I have always been a fan of Thinkpad notebooks. The W700 announced at CES is truly and amazing workstation. This is not for everyone, due to size and weight... but 2 screens? Yes, a smaller screen that pops out of the main screen! That is innovation. Can't wait to see just how they managed to engineer that second screen.
Also has built-in RAID, a WACOM tablet and a colorimeter for screen correction. Photographers who do field work should love this PC.
Watch a demo here.
.I often wish I were more skilled in being able to express myself graphically. Drawing or even sketching are not natural skills for me and I have never developed them. Well, here comes tech to the rescue. Watch the following video from the ILoveSketch.com folks. This is technology enhancing people's skills. This is why touch-screen technology is so important, and why tablet PC sales have been so disappointing. Apps like this one will sell more tablets.
ILoveSketch from Seok-Hyung Bae on Vimeo.
Here is a so-so demo of a very exciting technology. Finally a flexible plastic screen that bends but does not break. We have seen e-paper before, and the kindle is a great ebook reader, but this is different. The thinness of the device makes all the difference. Imagine this being used as a restaurant menu.
Here is a video of the Paper Logic's CEO:
Here are the guts in action:
Here it is, the much anticipated first TV spot for Microsoft featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld. Avoids talking about the products. Hmmm...
Link: YouTube - Bill Gates & Jerry Seinfeld - Shoe Circus Commercial.
Proof that: 1) Bill G does have a sense of humor, and 2) Microsoft can create appealing marketing material. Enjoy the cameos by "A" list talent such a Bono, John Stewart, Hillary, Obama, etc. Link: video "Bill Gate's last day".
The folks at QIK have created software that turns your data-connected cell phone into a TV live broadcast studio. Here is a sample from Robert Scoble interviewing Michael Dell at the Davos World Forum earlier this year. The quality is good enough to be useful. Currently the software only runs on Nokia phones, but more to come soon. The folks who sell $200,000 TV broadcast trucks for local news stations can't be happy.
Can't wait for the camera manufacturers to build a good video camera with this broadcast capability built-in. Better optics, zoom, choice of audio source, and a stabilizer would be my top requests. At just hundreds of dollars in cost, local TV news operations could afford to stage this equipment around a city and be ready to broadcast live at any moment. Imagine a fleet of taxi drivers with these cameras ready to beam the latest happening.
I also presented to the AMOA group a demo of the Microsoft's Sliverlight (previously SeaDragon -- a much cooler name). The Hardrock Memorabilia Demo was a big hit, particularly seen on a big screen. It helps to have a very fast connection or pre-loaded images, but in any case the power is indisputable. The zooming effect begs for a better interface, though, something that is more 3-D than a scroll wheel would really convey the sense of "navigation".
These Rich Application Interfaces (RIAs) such as Adobe's Air, really do have the potential to break open new interfaces into rich content. Now all we need are creators without the old 2-D, browser-based preconceptions.
This last weekend I presented to a Masters-Level group of members of AMOA. One of the products I introduced to them is Microsoft's Photosynth. The NASA demonstration video was powerful. Keep in mind that these folks design, sell and distribute video games, among other products. You could see their wheels turning...
One of my students just brought Unscrew America into my radar (Thanks Sean). This site takes an incredibly important, but equally boring, topic of alternatives to incandescent bulbs and makes it visually exciting and just plain fun. There is some serious talent behind it - just look at the about box.
My question is why don't we do this with other topics? Ideally, we would have creation tools that facilitate this type of media so that an average 12-year-old can use it. Let them teach us a few things.
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