The iPad as your new central hub

(photo: ohad)

What if you could control the house around you with nothing but an iPad?

It’s coming.

I remember watching Cribs years ago as some actor showed a clunky handheld computer that he carried around his house that could control the lights, the blinds, the TV, etc.. No doubt that whole system was pretty expensive. And now it’s getting cheaper. Imagine the iPad as that new handheld computer but sleek, sexy and connected to your house full of receivers.

The front door, the blinds, the tv, the lights, the oven, the refrigerator, the shower, the thermostat, the alarm system, the garage door and maybe your car will, in the next few years, begin to connect to your mobile device like never before.

Right now, a company called Schlage provides the equipment and the app (Schlage Link) as seen in this iPhone commercial, where a mother turns her home lights off from Denver International Airport.

Starter kits are pricey, starting at $223 on Amazon.com, and allow a homeowner to wire their front door. Schlage also provides connections to the lights, home webcams and the thermostat as add-on modules. 

With the release of the iPad though the market for these technologies will undoubtedly increase and with the demand up, the prevalence and cost of the technology to be installed in the house will drop.

Apple’s positioning of the iPad between the Macbook and the iPhone means that the iPad will likely be a household device while the laptop and the phone roam with their owners, right? Suddenly, setting the oven to 425 degrees no longers requires anyone in the kitchen and turning up the heat can be done from the comfort of your warm bed. 

I don’t remember how I came upon Soulver but it has since turned into an indispensable calculator app on my iPhone. Right now I’m using it to figure out where I should live next year in Boulder based on a few factors: Square footage divided by monthly rent Convenience (proximity to the University of Colorado) Furnished vs. unfurnished Lease length Thanks Soulver!

I don’t remember how I came upon Soulver but it has since turned into an indispensable calculator app on my iPhone.

Right now I’m using it to figure out where I should live next year in Boulder based on a few factors:

  • Square footage divided by monthly rent
  • Convenience (proximity to the University of Colorado)
  • Furnished vs. unfurnished
  • Lease length

Thanks Soulver!

Apple has the iPad’s features almost all figured out

It’s a whole lot easier to talk about what the iPad can’t do right now because no one has an iPad in their hands to rave about. It’s important to remember that Apple is positioning the iPad in between your everyday computer and your cell phone.

There are features that both your laptop and cell phone do much better than the iPad ever could. Apple will obviously never make the device that does everything because it would cut into the sales of their other products. They selectively omits things from their devices for a reason, usually because there are other products in their line that can do the same things, better.

Aaron at TechThinker.com has posted 8 Important feature missing in Apple’s iPad. Of the eight that he points out, only one of them is actually a feature Apple should have included.

His missing features include:

  • No SD Card Reader
  • No USB Slot
  • No Multitasking
  • No HDMI Port
  • The iPad does not support true HD. The aspect ratio of the display is 4:3 instead of the newer 16:9 ratio.
  • No GPS
  • No Built In Camera
  • No Cellular Voice

The SD card reader and USB ports are on your computer already. In the Keynote, Steve Jobs talked about how the iPad would sync just like your iPhone, loading all of those photos, videos, and playlists onto your iPad. The iPad has limited solid state memory and Apple realizes that it’s more important for the user to control the amount of stuff they’re putting on their iPad from their computer, hence no SD readers or USB ports

An HDMI port wasn’t included in the iPad because chances are high that the TV you want to connect your iPad to already has a connected DVD player. Apple knows that if you wanted to watch a movie on your TV, you would go through other devices. Keeping the form factor small was also a priority in the iPad. More video-out technology means more space those components take up inside the device. Apple was right to leave out the HDMI port as well.

Your iPhone or in-car GPS device do GPS and navigation better and more efficiently than the iPad could. I don’t really see anyone keeping an iPad in their front seat to help them figure out a way around town. Falling prices in the GPS market would make buying an iPad solely for the GPS features an irresponsible purchase.

Your computer has a camera and what’s more important — a battery whose resources aren’t as valuable (assuming your primary computer is a laptop). The iPad’s battery is limited and video chatting would waste valuable battery time that you may need later. Besides, there’s no multitasking, so if you needed to look up something while video chatting, you would be out of luck. Apple knows their MacBooks can do video chatting in a more efficient way so the camera had to go.

And as for using the iPad as a cell phone, come on, Apple already made a phone for that. Chances are there’s already cell phone in your pocket. Why do you need two? Put a cell phone in the iPad and you might as well call it an iPhone Jumbo or the iPhone an iPad Nano.

Finally, the feature that is rightfully missing: Multitasking. At this point multitasking being omitted from the iPhone OS is irresponsible of Apple because competitor’s phones are busy capitalizing on this feature. If Apple does implement multitasking, they’ll limit the amount of apps to some number under five, in the interest of battery life. Hopefully multitasking comes with the next iPhone update later this year.

The only other feature that’s missing from the iPad is Flash. I won’t go into that here because there are a million other blogs talking about how the lack of Flash is the iPad Killer.

Before we go pointing at the iPad and talking about what it can’t do, think about what purposes the device is supposed to serve and what other technologies that you already own can do those things in a more efficient way.

Do’s and Don’ts: iPhone app UI design

Do’s:

Don’t:

I’d buy an iPad just for two apps: Instapaper and MLB.com At Bat

I’d buy an iPad just for two apps: Instapaper and MLB.com At Bat

"Steve Jobs is typing actually NOT with his thumbs, but with fingers, like on a real keyboard. He’s placing it on his lap and typing away semi-naturally. But not without errors."
– Gizmodo
It’s a huge honor to be listed in the new Tumblr directory as one of the top tech writers on Tumblr! Thanks! Don’t ever stop the good work that you guys do.

It’s a huge honor to be listed in the new Tumblr directory as one of the top tech writers on Tumblr! Thanks!

Don’t ever stop the good work that you guys do.

Four reasons the 4th generation iPhone will not have a front-facing camera

(photo: nowhereelse.fr)

The picture above has been making its way around the Internet this afternoon and claims, unfoundedly, that there is a 70% chance the 4th generation iPhone will have a front-facing camera. I’ve never been quite sure why there is a demand for a front-facing camera in addition to the obvious rear facing one. Regardless, here is why the 4th generation iPhone will not have a camera facing you.

Space/Form Factor - Two cameras means there needs to be more electronics inside to handle both cameras. Assuming that the iPhone either keeps the same thickness measurement or gets slightly slimmer, Apple can’t afford to sacrifice space for other technologies to include two cameras.

No Video Conferencing - Video conferencing strains the battery significantly so in order for the iPhone to do video conferencing, the battery would need to be much larger. A larger battery would hurt the form-factor again, another reason why a front-facing camera is out.

It’s Impractical - Look at the latest additions that came in the iPhone 3GS: shooting brief videos, a faster processor, a compass, voice commands. What do they have in common? They’re all practical (though the compass helps this case the least aside from its GPS capabilities). Aside from vanity shots and making sure your hair is alright before a date, what use does a front-facing camera have?

It’s a Phone - First, the iPhone is just that — a phone. Second, the iPhone is made for the everyday customer, not for the Fortune 1000 business exec and even the exec is going to lend his voice before he lends his face to meetings be may be missing. Everyday users aren’t going to pull up a video chat to talk with friends; they’re going to make a phone call or send a text message. Apple will leave the video chat to their laptops and iChat.

I would flip the odds on this prediction and give the chance of seeing a front-facing camera a generous 30%. That being said, I seriously doubt we’ll see more than one camera in the next version of the iPhone.

Should I stay on Foursquare or jump to Gowalla? I’m really interested in location-sharing services right now and exploring the benefits and fun things you can do with the emerging technology. Right now I use Foursquare though I’m not really sure why. Most of my friends using this location-sharing apps are on Gowalla. In my past few months using Foursquare I’ve become the mayor of 8 places but beyond serial check-ins, I haven’t done much with the service. Whichever service wins, I will use solely for a month and then document the experience. Which do you use? Which should I use? And, most importantly, why do you like your particular service over the other location-sharing services? Find me on Foursquare and Gowalla.

Should I stay on Foursquare or jump to Gowalla?

I’m really interested in location-sharing services right now and exploring the benefits and fun things you can do with the emerging technology. Right now I use Foursquare though I’m not really sure why. Most of my friends using this location-sharing apps are on Gowalla.

In my past few months using Foursquare I’ve become the mayor of 8 places but beyond serial check-ins, I haven’t done much with the service.

Whichever service wins, I will use solely for a month and then document the experience.

Which do you use? Which should I use? And, most importantly, why do you like your particular service over the other location-sharing services?

Find me on Foursquare and Gowalla.

RTD Mobile Bus Times 1.1 and 2.0 announcements

I wanted to make few brief announcements about the next two versions of RTD Mobile Bus Times.

We’ve teamed up with InspiringApps to develop future versions of the app. I’m very excited about the direction the application is going, moving towards the 2.0 release and beyond.

RTD Mobile Bus Times has been downloaded in surprising places like the UK, Canada, Argentina and Australia. It’s clear that tourists are using the app and we want to help them out just as we help Coloradans who use the app.

Unfortunately, RTD Mobile Bus Times currently has a 1.5 star rating in the App Store. There are a variety of reasons behind the rating and it’s something I have been meaning to publicly address. Some negative reviews have come from customers who purchased the app without reading about what they were getting, other reviews have been low yet encouraging, offering plenty of feedback to build on. For the feedback, I thank you. Every piece of user feedback has been fed into future plans for the application. No longer will RTD Mobile Bus Times be a set of image files displaying schedules. We’re bringing the whole fleet (plus the Buff Bus) powered by Google Transit Data.

Let’s break down the immediate future of the app:

The 1.1 update is currently in the works. 1.1 will update the current schedules for the AB and the B/BX according to RTD’s January 10th update. It’s a fast fix and one that should be submitted to Apple very shortly. We want to make sure that the app is still useful as we prepare the 2.0 release.

Development of 2.0 is going to pick up very soon. I’ll reveal more details as we lock them in place. Rest assured that soon you’ll be able to download the essential Colorado navigation application. Whether you live here or you’re traveling to Colorado, you’re going to want RTD Mobile Bus Times on your phone.

Thanks for keeping up with RTD Mobile Bus Times [iTunes link]. More information about 2.0 will be coming shortly.