Technology

To proclaim understanding of such a young tablet market is a fool’s errand, but I think there are some additional considerations to be made beyond Gassée’s article where he concludes that the iPad is a tease and it cannot fulfill the duties it promised to fulfill.

To evaluate the tablet, it is worthwhile to consider smartphones. Smartphones replaced their predecessors entirely, and with ease. It wasn’t a “good enough” solution and the way we use phones didn’t have to change. Sure we got all sorts of new ways to use phones, but the same old ability to make calls and send SMS usage was fundamentally still there. All of the things people needed to do, they could do.

The only undisputed champion of interaction models/devices since the mouse is the touchscreen. No contest. The trend and industry is trying, often too hard, to push the next frontier of interacting with devices toward voice. While I think voice interaction is crucial, I don’t think it is being thought of in the right way yet.

There are inherent problems with voice. Natural language recognition isn’t perfect, and likely won’t be for a while. If the system has “keywords” you’ve failed before you shipped and the biggest concern of all is probably privacy. I’m not talking about Google or government knowing your every move type of privacy, I’m talking about old fashioned privacy. “Don’t let the guy next to me know what I’m saying to my wife” privacy. There is a reason messaging is still king (cough, WhatsApp for $19 billion). Messaging is, and will be for the foreseeable future, a major player in how we communicate. Yes people will dictate messages, but often we’re in public or a quiet place and just don’t want to share what we’re saying with everyone. Expect a piece on this soon, but let’s leave it there for now.

Path is a simply wonderful social network. I connect with my close friends and family and we use the app to share more intimate moments that aren’t appropriate for the public or large following of acquaintances. The app is beautifully designed on iOS, it is acceptable on Android, and now has finally launched for Windows.

Path has enjoyed noteworthy success, though is not, and will never be, the next Facebook or Twitter. The fact that it took them this long to launch on the Windows platform goes to show how much Windows is struggling in the smartphone realm. This isn’t to say the platform isn’t good, but it seems too be too little too late.

Jean-Louis Gassée has shed a similar light, but from a different angle, as my post from December 10th in follow up to the discussion on the Pragmatic podcast. This whole Internet of Things (IoT) realm is in its infancy, there is so much progress to be made here. 

He asks the question:

If we can’t solve the “basket of remotes” problem, how can we expect a home full of “smart” objects? #ibmceschat

— Jean-Louis Gassée (@gassee) January 10, 2014

In this article by Mat Honan from Wired, he highlights a major problem with technology journalism today - people are bored with just about everything. These are just TVs, this is just another tablet, that iPhone is hardly any different from the last one… blah blah blah.

This year the CES coverage seemed to be more pessimistic than previous years. The latest iPhone release seemed to be received as more disappointing than previous years. The anti-Apple folks say that Apple has peaked and can’t keep up their momentum without Steve Jobs. The rest of the tech bloggers think that CES has lost its shine. These aren’t two separate things, there is one explanation - everyone has gotten used to insanely brilliant, beautiful, and incredible technology. Many believe it is bland and boring because we’re surrounded by it.

Some interesting picks in here, definitely seems to capture the best products there. With that being said, I’m still not seeing anything that is standing out.

• Oculus Rift keeps making these kinds of lists, but it seems to be in a perpetual state of development.
• Sony Z1 Compact packs a top end punch into an iPhone-size device, a rarity for Android devices.
• There are a LOT of fitness trackers, I don’t see that changing any time soon.
• The Mother sensor system seems interesting. Not a grand slam, but a fresh take on smart home technology.

On Yahoo Tech… David Pogue heading it up does give them a chance at making this work. It is still a bit of a comedy with how miserably Yahoo has failed in the tech industry as of late that they’re attempting to become a tech news source.

Omission of the “!” is, and always will be, intentional. Perhaps that’ll change if there is ever something exciting going on at Yahoo.

IBM is doing a poor job of caveating their statements here. If they don’t intend to caveat them, then I’m going to call BS to some degree. IBM’s 5 year plan outlines 5 ways in which technology will progress… here’s why I say they’re embellishing:

1. “The classroom will learn you.” Essentially a smarter classroom with a per-child custom tailored education. This will exist on some level, likely a beta trial at a few schools. In reality schools are either under funded or misappropriate their funds so badly that there is little to no hope for funding the massive infrastructure build-out that would be required to host this. Even schools in middle to upper-middle class areas aren’t in a position to make this happen (and certainly won’t be in 5 years).
2. “Buying local will beat online.” I’m not sure “beat” is a great word to use, but I think there will be a new retail wave that comes soon thanks to a blend of technology and the irreplaceable human connection. Things like iBeacon are going to play a major role here. You’ll see a revitalization for any store that embraces this next generation of shopping experience, but “beating” online retail implies a monetary savings to customers and I just don’t see it. Side note: until we’re all wearing Google Glass, augmented reality is a pretty gimmicky toy. Not that it won’t be a key technology one day, but I’m not holding my breath on the next 5 years.
3. “Doctors will use your DNA to keep you well.” You will likely see this in high dollar medical situations, but your average American’s day-to-day checkup costs certainly won’t cover it.
4. “A digital guardian will protect you online.” The best protection is to be smart. With that being said, if someone wants your information, they can get your information. Nothing is unhackable. I hope this time around there is more care put into the software than the days of old where virus protection brought even a super computer to its knees.
5. “The city will help you live in it.” The idea of sentient cities is an interesting one, but with some major issues, two primary ones come to mind. Privacy is the first, infrastructure is the second. To be sentient, the city must know a remarkable amount of information about you, people aren’t going to like that. Furthermore, people definitely aren’t going to approve the budgets that propose buying the (extremely expensive) infrastructure to make it possible. The private sector will do what they can here, but they cannot put physical objects in public space, so they’re limited to satellites, your cell phone, your mobile technology, etc. Oh yeah, did I mention privacy?

IBM is doing a job of getting a lot of clicks and eyes on this, as they do every year. I genuinely believe they do it to inspire technology growth and not for the click counts that a lot of tech blogging has been reduced to these days. Here’s to the next 5 years.

Pragmatic

Really enjoying this new podcast from John Chidgey and Ben Alexander. They discuss the practical application and use of technology. I find overlooking the frivolous yet glamorous “features” of modern technology to be a wonderful thing. It all comes down to how a technology improves your daily life.