I’ve been reading a couple of similar posts recently (links below) which have been talking, roughly, about the same thing. That, on the whole, successful websites are using gaming rules. Or the coolest ones anyway. I do find this interesting. We’re in an age where the first generation of...
Whether you like them or not, mobile service providers are here to stay, they’re a staple part of our daily lives, we pretty much all have mobile phones nowadays. A question I get asked semi-frequently is “which mobile provider should I be with” (second to “which mobile should I choose next”). I have to say, I am a bit lost with the provider question as I’ve been with Orange since 1999 or something stupid. I do really think that they are much of a muchness today as they try to compete on price, service etc.
So imagine my delight today when I read Tech Digest had had a run down (or deathmatch) of the big 5. So, I’ll stop talking now so you can read: Tech Digest Technology Deathmatch
I always put C down as the old thing you learn in computer science. It was certainly the first language I learnt and is a good base to start (albeit quite hard to learn as it is a little more low level than the Java and C#s of this world). I’m also guessing they encompass C++ and objective-C when they say “C”. Objective-C is making a big growth since the iphone’s applications are written in this language.
But I’m excited. I’m excited because low level programming languages allow good things; like the speed of them can be phenomenal if written correctly. They are tough to write partly for this reason. Memory management is not done for you. Scripting languages like PHP and Ruby have taken a slight tumble because of the C revolution. I’ll be interested to see where this goes in any case.
I really think since Microsoft Windows 7 is shaping up to be a slick (comparatively) little OS where they concentrate on performance and Apple’s Snow Leopard OS is doing the same, the next few years will be more concentrated on speed of an application rather than adding more features. This is exciting because no one likes to wait for things to load, or have to buy more RAM to upgrade to a new version of software. Slick and quick is, well, lovely.
Using C badly though could cause slower applications, and bugs that could cripple memory. Let’s hope people are writing wisely. Assembly anyone?
A week or so ago I posted about why I was excited about 2009 in the technology world. The Palm Pre has had me licking my lips, tucking my napkin over my shirt and holding my knife and fork. However, as I surf for more information on this lovely piece of kit, I have seen one type of article “could this be the iphone killer?”. It isn’t just with the Pre, any phone with a touch screen that now comes out seems to end up having this title. The answer? No, it isn’t an iphone killer, and neither should it be. Any business which relies on a competitor to fail is doomed, especially when a device like the iphone has changed the industry. There isn’t only space for one touch screen phone. There’s space for several, but the best will win and move the technology forward. Apple will copy and improve and so it continues and it has been thus since the invention of the wheel (ok, bad example as the wheel needs no improving, but you get the idea, I hope). And if the competitor is not up to scratch, it won’t be a success.
I know what they mean is really “a competitor to the iphone” in a lazy journalistic “it’s like x on acid” way, but killer? Maybe there’s a better word. I’m sure of it, there are enough words in our fine language to choose from.
Let it be said now. I hate the news. I’ve reverted back to childhood where watching the news was considered not cartoons and hence boring. Actually, it isn’t boring, it’s just annoying. They report what is going on, how the world is ending etc. etc. then, just because we might not be scared enough, they ham it up.
Let’s go back to the 7th July 2005. A horrible day! Yet the news were happy, so happy because they had a story, hell yes! Something they could legitimately report on the same old crap for the next week at least (hell, they had 11th September 2001 going for at least a month). No more news was really coming out about the event, just the same old crap. Then, a reporter decided to add a little bit. He stood proudly outside Kings Cross Station and said “King’s Cross has become synonymous with disaster, 20 years ago there was a massive fire here”. Erm… 20 years ago? That’s not synonymous, every time I hear Kings Cross I, and most people don’t immediately think “fire” some might, but most don’t. It is unfortunate though.
Something that has been baffling me for a while is the number of people who consider themselves, or are considered experts on the internet. I read an article about the future of the web, and sometimes I think “are you really qualified to guess?”. I found out recently what my problem was, a lot of these “experts” see the internet as non-technical. They harp on about what will be new in design, strategy, media etc. but I rarely see technical. New Media Age, Campaign and the like almost avoid mentioning anything technical like the plague to the point the idea of a technical award is unheard of, even listings of new work will show Create Director, Designer, Copywriter, Account Director, MD, MD’s dog, but no technical. I’m not saying the other areas should not be looked at; they are important, but the technical side should at least be considered because without a technical team (or someone technically minded) there would be no website, or, well, internet!
You may have noticed (if you aren’t using an RSS reader to read this) that my comments box has been changed slightly. I started getting an obscene amount of spam from comments, while you didn’t see them, they were piling up and made me want to buy vi@gra and make myself larger. So now I’m using IntenseDebate, amongst a host of other ways of keeping the spams from the doors. Hopefully this will be cut down now, let’s see what happens.
Posted by Francis | Posted in Technology | Posted on 13-01-2009
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Technology is exciting me at the moment, really exciting me. One of my favourite quotes is “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” – Arthur C Clarke. And any time something like this happens I get a bit bubbly about it. Just imagine what people must have thought when they first saw a light bulb?
Ok, just imagine. You’re in the kitchen, your work surface is a powermat surface. You take the blender out the cupboard and put it on the mat, it it then powered, no plugging in, cables etc. its pretty cool! Just imagine taking only 1 charger with you on holiday. Of course it won’t just work with all gadgets and in the short/mid term you’d need an adaptor, but holy crap does this get me wet (I apologise, but it really does).
I was speaking to my dear friend and flatmate the other day as we gamed our faces off on Halo 3 (my gamer tag, by the way, is Dark Monk) and he asked me a great question: “what is the best technology you have ever bought?”. Now he put a caveat in there: which technology has brought you the most satisfaction, not necessarily the latest thing you bought.
It got me thinking. I love my Blu-ray player, but how much more satisfying is it compared to my first DVD player? My Apple laptop is great, but my first laptop was really what set it off. The answer to both is, I love the latest thing I have, brilliant, but the first DVD player I had, my first laptop, first desktop and first mobile were really the things that gave me huge satisfaction, after that they were upgrades, better, yes, but not quite as satisfying on that marginal level.
Anyway, just a thought. Tell me in the comments if you have anything.
Posted by Francis | Posted in Mobile, Technology | Posted on 13-01-2009
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I’m excited today. Actually, I was excited yesterday, but the excitement had to continue till I got a chance to write a post about it. And the reason I’m excited is that Palm are back with a phone that is seriously interesting: the Palm Pre, wireless charging, full face touch recognition. In fact, don’t listen to me, watch this:
ok, it has several nods to the iphone and a keyboard (which I consider a down side) but f*ck me this is sexy (and small) and will probably not be the restrictionware the iphone is (I still want one, but it is restricted too much, come on), especially from a company who up until recently have been pootling along the black line between existence and, well, non-existence.
I thought of this last night and thought of my Palm III I had back at university. I loved it, for a while. The main thing was the handwriting technology called graffitti. You had to learn a new way of writing, but it was simple and really quick to learn. Anyone with a stylus Palm back in the heady days should remember it, do you? Here is a reminder in any case.
Palm Graffiti Gestures
It felt like a community with its own handwriting. Anyway, I’m excited, especially about the wireless charging thing, but the future of mobiles is great (and we do have Apple to thank for that, iphone hater or not) and if the new HTC Android phone rumours are anything to go by, 2009 could be a real step forward.
