iPad
January 28, 2010
After five years of speculation and 15 years after The Steve canned the Newton (still have my three in the attic!), Apple have announced the iPad.
I have mixed feelings on the iPad, from a business & user perspective, I think it’s great, it’s been well thought through and it looks gorgeous, sure the big black area that surrounds the touch screen area is a bit too much, but hey, I’m sure there’s a lot of electronics in that thing, you’ve got to put them somewhere!
but…
No multi-tasking! so no background apps like Skype or Facebook running while you do something else. This is a major gripe, it’s the one thing that will kill the iPhone if they don’t sort that out soon.
No camera! WTF (so no using it for Skype or video based instant messaging), talking of which, come on Apple, where the hell is iChat for your mobile devices!
No proper display output! (not even Apple’s own mini DVI?!) the iPad would be the most amazing presentation device for any road warrior, if it had a proper way to output the display! (although we all know these things can do it, as how else does The Steve demo these at these events, so who knows, maybe they’ll finally make a proper cable that connects to that 32 pin connector!)
No Near Field or RFID!? OK that may sound a bit strange, but that’s becoming more and more prevalent, why it hasn’t been incorporated into the iPhone yet I’m at a loss… sure you can add RFID to SIM cards (so fine for the iPhone), but that’s no good for the iPod Touch or iPad, so hardware integration is a must. I’m positive the next iPhone will have it built in, which will be great, no more Oyster cards to travel on London Underground, simply swipe your phone and the database picks up your ID, and if no account is recognised, an App on your iPhone engages and you pay there and then… or no more credit cards, place your iPhone near a terminal, an App launches, enter your pin et voila, all paid, you could even send your receipt to your no paper account!
These are all things that will come in version 2 no doubt, but they should be in version 1… although none of this will stop me ordering one straight away 
which I shall of course put down to requiring for testing & development purposes for no paper
Damn you Mr Jobs, Damn you to hell 
The Apple iPad
January 27, 2010
mmmmmmm…
not quite what I was expecting from Apple!
Left a bit, a little bit more, ah there you are
November 13, 2009
Staying with the Augmented Reality theme, BrightKite announced last month that their partnership with Layar to offer AR of your BrightKite friends posts over live video on your mobile, is now available on the iPhone (originally only available for Android)
Another AR app recently launched on the iPhone is Wikitude, that overlays live video with Qype information. This is another area that AR has enormous potential, aggregating your various data streams and combining them into a single place. The more collaboration there are amongst these types of services the better a user experience for everyone!
Original BrighKite blog post
Post on Augmented Planet about Wikitude & another about Layar
Brightkite iPhone App
Layar iPhone App
Wikitude iPhone App
Qype iPhone App
The Business cARd
November 13, 2009
I stumbled across these pieces this morning. First a business card and a video ident sting for E4, both of which use the popular method of using a pattern encased in a square, but the third example uses a different approach, whereby the camera recognises any pre-stored image, in this case a photograph on a postcard.
More info here:
AR Particle Beam
The Artvertiser
Augmented Reality Coming To A Bookshelf Near You
November 12, 2009
Having already tested the water with an issue using e-Ink technology, it’s interesting to see Esquire extending the user experience of their paper based magazine with online media, I see this as a terrific medium for marketeers & advertisers, but also educational titles or children’s books where the story or information can be brought to life in a way that cannot be achieved using print media alone.
At Vision360 we created numerous projects for live events using Augmented Reality that allowed delegates to control screens and access further information, plus additional languages, but it’s an interesting development to see AR being utilised in mainstream magazine publishing, hopefully it won’t be long before we see more of this type of thing.
more info about the Esquire project here here
Here’s a couple more examples of AR, the first is a simple 3D flash file, the second is an iPhone App.
The Thing is
November 10, 2009
The best things in life aren’t things
The 80% Rule
November 9, 2009
Working flat out? Have too much to do? What can you do about it? Put your prices up, because you’re under charging!
You’ll probably lose some clients, but with the extra capacity you’ll be able to deliver higher quality solutions, thus better value for the clients you retain. A good balance is 80% capacity, but you decide. You’ll have the same overall profit, your clients will benefit from you doing this and so will you!
What’s Your Most Valuable Asset?
November 6, 2009
It’s not your home, your car, your stocks, your shares or your money… it’s your time. It’s the one thing you can never get back, don’t waste it.
You can spend it, or you can invest it… it’s your choice, choose wisely
Laugh (cry?) Now
November 5, 2009
I just stumbled across these images on Beau Bo D’Or’s blog… genius!
He has loads of great stuff on his blog so have a look
It’s The Way I Tell ‘em
November 5, 2009
No matter what you’re trying to market or sell, people buy into stories. If you want your idea to spread make it easy for others to spread it, a story or something they can be passionate about is the best way… so make it memorable, better yet, make it unforgettable.
