Why I Want An iTablet Mac SOOO Bad…

In reaction to the growing rumors and daily posts such as: Apple Tablet Coming in 2010?, Will an Apple Tablet Run on Verizon’s Network?, and Apple iTablet: Will You Buy One?, I feel the need to express my ultimate desire for a computer such as the rumored iTablet, how it will help to change the landscape of computing, how it will replace all of my other devices, and make dreams of augmented realities come one day sooner.

First, tablet PCs have been around for quite a while. I remember trying one out several years ago. It was kind of heavy; not something you’d carry around all day. It also ran Windows XP, which may be the best OS ever made for PCs, it wasn’t designed for a tablet or touch computing. I’m an artist who loves to draw, so the first thing I played with was a sketchpad program that was installed. This was long before I had ever seen or heard of a Wacom Cintiq monitor.

What am I so excited about? Here’s my list:

• Any iTablet OS will have been based off of years of touch research done by Apple for the iPhone (unlike previous tablet PCs)
• It will run iPhone Apps and feed the already existing market
• It will promote cloud computing applications that take less memory and power to run on your computer (the future of application software)
• It will surely prompt clones from other hardware manufacturers (a catalyst for innovation- look at what iPhone did for touch screen phones)
• And hopefully a tablet equivalent running a Google Android OS (Google already ahead of the game in the cloud apps area, i.e. Google Docs)… Android being quite possibly the best OS for touchscreen devices

Furthermore, here’s what else will be remedied by an iTablet

• Laptotps: Have you actually tried to use a laptop on your lap lately? I’ve got a MacBook Pro and a Dell XPS (my work computers) and neither of them can be set on your actual legs for longer than 2 minutes. I’ve had to buy laptop fans every few months just to keep them cool. In other words, LAPTOPS aren’t for LAPS!
• Desktops: I like the memory and power of a desktop, but it can’t take it with me. I have two offices on campus, I commute 25 minutes to work, and I work (and teach online) from home during the summer.  I need portability.
• Smartphones: are great, but I still get dirty looks in meetings when I use it to take notes, pull up stored Google Docs, emails, or search for info on the web. I’m a hardcore multi-tasker and if one thing iTablet could do for me… take away the impression I’m txt’ing WHEN I’m really working!
  

  

  

  

  
  
  
• Netbooks: They’re small, they’re cute, they’re cheap! Did I say they were too small? Watching a netbook user is like watching an ad made by the Alliance of Chiropractors and Optometrists Everywhere. The thing sits chained to a table or someones lap while their back folds in two and they squint to see what’s on screen. The keyboards aren’t comfortable either. I thought the Pepper handheld computer got it right when the split the keyboard up on both sides. Most people text on their phones with their thumbs… evolution at its best: opposable thumbs. I think this is the way typing should be designed on the iTablet, which if they don’t design it that way I’m sure an App will be made for that! (The images included in this post taken from PC World show a keyboard across the bottom. That’s just not going to work).

So I’m trying to say that… An iTablet Mac product would BE a computer built for me. Highly portable, highly functional.

• I’m thinking I’ll be able to plug it into an play MP3s while I drive to work… No more MP3 player needed.
• I’m hoping I will be able to use it with Skype (and maybe Google Voice?!), a Bluetooth headset, and mobile carrier dataplan (tuff chance with Apple denying the GVoice app from their store. It’s the first time I’ve ever said this… “Go FCC!”). In other words, goodbye smartphone.
• And since the only hardcore applications I still need (Photoshop, video editing software, and Second Life) are almost better run on a desktop anyway… Can I say goodbye laptop? Photoshop is moving to cloud computing or being replaced by online competitors like Pixlr.com. Advanced video editing done in the cloud is only a few more years away, but simple video editing can already be done on sites like JayCut. Second Life and other virtual worlds or mmorpgs are not quite on smartphones yet and an iTablet may be just the thing needed close the gap to mobile virtual worlds and hardcore online games.

What will suck? I mean it can’t all be glorious right?

• Apple: Control and politics. I don’t own an iPhone but I know how tightly Apple controls what works and doesn’t work on the iPhone. I only hope that an iTablet would have as much open development and free products as OSX.
• $$: It’s not going to be easy on my pocketbook to personally get one of these. Even at the rumored $600-800 pricetag, that’s more than I was planning to spend on anything else this year. For someone who has never bought an iPod or iPhone but loves the idea of a device like this, I wonder if I’ll be able to afford the extras (Apps! Car charger, mobile re-charger, etc.) I’m sure the first extra I buy will be a string to carry the thing around my neck at all times, lol! But I’m serious, I’ll never put the thing down.
• Mobile Carrier: The worst thing about the iPhone is AT&T right? Whoever Apple partners with to carry data plans for this thing had better be prepared! They made a mistake picking AT&T as their phone carrier and have had poor coverage and customer service ever since. Will they make the same mistake twice?
• First Generation iTablet: It seems the smartest people in tech (on a budget like me) are always saying, hold off and get the second generation… It works better, faster, with less bugs. I’m so geeked about getting an iTablet, there’s no way I’m waiting. So bring on the bugs.
• We haven’t seen or heard any of specs yet. Memory? Speed? Camera? Video? Heck we don’t even know what size the thing will be. If there’s one thing I would expect, it’s that it has every bell and whistle of the latest generation iPhone. The one thing I would request: A video/camera on BOTH sides of the display. Hold it up and shoot a picture of what’s in front of me while also broadcasting webcam video of my ugly mug to a site like Ustream.tv at the same time. Dreamy.

Finally, until they develop a set of glasses that augment reality (and eventually nanites), an iTablet would again close the gap between what is the ideal future of computing and what is capable right now on mobile platforms; giving more power to the augmented reality devloper… A current hot topic. I think apps like the one in the video below are just the beginning, an iTablet would make augmented reality a reality sooner.

Art101: Final Exhibition in Second Life: Updated

As the second summer semester came to an end, my Art 101 class in Second Life held a gallery opening on the final day of class. This opening and exhibition was open to the public and several SL residents and BGSU community members were in attendance! Visit the gallery by clicking on this SLURL:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/BGSU%20Collaboration/56/36/35

This exhibition includes two floors of artwork. The first floor hosts work created by Art 101 students influenced by works from history. The full assignment sheet can be seen here. Each work is presented next to the work that inspired it. You can read more about what inspired the students by clicking on each of the works in Second Life.

The exhibition also includes a show of artwork by practicing artists curated by Art 101 students. The assignment sheet for this show can be seen here. Each student interviewed the artist about their work. The interview can be read by clicking on each work in Second Life.

Images from throughout the semester, including the exhibition opening can be seen here:

Below are a few of the “Extra Credit” postcards and posters made for the exhibition.

SIGGRAPH SpaceTime Exhibition on BGSU Virtual Campus

I’ve been working hard all weekend to get the Animations loaded into our new dynamic media players on the BGSU Virtual Campus for the SIGGRAPH SpaceTime Exhibition. You can watch over 32 animation and videos of interactive works at the gallery.  I just put up a post about it on the BGSU Virtual Campus blog. Read on here…

Here’s the SLURL to get right to the gallery: http://slurl.com/secondlife/BGSU%20Creation/164/180/28

Art 101: Critique in Second Life

Over the last week my students have been working on an assignment in which they were to find an inspirational work of art and create a work in repsonse to it (read assignment here). The first meeting class of this week, we held in-progress critiques of the work. The set-up for this included teaching students to upload images into Second Life (my tutorial here), build a primitive or object to put them on (tutorial), and then how to put the image on the prim (tutorial).

Here are some image of both critiques. View more here.

The most exciting thing was the amount of feedback each students received from other students. In a studio classroom the comments usually come from only a handful of students. An Instructor often times has to play a significant moderator role to coax quiet students into speaking. I’m not sure if it was because this is NOT a studio art class with non-art majors OR if the text chat mode of communications allowed students to speak more freely, but the amount of feedback per image was really wonderful!

Art101: Artist Roleplay Assignment

This summer I am teaching Art 101: Intro to Art online in Second Life. It took about a week to get the students up to speed on how to use Second Life. I am using some of the info at the main SL wiki, but mostly my own tutorials at the BGSU SL Help Wiki. My students are keeping blogs to reflect on what they see/do in class, document what they discover on the web and in Second Life, and also as a place to display what they create. Our second week, most of them blogged about our trip to the Sistine Chapel re-creation on Vassar Island (SLURL).

Last week the students were given an assignment to research an artist from a list I had presented them with. Then, they were asked to modify their avatar to look like that artist or one of the artworks that person had created. Finally, the students roleplayed those artists in a conversation in front of the class to present their findings. Click here to read the assignment. Watch two example videos below or see more examples here.

Jackson Pollock & M.C. Escher

Sol LeWitt & Henry Moore

Overall, I would say that the assignment was a success! Some students were able to modify their avatars better than others but the creative choices was easy to spot. Some students were unable to use voice chat and therefore held conversation in voice chat. This made the exchange between the two avatars move much slower and the immersion felt by the audience less present. However, students were still able to present their information in a timely manner.

Update from Tampa

Update from Tampa on 12seconds.tv

We’ve moved!

The official SLLC blog at BGSU has now moved to:

Blogs.bgsu.edu/SecondLife

Please redirect your subscription settings there. Thank you!

5 tips for Students on the SLED blog!

Tracking in SL with cams

Original Post at Mobitrends: http://www.mobitrends.com/2008/08/
27/head-tracking-in-second-life/

I someone at SIGGRAPH from Carnegie Melon who told me that 8 of their grads in the HCI dept went on to an internship for Linden Labs and were working on just such a thing (Mitch Kapor mentioned it at SLB5). But I’m not sure that this is the same team.

Likewise, this team is using a regular webcam… Mitch and his team are using the Zcam, which runs roughly about $250-300 (what I was told at SIGGRAPH). See the demo for that below

Zcam, webcam 3D – Second Life

Posted to Second Life Video- Virtual World Fans on April 14, 2008

Click to Play | View Details

5 tips for Students on the SLED blog!