Electricity flows. So does information. This is an attempt, to describe a metaphorical 'socket,' light bulb and currency flow by connecting the dots between three potent technology trends: Widget-ization of the web. Ascendance of mobile platforms, like the iPhone. Ascendance of mobility platforms, like the iPod touch. Imagine a device called a ‘wall widget’ that functions as a piece...
I am going to propose a vocabulary for thinking about the building blocks of mobility applications in the iPhone/iPod touch universe, a vocabulary based largely on an analysis of the composite set of existing functions already supported in these devices. My goal is two-fold. One is to attempt to connect the dots for would-be developers thinking about how they can emulate the best practices, services and workflows that have emerged around this platform. Two is to hopefully spotlight how Apple can provide maximize leverage for third-party developers by exposing well-defined APIs and providing tools around these function sets.
Is the iPod touch destined to be the first mainstream Wi-Fi mobile platform, as Apple management is starting to chat up? Or just the Newton revisited? This article ponders the possibilities.
Instead of telling people what you are doing, show them!...
As everybody knows, the promise of Java was that functionality written once could run unmodified on different machines, different types of devices and different types of runtime spaces (e.g., server-side, client-side or browser-based). But this isn't a commentary about Java, its successes, and where and how it fell short. Rather, this post is an assessment of how digital media and...
This post attempts to put some meat on that overloaded term, "Web 2.0." It does this by defining the atmosphere that Web 2.0 applications operate within and making (hopefully) clear assertions about what the moving parts are, as well as the core attributes of those parts. The goal is to give the reader some "kindling wood" for thinking about creating their own composite application services around this emerging model.
RSS began its life as a really simple way for content providers to syndicate their content and for content consumers to subscribe to their favorite providers. When the blogosphere emerged, RSS really took off. Now, just as its “simple” technology cousin, HTML, provided the underpinnings of the Web 1.0 technology platform, RSS is emerging as a platform for delivering the broadband and mobile ready applications of a Web 2.0 enabled world. Backed by two application examples, this blog presents a thesis of the key moving parts integral to the RSS platform and how they come together.
CornerScreen Networks leverages the emergence of three trends -- user-defined RSS feeds, enhanced tools for organizing online content and Google-style advertising networks -- and unifies them within a slide viewer application that runs in a corner of your computer screen.
In the age of always-on broadband, I think that it is time for someone to build a service around live (or pre-recorded) television content. Think about it. Beyond financial programming, there are logical applications around music, news, sports, reality television and educational programming.
A thought occurred to me the other day; what if you could combine the pen drive with the View-Master? What I am thinking of is a pen drive-sized device that could store photos and other graphic files the same way as any USB based storage device (i.e., stick the drive in a computer's USB port and drag photos onto the drive). But, similar to the View-Master, this device, which I will euphemistically call the iPocket, would have a lighting source that could "project" images in the drive onto a wall or some other background.
