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A reminder that it’s important to think ahead. Related posts: Remembering to Forget 9/100 How I Find Blogging Ideas The Broadband Blueprint (re DETI Telecoms Consultation) Fucking walk the walk rather than just talking the talk
A reminder that it’s important to think ahead.
I really think it’s a bad move to label your future customers as mindless clones. I know Apple did it in 1984 and that was such an iconic commercial but it didn’t actually do them much good either. The tablet is going to cost $800 plus apparently an extra $55 data plan or they don’t … Continue reading “So, the Motorola Xoom advert.”
I really think it’s a bad move to label your future customers as mindless clones. I know Apple did it in 1984 and that was such an iconic commercial but it didn’t actually do them much good either.
The tablet is going to cost $800 plus apparently an extra $55 data plan or they don’t activate the WiFi. That’s a big mistake. It might be the most powerful tablet on the market (and only months ago we were speculating that the RIM Playbook was going to achieve that. Fast forward and Apple won’t be resting on their laurels.
Part of the problem also is that in most of the advert, the tablet could be an iPad. Every manufacturer waited until they saw what Apple was doing and then just cloned it and put someone elses software on there, usually with their own unique skin which just means you end up rooting the device just to update it in a timely fashion or, more likely, the device gets abandoned by the hardware manufacturer or the carrier and you never get an update.
| I’m really nervous for these manufacturers who put so much emphasis on Adobe® Flash® as being a major selling point for their tablets. The iPad not having Flash is a big deal to some (mostly in the cash strapped education sector) but it’s not really a big a deal as these guys think. Obviously these products are driven by executives who are utterly convinced that the lack of Flash is Apple’s Achilles heel, that it represents some sort of extreme vulnerability. I guess they also think that Apple couldn’t add Flash to the tablet with a single point update of their software. |  [Click the image to go to the Xoom product page or just hover to see the wacky memorable URL] |
My prediction: the Xoom is a great product that is hampered by a too-high price and a dumb data-plan necessity (which must be fuelling some sort of subsidy?). Much like the Galaxy Tab, it will fail to make a dent in the market.
Best comment ever? by 4esteR
What I learned? from this ad:
1. Only one guy is going to buy it.
2. iOS users are hot.
OK. This alone has justified the expense of the Apple TV. As if the rentals, access to my iTunes library and AirPlay didn’t justify it multiple times over. Amazing what things you find when you have 10 minutes to noodle around with your Apple TV. Related posts: The Hub of 21st Century Enlightenment London, City … Continue reading “RSA Events on Apple TV”
OK. This alone has justified the expense of the Apple TV. As if the rentals, access to my iTunes library and AirPlay didn’t justify it multiple times over.
Amazing what things you find when you have 10 minutes to noodle around with your Apple TV.
Photo slideshow (with audio) of The Coral Triangle. One for the “Places to visit” list. Related posts: Anecdotes about the WWF #RSA Movember update, Week 3 “Gateways” not “Gatekeepers” Holidays in England
Photo slideshow (with audio) of The Coral Triangle.
One for the “Places to visit” list.
I didn’t get a chance to take a picture, but I caught a couple of movies. The one which inspired me most was “Wind“. The second movie was “Scanners”, which was inspirational in its own way. I’d love to attend the America’s Cup in 2013. The 34th America’s Cup will be sailed in 2013 in … Continue reading “2011-2-6”
I didn’t get a chance to take a picture, but I caught a couple of movies. The one which inspired me most was “Wind“.
The second movie was “Scanners”, which was inspirational in its own way.
I’d love to attend the America’s Cup in 2013.
The 34th America’s Cup will be sailed in 2013 in San Francisco, California with 72-foot wing-sail catamarans. Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) is the defender of the America’s Cup, after their racing team, BMW Oracle Racing defeated the Swiss Alinghi team of Société Nautique de Genève in the 2010 America’s Cup. The Italian Club Nautico di Roma has been announced as the Challenger of Record.
I’ve been watching a heap of sailing videos on Youtube ever since some nice folk on my local sailing forum pointed out Seth Hynes channel. Seth took his new bride on a honeymoon sail from Norfolk, Virginia to Australia. Today, another chap posted a couple more links which I’ve not had the chance to really … Continue reading “Sailing Videos”
I’ve been watching a heap of sailing videos on Youtube ever since some nice folk on my local sailing forum pointed out Seth Hynes channel. Seth took his new bride on a honeymoon sail from Norfolk, Virginia to Australia.
Today, another chap posted a couple more links which I’ve not had the chance to really digest. There’s the garish “Sailing Channel” and the rather nice “Sailing Channel Theater”
So, these links are really just for my reference. Move along, nothing to see here.
It’s high motion, high adventure and really engages with the kids. Meg and Jake love it – Jake really gets into the Buzz persona. Related posts: The Broadband Blueprint (re DETI Telecoms Consultation) For the cost of a bulb, multi-gigabit broadband If you’re a final year student, why wouldn’t you apply for this? Getting started … Continue reading “2011-2-5”
It’s high motion, high adventure and really engages with the kids. Meg and Jake love it – Jake really gets into the Buzz persona.
To me, a library is a thing not a place. I wrote about a fictional library, called Kumbu, for my FRONTIER game background over on lategaming. In this description, I describe libraries as places to store knowledge in order to prevent a future dark age. That is the core function of a library, to my … Continue reading “In a time where the sum total of books held in a library can fit on a device that can fit in your coat, what exactly is the function of a library as a physical place?”
To me, a library is a thing not a place.
I wrote about a fictional library, called Kumbu, for my FRONTIER game background over on lategaming. In this description, I describe libraries as places to store knowledge in order to prevent a future dark age. That is the core function of a library, to my mind.
This comes because the UK government is, in the wake of saving the workplaces of a few scumbags who brought the global economy to its knees, has now to make difficult decisions and perhaps close a selection of libraries in order to help rebalance the economy.
A lively debate on Twitter ensued because I’m not positive that we should be saving libraries in their current form. The defence council for libraries is arguing that they are community hubs, they contain DVDs, music, magazines, places for community groups to meet. Apparently they also contain the odd book or three.
I would argue it was access to books and literature which made one a writer. Not a library.
And a library as a refuge for the homeless? That’s hardly a good use of a library.
I remain unconvinced on the utility of the library as a place. Libraries must be more than just rooms filled with stacks of dead trees.
The MAC. THE MAC (THE METROPOLITAN ARTS CENTRE), BELFAST’S NEW ARTS CENTRE, WILL BE A WORLD CLASS HOME FOR THE ARTS IN THE HEART OF BELFAST’S CATHEDRAL QUARTER WHEN IT OPENS IN 2012. The MAC will be six storeys high. It will include three major visual art galleries, two theatres, a dance studio, education, workshop … Continue reading “2011-2-4”
THE MAC (THE METROPOLITAN ARTS CENTRE), BELFAST’S NEW ARTS CENTRE, WILL BE A WORLD CLASS HOME FOR THE ARTS IN THE HEART OF BELFAST’S CATHEDRAL QUARTER WHEN IT OPENS IN 2012.
The MAC will be six storeys high. It will include three major visual art galleries, two theatres, a dance studio, education, workshop and rehearsal spaces, offices for resident arts groups as well as a resident artist and (of course) a cool café and bar.
And yes, that’s a lot of beer on that truck.
Article on Wired.com: 2011: Second Wave of Children’s Mobile Apps Is Coming Attributes of a Second-Wave Educational App The app can only exist on the mobile device. The app maximizes the opportunities presented by the technical capacity of the mobile device. It allows children to create. It connects children to each other and to the … Continue reading “The Skills to Build Tomorrow”
Article on Wired.com: 2011: Second Wave of Children’s Mobile Apps Is Coming
Attributes of a Second-Wave Educational App
- The app can only exist on the mobile device.
- The app maximizes the opportunities presented by the technical capacity of the mobile device.
- It allows children to create.
- It connects children to each other and to the outside world.
- It looks beautiful.
Each of those points is explored in more detail in the article itself so you should read it. It also contains links to some apps which epitomise each point.
These decisions are much harder to implement than any of the arguments about platform or technology used. You’ll find it difficult to implement in non-native technologies (Flash, HTML) because they’re sufficiently abstracted from the platforms that they cannot take advantage of the plethora of unique sensors and attributes of each device. You’ll need to do this in native code.
Each challenge will require a separate skillset to be implemented. A chance meeting with Conann Fitzpatrick, who, along with Greg Maguire, is running a Maya course in the Belfast Campus of the University of Ulster today, got us talking about the different skillsets* which are needed to bring an animation or a game to fruition.
Whether the end result is to entertain, to instruct, to guide or to distract, the principles, the core skills are the same. We have already built considerable capability in platforms, in creativity, in new technologies and Northern Ireland has always been quick to adopt the new and shiny. Our weakness has traditionally been working together. Luckily, with Digital Circle, that’s a thing of the past.
*an example is rotoscoping. A lot of people with skills in Photoshop and the time to spend on it, could become good at this. And it’s one of the skillsets that an animation studio would need. So what’s stopping them?