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01/02/2009

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Cole Camplese

I think it is a platform that is going to change the way lots of people think about computing. Tablet PCs have not caught on around our campus -- other than with a few faculty in Engineering and Earth and Mineral Sciences I don't see many of them. Netbooks have real potential, but I do like the iPhone and App Store model ... there is something very smart about a well conceived and executed native application. When it takes advantage of the form factor, touch screen, and motion sensors things really come together. I see a lot more people with only an iPhone in meetings these days ... if someone did release a nice portable keyboard I think we'd see something big happen in classrooms!

Michael Staton

Cole,

Having spent the last year glued to my iPhone, and dreaming about it in my sleep, and yearning for it whenever I leave it out of my hands for more than ten minutes, my vote is clearly for the iPhone.

But it's not just the sexy hardware that determines my vote. It's the unparalleled distribution platform that is iTunes, and the Cocoa framework and SDK that makes being an iPhone programmer a realistic option for a 15 year old, or more likely 3 dudes with an idea. And it's the policy that significant revenue makes it to the developer rather than reseller. The cool stuff is going to happen on the iPhone, because the developer talent is hanging out there.

Happy New Year!!!

D'Arcy Norman

the problem with the cloud is that if you don't have a connection, or your connection drops, EVERYTHING disappears. Working offline becomes impossible, or merely tedious and error prone. Google Gears is a step in the right direction, but until I can treat my Google Docs like a mountable, syncable volume ala Mobile Me (nee .Mac, nee iTools) where I can edit files anywhere, any time, and just trust that changes get pushed online when a connection is available, I won't be able to just turn over my entire document collection to The Cloud.

Cole Camplese

I agree that not having access to the web is a killer, but with the rise of 3G connectivity (in the States at least) this is becoming less of an issue. With an iPhone it isn't an issue and I can be honest when I say I am really never without access -- I am lucky in that I have a 3G wireless cell modem for my Air. I know lots of people on the PC side who have ThinkPads with built in 3G cards ... that has to be coming soon as a BTO option on the MacBook (Pro/Air) I would think. The funny thing is that I have a Mobile Me account and I don't use my iDisk b/c it so damn slow. I opt for DropBox instead as it keeps a synced local version ready for me on all my machines. I am also not suggesting we turn over our entire collection to the Cloud ... seems the only way to really do it is to have another machine that manages it all for us and use the Cloud for things we need here and there. I use Aperture as my local photo store and treat Flickr as a cloud based repository for my best pictures. I think students will still have a big laptop/desktop for gaming and other higher end needs, but will begin to carry a smaller device for classroom/mobile computing tasks -- it may be a handheld though in the long run with cell connectivity.

Nathan Stevens

I have two netbooks that I am trying out. I have an Acer AspireOne and the EEE (above). I like the Acer unit for what it is. The EEE is nice for browsing but I ran out of hard drive space trying update apps. I have been trying to edit video with the Acer because that is the next big thing for Ed students. It worked pretty go for video, but one thing I did notice is that it slows down when trying to use anything Java. WebCT Vista taxes the unit. I also use ScreenToaster and it slow trying to use the java applet. I have been using it Microsoft mesh to sync with my MAC mini at home. That has been working well so far. The iPhone is nice, but I am using a nokia n810 Internat tablet. It is great to take to meeting and take notes with either a bluetooth keyboard or my roll up rubberized keyboard.

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