I want an iPod Touch with a 12-14 inch screen and the width of a Macbook Air. I want to cradle my computer in my hand or lap and read it like a book. I don’t want to use a mouse or keyboard unless absolutely necessary. My fingers work just fine.
The majority of my life is centered around the internet. A powerful computer (like my Macbook Pro) is great for a few specialized tasks that really push it (which I personally enjoy doing to hardware). However, a huge percentage (90% or more) of the time I spend sitting in front of the computer is spent online. My email is held on some magic google server. My news comes from websites, I can do everything with my pictures online, and I can track my friend’s lives online, and I can write documents, create spreadsheets and presentations online. I don’t need a strong processor.
What I need is a strong internet connection.
I don’t care who makes this device (and sorry, Nokia, but your N800 does not cut it. I have used it and it misses the mark). I have a feeling this device will come from Apple. The phone manufacturers couldn’t produce an iPhone and computer makers still can’t make a system that is as quiet, cool, or small as my Macbook Pro (if judged by the same techical specs).
I received an 8 gig iPod Touch as a present this past December. I immediately “unlocked/cracked” it so that I could install whatever I wanted on it.
Since then, I have thoroughly enjoyed my iPod Touch but not for the reasons one might imagine.
First, three confessions: a) up until this December, I had never owned an iPod. I refused to jump on that bandwagon. It was my little anti-crowd protest. b) I don’t listen to much music when I am on the move. I prefer to hear what is going on around me and revel in the sound of life. I know that sounds corny but it is true. I like to hear the world rather than be walled within my own little world of digital music. c) I firmly believe in device convergence and was expecting cellphone MP3 players to work well and be the next big thing (such as my LG Muziq). Instead they were all inelegant solutions that only made me not want to use their music features. Then of course the 500 lb gorilla called the iPhone launched.
I have Sprint so the iPhone was not an option. But when the Touch launched, I knew I had to have one.
Do I use it to listen to much music, no. Do I watch many videos on it? Rarely. I like to read when I fly although I highly recommend Ted videos to anyone interested in learning something.
Instead, I use my iPod Touch as a an internet tablet/gateway. I am not near a computer more often than I imagined while still within free WiFi range. I used to go online with my phone. It’s screen is small. Now I go online with my Touch and I absolutely love the experience (if no computer is nearby). It works flawlessly and fast. It is a mini-computer with the best input device — a finger (versus mouse, etc). Post-crack, I have a ton of other fun and interesting programs installed.
I would recommend a Touch to anyone who is not in the market for an iPhone.
What am I really waiting for? A WiMAX enabled iPod Touch. Then, I could go online anywhere and everywhere and I would be in heaven. I like (and hate) being connected.
Zune has a new website and a video. They are trippy. Thanks Techcrunch for pointing me towards it.
Watch the video and checkout the website (here). The video is neat but I think the website is very cool. It is different. It navigates in semi-3d space and you move from one space to the other simply by pushing your mouse forward or back. There doesnt seem to be any information in that 3d space except for trippy pictures. However, imagine if those pictures held portals to further 3d spaces with more information. One could conceive a whole new way to navigate. The site really made me feel as if I had entered a whole new world rather than just looking at, what is post-zune, boring old webpages. Of course, there may be some navigation limitations involved in creating a realistically useful site.
What this really makes me think is: we are desperately in need of a website revolution. We have Web 2.0. It changes the underlying nature of what we can do with a website. Yet the presentation of Web 2.0 website are still fundamentally Web 1.0. There are still boring and plain except filled with ajax features.
Since no one seems to know for sure what form Web 3.0 is going to take (although an underlying semantic web is a possibility), this could be it [from an interactivity/design standpoint]. Imagine a new way to navigate in a 3D world coupled with Ajax usefullness. Some people might not understand it and they could click a button to switch views. Add in smart searching to find the content you need, smart ads that stylistically couple with the content you want and you are golden.
Here is an example of what I picture: I go to a website like www.Buy.com. I can fly through their store from one section to the next (from DVDs to computers, to books, and so forth). Each section is stylistically different and the style coincides with the product category. I can either stay in that section and check out the various subsections that float in space with 3D pictures representing their sub-category. If I want to move to the next category, I can “fly” there. If, instead, I want to search for a product, I type in my seach and instead of a normal listing, I receive a floating group of products that meet my search criteria. The most relevant products are closest to the middle of the frame and then move out from there.
I have this dream of a web that sucks me into a whole new world…
Posted by Cogitatus 
Posted by Cogitatus 
Posted by Cogitatus 
