With the release of the 3G version of the Apple iPhone in the UK on Friday it seems that people are waking up to how awesome a really well designed interface can be. Does that mean that I'm queuing up for one? Yeah ok so I probably will get one, but actually the 2G version is still keeping me totally entertained - literally, I was watching Supernatural series 3 on it last night. Those nice R&D chaps at RIM have been working on an excellent touch screen Blackberry codenamed "Thunder" (how do they come up with these lame names?) but more likely to be released as the Blackberry 9500.
The touch screen looks a little but like a HTC until it comes to life and the Blackberry interface lights up with the familiar Today screen. The 9500 has four physical buttons but no keyboard, typing is entirely on screen. It will have all the usual connections - 3G HSDPA and WiFi and here's hoping that the browser will be anything like as good as Safari.
Tuesday 15th July 2008
OK slightly weird gadget this week... but that's ok right? I went on
a guided "Bat Walk" oh ages ago and one of the things about bats is that
they come out at dusk when it's pretty hard to see them. The guide had a
bat detector, which is pretty much a sensitive microphone which you can
dial around to specific frequencies. I got a bat detector from the Bat
Conservation Trust and took it for a stroll along the canal bank. The
first Pipistrelles to fly past had me entranced... their hypersonic echo
location converted into pips and squeaks by the bat box. I listened to
them hunting while I watched them swoop around the canal and trees. The
bat box is an awesome gadget that lets you peek into a totally different
world.
Thursday 10th July 2008
I very rarely appreciate the junk mail companies send but just once
in a very long time something interesting drops into the Inbox. I like
and respect Ipswich (the company who provide WS-FTP) and when they
advertised a product which offered "UNBELIEVABLE
COMPRESSION FOR WORD ®, EXCEL® & POWERPOINT®" I didn't reach for the
Junk mail button but read on. The new product - NXPowerLite - looked
like it might offer a nice solution to a tech authors problem with word.
I produce a lot of courseware, crammed full of screen captures and the
file size of Word documents and PowerPoint presentations can get
ridiculous.
Even with all the images compressed using Words own compression tool one particular document was tipping 180 MB... but after processing with the new gadget it was down to 30 MB in around 20 seconds. The best bit is that wasn't zipped - the document is still a Word document and much easier to manage! Nice one Ipswich!
Monday 7th July 2008
Some days commuting into London and back I appreciate my Blackberry
so much I wonder how I coped without one. Other days I kind of forget
how wonderful and effortless it is. A fellow commuter talking on his
mobile on the train said he couldn't open his diary because he was on
the train. A few minutes later he asked his colleague whether he could
get to his email or had he already left the office. Now this chap had
his laptop open on the table between us (and sat typing for most of the
journey) and was speaking on a fairly modern mobile. Why couldn't he
open his diary? I can view my schedule easily on my Blackberry (or on my
iPhone or my old Nokia E71i) and what about Outlook on his laptop? But
what really hooked me was the idea of not being able to get email once
you're out of the office. Now my Nokia E71 and then the E71i both
allowed me receive and send emails, but I didn't have Push email
like I do with my Blackberry. Email just arrives without fuss or stress
when you have a Blackberry.
Pretty much any decent mobile will let you access some form of email - from Yahoo and Gmail up to Pop email, its just such a hassle setting the things up. That business man commuting on the train probably felt totally disconnected but he just wasn't using the technology at his fingertips.
