One of my friends was commenting about the need for computing devices to become more easily used by those who have disabilities. 

The conversation was in a Facebook thread (buried under a comment thread on a photo I posted on my earlier post). But his comment served as a way for me to talk about the wide range of topics that accessibility covers.

My friend was specifically concerned about hand-style use because his mother had severe problems with her hands. And he doubts she could have used these devices. And that we need to pay attention to how accessible the devices are.

Ironically - I find the iPhone/Touch/iPad - more accessible than standard PC for the most common problem - unable to read small print. 

Also I believe voice command is going to become much better (Google Android already does a good job, I've heard good things about Microsoft Synch in Ford vehicles too). 

Overall - all of the technologies that we normally think of as really enabling the disabled - will be improved because of the aging population plus to be able to use these devices where we can't use our hands (e.g. the texting while driving problem).

 

Apple announced the new Nano this week. Most of my friends thought this was silly - why would you want such as small touch screen.

At first I didn't have an answer.

Then I remembered the ads they showed during the keynote - the clip and the visual.

That's when it hit me - These are not just mere MP3 players.

Nope - these are fashion accessories.

And while clearly right now - they are aimed as fashion accessories for the younger set - this will change over time as that generation gets older.

After all I'm sure everyone who wears a Rolex probably started out wearing a cool digital Timex when they were a kid.

 

 

CNN.com ran a story called "The iPad is for grandparents, not just geeks". Personally I agree 100% with it though I would extend that to not only iPad but iPhone and Touch as well.

I know because I watched my father and mother-in-law with these devices. And it all started by letting my father in law borrow my old first generation Touch.

That then led to him getting an iPhone.

The Touch is now my mother-in-law's. 

To be candid - yes the iPad would be better than the touch. Mostly because it's easier to hit the keyboard. 

Which brings up a side point - the iPhone keyboard was not made for a man who spent his entire life working with his hands. So sorry Steve - I had to get him a stylus.

But overall what I really like about the Apple iDevice experience is that it really truly, for the first time has brought the computer to the masses. It just works.

I hope this experience is what will drive the competing tablets. Because as much as I love my iPad - I know it's an expensive luxury to many people. Heck, I avoided buying a Mac for a really long time because I could almost get a Windows laptop for free at Walmart. 

I want the same action to happen in the smart phone and tablet market - lots of devices, lots of choice, at different price points. I'm just hoping that the Apple experience will be enough to drive the innovation to keep usability good across the board.

BTW The drawing at the start of this post is something I sketched on my iPad using Qvik Sketch.

You should also read the original CNN article. 

 

 

I'm going completely out on a shaky limb here but I wanted to write it anyway. Apple has announced an updated Apple TV. I bought two for home. 

While they are obviously (as almost all Apple products are) - built for the consumer market, the Apple TV could have a real benefit to the business presentation market.

This is because of the following:

1 - It's cheap ($99), small and wireless (at least WiFi, Endgadget indicated based on reading of the FCC tear-down, might also have Bluetooth)

2 - HDMI out - a must for home but newer projectors have this capability. Though this could be useful for large monitors/tv that are in a conference room.

3 - stream content from your iPad or iPhone

I don't know yet how well this would work for a traditional Powerpoint/Keynote presentation - but I think this could be a really simple way to provide video for your presentation. Or maybe what you do is use the streaming photos option to act as the slides. 

But I think we're getting closer and closer to where the iPad (or these type of true tablets if/when others arrive) - really could just be the only device what a sales person really needs. 

Check out the Apple TV for yourself.

Many years ago (around 2002-2003), I was working into the wee hours of the morning coding and I stumbled upon a radio call in show about people calling in to get questions answered about why their Windows PCs weren't working.

Almost all answers involved very technical steps to fix - including things around deleting or renaming DLL, starting/stopping processes, registry settings, etc. 

I remember thinking then - how the heck do normal people use PCs? 

Now fast forward to 2010 and in reality it's not that much different. My adopted nephew's girlfriend was complaining that she wished she was better at computers. But after talking with her for a few minutes, I realized, it wasn't like she needed to know how to program or do advanced macros in Microsoft Excel - but just working the basics.

While my Mac is better in many ways than Windows - it's not really that much better for the average person. Not a real game changer the way the iPhone and iPad are. 

The beauty of the iPad is that is that it just works. There is very little that can go wrong and by eliminating so many things that we geeks assumed just have to be there - like a file system, - performing common tasks like - writing a paper becomes extremely simple. Surfing the web is simple. Getting new apps are simple. 

(Quick aside #1 - before someone says "but the iPad doesn't have a keyboard" - please use your favorite search engine to discover "Bluetooth Keyboard"). 

(Quick aside #2 - before someone says "but the iPad doesn't have a file system" - please see Quick Office's integration with Dropbox, Google Docs and Box.net).

Hopefully as the other tablet competitors emerge - they will keep these constraints in place - at least by default. 

 

I've said and written before that my iPad is already like a better portable TV. 

Now I see this - basically a device that will let you watch and time-shift live TV to your iPad. While I do have a growing stable of Internet-only TV shows I watch, I would like to have this. In particular during Football season - where I like to hear Dan Patrick show. I also would probably watch more RedEye on Fox News - which comes on at 2AM. With this device I can record and then watch from my home office.

This was a question asked on the iPhone/iPad group on LinkedIn. 

My answer is that if you are using a projector - you can use the VGA connector and Apple's Keynote application. 

Another option - if you just want to share your presentation - I like Mighty Meeting. This is an iOS application that lets you share Powerpoint presentations on iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad and computers.

 

 

 

I'll write a more full featured review later - but I found a very simple way to transfer photos between my iPhone (and/or Touch), laptop and my iPad. I used the aptly named Photo Transfer App . 

I just used it to copy some favorite photos from my IPhone to my IPad. And to save an image I created in OmniGraffle to my laptop. 

Like many people I'm a follower of David Allen's Getting Things Done - though none of my email inboxes are actually completely empty. 

One of my personal goals for having an iPad was to help me achieve next status in GTD - namely the weekly review. The weekly review is very important in GTD because it's how you help keep all of your project and priorities in order. 

I've never really done a weekly review because frankly I want to do this away from my home office, preferably in the living room. Yes I could do this with my laptop, but I really hate having my laptop in my, er, lap.

Today I finally got both the work and my Nozbe calendars to finally work on my iPad. Nozbe was simple. Work turned out to be a bit more complicated - trying to figure out the proper iCal URL string.

I already capture all of my thoughts and notes into Evernote. I'm becoming better at using Nozbe to actually track my tasks. Now I can manage the calendar too.

Now - that I can update my calendar - I feel ready to tackle the weekly review this weekend.

 

While I write mostly here about how to use the iPad for productivity - a killer feature of iPad is video. I absolutely prefer to watch video on the iPad than even my desktop.

In fact - I now watch more Internet shows (such as This Week In network) than I do regular TV. The upside is that it's much easier to watch wherever I am - I usually run a show in my background (I used to listen to sports radio) at my desk and if I'm really into a show, I'll take the iPad with me to lunch (in particular if I'm eating at home - since I work from home).