Apple iPad: Wait for the Other Shoe

Well, the iPad has been announced, and it is the birth of another new form factor. And, it is meant to take the iPhone OS into new areas – witness iWork. But we must remember, this is a birth… there is much more to come.

What happened to iPhone OS 4.0? It didn’t come out. Instead, there is an incremental OS bump for the iPad. It has a few new features that support new applications. It introduces a split screen control, which you can see in things like the Settings application. On the left of the screen is typically a list, and on the right, a larger detail view.

The popover is also introduced, which is a popup screen with a list of commands, or some detail settings.

There is also a file sharing feature no one has really talked about yet, but it is key and necessary for software like the iWork apps to succeed. It will let you pass files, such as for presentation, word processing and spreadsheets, between the iPad and desktop computer easily.

But some people were wanting a lot more improvements in user interaction than those few, necessary tweaks. In particular, where is a new, updated Home screen? The iPad has the same general look as the iPhone, with a new customizable backdrop and slightly bigger icons, but that’s it. And where is multitasking? I think most of us were expecting that.

I predict we will see those things and more in iPhone OS 4.0. My guess is some time this Summer, iPhone OS 4.0 will come out, and it will have multitasking, and a new overall look, both in the iPhone and iPad.

This incremental OS bump implements the underpinnings necessary to introduce the iPad and iWork to the world. But the real bang will happen when the other shoe drops – OS 4.0. There, we will see some real interface improvements. I think we will see that in the Summer, after iPad is shipping, when new iPhone hardware comes out, and iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad all get a major software update to 4.0.

The iPhone and iPad both multitask already, truth be told. Many things do run in the background, but they are only Apple things, like the phone software, the iPod software, the push system, on and on. The restriction is merely that only one third party app can run at a time. I believe there are two reasons for this. First, Apple doesn’t want a runaway app to hog up all the available CPU time, or a user to run many apps and then see their device slow to a crawl. The second reason is to do this properly, new user interface paradigms must be invented – some sort of way for a user to see and control multiple apps, perhaps in multiple windows.

I think Apple has the horsepower in the device to multitask, and a nice user interface worked out for multitasking, and I expect we will see it when OS 4.0 arrives. So although I really wanted and expected multitasking in the iPad, with its bigger screen and faster CPU, I’m not upset. I think we didn’t see it at launch, but we will this Summer – when the other shoe drops and we see big improvements with OS 4.0.

Posted in Apple Inc., iPad, iPhone.

4 comments

By lepton – January 28, 2010

The Apple tablet – final predictions

It looks like Apple might announce a tablet at the end of January, so this is my last chance to get in my predictions. What qualifications do I have? I’ve been following the news and rumors, and I’ve been writing Mac software professionally since 1985. I’ve got four apps on the App Store and more on the way. But no inside info. I just have fun predicting what Apple will do!

The tablet will merely:

- Replace the netback and the MacBook Air

- Replace the magazine, book, newspaper, personal media player, and the clipboard.

- Serve as a remote screen to your home computer

OK, it won’t replace every magazine and textbook. But it will open a very new, very major channel for distribution of newspaper, magazines, and books. The size of a sheet of paper, it will be a reader and note taker. It will be powerful to replace most notebooks, while being smaller and lighter. And it will be a great viewer for media and your home computer screen.

Screen and Case

I have been predicting a 7.75″ diagonal 720p screen, but many rumors have said there will be a 10.1″ screen, so I’m going with that. I still believe they will go with a 16:9 HD aspect ratio, replacing the 16:10 ratio in most Mac screens.

So there will be a 10.1″ display at 720p resolution and aspect ratio. The case will be about the same thickness as an iPhone. Like the iPhone, there will be no significant buttons, the front is all a multitouch screen.

Keyboard, Stylus, Mouse

Of course there is no physical keyboard. But the device will accept a Bluetooth keyboard.

A very significant addition is that it will accept a stylus. It will basically be a conductive pointy stick, cheap with no electronics or battery. Its tiny point of contact will be sensed as “ink” and you can draw with it or sign a document, as well as touch with it.

A Bluetooth mouse will be accepted, which will look to the device similar to a stylus, with the added ability to “hover” – unlike a finger or stylus, a mouse can specify a position without making “contact” (button-down). Thus, tooltips can appear when using a mouse.

One problem when using a stylus on a big screen like this is that you will tend to rest your palm or side of the hand on the screen. making the OS understand this isn’t a touch was a significant implementation hurdle.

There will be a user-facing camera and microphone. There will be tiny stereo speakers, and audio I/O jacks.

CPU, OS, Multitasking

The Mac OS currently runs on Macs, iPhones, and this tablet. The only difference between Desktop OS and iPhone OS is that the user interface layer was replaced, and a few modules were removed. For the tablet, some of the removed modules will be replaced. Ink, for example, to handle stylus input. Ink will be revised to work more smoothly with the stylus and OS as used on the tablet. Another module which will be added is Grand Central.

The CPU will be ARM based, multicore, and designed by Apple in California, unavailable on any non-Apple hardware. It will run all App binaries that were compiled for the iPhone.

The CPU will run much faster but battery life will be very good due to the very thin but big battery. The case is very thin but large in the other dimensions, making it very roomy in terms of cubic millimeters.

The system, like Mac OS and iPhone, will be fully multitasking. On the the tablet, unlike the iPhone OS, you will be able to run multiple third party Apps.

iPhone App Compatibility

Traditional iPhone apps will run in movable, layered, fixed-size 620 by 320 windows. You will be able to rotate these windows, and also zoom them to full screen. Many apps will look and work OK in full screen, though some will have glitches. You can set an app to always open in full screen if desired, but this is not the default.

To developers, the tablet pretty much looks like a newer iPhone model with bigger screen and updated OS. They can easily flag apps to open in full screen, take advantage of new hardware and software features, and let the same app run on both iPhone and tablet.

Media Reader and Viewer

There are already very good readers on the iPhone, like Stanza and Kindle, but an Apple reader will be built in, in the same way that QuickTime is built in to the iPhone developer apps can call on it. A new format for books, newspapers and magazines will be supported, perhaps an extension of the new iTunes LP format. Deals will be cut with publishers and reading, downloading, and subscribing to publications, and this will be the major marketing emphasis for the tablet – the game-changing replacement for newspapers, magazines, books, and print media.

Viewing of media will be the main purpose of the tablet, and that is not just reading, but media as well. Publications that are print based, such as a newspaper, will integrate video and interactive media in their electronic equivalents.

Viewing of video will be important, as here you have a good size screen with native 720p HD resolution. As with the iPhone you can obtain and view movies, TV programs and video, but a new ability will be built in, and in essence it will be Apple Remote Desktop.

Very easy screen sharing will be built in and emphasized. You can easily connect to your home computer and make the tablet be its second, remote screen. This gives you the power of your big home machine, anywhere you are. With a good connection, you can watch video that is on your home computer in HD with good sound.

There will be a new iChat app for the tablet.

I/O and Communications

For I/O, there will be high speed, low power Bluetooth and WiFi-n. There will be analog audio in/out. I don’t have a prediction for video I/O but I hope for HDMI out.

The tablet will have antennas built in, but no cellular communications built in. Instead, there will be a new kind of slot. This slot can hold a card built for a particular cellular carrier, that connects to the tablet and the built in antennas, letting the card completely internal to the device.

Distribution, Price, Availability

The tablet will be sold everywhere, with an empty slot. But it can also be sold bundled with a card and a cellular contract, subsidized. This decoupling of the cellular hardware with the main tablet makes it possible to have one carrier-agnostic tablet model, and a person can buy a tablet without cellular, or with it, under any carrier that provides a compatible card.

I don’t dare predict price. OK, $799. Yikes! I want to be wrong on that one, and in the good direction. Shipping March 26.

Those are my predictions for the Apple tablet! A few years back, I did pretty well predicting what the iPhone would be, I think I’m even more on track this time around! Think I’m dreaming? What are YOUR predictions?

Posted in Apple Inc., Macintosh, iPhone, iPod Touch, iTunes.

Tagged with Apple, iPhone, Macintosh, Media, tablet, technology.

No comments

By lepton – January 5, 2010

Twitter and Geolocation: Creepy or Useful?

I had the honor of being on a panel at TWTRCON DC ’09 in Washington DC last week, on the topic of Twitter and Geolocation. Twitter is adding some new geolocation features soon, and my latest iPhone app, Myallo HotList, takes advantage of them. In our TWTRCON panel discussion I mentioned some of the topics in this article, and I’m glad to be able to flesh them out here.

What Twitter Can Do

This Myallo HotList map shows twitterers in the area on the day of TWTRCON DC

This Myallo HotList map shows twitterers in the Washington DC area on the day of TWTRCON

Currently, Twitter has a “location” text string that you can put in your profile. You, or your twitter client app, can put anything in there “New York”, “14 Elm St. Huntington NY”, or “Mars”, whatever you want. A lot of Twitter client apps, that run on mobile devices can be set to automatically set that field to your location when you send a tweet – something like “iPhone: 38.855,-77.0412″. Other apps, like Myallo HotList, can see the latitude and longitude (or turn address strings into map coordinates) and plot these locations on a map. The screen shot at the right shows a Myallo HotList map of Washington DC the day of TWITERCON. My location was at the blur dot, and the Yellow and Orange dots are the locations of twitterers who sent tweets and also have set the location field. Most of them were probably tweets sent from mobile phones.

Twitter is adding a couple of new features that involve geolocation. The first is that we will be able to attach a map location to each tweet we send, and the second is a solid search ability for tweets sent from a specific geographic area. Myallo HotList is an early entry in a coming wave of apps that will use geolocation.

Suppose you are on a road trip, twittering your way around the country. If your mobile device’s twitter client adds your location to each tweet, another app could collect those tweets and place them on a map. It could show your route, the timing, and what you said at each location.

Suppose you want to know where your friends are. If they tweet, and if their device adds location to the profile (or soon, the individual tweets), and app can do a search for those tweets to find their locations. Or, it can ask for any tweets that were sent from a particular area. Myallo HotList can do both these things – It can list your Twitter friends and show where they are, and it can see who is tweeting in your area, as shown at right.

What About Security?

When I talk about these sort of things, the first comment I get is about security. “I don’t want strangers knowing exactly where I am all the time!” I couldn’t agree more. Do all those people Myallo HotList mapped in Washington DC even know they were sending their location out? Most probably did, but perhaps not all of them.

I’m a fan of a particular TV show, and one of the stars is a prolific twitterer. I set myself as one of her followers, and I noticed that her profile had map coordinates set. Myallo HotList was able to show me and zoom in on the exact Malibu house she was twittering from! Anyone typing the coordinates into a mapping web site could see just as well. I’m sure she did not know she was sending the location of her house to the public. In fact, I could tell which Twitter client she was using, and from a quick look at that app , I didn’t see a setting to turn off location-sending, or an indication that it is sending one. She has long since changed things, as her profile location merely says “Los Angeles” now, but there is a lesson to be learned here.

Twitter will have an “opt-in” mechanism for adding locations to individual tweets. When this feature is released, you will have to go to the website, and specifically turn that feature on before any app will be able to attach a location to an individual tweet. So, you’ll know if that is turned on.

Apps that use Twitter should of course have a clear switch for turning on or off the setting of a location. In Myallo HotList, not only is there such a switch, but there is another one that will randomize the location it sends. By default, instead of sending your exact coordinates, it randomizes them within about a 1 mile radius. Thus, it does show you are in town, but not the exact house. You have to fli the switch to make the coordinates be exact.

Making Twitter Geolocation More Secure

This is not enough, in my opinion. I’d like to see Twitter add more in the way of security. I have a few suggestions.

“Only let my followers see my location”: This could limit the people who can see your tweet locations to those who follow you. Others won’t get that information when you see their tweets.

“Only let these specific members see my location”: Twitter is adding another feature soon called “lists”. You can make a list of Twitter members (several in fact). I think it would be great if you can make such a list, perhaps with only a couple of your very best friends, and say only these people can see my location.

“Let all but these people see my location”: Maybe you are pretty loose about showing your location, but there are some you do not want to see. You might want an option like this.

“Let all my followers see my location except these people”: Maybe most followers are ok, except a few you name.

“Show only my city to”: A very useful variation on the above would be to let some people only receive the city you are in rather than the exact location. It might send a randomized location like Myallo HotList does, send a fixed location at the center of the city, or some similar scheme.

For example, I might like to set things up where the general public sees no location information, my followers could see only the city, and a few specifically named members can see my exact location. These sort of features are the next set of improvements I’d like to see for Twitter geolocation.

How Geolocation Can Help People

Where are my friends? What’s up with Joe right now? Who’s at the Club? Where is the rally? These are the types of questions that can be answered when people twitter with their location to friends. Myallo HotList is a good example of an app that answers these sort of questions. In that app, you tell it the twitter names of your friends and it periodically checks with Twitter to tell you where your friends are in relation to you and places of interest. It also shows how ‘hot’ (interesting) they are – if friends are nearby, that is interesting; if they are gathering at the Mall, they and the Mall are more interesting, and so on. Myallo HotList isn’t really a Twitter based app – you can’t send a tweet with it, yet it uses Twitter to get the latest about where your friends are and what they are saying.

How Geolocation Can Help Business

Suppose you are a coffee house. Each morning, you might send a tweet about today’s special, or who is performing on stage that night. Myallo HotList, and other apps coming down the line, look to ‘discover’ tweeters that are nearby. As you come near the area, that coffee house tweet will appear on the hot list. If you told my app you like “coffee” and ‘jazz”, and that tweet says “Great coffee, great jazz at CoffeeBean’s tonight!” then that tweet will shoot up to the top of the list. The list will show the tweet, the picture from the Twitter profile, the location, and how far it is from you right now. At a touch, you can go to the Twitter profile page, make a call, see it on a map, or get driving or walking directions.

For the coffee house, this is great advertising. It is absolutely free, and you didn’t have to advertise or find the person somehow and say “Please follow us on Twitter!”. The tweet popped up on the list simply due to the person being nearby, and it got a priority for that person because they said “jazz” and “coffee” were interesting.

For the person using such an app, it’s not really spam, because the app was set up to discover nearby tweeters, and set to look for tweets mentioning coffee or jazz. It filtered Twitter and found just what I was asking for.

Geolocation: Creepy or Useful?

Done right, geolocation can be a win for everyone involved. I can tell my location to those who I want to tell – my friends or parents or kids or club members or followers. And I can see the locations of people or places who want to tell me.

But it can be creepy if you forget you are sending your location, or can’t control who sees it or with what specificity. Maybe that TV star got plagued with paparazzi or worse.

It’s all about awareness and selectivity. I think it can be done right, and be a plus for all.

===

i’m an independent software developer not affiliated with Twitter. This article reflects my understanding of Twitter and some of its upcoming features. For more info on Myallo Hotlist, go to myallo.com/hotlist or visit the app in the iTunes App Store.

Apple iPad: Wait for the Other Shoe