Microsoft's tablet
gizmodo.com
gizmodo.com
a) it's not a product
b) it's not even a prototype
c) it's from last September (and thus is not news)
d) nothing has been heard since (it's dead)
e) it's resurrected every time there is buzz about an Apple tablet - wonder if MS's PR has anything to do with it.
I'm not sure that follows. Last September isn't that long ago.
So It's at least a prototype
From the guidelines:
You can make up a new title if you want, but if you put gratuitous editorial spin on it, the editors may rewrite it.
If we wanted to get fancy, they could call it a "mass simulator". All it does is simulate the device's shape and mass.
When it is not just a CGI model, that is.
Remember Pen Windows?
BTW, is Project Natal shipping?
BTW, is Project Natal shipping?
I don't know, but they are hiring.
We will have to see whether Windows derivative tablet OS is capable of supporting tablet form better than it does for mobiles/smartphones, to try and match Mac OS's versatility. If it does not, then no matter how good the hardware is, it will still be a number 2.
Or the Momenta?
Your comment also got me Googling for the Simpson's clip that was pretty much the Newton's tombstone. But I found the video introducing the Newton at the bottom of this page more interesting:
http://technabob.com/blog/2007/07/20/classic-apple-moment-ne...
One interesting thing is that it is clear that the Newton was struggling to find a way to move data around before the dawn of the world wide web. You can print! Or fax! At least, you can the next time you are physically next to a device. Or you can "beam" something who happens to be in close proximity. Er, if they also have a Newton.
The fact that literally half of the intro video is devoted to getting the handwriting recognition to work correctly, though, is certainly ominous. It indicates that the hand-writing interface was not as intuitive as they had hoped.
Which brings us back to Microsoft and pens. I wonder if the vision for tablet computing was born out of Gates and his generation's familiarity with hand writing and inherently assuming that the average person is more comfortable with it than keyboards, and not updating those assumptions for the current generation who spend far more time updating their Facebook status on a keyboard than taking notes in class (assuming they don't use a laptop for that, too).
This is a valid assumption, writing with a pen IS the most natural way for humans to record information, this includes drawing figures(how do you draw sketchs with a keyboard?).
The problem is that machines don't have a brain and find very difficult to decode pen writing, the first that solve this problem will win a lot of fans.
PS: I type very fast, but I don't like the keyboard as much as pen.
-It is a big thing that requires a lot of space. -It is slow to learn. -It makes sound. -Gets dirty. -You can't write with emotions, or tone, nuances are lost.
On a laptop, makes it really difficult to rotate the screen(I'm writing on a rotated laptop right now, if you try it you will be slow at first, but I'm faster this way).
I'm experimenting with my own sound recognition programs and note taking, I thing that is the future. IMHO we will talk with computers, and the children of your children will see keyboards as awkward as they are.
They need to just make this themselves.
Still, MS hardware is good. Too bad they insist to be a software company.
And nothing new about Courier has come since then.
It's not a hard device to fake - just glue two 10-inch tablets with a fake interface and off you go. It would be good enough to show on TV.
If I were Jobs, I would not announce a tablet after CES and watch how that confuses Microsoft PR people.
Jobs, on the other hand, probably cares more about his own business than about confusing Microsoft PR.
Apple is in much better hands than mine.
It's even more interesting to see that they don't get why the Iphone was designed the way it was. It's all about simplicity and form follows function. There's nothing in the iphone's design that doesn't absolutely have to be there. There's no clutter. When you look at the courier it's obvious they haven't grasped this.
In the demo, there were a lot of actions where I did not understand the underlying UI philosophy. Flicking from one application to another (how are the apps spatially related to each other?). Flicking a person's entry onto a todo list to give him access (why doesn't it email it to him, or some other action?). The "pinch" seems to do different things in different contexts, and I'm not sure what ties them together. I get that she was taking photos at one point, but is holding up a book form factor to take a picture going to work ergonomically? And then pressing the button to snap the photo, do you have to balance this open book form factor with just one hand so you can press the button with your other hand?
On the other hand, during the original iPhone demo, I kept thinking "of course!" It was clear that Apple had created an entire, consistent UI philosophy for operating a mobile device with just the fingers on one hand, while holding it in the other.
Glass on glass = Dirt rubbing/scratching madness.
When it's off the screen will look like the back of an iPod Classic.