:  Te quickl brown fox jumped over the two lazy dogs.
Xoom:  The quick briuwn fix jumlex over the two, az div.

Which is better, the apple keyboard or the android one?
iPad:  Wich is heather, the apple keyboard of the andoird one?
Xoom:  Which us better the aop,e mdybkarx ir the andkjd kind?

Why does the apple keyboard routinely miss the second letter of a word?
iPad:  Why dos the apple keyboard routinely miss the second letter of a word?
Xoom:  Why did the aooke keyboard routuneky miss the second letter if the word?

So many words typed on the android keyboard don’t even resemble real words.  Why is that?
iPad:  So may words tped on the android keyboard don’t even resemble real words.  Why is that?
Xoom:  So many words tyoed in the android keyboard don’t even resebke real word, why is that?

So far it looks like the biggest problem on the apple keyboard is missed keystrokes.
iPad:  So fear it looks like the biggest or Len on the apple keyboard is missed keystrokes.
Xoom:  So far t kijs like the biggest lripen in the aooke keyboard us missed meystrijds.

No doubt there are plenty of typos is both.  But the iPad performed significantly better than the Android tablet.  It also appears that the Android spell-check is a Scandinavian person who hates Apple.  In three attempts at typing the word “apple” on the Android keyboard, all three failed.  Conspiracy? 

 

T

For Hulu Users, an Apple Acquisition is Bad News

There has been a lot of buzz over the past several days about Apple acquiring Hulu.  Surprisingly, a lot of people are in favor of it.  As a cable cutter and Hulu user, I don’t see why.  An Apple acquisition would be the end of Hulu as we know it.

Apple is a company that is fueled by organic growth.  That’s not to say they don’t acquire, but their acquisition strategy is clearly to buy companies for their technology, patents, people, etc. and use those assets to bolster Apple’s core products.  Apple does not buy companies to operate subsidiaries at arms length.

So what does this mean for Hulu?

It means that if Apple bought Hulu, it would have no interest in maintaining the free catch-up TV service.  An acquisition would most likely be used by Apple to bolster TV episode rentals in iTunes (expanded content partnerships, shorter lag between airing and web availability, etc.).

What’s also unclear is how Apple’s ecosystem approach would impact Hulu.  Hulu+ Android Apps – gone.  Hulu on a PC – probably safe but you have to use iTunes (@#$%@!).  Hulu on Roku, Boxee, gaming consoles, etc. – kiss them goodbye.  On the flipside, however, those that are already Apple ecosystem devotees (or prisoners) would probably gain some benefits such as the expanded portfolio of content.

What does all of this mean for Hulu users?

It means that instead of watching free catch-up TV, you would be paying Apple $0.99 per episode.  All of sudden my cable cutting would become more expensive than a cable subscription.

At the end of the day, Apple, Apple fanboys and fangirls, and cable operators should be happy about this prospect.  Hulu users, however, should be worried and thinking about the lesser evil – Apple or Comcast.

T

Evaluating Android Tablets

Here's an automated method for evaluating android tablets:

foreach(tablet in landslideOfAndroidTablets)
{
return "meh";
}

Why I no longer use Firefox

I've finally moved [almost] exclusively to Chrome. Here's why:

Updates available
Updates installed
Updates available
Updates installed
Updates available
...

Just let me use my damn browser already!


T

SSID as an advertising tool

Wireless SSIDs can be a controversial topic. Recently there has been discussion as to whether hiding your SSID is really more secure. I know a lot of people who have their home networks named after favorite sports teams, or more cheeky expressions warning people not to steal their connection.

 
 

One thing I never really have much thought to was using a broadcast SSID as a form of advertising. My office sits above a small courtyard filled with shops and cafés, most of which are broadcasting SSIDs. Most are forgettable (multiple "Netgear", "BigPond…", etc.). However, one I see every day when I connect named "Gallery Flowers".

 
 

My wife's birthday rolled around late last month and I decided to send her flowers at work. Even though I walk by several florists every day on my way to work, the first place I thought of when I went to buy flowers was Gallery Flowers. I have still never seen the inside of their shop, but seeing the SSID every day prompted me to search for their website and order flowers to be delivered to my wife.

 
 

Anyone had a similar experience? Do any business owners consciously name their wireless networks to increase visibility of their business?

My Thoughts on the iPad/Tablet Hype

During a round of job interviews, I had an opportunity to be interviewed by Dr. Hugh Bradlow, CTO of Telstra.  During the interview he asked for my thoughts on pads (slates).  Here is an expansion of the three areas of my answer.

In the Enterprise

I think there will be some adoption of slate tablets in the commercial space.  Since Compaq introduced the t1000 several years ago, there has been a steady niche demand for slate tablets in areas such as healthcare, hospitality, logistics, etc.  In the absence of true slate products, many companies have been using convertible tablets, handhelds, or custom devices.  I think Windows- or possibly Android-based devices will work well in this space, but the volume will be small.  The trend for cheaper tablets may also open up some new opportunities that convertible tablets have been too pricey to fill.  This view has been somewhat validated by HPs recent decision to introduce their Windows 7 tablet as an enterprise product. 

In the Home

I think the most clear use case for slates is in the home.  For the past 10 years tech companies have been pushing users (and users the entertainment industries) to digitize their media.  In terms of user-generated media (photos, home movies, etc.), we’re there.  Thanks to Napster, iTunes, Amazon, Blu-Ray digital copy and others, commercial media is progressing as well.  However, the PC is not the ideal consumption device.  Media Center PCs have been tried and have largely failed.  DLNA holds some promise for delivering media to your TV without putting a PC on the entertainment center shelf.  But there is something to be said for a new form factor for content consumption.  Tablets are a good form factor for a three-foot experience. 

This isn’t the first attempt at slates in this scenario.  However, it was still early in the days of digitization of media and there was also a larger problem in those early tablets – Windows.  The minute you place Windows on a device, a user expects the full Windows experience.  Not just from a performance standpoint, but from a use case standpoint.  This is where Apple got it right.  By putting the iPhone OS (or iOS now), Apple clearly positioned the iPad as a new device type aimed primarily at content consumption.  Forrester has labeled this “Curated Computing.”  The irony may prove to be that “curating” the user experience may allow the tablet market to form, but it also may limit it to no more than a niche market.

In essence, a slate would be an additional form factor, not replacing either a laptop or a phone, but an incremental device for media consumption.  What the Amazon Kindle has done for ebooks, the iPad or other tablets could become for movies and other entertainment-focused media.  It can also rationalize some of the form factors that have been rampant at the last several CES and Comdex shows – namely mobile internet devices (MIDs), portable media players (PMPs) and even portable gaming devices.

Devil’s Advocate Theory

Everything I’ve said thus far is all well and good.  And gives my opinion on how the iPad (and possibly other slates) could succeed.  But in the back of my mind I have another what-if theory.  It all relates to Gartner’s Hype Cycle.  I’ll let you read the link and not go into too much of it here.  In general, with a hardware device you don’t see a major product release (from an OEM rather than an ODM) until the Slope of Enlightenment phase of the hype cycle.  That is when customers truly understand (if not yet embrace) the product.  My conspiracy theory around the iPad is this:  What if Apple recognized the hype cycle and launched the iPad at or near the Peak of Inflated expectations?  It would provide them the opportunity to push a lot of product in a short timeframe (this has clearly happened).  It also puts them in a good place competitively in that, by the time competitors get products to market, slates will be entering the Trough of Disillusionment.  By the time people realize that slates don’t live up to the hype, Apple will have made their money and will be reinvesting it in the next iPhone or some offshoot.  Time will tell.

In Summary

Apple clearly has the lead in the space.  While not the first mover in tablets or even the slate form factor, they are definitely the first mover in this new round.  This is a rare place for Apple, which usually lets others go first then they make it better, faster, and more expensive (strange twist there).  If they truly gain a first mover advantage, I think it will be due to people realizing that slates don’t live up to the promise and the market will stop growing after Apple has captured the majority.

There is, however, a dark horse in this race that could shake it up – HP.  HP was an early contender (actually announced a slate before  Apple announced the iPad).  Later they acquired Palm and WebOS has been the talk of late.  Any OEM can push out a me-too Windows-based (or even Android-based) slate.  WebOS gives HP a chance to differentiate; but, at best it can theoretically bring HP at parity with Apple.  In reality, WebOS alone probably won’t bring HP close.  There is another acquisition that I see as being more important to HP in this space and that’s their purchase of Phoenix’s HyperSpace and HyperCore technologies.  I’ll go into the reasons why in another post, but in essence they could use the technology to create a curated mobile experience and a traditional Windows experience when “docked”.

The Downside of Higher Minimum Wage

Since arriving, I’ve been astonished at the higher cost of living in Australia.  But it’s not across the board.  Electronics manufactured in China aren’t unreasonably more expensive than they would be in the States.  In some cases they cost the same.  But things like cars (that are locally manufactured even though they are foreign companies), food (grocery and restaurant) and other services can be three or four times as expensive as they are in the States.  What’s the link?  It’s probably a good thesis for some economics student (if it hasn’t already been done), but my speculation is that this is caused by a higher minimum wage.  Australia’s minimum wage is about AU$15 (about $13.90 US).  As you look at things that are significantly higher, they also tend to be more dependent on minimum wage workers.

At what point does the cost of living impact of minimum wage increases zero-out the income gains?  And if cost of living is impacted by minimum wage increases, at what point is it affecting the population and economy at large to a worse extent than it is benefitting minimum wage workers?

I don’t have answers or even ideas.  Just observations at this point.  Maybe it will be in Super Duper Freakenomics???

That’s what I get for not saving as draft

I have been working on a long post that didn’t get saved at some point.  I’m guessing I lost it on a patch Tuesday reboot.  At any rate, I’ll just post several small thoughts as they come back to me.

For now:

“Global Economy”
Someone forgot to tell the banks and cell (“mobile” here) that the world is flat.  My US credit cards are hit-or-miss, and there’s the wonderful foreign transaction fee when it does work.

Getting a cell phone here (AT&T no worky;  then again that’s not too different from home) is more difficult than getting US government security clearance.  I once held a sword over then Governor Bush’s head during his inauguration, but Telstra won’t give me a post-paid plan.  Then again, thanks to Apple and AT&T, my iPhone won’t work on Telstra’s network anyway.  Waiting on that iPhone OS 4.0 and subsequent DevTeam jailbreak/unlock before I try again with Telstra.

Socialized Healthcare
Beware America, this is coming soon if the Dems get their way.  Like many things, this sounds good in theory – medical care costs are out of control, everyone should have access to medical care, our system is flawed.  But inserting the government into the value chain of any industry is never the answer.  For example, schools in the US and Australia require immunization records.  In the US that entails calling your pediatrician and having them fax the records to the school.  In the socialized Australian system, it involves going to your doctor and getting a signed government form (not valid if it’s not on the government paper), taking that form to a local council which will then submit the form to a national registry.  One month later, you will have a certificate that is functionally equivalent to what took 5 minutes in a privatized healthcare system. 

I’m not going to get into my beliefs about how to fix the medical system, but here’s a hint to where I believe the fixes should start – legal system, education system.

Driving on the left, sitting on the right
No, that’s not a clever political turn of phrase.  Literally driving on the left side of the road and sitting on the right side of the car.  It’s actually not as bad as I thought it would be.  But why did they have to move the blinker to the right side of the steering column!  I hope everyone realizes that when I turn my windshield wipers on it means I’m turning left.

Adventures of an Unemployed Expat

OK, so my two blog readers have told me to post more.  Some other folks have told me to start a blog.  So to satisfy both requests, I have created a new category entitled “Adventures of an Unemployed Expat”.  I will post about my time in Australia with the intent on being more observational about business, culture, challenges, unsuccessful attempts at humor, etc. (see my posts from Russia).  If you want to see what the family is up to, friend me on Facebook.

Wait.  Australia?  Unemployed?  I guess I should begin with a little back story.  In January, my wife was offered a three year assignment in Melbourne, Australia.  It’s not often that you get to live in the “most livable city in the world”, much less be paid a premium plus expenses to do so.  In the end, it was an offer we couldn’t refuse.  I attempted to arrange remote work arrangements or find a job with HP Australia, but things didn’t pan out.  So after twelve years, three business units (enterprise servers, business desktops and thin clients, business notebooks), and three jobs (software engineering, technical program management, and strategic marketing), I left HP.

So that’s where I stand.  I’m talking to a few companies here in Melbourne including some of the usual industry suspects – HP, IMB, Apple, etc.  I’m also working on establishing my own “company” of sorts, basically me doing business strategy and market/industry research consulting work and software development with a focus on Windows Embedded Standard 2009 and 2011.

In the meantime I’m being Mr. Mom for my two girls and living the life of a kept man.  My traditional blocker blogging more often has been time.  While a three year old and an eight month old don’t exactly provide superfluous free time, I should have a few more minutes a day to post.  So stay tuned…

 

T

Another test post

An attempt at managing/posting to a blog using Adobe Contribute running on an HP Mini 5101.  If nothing else, I do enjoy the toys (software and hardware) that I get to play with for work.  I'm not sure how I feel about the whole netbook fad, but right now I'm sitting on the couch with my three year old, watching Toy Story 2 while posting this and checking email and college football scores.  I've never attempted to do that with any of my 14-15" notebooks.  This systems also runs cool enough that I can have it sitting in my lap while I work.

Why Android isn’t a big deal; and why it is.

DISCLAIMER:  I’ve made no secret that I work at HP.  I even work in the notebook group.  However, I heard about this at the same time everyone else did – through Engadget.  What follows is my personal speculation and opinion and is not based on any insider information.  Here is HP’s official response on Yahoo.

A lot of blogs and press (WSJ, NYT included) have been making a big deal about HP investigating Google’s Android OS on netbooks.  This should have come as no surprise as several enthusiasts had already accomplished the same thing.  In fact there are communities all over putting Mac OS, Android, various Linux distros, etc. on netbooks.  It doesn’t take much of a stretch to guess that OEMs are performing the same experiments on their own. 

Here’s why it doesn’t matter.  I posted earlier about Linux as a threat to Microsoft.  Android poses the same threat.  My assertion was (and still is) that the phone-like, task-based Linux experience is the key to success.  Android, starting from a phone and scaling up, is designed for this.  So it has the potential to be more successful out of the gate than several desktop Linux distros that have been shoe-horned onto netbooks.  However, Android in this context won’t matter because it suffers the same pitfall as other task-based Linux implementations:  Users see a netbook as a small notebook (rightfully so) and because of this expect a traditional notebook experience.   They expect to be able to use Microsoft Office, run applications locally, store and manage data locally, etc.   The tasked-based paradigm, while still able to do all of that, abstracts and makes it feel different even though the underlying functionality may be exactly the same.  So Android on netbooks may be successful to the portion of the market that likes/wants the task-based experience; but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter.

One article I read, and I’d link it if I could find it, went as far as stating that HP was going to ditch Microsoft and favor Android on netbooks.  That’s absolute foolishness.  Other articles seems to take this as a signal that Google was going to head-to-head with Microsoft for desktop operating systems.  Also foolishness.  Google may be taking on Microsoft.  This may have been a shot across the bow.  But they are not going head-to-head.  Google seems more than happy to cede the offline, local experience to Microsoft.  Every move by Google of the last few years – even the release of Chrome – has been about getting applications and data off of the local system and onto the web.  In this sense, Google doesn’t want to compete with Microsoft and win, they want to completely disintermediate them.   Why Android matters?  Because Google doesn’t need PCs (or netbooks) to do this.  As more an more devices become connected; then become intelligently connected (web browser capability); the less important PCs become.  I can browse the web with my Wii.  I can read and edit Google Docs from my phone.  The prospect of my DVR or game console replacing my PC is very real, in a very near timeframe.  This is going to be the coup.  Completely changing the paradigm by running an end-around using intelligently connected devices.  Not another OS war.

- T

Traffic control (r)ants

My wife is tired of hearing it, but I think we are entirely too focused on creating a better, cleaner, more fuel efficient automobile and not focused enough on mass transit and most importantly traffic control systems.  I'm amazed how inefficient our traffic control systems are, and not because I hate sitting at red lights.  How often have to been stopped along with 20-30 other cars to allow 3 or 4 cars to pass through an intersection?  Then sit there for 1-2 more minutes with no opposing traffic.  In my opinion, states should be accountable for the carbon footprint of each traffic light in the city.

I have long held that Google would be the perfect company to solve this - after all, their business is network traffic.  This morning I found this blog over at Wired about ants and their traffic control systems.  Very interesting read, especially the part about ants never getting stuck in traffic.  Give it a look...

 

T

Why Linux won't challenge Windows on the Desktop (yet)

Every year begins with a renewed optimism (on the part of the Linux community) that this will be the year Linux takes a bite out of Windows on the desktop.  While distros like Ubuntu and Mint, and the latest KDE and gnome UI's have significantly improved, they all suffer from the same flaw - they are all (directly or indirectly) designed to look like windows.  What's worse, they are all stuck in Win9x/NT4.0 days.  Sure, in the last few years the community has added visual effects that in some cases outshine (and definitely outperform) Vista Aero.  However, at the end of the user experience is Windows-like.  In fact, in some instances it is worse than Windows.  The number of places you have to set proxy settings, the agony that is wireless networking, and the sheer number of operations that can only be accomplished by dropping into a terminal make Linux less user-friendly than Windows.

The key issue is that Linux is an operating system written by very technical people, and for the most part, for very technical people.  I can appreciate that (and actually run several distro's on spare systems and VMs).  However, I really don't want to have to modify an interfaces file in order to connect to a wireless network using WEP with a default key other than 1.  I would love to get through a day without using sudo.  And I don't want to have to use a cryptic command line to find out if my USB key is mounted as sda or sdb.

Given the paradigm similarities, it's going to be hard for a fragmented Linux community to compete.  Especially when Windows is continually refined.  I've posted before about how Microsoft is stuck in incrementalism.  This was partially a criticism, but partly it is just the nature of Microsoft being the victims of their own success.  When over 90% of the world uses your software you can't just pull the rug out from under them and change the paradigm.  But even Microsoft has recognized the need for change. 

Widespread use of cell phones and smart phones has driven adoption of task-based operating systems.  Other small form factor devices such as MIDs and netbooks have provided a logical beachhead for task-based user experiences on PCs.  Microsoft has dabbled in these waters with Origami, and do-it-yourselfers have done it by putting Android on the HP 2133 Mini.  A task-based UX on PC's represent an opportunity for Linux like never before.  However, the community needs to let the engineers step away and give the designers some time to play.  HP's Ubuntu-based Mi experience on the Mini 1000 is one example of this direction.  Jolicloud - a much less publicized distro aimed at netbooks - is another possibility.  The key to a task-based UX is that the fundamentals - wireless networking, peripheral devices, etc. - have to JUST WORK.  No terminals, no complicated command lines, no administrator or root privileges required.

Time will tell if task-based will take hold with netbooks.  However, at the very least it should be a hint that the Linux community should stop trying to out-Windows Windows.  If anything, Linux should take a hint from Apple and position away from Windows instead of positioning better than Windows.  More and more people are valuing computers based on how they use them, not speeds and feeds and the granularity of control they have to configure them.  Phones have further encourage task-based interaction with devices.  Finally, the pervasiveness of the Internet and the rise in cloud computing have blurred the lines of defining a computing device.  Linux needs to embrace these trends  and change the game.

T

I admit it, I'm scared

I've been following the WWDC 2008 keynote on Engadget and I have to admit it, I'm scared.  While Microsoft has seemingly adopted "incrementalism" as its new mantra, Apple has decided to change the game.  Life at a PC OEM is inevitably tied to Microsoft.  Right now it looks like we have a boat anchor tied to our ankle.  I was skeptical of the iPhone - and I think in many ways I was right to be.  It did not succeed as a merging of the cell phone and the MP3 player - the two remain fairly distinct devices.  It did not turn the phone/service provider paradigm on its head.  In fact, it looks like the 3G iPhone will be subsidized (at least in certain markets) by AT&T.  However, Apple is driving some significant innovation into the way applications are developed, delivered, and used.  This is starting with the iPhone, but it's easy to see how easily this could translate for the PC - especially since the iPhone uses OS X.  While Microsoft is focused on fixing the problems it created in Vista, and solving problems no one needed solved (multi-touch capabilities on laptops, desktops), Apple is creating the next generation of computing device usage.

Oh, and I think I found my next phone...

 

 

-t