Another question from that workshop. Don’t remember how I answered it. Don’t even remember the context.
But, I thought I’d just throw it out there, in case you had an answer you’d like to share.
What does ‘travel light’ mean to you?
Heh. We had a workshop where this was one of the questions.* I’ve been trying to travel light ever since I ‘replaced’ my laptop with a PalmV, CDPD cradle, and a Stowaway keyboard (I wrote about it here, oh, 7 or 8 years ago).
Today, I manage most of my mobile communications and computing needs with my S60 phone (currently an N73). I don’t mind the constraints so much, it keeps me grounded mentally. I think fewer constraints might let the tech take me over (can you say ‘crackberry’?).
But, I have always had some key requirements, such as synch and backup (many stories there), connectivity of some sort, some key apps, and good battery life (and being able to change batteries, too).
What is ‘travel light’ to you?
*My answer was something like: ‘connection to communications, connections to money, toothbrush’.
Survey gives luv txt tips – Daily Business Update – The Boston Globe
Funny article in the Boston Globe on texting (link below). Even after all these years, there’s still a fascination.
And while we are onto the mystique of text messages, Hugo sent me a link way back about an author who wrote a book in text message form.
Very clever. I wish I had thought about it. Indeed, Lifeblog would make it easy to make it autobiographical. And, mix in a bit of Twitter, and you have a very amusing collection of messages (could go on and on about having fun with Twitter).
Link (registration required): Survey gives luv txt tips – Daily Business Update – The Boston Globe.
But don’t lose hope. While eight percent of respondents said bad cellphone etiquette ended their relationship, twenty-eight percent they flirted by text, and a third said they texted their significant other — six percent more than last year. Nearly a fifth said their cellphone had been useful for crashing an unpleasant date.
Tyranny of the desktop metaphor?
I was thinking about interaction interfaces, precipitated by the discussions here at work around the Apple iPhone touch UI. Apple has had a touch UI for their laptop trackpad, stretching back at least to the PowerBook 3400c (which was my previous work Mac, BTW), back in 1997.
But, thinking on what folks want to do on the move and how, I keep wondering if the whole Pointer-Icon-Windows metaphor is no longer relevant, especially for mobile, small-screen, one-handed devices.
There is no reason to think that the current metaphor will last. Microsoft Vista and Google (and Lifeblog) and other search-centric worlds have been slowly killing the hierarchical folder structure. Might there be an end or diminishing of the tyranny of the current desktop interface metaphor?
I’m not smart enough to think of alternatives. And I always think desktop metaphors dominate the mobile world, so I am biased. But I am sure there are better ways to interact with devices that are more natural and fit the mobile environment more closely.
Powells.com interviews Steven Johnson
Steven Johnson keeps popping up for me lately. I heard a great interview by Ira Flatow on Science Friday. And, this interview (link below) here is also great, going deeper into the Johnson-sphere. Furthermore, this interview points to my poison, what I call 'cognections – cognitive connections'. It's my greatest weakness to want to traverse these connections
Link [via Andrew]: Powells.com Interviews – Steven Johnson
Johnson: It's the one place where there's actually a connection between Everything Bad and Ghost Map. It was basically making the Consilience argument: that one of the most powerful ways of thinking about the world is being able to move across scales of experience. Basically, moving across disciplines. For instance, from the scale of the bacterium to the scale of the human body, to the brain, to society or the city, and to not be focused on any one of those levels but to jump in a consilient way between them and make connections and talk about how behavior on one level predicts or creates behavior on another.
EO Wilson, of ant society and ecology fame, wrote a great book called Consilience, which called out to me as I got deeper and deeper into my own science specialty. Being overly curious, I've always hopped around different scientific domains, finding bits and pieces from each that, when put side to side, led to a wider understanding of the world (kinda how I ended up here).
In the same vein, there are the books by James Burke (one is called The Pinball Effect). He starts with a topic and keeps following connections to related topics until he's taken you on an engaging tour of time and space and knowledge (true cognections), often back to where you started. Burke's books are highly recommended.
In another connections (ha!), Will Wright, of 'The Sims' fame, is coming out with Spore, a game that basically traverses life from single-cellular organism all the way to star-faring civilizations. Awesome.
BTW, when I write stuff like this here, it's to set you off on a cognitive exploration, too. 🙂
Research firm Dell’Oro on: Weaker voice will hold back WiMax
I think this is a load of krap.
Does anyone know how well VoIP (or Skype) would work on WiMAX? If something like Skype works well, then voice quality would be even better than GSM.
Collins didn’t label WiMax a loser but said it will get off the ground slowly because it’s an underdog when it comes to carrying voice calls. Emerging WCDMA and EVDO technologies have closer ties to the cellular world and will be better equipped to handle calls over the next few years, Collins believes, so most users will hang onto them.
InfoWorld on: New software allows Wi-Fi access even on browserless devices
Seems like Demo is hopping this year with a lot of mobile stuff.
This little app is cool, even if it’s not being targeted at S60 devices.
I remember hearing of something like this for the Nintendo DS, which turns out to be their WiFi service (and I work with the guy who did it a lot of it). As far as I understand it, Nintendo cut a deal with providers so that DS users do not need a browser to use the WiFi. Cool. The Sony mylo (krappy device) does something similar with T-Mobile.
Anybody try these?
Devicescape’s free software, formally unveiled on Tuesday at the Demo conference in Palm Desert, California, lets users set up log-in information for multiple Wi-Fi networks and then get on those networks automatically from any supported device.