Steve Dotto's blog
I have probably shown a few dozen multifunction printers on my show over the years, and I have to tell you, the bar is pretty high when it comes to today’s crop of AIO (all-in-one) devices. Each time I look at a new one I am impressed with the innovations in print technology, price and interface. The manufacturers are constantly challenged to come up with better, less expensive, more innovative technology, and the bar keeps climbing higher.
This week brought the much anticipated MacBook Air into the Dotto Tech studios for our first look at the somewhat controversial new notebook from Apple. Once again Apple is leading the way in innovation with a new class of notebook.
It is not really a subnotebook and it is definitely not a full sized notebook. The MacBook Air is ultra light - only 3 lbs - but it still has a large 13” screen and a full sized keyboard. Thin is in, and as the TV commercials pay testament to, the Air will slide nicely into a manila envelope.
As they did with the first iMacs, Apple has eschewed removable storage on the Air. There is no optical drive - the Air is designed to be fully self-contained - and in fact there is only a single USB port and a headphone jack, plus a mini DVI video output to allow peripheral connections.
I spent some time recent;ly playing with and learning about the concept of public computing. Computers placed in public locations, primarily for accessing the Internet.
Public workstations appear in libraries, internet cafés, hotel lobbies, work camps, military bases. They are anywhere people want to or need to access the internet, but personal computers don’t fit, or aren’t available.
There is a Canadian company who has really nailed the whole concept, Userful Corporation, out of Calgary (www.userful.com) has a product called the Discover Station. It is a Linux based computer, that is designed from the ground up for public computing.
A single PC can run up to 10 workstations, which is both economical, and very environmentally friendly, with less power consumption and manufacturing waste than 10 individual PCs. In fact last year Discover Station saved us all over 13,500 tons of CO2 emissions over what would have been generated with stand alone PCs. That is the equivalent of taking 2300 cars off the road.
New interfaces are tough to come by. I spent several days recently with Apple’s iPod Touch. It has an entirely new interface, which it shares with its more press-worthy sibling, the iPhone, which we are still waiting for in Canada.
For both the Touch and iPhone, Apple has developed an interface they are calling Multi-Touch. It is a touch screen that also understands gestures. For example sliding your finger will cause a different action than merely tapping. This opens up entirely new concepts of navigation and control.
One of the frustrations I have with the whole computing scene is the fact we are for the most part interfacing with our computers exactly the same way we did back in the late ‘80s.
Think about it, Apple (through Xerox) released the Macintosh (after the failed Lisa) and the graphical user interface was delivered to the mainstream. We were introduced to the mouse, to the desktop, to “point and click”, and ease of use became the buzzword.
One of the time-worn traditions in Canada is the post office tango - getting gifts ready to ship to our friends and family across the country and overseas. We have all been through the packing, the packaging, and the standing in line at the post office while the person in front of you counts out exact change at a painfully slow pace, while complaining that stamps used to cost a nickel!.
Canada Post realizes that time is precious, so they’ve come up with a bunch of new web based tools that is redefining their business. And thankfully, we are the ones that benefit.
Case in point, Ship in a click. If you visit Canada Post’s web site, you will see a ton of new tools, and Ship in a click is designed for you and I, you will undoubtedly use it year round once you see how easy it is.
You can ship anywhere, you want, if you have to ship to the US or overseas the software takes you through all the paperwork that needs to be in place.
I have had the pleasure of speaking to several educational conferences recently. The challenges our educators face in a highly evolving technical world is daunting.
Not only do today’s educators have the responsibility of providing a basic education to our children, they do so in a world that is rapidly changing. It is sort of like coaching a hockey team in a league where the rules change from game to game. OK, so it is not so different from what NHL coaches face, but teachers are paid a lot less!
Teachers and Parents are being overwhelmed by the changing social structure of youth. Understanding what the changing rules of communications are is critical to helping your kids, or students, make good decisions, and help them when they make bad ones.
Today a kid can have an ongoing dialogue, over several days using every medium except face to face. Text messaging on phones, chat on the computer and email all fold together seamlessly in their minds and lives. We need to understand the subtleties of these tools and realize that conversations are now multithreaded. They take place over time and space and become a living document.
I can't keep quiet anymore! The brilliant business performance by the band Radiohead has created such a compelling story that I need to discuss it.
If you have not heard Radiohead, a very popular band (one of my favorites) decided to throw caution to the wind, trust their marketing instinct, the common decency of their fans, the internet gods and voodoo to break the mold.
Their newest album, "In Rainbows" was released as an Internet only download. Not only did they thumb their noses at traditional publishing - including the newest forms such as iTunes - but they also completely ignored "common sense"!
Instead of fixing a price to their release, they said to their fans "pay us whatever seems fair" . If that number is zero, it doesn't matter, you can still download a legal copy of the CD. Pay $5.00 if you want, or $12.00 - whatever YOU think is fair.
It was a brilliant leap of faith. A brilliant concept and it turned Radiohead from a good band, into internet visionaries.
Canada has so much to be proud of. But a country as spread out as we are can have a challenge making all areas of the country feel a major part of the whole. Case in point the fact that Libraries and Archives Canada is located in Ottawa and unless you visit in person you have little or no idea of the national treasures stored and displayed in their halls and exhibits.
There is a significant outreach from the custodians of our shared memory and culture. Libraries and Archives has a dynamic web site (www.collectionscanada.ca) that is designed to deliver as much of the Canadian experience as possible to the entire nation.
Apple is on the verge of leaping ahead yet again with the release of their newest operating system, Leopard.
Just when Microsoft has finally played a bit of catch up with Vista, Apple puts on a burst of speed and shows their heels once again. It has to be frustrating for Microsoft, but Mac lovers are in their glory.
An interesting trend is starting, were the computer is becoming the centre for family activities. Both Apple and HP seem to realize this. Their new lineup of computers look as good in a kitchen as they do in the family room
Compact with few wires, totally integrated systems are the order of the day for computers that are designed for environments other than the traditional desk.
Apples new iMacs are beautiful fully featured PCs that look as good in a kitchen as the office.
HP has taken the idea one step further. Their new HP TouchSmart IQ770 is a whole new class of PC. The TouchSmart lineup includes a huge 19 integrated touch screen and special family management software. It is designed from the ground up as a family computer, one to help organize and add structure to busy families.
