The year that was…the year to come.

It’s that time of year again. Honestly, I’ve never quite understood the “New Years” holiday. Is anything really going to be any different Saturday than it was on Friday? I had no discipline up to this point, but tomorrow…tomorrow I will magically be able to diet, or quit smoking, or workout more…or whatever? It’s a new year after all…

I kid, of course. Logical people certainly recognize that the New Years holiday is purely symbolic. But symbolism can be a very powerful thing. In this case, it’s that time when people pause to look back at what was (even though it was just yesterday) and, in turn, what is yet to come (eh…tomorrow). So, in the interest of symbolism, I thought I’d take a look back at the year that was in the geek world and a little bit at what next year might hold:


Sleep...who needs sleep?



2010 gave us the biggest entertainment release in history, and it was a video game (Call of Duty Black Ops). Not a first, mind you. The previous record holder was also a video game (Call of Duty MW2). Way to go Activision, eh? You’ve come a long way since Pitfall!. Which was, in a word, awesome. Still my favorite game ever for the Atari 2600 and yes, my Geekyness knows no bounds. But, I digress.

Jedi mind tricks


Apple had some colossal issues with the iPhone 4 release this year (a hardware issue with the antenna. Oh yeah, and that little problem with the signal level algorithm that mistakenly said you had more "bars" than you really do) and somehow, in true Apple fashion, still ended up coming out smelling like a rose. Steve "Pied Piper" Jobs played a tune and the followers...well, followed. Don't get me wrong, the iPhone 4 is still the best phone on the market in my opinion. But it could have, and should have been better and it's up to the people that use them the most to demand it be better vs. just taking Apple's word for it that "everything's ok. Nothing to see here."

The rise of Android


2010 also saw the possibility of some real competitors to the iPhone. Android phones finally came up to speed, and depending on the fuzzy numbers you look at, actually caught up to the iPhone. Not to be outdone, at the end of the year Microsoft released its new phone OS, appropriately named Windows Phone 7 (Wanna have some fun...call it Windows Mobile, or even PocketPC. They hate that!). The Android based phones gained huge popularity very quickly thanks to their availability from multiple hardware vendors across virtually all available cell network providers, unlike the iPhone which is only available from Apple, of course, and (at least for now) only available on the much maligned AT&T network. Looking forward, availability of the iPhone on other networks (a Verizon version of the iPhone is expected in 2011) would seemingly widen the gap, but the Windows Phone is no joke and is not going anywhere. Microsoft has put too much time, effort, and piles and piles of money into it to just fade away into the night. One thing we know about the software giant, they are more than willing to dump obscene amounts of money into a pit and light it on fire just to stay relevant in a market and in some cases just to save face (i.e. XBOX360 and Zune). But that remains to be seen...for both companies actually.


4G, the new "Waldo"


Continuing in the cell world, 2010 gave us the first entry into 4G. The search is on. Find it and you get speeds you can only dream of. That's what were told right. By the way, not to get too off track again, but is T-Mobile really stooping to low with those commercials to mock the iPhone and AT&T while championing a network that isn't even theirs? Anyway, obviously the big problem with 4G is limited availability. It does seem to be growing. I was able to experience 4G briefly while waiting for a flight in Nashville a few weeks ago and it’s fast. Real fast. It’s also quite a draw on battery power and I wonder how fast it will be once it’s widely used by millions of smart phone users. 3G seemed fast not very long ago. Now, not as much.


To the Cloud!


Cloud computing made huge inroads this year as well. With Microsoft Office 365, Windows Live, improvements in Google Apps and a variety of improved or new “SaaS” (Software as a Service) offerings, the world is inexorably moving to cloud based computing. Not to mention things like Facebook, Twitter, and the blogosphere (hey, wait a minute...).

Google’s Android and Chrome (there's my token mention of Chrome so all 3 of you users can just pipe down!) systems are directly, and constantly, linked to the "cloud" at their core. Cloud computing is not new this year, of course. It’s been around a long time. iTunes, Google Apps, Web based email like Hotmail and Gmail and other services have been around for years now. It just seems like next year and especially probably 2012, we will be discussing less the “web based” versions of apps or services we use. They will just be “services that we use” and then SOME will have “localized versions”. There are a lot of benefits (immediate offsite backup, virtually unlimited mobility) and some definite concerns (privacy, control, putting the responsibility of your mission critical files in the hands of a complete stranger and trusting them to maintain them). As you can probably tell, I’m not sure how big a fan I am of this idea…but it is the way of the world. Like it or not.

And on the 8th day, the lord created...iPad (insert dramatic music here)


Last, but certainly not least, Apple unleashed the iPad and in the process revolutionized an already existing, and failing, computer market with the tablet. Instead of making a tablet form of a computer as Windows had done in the past (anyone remember WinXP Tablet Edition?), they instead expanded on their smart phone interface of the enormously successful iPhone. This provided an new instant-on, extremely aesthetically pleasing, and overall joy to use environment the world had never seen. We've all used our respective smart phones to do do things on the go that we used to do with our computers. With the iPad we now could do it without squinting. In spite of some, at least what I believe to be, glaring miscues and omissions in this format that would seemingly be easy to include, it was hugely successful and has since spawned off also rans (at least at this point) like the Samsung Galaxy Tab (based on the Google Android OS) which has some nice features (like, *gasp* a front and rear facing camera and GPS...those animals!) but some deficiencies as well due to the fact that it truly is just an Android phone blown up to a 7" screen and the Android OS not really being optimized for tablet use (although they say that is coming shortly). Some reviews have also said that it has some of the same battery shortcomings that have surrounded the Android OS and it's multi-tasking format. There have also been some mythical touch screen “tablets” based on Windows 7. I say “mythical” because although I have seen pictures and eBay listings for them, I’ve yet to see one in real life, know anyone that has seen one in real life, or heard any reputable review of one. “Rodents of Unusual Size? I don’t think they exist.”


There is some rumbling that Microsoft will show a version of a tablet, NOT based on the new Windows Phone platform but rather on a new version of the Windows desktop OS, at the upcoming 2011 CES show. It’s also rumored that said tablet will not actually be released until 2012, so it is presumably based on the upcoming Windows 8. In order to be successful, however, it has to follow the same instant on, easy to navigate format that Apple uses. PCs today look much like the Apple 2 originally. Windows looks much like the original MacOS. I expect tablets to look like the iPad going forward. Much like the PC and associated operating systems, Microsoft took the idea that Apple really originated and expanded on it and made it more accessible to everyone. The iPad has only scratched the surface of what is possible. For Microsoft to succeed in the tablet world (where it failed miserably in the digital music world) it will have to do the same thing again. It will be interesting to see if they can. Interesting indeed…


I think eventually we'll look back on 2010 as not so much groundbreaking, but rather more innovative. No new ground was really broken. No new foundations laid. This year was more of a realization of technologies and new ideas that were started already, just unrealized. That takes nothing away from the benefits of the innovation that came this year. 2011 looks, to me, to be really an extension of that. Furthering the roads that have been built this year and setting up what might be a banner year in 2012.

That's the real excitement of this time of year exciting. Sure, we look at what might have been...but even more so what could be.

Happy New Year everyone! See you on the flip side.

Tablets - A solution still looking for a problem?

This past holiday weekend we spent time "relaxing" with family for the weekend (a wise man once told me, "Fish and Family stink after 3 days...") as most people did, I'm sure. In true modern, technology-age fashion, we pretty much spent the better part of two days on our respective smart phones, computers, and iPads and talked periodically in between periods of Facebook, Twitter, and games of Angry Birds (no knocking Angry Birds...if there is a game out there that has more mindless fun, let me know).

During that time though, I was able to spend copious amounts of time on my Mother-in-law and Father-in-law's iPads (yep, they each have their own). While I was on it playing "Cut the Rope" (another game chocked full of mindless fun) and checking my Fantasy Football lineup, my Father-in-law asked me an interesting question: "Do you see anyone using one of these for more than just Internet and games?"

My initial thought was, sure...I mean I do other stuff on my smart phone that's useful so why would this be any different. But then I thought...well, actually it is different. Without the phone and GPS capabilities, there are some things where my smart phone is more useful to me than an iPad. I'll admit, for right now anyway, I don't have a lot of direct experience with one or with others that use one and how they use it. It sure seems there is an inherent usefulness with the tablet format, and the iPad specifically. But, is it useful enough to warrant its...well, use? Especially when I already have a lot of the functionality on my phone (with an admittedly much smaller screen).

For most every day computing tasks the iPad is, at the least, an acceptable alternative to the PC, and, in some cases even more useful thanks to it's convenience. It's on virtually instantly and the battery lasts darn near forever, or so it seams anyway. There are some inherent limitations to the iOS's capabilities (Adobe Flash for instance) as well as some key missing features (GPS, phone capabilities, support for add-on devices like a "thumb" drive for file transfers) that could really close the gap. But it still seems, even with all of those deficiencies, the tablet format should be a very useful tool in the business world. The questions is...where? Is it really just the convenience factor? Is it so much more convenient than a Netbook to warrant paying as much as 2-3 times as much for it?

Sales numbers indicate there is, at least according to Apple, to the tune of about 3 million iPads sold through June 2010. The vast majority of those 3 million iPads sold, granted, are for consumer use. As a long time computer user, the iPad doesn't appeal to me quite as much as it does some. Its layout and workflow seem to be catered to those that don't have, and don't really want, much familiarity with using a standard computer. It is highly intuitive to use. You don't need any special instructions, no "iPad for Dummies" books necessary. Everything is pretty much where it should be. But I have always contended that if Microsoft put a relatively small amount of effort into making a version of Windows7 that was touch screen friendly and PC manufactures made a touch screen netbook, you'd get the best of both worlds. The convenience of the tablet format, with the full featured functionality of a windows PC. Unfortunately, it isn't that simple. There are other factors at play. Hardware development, battery life, the sheer girth of the windows OS and certainly not least of all timing in them market.

It seems that Microsoft is willing to let Apple (and likely soon...Android) have the tablet market to themselves. Maybe thinking the same thing I did, that as cute and cuddly as it is, in the big scheme of things it doesn't really have a lot of real life use. That may have been true at it's original release, but more and more this seems to be a flawed premise. The iPad is making inroads into many business applications and in no small part to Microsoft, ironically. For a few years now, Microsoft has been touting cloud computing, pushing much of the business world into what is being called "Software as a Service" (or SaaS). Small businesses especially have started to really embrace using SaaS for it's convenience and overall cost effectiveness. Companies like Salesforce.com and Redtail Technology provide various small business client management tools available in a Web-based format, accessible from anywhere and (most notably) from any device. Enter iPad. This is where the iPad really has its niche in the business world. It isn't going to replace the normal corporate user's desktop computer, but it's a tool that can be used along with it for when they are away from their normal computer or network. When you factor in the convenience and time savings of using some of these SaaS solutions, many businesses have been able to justify the additional cost of the iPad to take full advantage. In a small business environment where you only have a handful of employees all trying to fill multiple roles, time is definitely money and it can save a lot of time.

It certainly seems that cloud computing is the way the technology world is headed and the iPad jumped in on the ground floor and is poised to take off with it. Whatever you believe about Apple and Steve Jobs and their pompous attitude toward everyone that isn't...well...THEM, they do always seem to be at the forefront of the next "wave". Before everyone really considered the idea of carrying their entire music library with them on a mobile device, the iPod was developed and released right at the start of the MP3 craze. Now Apple isn't the first to develop a Tablet (anyone remember Windows XP Tablet Edition and the cute little stylus based tablets that Toshiba and other released about 7-8 years ago at about $1500 a pop? Yeah, didn't think so). But they are the first to do it in a full touch screen format, and the first to do it at a price point that the average user could afford. They won't be the last to to it (they aren't the only MP3 player out there). Manufacturers are already selling Android based tablets (although Google has stated that the Android OS is not "tablet ready" yet) and there have been rumors for a while now that Microsoft will make a variation of their new, and highly regarded, Windows Mobile 7 OS for the tablet format. But one thing Apple has always done is stay ahead of the curve and I would suspect that the tablet format would be no different.

At it's inception I wrote a blog about the iPad and how silly it was, and at the time, it probably really was. It was a well put together solution, that didn't yet have a problem to solve. Maybe Apple saw the writing on the wall before the rest of us did...or maybe they were so cute and cuddly that people wanted them and create problems the iPad could solve to justify owning one. I'm not entirely sure which, but they've definitely carved out a nice little niche for themselves in the business computing market. One thing I do know...that although I don't have one yet, but I likely will...served nicely with a side of crow.

I'm sure Apple has an app for that.