Don't tell Arrington, but the JooJoo is back (as Grid10)

I was still living in Singapore at the time the preverbal matter hit the rotating device. Whether or not you think Arrington or Fusion Garage were at fault for their falling out, I reckon their squabble did more to set back Singapore's IT industry reputation than anything else in recent memory.

In the papers and discussing it with IT professionals working there, there were sour grapes on both sides of the debate, ranging from people claiming Fusion Garage was being unfairly beaten up by an arrogant overseas blogger, to those who expressed resentment and even anger at a local company they claimed reflected poorly on their entire IT industry.

Needless to say, the iPad's introduction and everyone forgetting about the JooJoo helped a lot, but the damage has been done. I grew up there and wouldn't hesitate working with Singaporean companies, but I would understand if other foreigners (aka "angmos") would have reservations. Which is a shame, because there is some extrodinary talent over there.

What was sad for me was that what Arrington envisioned I really wanted. The iPad has much of what he imagined (I wonder if he could should get involved in the design patent mess :-)) but the simplicity was key. I never got a JooJoo/Crunchpad but I did get a Touchbook [1] and a Chumby [2] both of which had some components of what I was looking for but neither had everything. If the next iPad has the 2560 x 1600 display it will come close, that plus something like sketchup with a finger UX and I'd be happy for now.

[1] http://www.alwaysinnovating.com/home [2] http://chumby.org