iPad, Flash, HTML5, and F2F Social
May 11, 2010 | Life | People & Society | Products & Opportunites
Although I'm big into tech I'm not really much of an early adopter. I tend towards buying 2nd- or 3rd gen products right as they're released. My theory is that this is the sweet spot for cost/benefit.
The iPad is different. After watching the introduction video (twice) I couldn't get it out of my head. Not because of how Cool it was, or – as an iPhone owner – because of how a bigger screen would "fix" some of the issues I have with heavy iPhone surfing. The brainworm that the iPad became was very subtle, and had to do with human interaction. Not so much human-and-computer, though there's that, but human-to-human.
You might have a sense of how the iPad changes the game if you live in a house where more than one person has a smartphone with a web browser and you've surfed together after supper at the dining table. Or if you've had a dedicated computer in the kitchen or family room, where people can look something up on a moment's notice and not break the conversation. Having an always-on Internet integrated with daily life (vs. the "computer" as something over there in the office) is just different.
So I pre-ordered the first-gen $499 iPad. And indeed, I still think it's a big deal. It's totally full of 1.0, but none of it matters. It's been available barely a month, all that will get sorted out. And yeah, when they do add a camera it will be better, etc. But the social component is here now. And the way it's changing websites is here now. The Apple/Adobe HTML5/Flash saga is all part of it.
John Gruber's Daring Fireball has had a number of interesting links, as have others. Reading them in in bulk will give you a sense of what I'm talking about.
Fred Wilson: I've changed my mind about the iPad.
The iPad, and the Staggering Work of Obviousness
The real reason why Steve Jobs hates Flash
Scribd CTO: “We Are Scrapping Flash And Betting The Company On HTML5″
Introducing Scribd in HTML5 (Web geeks, try selecting some fonts....)
Try reading all that and not getting a sense that always-on, always-with-you Internet will change your life.
MarsEdit 3.0
May 4, 2010 | Software
If you regularly write blog posts, and do so on a Mac, you should be using MarsEdit – a real post editor – and not some browser-based textarea junk. There's a new 3.0 version out today, and you should download the trial and then buy it in support of excellent independent software authors!
I mean, just having cmd-shift-a to link highlighted text will make your life easier every single day.
