Category: Technology

WSJ: You Can Ditch Your PC Now

Completely agree with the main idea of this article… Chromebooks (and tablets to some extent) are mature platforms and great devices for both creating and consuming content for personal and business use:

In short, I’m done with PCs—at least as they are conventionally defined. And I think the majority of long-suffering PC users would be too if they weren’t so accustomed to thinking of computers in the same way they have for decades. Building new technology is easy compared with changing the habits of those who use it.

via You Can Ditch Your PC Now – WSJ – WSJ.

The Next Printing Revolution

Having access to a 3D printer at Hammond has definitely changed the way I think about design, production, and consumption (in a school environment at least).

I greatly look forward to the concept of printing to continue to extend from hand written manuscripts to the printing press to 3D printing to this type of molecular crystal printing…

But the most interesting application has to be the potential for 3D-printed pills and medications. The technique could be adapted into a consumer-friendly machine allowing patients to simply print their own medicines in the exact dosages they need.

via Scientists Produce Rounded Crystals That Could Lead To 3D-Printed Pills.

Posting to Social Spaces Instead of Blogs

I’ll admit, there are times when I think it would be much easier to share links, ideas, and posts via something like Google+ or Facebook or Twitter rather than my blog.

Then I take a deep breath and step back. I realize the instant amount of traffic that is offered by those services doesn’t equate to the feeling of having my own space on my own blog.

Just a late night feeling after a long day.

I Went Back to Android

I tried.

I bought an iPhone 5s in August and did everything I could to try and live in an Apple ecosystem full time (for science).

However, given the choice at the Verizon Store yesterday between an iPhone 6+ and a new Moto X, I took the Android path.

I don’t regret or second guess my decision one bit. I’m typing this now on my Moto X and I’m loving this phone so far. Its quite possibly the best mobile I’ve ever owned (given, it’s only been a day).

Why?

I’m in the Google cloud, I like to tinker, and I don’t like having the same phone as 90% of the people I see around me. Plus, I can run my life and business on this phone in ways that aren’t possible with iOS.

iPhone is great. It’s just not for me.

Home Screen on My iPhone 2014

I like to post these every so often (this one from 2010 is historic) for my own archive uses…

IMG_0333.PNG

By the way, someone asked me yesterday why I had Lastpass on the front page and what it did as an app. I don’t know any of my passwords as they are all generated by Lastpass. Between that and using 2 factor authentication for everything I can (the Google Authenticator app beside Lastpass on the top row), I feel pretty confident about my security online. Those are two of myost used apps as a result.

Additionally, I’m glad to see services like Mint (my personal accounting app) and Evernote integrate their apps with TouchID on the iPhone so that I have to supply my thumbprint to open them up (Bank of America is releasing their updated app with that integration as well).

Security is my app theme for the end of 2014, evidently.

Very valuable read if you’re interested in the…

Very valuable read if you’re interested in the future of the web… time to rethink “Big Internet”

“Big Twitter was great — for a while,” says Jacobs. “But now it’s over, and it’s time to move on.”

These trends, if they are actually trends, seem related. I sense that they both stem from a sense of exhaustion with what I’m calling Big Internet. By Big Internet, I mean the platform- and plantation-based internet, the one centered around giants like Google and Facebook and Twitter and Amazon and Apple.”

Nicholas Carr at http://www.roughtype.com/?p=5010

Dave Winer on how to stimulate the open web

We were talking about this way back in 2006 (and probably before, but that’s when I started taking notice as the social web started accelerating) and it’s good to see that guardians of the web like Dave Winer are still hard at work thinking and talking (and making apps) about this:

Create systems that are ambivalent about the open or closed web. If I create a tool that’s good at posting content to Facebook and Twitter, it should also post to RSS feeds, which exist outside the context of any corporation. Now other generous and innovative people can build systems that work differently from Facebook and Twitter, using these feeds as the basis, and the investors will have another pile of technology they can monetize.

via How to stimulate the open web.

Go read and use RSS.

Back to iPhone

I’ve been using a Nexus 4 then the Nexus 5 as my daily mobile device for the last two years as I wanted to learn Android.

I enjoyed the experience for the most part (especially Google Now and apps integration) but I’ve missed the reliability and stability of Apple hardware.

So, I’m back on an iPhone 5s (until the 6 or whatever it’s called next month) for hardware and Google etc for software for now.

Airbnb’s New Logo

Airbnb Belo

Airbnb has released a revision of its site, which is very 2014 modern in its flatness and active card based structure. It’s interesting, but nothing revolutionary or forward looking inside the Silicon Valley bubble. The best aspect is that we’re finally seeing the transition of the cards interface from services to actual physical interactions / products.

The more exceptional part of Airbnb’s visual revision is how they are treating their otherwise lukewarm logo. Airbnb is a confederation of hosts and potential users. While it has to be centralized in terms of the service, listings, etc the very nature of the business is to be democratized. It’s interesting to see their logo embracing that and making the decentralized nature of the business part of its core identity:

“The most revolutionary thing about this brand evolution is we are giving it away to the community,” Mr Conley says. “We are moving from an era of mass production to more individualised production… This is an extension to that. A host with a singular listing in Notting Hill could create their own logo and now we’ve created a micro-entrepreneur with their own brand.”

via Airbnb says its new logo belongs to everyone | Tech blog.

Happy Birthday, @pinboard

Don’t get me wrong, I loved Delicious way back in the mid 2000’s. But you probably don’t remember that site or the commotion it caused over something as simple as bookmarks. But bookmarks are important. I have over 7,000. It’s my personal interweb intersearch.  And that’s why I love Pinboard.

I found Pinboard just 4 days after it launched (my stats say July 14) in 2009 and quickly signed up. I can’t believe it’s 5 years old today.

I keep all of my bookmarks private and Pinboard brings in not just things I star etc on the web but also favorited Tweets, private notes etc… it’s literally one of the best records I could ever have of myself over the last five years. I only hope it’s around for fifty more.

If you’re looking for an amazing bookmarking experience that is quick, safe, secure, and easy (and is a literal archive of your web experience), check out it out.

Congrats congrats congrats to building an awesome site that bucks the trends…

The Internet is strewn with the corpses (or in some cases, zombies) of sites that once promised to save your links forever. As people keep discovering, building a bookmarking site is easy, but making a business of bookmarking is hard. Like one of those leathery, spiny plants that is able to thrive in the desert where everything else dies, I have tried to find ways to adapt to this hostile business environment. And I have feasted on the flesh of my rivals!

via Pinboard Turns Five (Pinboard Blog).

Google’s Surprising Chromebook Surge

I’ve been using a desktop and a phone as my main “computers” for the last several months and haven’t looked back.

When I’m on the road for client work, I’ll take along a Chromebook and have no issues getting “real” work done. Evidently I’m not alone…

And, globally, in a reversal of fortune, low-end PCs are eating into tablet sales.

“One encouraging factor was a good intake of lower-end systems, including Chromebooks, which coincides with the recent slowing in tablet growth,” said IDC analyst Jay Chou.

via PCs see surprising gain in US as global decline slows, but Apple slips – CNET.

I’ve had every model of iPad and use a Nexus 7 now when I need a tablet. But I mostly find myself using this desktop and my phone (Nexus 5) more than anything else. Looks like I’m not alone and Google was wise to plug the low-end price point with its Chromebook lineup.

When Chromebooks first started getting traction, there was an incessant meme of their nature of “just being a browser.” Turns out, people like having a simple (even web based) OS with a keyboard over a tablet with limited apps and no keyboard. iPad sales continue to slow from their high point last year.

Wonder how this impacts iPad’s marketing for the coming holiday season?

Vamping Teens

I had a friend who changed his home’s wifi password every night at bedtime to make sure their teen wasn’t “vamping.” Turns out the teen realized the power of turning your phone into a mobile hotspot (water flows down hill).

“Sometimes I look up and it’s 3 a.m. and I’m watching a video of a giraffe eating a steak,” he said. “And I wonder, ‘How did I get here?’ ”

via Vamping Teenagers Are Up All Night Texting – NYTimes.com.

Sam, what computer should I buy?

2014-06-18 12.04.35

2014-06-18 12.04.59

I get the “Hey… you know lots about computers. What computer should I buy? I don’t really want an iPad because I like keyboards.” conversation often. Whether at a party, a church event, a meeting with a client… it seems to happen at least once a week.

So, here is my answer (well, the Summer 2014 version at least).

The Acer C720P Chromebook.

That’s my Acer C720P alongside my brand new Macbook Air 11 in the photo above (well, it’s technically Merianna’s).  The Acer cost me $279 and the Macbook cost me $1100. That alone is a big differentiation for many people. However, the Chromebook is a little workhorse of a computer. I literally use it to run my business when I’m on the road, and frequently at home or in the office.

“But Sam,” you say, “aren’t Chromebooks useless when they aren’t connected to the internet? I need to do things on my computer besides just check email.”

That might have been a logical reason for why you should buy something like a cheap Windows computer from Best Buy rather than a Chromebook last year or especially two years ago. However, Chromebooks have progressed a great deal over the last few years (especially months) and now allow for offline applications, heavy graphics programs, and using or editing media like video or audio in addition to all the goodness that comes with web apps in 2014. Even games are catching up.

Plus, it has a touch screen. I maybe use it twice a day, but when I do it’s pretty nifty.

For 90% of people, a Chromebook is a fantastic choice as Google continues to optimize and improve the ChromeOS experience.

The Verge agrees with me today (go read their review for all the specs and details):

The best Chromebooks combine high-end touches with low-end prices, and the C720P has more of both than most. First and foremost, it has a latest-generation Intel processor. That alone makes the C720P feel like a fully capable laptop, not a tablet or smartphone. If you’re looking for a Chromebook to use as your primary computer, don’t buy anything without Intel inside. The C720P also has all the ports and trappings you’d expect from any good laptop, a keyboard that works fine without being totally exceptional, and a really good trackpad. This is a pure workhorse machine, but it’s truly a workhorse.

via The best Chromebook you can buy | The Verge.

So save yourself the trouble of buying a cheap windows laptop or the expense of buying a Mac if you’re going to be doing mostly web intensive things or office related activities. If you need a computer that will handle Adobe Illustrator, 324 Excel macros, and your Sony video editing software… buy all means buy a $1,000 + Windows or Mac machine. Most of us don’t need that, just as most of us don’t need a pick up truck (although I do love mine).

 

Against the Natural Order of Things

A seemingly prescient revelation from Douglas Adams as I come ever closer to turning 36:

  • Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
  • Anything that’s invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
  • Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural order of things.

via Cory Doctorow writing for Tor Books in a piece titled You Are Not a Digital Native: Privacy in the Age of the Internet.

As someone who first got on the internet at age 12 thanks to a very nerdy friend back home in rural South Carolina and then the world wide web the next year (thanks to that same friend who would go on to move away the following year but exposing me to the wonders of bulletin boards for long distance communication in 1994… wonder whatever happened to him?) and still thinks the web is revolutionary and has found a career in it, I can relate.

Personal Domains as Apps

home_sweet_home

I keep wondering what to do with this site.

For a long time, I’ve been an advocate for folks having their own domain and using that as a “blog” of some sort to share ideas, thoughts, creations, stories, writings, photos, videos etc. When I was a middle school teacher, I was especially insistent about this to the point of having all of my students set up blogs for their portfolios (many of which still use the domains they set up years ago according to my Feedly account, which is great to see).

However, we are moving from an era of writing-for-the-web first into a nascent ecosystem of writing for an app first. Rather than concentrating on their websites as well developed marketing vehicles complete with many pages, subpages, and temp landing pages, many of my marketing clients these days (at least the smart ones that listen to me) are focusing on the notion that the mobile web (and / or apps) is the more profitable place for focus.

We’re watching companies like Google, Dropbox, Yahoo, and Facebook break down their once monolithic web portals into divergent apps that separate out their photo, newstream, chat, and video components. Even companies like Twitter have Vine. It’s a fascinating phenomenon that will only accelerate in the coming months and years as the web continues to change and bifurcate its various evolutionary chains. The web that my four and six year old knows will be very different than the web I’ve known for twenty years because of this evolutionary path as well as the rise of wearables, the web in our vehicles, and the “internet of everything” that will continue to bring transformations to our human dwellings.

In the meantime, I’ve been wondering about the nature of this personal namespace. I still think everyone should have a personal domain that they call their own. I love and cherish the idea of a web that is federated and based on a model of flowing river that routes around problems rather than being a flow of syrup that is held up by any barrier that is put up by walled gardens and monolithic user experiences. However, that’s not in the schadenfreude of 2014. I’m constantly caught up in the ease and reliability of using Facebook or Twitter as my blog, Instagram as my photo sharing service, and GOogle+ as my repository for photos and videos that are for family only.

But what if there’s a middle ground?

What if personal domain blogs (or portfolios if you will) have the possibility to be “apps” that represent our own content and offer an experience of who we are to interested people? What if these types of personal blogs like what you’re reading is less of a blog in the 2005 sense, and more like a “sam harrelson” app that gives glimpses into thoughts that I want to communicate and share? It’s a matter of semantics, to be sure, but in this case words do matter.