All Posts Filed in ‘Technology’

Post

Some random thoughts on “The Tablet”

January 28, 2010

The “Jesus Tablet” was revealed yesterday. Here are some of my random thoughts of this new device. Some of these thoughts I’ve already posted on Twitter.

– Pinch gesture is the new “Back” button. Very smart and very Apple like solution.

– The one native iPad App I’d love to see: Flickr. Flickr API + touch interface + big screen.

– While re-watching the keynote, this became very clear to me: there will be a fork between iPhone / iPad Apps. In fact, Apple encourages you to write iPad specific apps. This is not a good or bad thing. iPhone’s small screen (classic) demands the simple UI. iPad is just another ball game.

– Speaking of running “stock” iPhone Apps on the iPad, the 160ppi iPhone apps scale up to a larger physical screen size but with less pixel density (132ppi) might actually look decent. I haven’t seen the real thing yet, but there’s hope for “stock” iPhone apps on the iPad – at least for the short term.

– Some had wished for complicated new gesture with the bigger touch screen – i.e. tripple-tap-pinch-drag-swipe that does amazing things. I for one, am glad Apple kept it basic. After all, with the mouse one can only do point and click, double click, and click drag. 3 very basic motions. Keep it simple my friend.

– Speaking of complexity vs simplicity, it’s both surprising, and inspiring to see the Apple team had ported iWork suite to the iPad. It’s a daunting task but those 3 Apps (Pages, Keynote, and Numbers) will become the UI and usability reference of the Touch interface for years to come – Just like MacPaint for the Macintosh.

    Post

    Perdicting the Next Decade

    January 3, 2010

    “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” – Alan Kay

    Rather than another blog post that predicts flying cars or the end of the world in 2020, I’ve put together a few thoughts on what’s to come in the next 10 years.

    Simple observations on trends, wishful thinking’s, and in many case, the logical next step on what’s to come.

    On Technology

    – Before we get to “Cloud Computing”, we will see the rise or “consumerization” of the Data Center: i.e. I will be able to transfer MY 1TB plus of RAW photography and 200GB of audio (which most consumer could have in time) with ease to the Cloud. (Note: Think S3 “for the rest of us”)

    – The Desktop GUI Files and Folders metaphor will have to evolve. Files and folders work great when you have hundreds or even thousands of files, but the metaphor becomes pretty pointless when you are tasked to manage millions of digital records. This is a big challenge we have to solve in the next decade.

    – Call it Web 3.0 if you like. With so many standalone Web Services out there, it’s still pretty hard for non-tech people to build meaningful digital content (let alone business) on the Web. In the coming decade, we should be able to figure out a way to tide all these standalone services together into something much more meaningful. (Note: Think today’s 10 person Web 2.0 startup can be built by 1 person in the next decade simply buy gluing together existing services on the Web)

    On Business and Economy

    – The rise of micro / digital transaction from the Digital World into the Real World. In the next decade, it should get much easier to paying someone for goods and services. Think of it as P2P economy. i.e. I can pay the kid down the street to mow the lawn via digital credit. Why this is important you ask? The less friction it is to any form of transaction, the better it is for the commerce right?

    – Another financial bubble in the next decade will be driven by either Clean Tech or Biotech. We had the boom and bust in tech, real estate, and finance sectors in the last 20 years. The new cycle is bound to happen in those two industries next – with the requirement of some form of technical break though takes place.

    On Media and Entertainment

    – Traditional live TV will completed moving to the Web. After all, you living room TV is just a monitor. (Note: Think Hulu for ALL TV content but with live broadcast)

    On Design

    – Design and Fashion will finally move away from the Neo-grunge into something much more Baroque like or other style that’s focus on individual craftsmanship. (Note: Think Etsy, and TAD Gear)

    Post

    The end of the walled garden mobile portal by a Japanese carrier?!

    August 17, 2008

    Shocking and confusing title isn’t it? Let me explain.

    With the last month’s release of iPhone 3G by Japanese carrier Softbank Mobile, Softbank created a brand new mobile portal for the Japanese iPhone users. Savvy Japanese culture geeks should already know the name or the brand of this portal.

    It’s the Yahoo! Japan mobile portal for the iPhone .

    Yahoo! as a consumer brand is majority owned by Softbank conglomerate in Japan. Since 2006 Softbank entered the mobile service arena in Japan, Softbank had been building up mobile service under the Yahoo! Japan brand. The company had gone as far as providing a “Yahoo! button” on the handsets by different manufacturers.

    The Yahoo! Japan mobile portal is interesting for the following reasons:

    • It’s open access. That means anyone (as long as you can read Japanese) can type in http://ipn.yahoo.co.jp and access the content and services.
    • That includes Softbank’s competitor’s customers (DoCoMo, KDDI subscribers) can access the content as long as their mobile browser supports WebKit like features.
    • Of course, the big gotcha is that you can only get the iPhone from Softbank in Japan.
    • The site is deep and content rich. I am sock at both the depth and the breath of the content. No doubt you can still find certain deep linked content goes back to a regular “full Web” version of Yahoo! content, but over all, there are levels and levels of content design specifically (or reposition) for the iPhone.
    • Lack of advertising on the iPhone Yahoo! Softbank portal.

    I am still trying to digest what this means for the Japanese mobile market. The outside pundits always praise how great the Japanese mobile ecosystem is or how advanced Japanese handset ares. But if you have done some research, you’ll find that really doesn’t mean a lot in a market that is pretty much completely saturated – and most Japanese would carry 2 phones (one for work and one for personal use). Again… I am interested to see how iPhone will (or will not) change the Japanese mobile market.

    Post

    George Chen.com tree view

    May 31, 2006

    Tree

    Via Websites as Graphs.

    What do the colors mean?
    blue: for links (the A tag)
    red: for tables (TABLE, TR and TD tags)
    green: for the DIV tag
    violet: for images (the IMG tag)
    yellow: for forms (FORM, INPUT, TEXTAREA, SELECT and OPTION tags)
    orange: for linebreaks and blockquotes (BR, P, and BLOCKQUOTE tags)
    black: the HTML tag, the root node
    gray: all other tags

    Post

    MacBook (not pro) + Windows XP

    May 20, 2006

    MacBook running Windows XP

    I might be a little late to the whole IntelMac BootCamp thing, but I haven’t run into any online review or experience of the consumer MacBook with Windows XP yet using BootCamp yet so here’s my take of that combo.

    I purchased the white 2GzH MacBook at the Emeryville Apple Store on May 19th  – decided to cancel the online ordered since the black version looks bad in person.

    There’s something has to be said about the latest crop of Apple retail staff. What’s up with the greasy hair, emo look? Looks aside, they are not very knowledgeable in tech as I have hope they can be. They are no serious nerds, but Apple needs serious nerd to sell Macs.

    As an example, BootCamp came out before the release of MacBook, so I was concern the software drivers would not support MacBook. When I ask one of the staff if a MacBook would it be ok to run BootCamp, he was not able to give me a straight answer. That’s too bad.

    So I took the chance and purchased a MacBook primarily to test run Windows XP and no, I don’t want a new printer, and I already have a .Mac account. What’s up with the pushy Apple retail staff again? I then proceeded to BestBuy to pick up a fresh copy of Windows XP. And yes, purchasing Windows XP in a box did make me feel a little dirty. 😛

    Installing and partitioning Windows XP on MacBook was super easy. Took about an hour only. The first time I tried it, I gave Windows XP 15 GB of space. With the OS installed, games etc, I have only 3-5 GB ofworkable space. Then I did a repartition and re-install. Now I split the 60GB internal drive to half-and-half. I will likely upgrade the drive to 120GB when BootCamp come out of Beta.

    I used both Macs and PC. Recent year I like PC more, and I do all my design work on a PC. I don’t know why most designers still use Macs. Indeed, the Intel build of MacOS X is pretty fast, but compare with Windows XP on MacBook things are even faster.

    I am by no mean trashing MacOS X, but for what I need Windows XP on MacBook works great – as I can run Final Fantasy XI Online on a MacBook. Oh, and have I mention the PC USB drivers for Playstation 2 Control also works great on a Mac? 😉

    Post

    Sakamoto & Nokia 8800

    June 21, 2005

    Ryuichi Sakamoto composed a set of "sound skin" for the new Nokia 8800 phone. Go check it out and have a listen. It’s typical Sakamoto stuff which means…. um… freakin’ GOOD. Wonder if we will see the song like ringtone release on a CD. 😛

    Nokia certainly knows their target audience (who, me?) sleek phone and damn fine music/sound skin…. Product Marketing at its’ best.

    I also shared the intel with BK, and he had some interesting comment:

    "I like how ‘Ryuichi Sakamoto Sound Design’ is slotted right
    in between ‘Scratch-resistant Glass Screen’ and ‘Unique slide
    architecture’"

    Sakamoto’s music is just a
    "feature" indeed. Also since the phone will set you back $1,000 US, he also said:

    "maybe I’ll just uhhh convert some Sakamoto songs into polyphonic MIDI files and use those instead – Ghetto Sakamoto"

    That’s an option too.

    Post

    Happy Birthday Y!

    March 2, 2005

    Marketplace had a story on Yahoo!’s 10th birthday last night. It was weird to hear that on the radio while I drove home… The story is a little "raah-rahh", but there’s still a lot of truth in it. What’s funny is, today, I received an e-mail from my sister, and she ask me where she can get free ice cream… Anyhoo, happy birthday Y!!

    Post

    Mac Mini, Shuffle and poor Sony.

    January 11, 2005

    Some quick thoughts:

    • Mac Mini is actually not as cheap as you think if you add all the things you really need like Bluetooth and AirPort. (i.e. the configuration I want is $952.00)
    • It’s also the re-birth of PowerMac G4 Cube in terms of the design concept.
    • The outter case makes it looks like the old Macintosh HD icon. haha
    • Shuffle is great! Apple will sell a tone of these in Asian countries because of the right form factor and the neck strap/landyard.
    • Looking forward to the color versions of Shuffle soon….
    • I am getting both!!!

    And OMG, poor Kunitake Ando. I fee really bad for him/Sony. How he wish Sony can put together a presentation like this with such a wide selection of good products. Don’t worry Mr. Ando, you guys still have PSP. /comfort (note: watch the Steve’s note at Apple, and you will know what I mean)