jason’s space

As the tech pundits criticize and analyze Apple’s new creation, dubbed the “Jesus Tablet”, I offer my own opinion on what I believe the iPad will be great at…

1. eReading. Similar to how app developers gravitated towards the ubiquitous iPhone platform, print publishers and retailers will do the same and focus their resources to distribute content for the iPad. The iPad will be the device of choice for students to purchase course material. The experience becomes richer when reading newspapers or magazines who will index exclusive video content alongside articles. For a better understanding of what I’m referring to, watch the video below of Time’s concept for a tablet-friendly magazine.

Time Inc. demos tablet-friendly magazine concept (Apple Tablet?) from Emanuele Cardinali on Vimeo.

2. Lean-back email, chat & browsing. The instant-on benefit of the iPad makes it a great complement to the mobile phone for casual email, chat and browsing.  Not to mention how green friendly it is to use a low-power device for this common activity.
3. Cookbook. This idea came from my wife which I interpret as a computer for the kitchen. A perfect device the family can use to check weather and traffic in the morning, share schedules, build grocery lists and use as an eCookbook (eReader).  I’ll enjoy the chef videos that accompany a recipe to aid in preparation!
4. Universal Remote. The iPad will be everything the Harmony Remote is and more.  Interface with your PVR, home S.M.A.R.T devices, music server, etc.
5. Gaming. I spend more time gaming on my iPhone than my Wii or 360.  With the 9.7″ screen, faster processor and identical interface to the iPhone, I expect the gaming experience on the iPad will be even better.

What do you think the iPad will be great at?

Tags: apple

Self Bank Mobile: Looking Beyond The Future of M-Commerce – A funny movie is a click away

There’s no present. There’s only the immediate future and the recent past.

– George Carlin

I have always been an advocate of focusing the design of a product on the user’s needs and removing distractions from the user’s main goal. Google is one such company that is always evolving the user experience of their products through very elegant solutions and the recent update to the Google homepage is no exception.

The new homepage look now loads with just the Google logo, elongated search box and search buttons. For users who are interested in using other Google services such as Gmail, Image Search, etc., those links fade-in a millisecond after the user moves their mouse.

Marissa Mayer, VP of Search Products and User Experience at Google had this to say about the new design: ”Google is all about getting you where you are going faster — how could we launch something that potentially slowed users down? Then, we realized: we want users to notice this change… and it does take time to notice something (though in this case, only milliseconds!).”

If you’ve ever wondered how Google goes about testing and re-designing a page layout, hit the link to read up on how 10 different designs, some of them almost practical jokes, led to their decision.

Read

Tags: design, Google