2007 May | Paul Jacobson

Archive for May, 2007

May 31st 2007

Microsoft Surface … intuitive touch computing

I came across a mention of Microsoft Surface on Web AddICT(s). At first I thought it was a parody of something Microsoft has done or is trying to do until I saw the video. Take a look at this:

It is being referred to as a surface computing platform. Basically it is a surface on a table or counter that is interactive and that enables you to access your data on it. If you saw The Island you saw a primitive version of this when the psychiatrist and main bad guy moved patient files across the desk with a little widget. Microsoft Surface is better because you can use any physical object to access the surface including your hands.

This interface is pretty similar to the interface on the upcoming iPhone and is a pretty concrete step toward a far more intuitive interface with our computing devices. Microsoft Surface uses a multi-touch interface which recognises and works with multiple points of contact so you can use both hands to manipulate data on the surface as if you were manipulating physical objects.

Take the concept a step further and imagine going somewhere where there is a panel available in your hotel room, an shared office space or a coffee shop where you can basically log in using a handprint or some other form of identification and you have access to your data stored remotely. Or what about smaller handheld panels that you can carry your data on and when you need to work off larger surfaces, you lay your panel on the larger one and the two panels connect, network and allow you to keep working with your data across a larger panel, seamlessly. The days of a computer mouse and even a keyboard could be on their way out (ok, maybe not the keyboard just yet). Actually some of that functionality is in place already. In this demo by Bill Gates, he places a camera on the panel and the panel connects to the camera wirelessly and downloads the images on the camera to the panel for manipulation:

Drool!

I can definitely see keyboard based devices like the computers we use today becoming about as modern as Buck Rogers in the next decade or so …

Technorati Tags:
microsoft surface, surface, touch computing, multi-touch, intuitive interface

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May 30th 2007

My new phone … and it isn’t a Nokia N95

I have been lusting after the Nokia N95 for many months now and it was finally released here in South Africa about a month ago. I took a look at a working model a couple weeks ago and was suitably impressed. There were little things that niggled a bit but I was convinced that I would get myself one of those phones as soon as one was available for me. Unfortunately Nokia South Africa (or the organisation passing for Nokia South Africa) either underestimated the demand or they underestimated the demand for the phone and a new N95 was not on its way to me the day after it launched here … which is just as well.

After a little while reviews started to emerge and while the consensus was that the phone was an absolute marvel, one of the major complaints was that the battery life was really bad. With normal use you probably have to charge the phone every day and if you use some of the awesome functionality in the phone you wind up charging it more often. My old phone, my Nokia 6630, has to be charged once a day and it is a real pain in the butt. To add to this, the phone cost R999 on contract (I have a mid-level contract) when it was first made available and by the time I received a call to let me know one was available, the price was R1 400 or so on contract (I turned it down and the next offer from the next retailer was R1 600).

So that put me off the N95. It may be my age speaking but the features that have become important to me are two things: a decent camera (which the N95 does have at 5 megapixels and a Carl Zeiss lens) and good battery life (which the N95 doesn’t have). The rest was great to have and not necessary for my continued survival.

I started looking around for a phone that had a good camera and a good battery life and which I didn’t have to pay in for and came up with two options: the business E65 and the N73. The E65 is a pretty cool phone although the camera is a 2 megapixel and there are apparently issues with the buttons. I did hold a demo E65 and it is a pretty swish phone and would make an excellent choice for a business user. So that left me with the Nokia N73 which turned out to be free on my contract and it also came highly recommended by a friend who just got one (there is also a pretty helpful review here). I called the store I wanted to get the phone from and they had one in stock although the model they had was the Nokia N73 Music Edition. The woman I spoke to explained that the first release, the original N73 had been withdrawn due to bugs and replaced with the N73 Music Edition. Seemed like a plausible marketing ploy so I went with that. Besides, the N73 matches my iPod. So this is what I got:

I won’t bore you with the technical specifications. I will tell you I really like the phone. I am getting used to the buttons which feel a bit small when I use the keypad with the phone in the pouch I bought for it (so I am looking for an alternative pouch for every day use). I am quite glad it came with the promised 2GB miniSD card and the image quality is pretty decent for a 3.2 megapixel camera. The lens/es is/are Carl Zeiss. I love that my phone interfaces with Vox and Flickr and I would love to be able to post to my other WordPress blogs too. I was looking for a good IM client but then I thought I’d try out the Fring client and Mxit (although I don’t really know many people who use Mxit to give it a good go).

The screen is pretty big and the web browser is pretty handy, especially with the cursor action. I am still getting used to how to browse effectively so I won’t comment further on that. Generally, I am pretty pleased with my decision to go with the N73. I know I commented that the lack of HSDPA would probably deter me from getting this phone when I first mentioned it a while ago but I changed my mind. If I need a high speed connection I can haul out my laptop and connect to a wifi hotspot somewhere.

So that is what I have been preoccupied with for a chunk of the last few days …

Technorati Tags:
nokia n73, n73, n73 music edition, nokia nseries, e65, n95, carl zeiss

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May 30th 2007

Does what happens in Facebook, stay on Facebook?

There is a video doing the rounds at the moment which is a reminder to be mindful of what information you disclose on the Web. The video uses Facebook as a starting point and perhaps a good illustration of the potential dangers that are present with all social networking services.

One of the appealing aspects of social networking sites (at least from a personal perspective) is the ability to share things about your life with a larger group of friends you may only know on the Web. You can share your taste in music, movies, entertainment and just about anything you might want to share. There are a number of robust and feature-rich services designed to help you share your life and have a great time doing it. Facebook is a great example of this and is a tremendously popular service. For those of you who haven’t yet signed up, Facebook is a site on which you create a profile with varying degrees of detail (which you can set) which you make available to people you choose to make it available to.

As with any social networking site (or any site on the Web which you publish information about yourself to), it is a very good idea to decide how much information about yourself you are prepared to publish on the Web. This may sound a bit obvious but people assume that because their information may only be available to other users of the same service and who they identify as friends, they gloss over what the operators of the services themselves may do with that information. Think back to the link to your social network’s terms of service or terms and conditions of use. Did you read that fine-print or did you just tick the box and click “OK”? If, like most of us, you just clicked through then you may have given the service concerned the right to sell your personal information for marketing purposes. That means that the information that you only really intended to share with your friends could find itself in the hands of someone who don’t even know and perhaps may not want to know.

Granted this may all be a little alarmist but the point I want to make is that you should either make a point of reading terms of service before you sign up or you should identify information that you will not disclose on the Web at all and stick to that. The fact is, unless you don’t disclose any personal information about yourself on the Web, ever, you are mistaken if you believe you can somehow remain anonymous. Google has a really long memory. If you are going to share information about yourself then the best thing you can do is draw a line between the information you are comfortable handing out on the Web and information that you are not comfortable with people having and make sure you never cross that line. At least then you are not likely to be caught out because you happened to just check the box and click “OK”. Think of this as contraception for the Web.

Technorati Tags:
facebook, privacy, does what happens on facebook, stay on facebook, sharing, personal information, caution

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May 30th 2007