tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13576198.post1622341123313419094..comments2023-09-05T05:20:50.393-04:00Comments on second americano: Of Course it's the UI!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13576198.post-50773764565126311562007-07-04T23:19:00.000-04:002007-07-04T23:19:00.000-04:00Put my hand to an iPhone today and I must agree th...Put my hand to an iPhone today and I must agree that the UI is the thing. The finger stroking and pinching is nice, though I'm looking forward to Freudian interpretations of iPhone finger usage. The turn the phone to change webpage perspective is amazing. Perhaps I'm just too much of a non-techie, but I didn't even have to touch a little button on the screen, just rotate and voila.<BR/><BR/>I will say that the revolution will be hampered in the US by the lack of reliable high-speed wireless connectivity just about anywhere but in major cities. I'm presently in a small city in Northern Illinois and I saw the phone in a AT&T store and the download time for a webpage on google was so long that I simply gave up waiting. If they can't guarantee good signal in a AT&T store, there's no hope for someone outside the store.<BR/><BR/>Having just left Taiwan, the revolution there, and probably in Japan, will be swift and furious. There were already several copycat devices for sale in Taiwan. I never saw any of them in use and don't know what the UI was like, but they are away of the coming tide and trying to ride it into the promised land. At ground level in Taibei you have complete high speed digital coverage for cell-phone. They even have repeater stations in the subway so that you can start you're call above ground, walk down 30' underground, get on the train, hurtle along at high speed in the tunnel and never once lose a single word. Very impressive. Of course, once you get out of the subway you have to walk out into 35C weather with 80% humidity. It does tend to make you want to stay underground all summer long.Jackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04177893476797309108noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13576198.post-31154192195190086152007-07-04T23:18:00.000-04:002007-07-04T23:18:00.000-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Jackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04177893476797309108noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13576198.post-75870899893012590292007-07-04T10:15:00.000-04:002007-07-04T10:15:00.000-04:00So, this is what I want in life. Very, very, badly...So, this is what I want in life. Very, very, badly:<BR/><BR/>A fairly large (say, 12x12 -- or 30x30 for you metric types) touchscreen mapreader. I say "mapreader" rather than "GPS," because although the "you are here" feature would be a nice add-on, what I mostly want is the actual map display. Instantly and easily rescalable, as well as turnable (for when I really get confused about which way I'm heading). <BR/><BR/>A Google Earth-type overlay of roadmaps with satellite photos would be nice -- as would the Google Earth points of interest, etc. Hell -- even just the points of interest endlessly featured on my existing paper atlases -- but with one-touch dialog-box pop-ups that give me actual information about them (so that I don't have to, say, scratch my head over the cryptic "Crash Hill (Oct. 3 1956)" notation on my Newfoundland and Laborador map, and wait until I get back home, thousands of miles away, to do the research to find out what "Crash Hill" was. Oh -- and that high-speed internet access to allow me to look up slightly less obvious sites (as in: "there's a small liberal arts college in this charming seacoast town? How delightful! What's it like? Is it hiring?"). <BR/><BR/>Some of the iphone features -- "call ahead to this B&B I've just discovered exists 50 k up the road, and see if they've got a room" -- would also be nice -- although in a pinch, I really don't mind picking up a separate phone to do it. <BR/><BR/>Five years ago, this would have been pie-in-the-sky dreaming. Today, it's technological reality. Unfortunately, it may not be marketplace reality, as every GPS system I've seen is clearly designed with someone other than me in mind: tiny screens, strangely angled map views, <I>instructions</I> on how to get someplace, rather than the raw tools needed to select a route yourself. I'm both excited by the possibilities, and saddened by my sense that everyone just wants to be a Tom-Tom. <BR/><BR/>Is there any hope for me?Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08115013160233022489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13576198.post-23560498480070434402007-07-04T09:22:00.000-04:002007-07-04T09:22:00.000-04:00TG:Do you mean some sort of new-fangled 'high-spee...TG:<BR/><BR/>Do you mean some sort of new-fangled 'high-speed wireless internet' that I can't quite wrap my mind around? <BR/><BR/>Because 3G mobile network data speeds are already very much 'high speed' and very much 'wireless'. And the winds of rumour tell us that the European iPhone will be 3G.fronesishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13544185676179565507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13576198.post-46398074333919011532007-07-03T15:38:00.000-04:002007-07-03T15:38:00.000-04:00The combination of iPhone and some sort of ubiquit...The combination of iPhone and some sort of ubiquitous touch-screen docking station would pretty much kill the laptop. And probably the computer in general. Maybe I should say "will" instead of "would." <BR/><BR/>I'm buying stock in the first company that figures out high-speed wireless internet to go along with the iPhone or its equivalent.Transient Gadflyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10313323030838183737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13576198.post-91973698787119608702007-07-03T03:30:00.000-04:002007-07-03T03:30:00.000-04:00this is, I believe, McLuhan's point as well: the m...this is, I believe, McLuhan's point as well: the medium is the message. the frame is what orients our understanding/experience towards something new...the UI is the electric light, man. <BR/><BR/>[there are three lights!]teknehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16958083980701375245noreply@blogger.com