In two weeks Apple may be holding a media event that has kicked up the whole tablet storm again. I think it’s highly plausible this time but to see why I say this we need to look at why it will be Apple who remain the only hope for the future of tablets.

Apple more or less invented pen based computing with the Newton, Palm followed with the Palm Pilot, Microsoft released various pen based products including a tablet OS for tablet computing. Essentially all of these failed for one very basic reason... our brains can’t handle it.

When we write we write with two different forms of technology. We either use pen and paper or we use a computer or a typewriter. On their own these two can work quite well, often backing each other up as a writer might jot notes down on a pad and then add them to a document on a computer. The problem comes when you combine the two to try and kill two birds with one stone. What tends to happen is that the two technologies compete with each other and therefore nothing gets done.

As a computer a tablet works quite well with a keyboard and possibly a trackpad depending on the design of the tablet. But in this configuration the tablet kind of defeats itself because the whole idea is to remove the mouse and keyboard and use a stylus. As a PDA the tablet kind of works well but there’s one use of a tablet that makes sense but fails dismally.

Document editing on a Newton, a Palm Pilot, or a Windows Mobile device is both easy and difficult at the same time. Newton and Palm went the handwriting way by using a series of strokes that mimicked handwriting. The problem was that it wasn’t really proper handwriting and needed to be very very precise for it to work. In reality it meant more backspacing to correct the incorrect text that it meant productivity was more or less impossible. For short notes it was great but for longer notes it was very difficult to use and forget about documents in Word or Excel. Microsoft tried handwriting recognition but they failed worse than everyone else so they had an onscreen keyboard. This kind of made sense but Windows Mobile is very imprecise so it was literally hit and miss as to what keys you’d be pressing. Productivity was reduced even more due to incorrect key presses.

In essence tablet computing was held back from progressing because the interface sucked badly. Then in 2007 the second step to Apple’s tablet development happened... OS X. OS X is of course the operating system that drives the iPhone and the iPod Touch. It uses a technology Apple calls Multi-Touch whereby instead of having a pen you manipulated a touch screen with your fingers. This technology is old in fact I remember using systems like this back in 1996-98 when I was doing computer retail. The problems with those systems were many. First they were stupidly expensive with screen overlays (these fitted over a standard monitor) cost three times the monitor making it almost as expensive as a new computer. They were also very very hit and miss as to working. Their biggest problem though were they were mostly designed for Windows and that meant they were notoriously difficult to setup let alone use. There are some touchscreens that work on Linux such as the Lotto terminals around the country all run Linux and work pretty well but then they are really only designed for a single purpose not proper computing. So when Apple bought out the iPhone it proved that touchscreen computing had come to the point where it was cheap, reliable, and not dependant on Windows which has largely been holding back computing for the last 10 years.

So now Apple has all the pieces to produce a tablet that works. The first was the MacBook Air which was really an experiment in whether or not you can maintain decent specs with a minimal footprint. The second step was developing an OS that was powerful enough to be useable for many tasks a tablet makes sense for while at the same time being simple enough to use that doesn’t require a mouse and keyboard for making it truly portable.

But what will it look like? Well, it makes sense that the unit would be kind of a larger iPhone/iPod Touch running flash memory instead of hard drives (solid state is still far too expensive). It will probably use a more powerful version of the ARM processor that Apple has long had a long history with (they co-developed it with Acorn) and their acquisition of P.A. Semi means they have access to some great video and audio products that would make the Apple tablet a great media playback system but I’ll look at its use in my next post. It will make sense that it would have a Dock Connector because it won’t be designed to act as a standalone computer if it’s running OS X instead of Mac OS X. I surmise however that it will also have a DisplayPort allowing it to be connected to a monitor or more likely a projector given its nature. This will make the device slightly thicker than the iPhone but should in theory make in thinner than the MacBook Air still.

All in all this could be very exciting for people who don’t want a laptop but need something portable but with a larger screen than what the iPhone and iPod Touch have. Even for those with laptops it’s not always desirable to carry around so a tablet makes sense. Apple won’t be introducing a pen based computer but it will be introducing a tablet done well.

As a computer technician my job mostly requires working on Windows machines. Macs are now starting to show up but due to their reliability most of the Macs we deal with will be generally nothing more than software issues.

One of the greatest tools for my ability to fix Windows machines is ironically the one thing that Windows users, especially IT "gurus", mock... my Mac. To many in either camp it seems like a travesty to use a Mac for this. To Mac users it's a travesty to use a Mac to fix Windows instead of using it to get people off Windows and in the other camp it's a travesty to use a Mac let alone fix Windows but the reality is that Windows makes it difficult to fix Windows.

It's amazing, the more I read about what Apple is planning for Snow Leopard the more I realise I've already been there.

I'm not knocking Apple but I came from where Apple is heading when I left the sadly sinking ship that was the Amiga. Everything Apple is planning to do has been done on the Amiga back in the 80's and 90's.

Let me explain. Apple is shrinking Mac OS X instead of expanding it. Effectively Apple is removing things that make it bloated namely Carbon. Carbon was designed as a quick way to get Mac OS 9 apps onto Mac OS X. Unfortunately Many developers relied on Carbon to do things that Cocoa wasn't able to do at the time. When Cocoa became more inline with what Carbon did people still didn't move to Cocoa. Now Snow Leopard apparently is removing or at least reducing functionality of Carbon which means a lot of apps need redeveloping and by which I mean most likely Office and Adobe's apps. If apps are already written in Cocoa then there will be no issues.

You may have heard about the new Lotto ticket checkers that are going in around the country that allow customers to check their own tickets. Well I'm involved in the project so if you're in the greater Wellington area and you see a short red head guy with a big sod off drill drilling holes in the counter then that's me. If it's a middle age guy with grey hair then that isn't me.

Anyhow, one thing I've noticed during this project as well as the numerous office moves I've had to do in my career is that people are pathetic when it comes to future proofing, in fact I seriously believe future proofing never enters their heads when they build something. What it means is that I have to endure architectural  idiocy on a daily basis.

I hate architects because they design for the sake of design as opposed to practicality but there are things they could do that would bring them into my good books. Take for example the mess I have to endure with the Lotto project.

If you've been reading the news about Apple you'd know that over the last few years Apple has been hit with numerous court cases regarding patent disputes. Apple has in fact settled on some, most notably the Creative case where Creative reckoned it had the patent on the iPod's menu system.

You may remember during the launch of the iPhone Steve Jobs said Apple had patented the hell out of it. It's an interesting situation because up until this Apple hadn't really taken out a lot of patents on account of the fact that they like to just get on with the job of developing great tools (and a Mac is a tool on account of the fact it allows us to do work as opposed to a PC running Windows which tries its damnedest to prevent us from doing work). But the patent system of America has rewarded morons the ability to take Apple to court to try and milk it for money these morons don't deserve.

Some drongo managed to pass a bill in the late 90's that allowed people to patent ideas and software. While I can sort of understand the idea of patenting software the ideas thing irritates me because the very idea that someone would never have the same idea as you is somewhat arrogant in nature. Okay, I admit that I'm pretty sure no one has had the same idea as me with regards to how Hannibal Lecter's face wearing tendencies could benefit society but I come from a planet called Kashyyyk so I have a certain degree of leeway on that. But humans by nature have a tendency to invent, it's what made New Zealand a great nation in the past (although thanks to globalisation I believe we're losing those skills), and because humans are the only creatures that have the ability to think on many planes it stands to reason that two people will have the same idea as to how to achieve something. So the very idea of patenting an idea with nothing to prove the idea is dubious at best.

The MacBook Air is an interesting development. Sure it's been done before but the thing that is interesting more than what the MacBook Air has is what it has left out. The DVD drive.

Daniel over on Roughly Drafted posted his list of possible annoucements for MacWorld but the one that caught my eye the most was his idea of an XServe Mini:

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2007/12/29/ten-big-predictions-for-apple-in-2008/

To quote him:

So you've got yourself a beast of a machine, all ready for the latest and greatest games. Or you've got the PS3 or XBox 360 and you're going to play the latest and greatest games. Pity then you're a dupe suckered in by a superficial industry who thinks that games are all about the graphics all the while forgetting the one thing that gaming is all about... playing games.

While the graphics are being pushed the actual game itself is being left behind. Gone are the days where the story was the game, or the emphasis was on playability. With all the computing power we have

In my last entry I spoke about NIFE and DFTSOD. Of the two NIFE is the only excusable form of design because they had the best of intentions. Of course they say "The road to hell is paved with best intentions" so I guess Microsoft's headstone would read "He meant well but he's in Satan's arms now".

One aspect of PC design that irks me as an engineer has to do with weight. My Mac Mini with its half inch steel perimeter and it's power supply laying on top weighs less than many laptops out there. WHY? The Mini is a desktop machine (yes okay it uses lap

I've been on this planet for a while now and during my tenure here I've seen many examples of the most insidious forms of idea development ever. NIFE (Nice Idea, Failed Execution) and DFTSOD (Design For The Sake Of Design). The latter is pronounced "daft sod" on account of that's who came up with the idea in the first place, some daft sod.

I'm a fan of neither as they make life a pain to live. For example, and this is going to get a bit gross, one example of DFTSOD was when I helped my mate move. After the shift I had to christen the dunny and