garygilliland:

Everyone else has an opinion so after some consideration here’s mine.

What is it?

• It’s not a communications device: no phone calls, no video calls.
• It’s not a laptop alternative: it doesn’t have the power to run standard applications.
• It’s not a portable device: it’s too big for pockets and you need to be seated to use it
• It’s not an eReader: it has a backlit display not a readable eInk display.
• It’s not a home media centre: the screen is too small and it has too little storage.
• It’s not a portable mediaplayer: it’s too big for everyday use.
• It’s not an education device: schools struggle to buy textbooks costing £20 each.
• It’s not a business device: no MS Office means no business for most of the world.
• It’s not a gaming device: too underpowered for console, too big for schoolbag.

Despite the apparently adverse comments I think this is the most interesting device to arrive in years. It’s design and the technology behind are to be admired but after the initial sales rush caused by the media hype and fanboys, it’s unclear what will happen.

The iphone gained almost immediate traction with the general public because competing products were so very poor. Initial sales volume, combined with a creative development community created a virtuous circle dragging both consumers and developers into the Apple fold.

This time the Ipad is competing with products from two sectors (phone and laptops) and doesn’t seem to offer clear advantages over either. Apple and it’s development community will have to begin to define the Ipad as something different and remove the feeling that it’s is defined by what it’s not.

Can the Ipad define itself as a new class of device or will it become another in the long line failed of tablets? I don’t know but given Apple’s recent history it would be hard to bet against them.

Bruce DeBoer from Permission To Suck has post the results of a new word game. Change, add or subtract one letter from a word and come up with a new definition.

Examples like Osteopornosis (n.): A degenerate disease and Dopeler effect (n.): The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly, make for a light hearted distraction from work.

On a more important note games and exercises like this make for a great way to flex your creative muscles once in a while.

Fun Word Play | Permission To Suck

I’ve always been captivated by the sea and images of it are a source of constant joy. So I was delighted to discover the exhibition The Sea: LS Lowry & Maggi Hambling at the The Lowry.

As someone who only knows Lowry as a painter of “matchstalk men and matchstalk cats and dogs” I was amazed by his peopleless seascapes. I was equally taken with the work of his 21st century successor Maggi Hambling, painter and creator of the controversial Scallop in Suffolk.

In this BBC slideshow you can see their work and hear Hambling talk about her work.

In this interview, Maggi talks about her processes for painting the sea, and the effect of Lowry’s work on her.

LS Lowry & Maggi Hambling: The Sea from Rob Martin on Vimeo.

There was a thing running around the net a while ago where bloggers would outline their ideal computer, so here’s my attempt. It’s a phone/handheld which I can dock to gain features such as more processing power, better graphics, a larger screen, keyboard mouse etc. Key features would include

• handheld form factor should be similar to those of the high-end smartphones with similar functionality i.e. phone, gps, touchscreen,3G, Wi-Fi etc
• significant handheld storage capacity* (100 Gb plus), which should be capable of booting a dock system and acting as storage for it
• the docking workstation should be dumb i.e. only provide processing and graphics power but no storage to reduce security risk from docking
• same software and OS to be available on both desktop and handheld. With full featured versions for use while docked and less functional versions available while handheld
• dual file formats with both full and portable versions, so that I can manipulate the data on a mobile without the overhead of unnecessary formatting, full size images etc
• the handheld should allow for the connection of external devices such as flip-down keyboard, card reader, printer etc
• high-level encryption with biometric access control so that it remains secure when I inevitably lose it
• live sync to the cloud

* I know the future is supposed to be cloud based but until we have truly omnipresent wireless data network, I want my data and processing to be available locally.

At a conceptual level none of this too fanciful.

• storage is cheap and xml file formats mean that dual format files are relatively simple to achieve and practical to store
• high speed docking options such as USB3 mean storage performance when docked shouldn’t be an issue
• the iPhone, Android and even Windows Mobile have all proven that portable devices can offer functional software which with a few tweaks should readily scale to desktop resolutions
• hardware such as the ARM processor are powerful enough to handle portable needs. Versions tuned for performance rather than battery life or multi-processor systems could handle desktop duties. Thereby simplifying the task of developing software and OS for a single architecture.

A secure mobile device capable of holding most of my data which I can dock to a generic workstation with no security concerns would meet most of my computing and communication needs with one device carried in my pocket.

Gartner, Inc. have presented their guide to the technologies which have “the potential for significant impact on the enterprise in the next three years.” The headings in bold are Gartner’s and I’ve added comments after each heading but you’re probably better checking out the details here.

• Cloud Computing. Obvious, but given the benefits of omnipresent technology with reduced management requirements, lower overheads etc this should feature heavily on the agenda of any organisations.
• Advanced Analytics. This could be the cure-all for information overload but we’ve been promised panaceas before so it’s may be a ‘wait and see’ as to whether advances in analysing data can finally outstrip advances in collecting it. 
• Client Computing. This could be important operationally, financially and environmentally. With the rise of virtualisation and cloud computing we may finally get away from operating systems wars and the need to prescribe standards for every user in an organisation. Together with the change face of hardware netbooks, tablets, phones etc organisations will need a strategy which is flexible in the extreme.
• IT for Green. We’ve had the technology for years (video-conferencing, remote access, electronic documents etc) but the increase in awareness means we might actually see organisations utilising technology to reduce their environmental impact.
• Reshaping the Data Centre. Organisations must start to factor in the effect of the cloud, environmental taxes and increasingly energy security. Whilst the full impact of these issues cannot be gauged yet, the longevity of data centre projects means they will likely come into play during the life of many new and existing centres.
• Social Computing. Whether it’s the game changer proponents suggest is up for debate but no organisation can ignore it. 
• Security – Activity Monitoring. There is an undeniable need to move to more automated and more sophisticated monitoring tools to meet security and regulatory requirements. But as evidenced by the data loss stories in the press many organisations needs to focus on more basic security matters such as encryption, media management and employee training.
• Flash Memory. I’m not sure that this will be a strategic for most organisations but nevertheless it will interesting to watch.
• Virtualization for Availability. Any technology which increases increases availability and reduces complexity should be on the watch list of all organisations.
• Mobile Applications. Organisations with a large consumer facing business, those who need to reach staff or consumers in remote or underdeveloped areas and those looking to project a forward thinking image would be well advised to begin investigating the possibilities surrounding the phone as an application platform.

Source: Gartner Inc

I’ve mentioned Daniel Eatock’s creative manifesto before. His presentation at AIGA gives you the opportunity to see the man himself talk about his work and see how his manifesto plays out in his work.

Daniel Eatock — AIGA | the professional association for design

I’ve written about ideas like this before but just because it’s a repeat doesn’t make the idea any less important.

In the December 2009 issue of Wired, Ideo talk about how they would manage the problem of urban rage and in particular the stresses caused by queuing. The idea is simple, convert the queue from an object of stress into something positive.

Members of the public can register for a card which allows them to log the time spent queuing at participating locations. The time accrued on the card can then be converted into time which the member organisations then ‘donate’ to nominated charities.

The whole article is worth reading both for a fuller explanation of the queuing idea and also for an overview of the thinking processes within Ideo itself

Wired: Reinventing British manners the Post-It way

Northern Ireland lost a great man yesterday, Sir Allen McClay founder of Galen and Almac. I had the pleasure to work for Allen for 11 years and during that time I saw him become Northern Ireland’s richest man, retire and then comeback to found another global pharma empire. Not bad for a boy from Cookstown.

I remember the day I saw him on his hands and knees scrubbing the floor. As I passed him I said "Do you want me to get someone else to that?". He looked up and said "No, don’t bother everyone else has something important to do. I’m just doing my bit."

His pride in the work force was unequalled. He knew the names of almost everyone in the company. He inspired us to complete projects we never thought possible. He never forgot who he was or where came from and most importantly he never under estimated the importance of the work others did with him and not for him. As a raconteur he could hold a room like few others I ever seen.

Allen you’ll be missed.

It’s just after Christmas and like a lot of people I’ve spent my fair share of time in toy shops and I’ve been reminded of a goal that I had when I ran a programming team. Everything should be designed like a Tomy toy. I don’t mean child-like but where possible solutions should follow the pattern in toys.

I’ve got a memory like a sieve so I like acronyms hence SERIES

• S imple – nothing wasted
• E ngaging – asks to be used
• R obust – hard to break
• I nteractive – instant feedback
• E lective – you choose how to use it
• S timulating – encourages creativity

Compare this with Word, Photoshop and even web apps like Gmail. How many menus, icons and hidden rules are there to cope with before you can use the things?