Digital Living

Netbooks Increasingly Becoming More Disruptive, Innovative & Interesting!

Netbook computer increasingly becoming even more innovative, disruptive and interesting. This latest prototype model from Toshiba for example, it allows "hand browsing" and "touch navigating" (ala .. you know who). Yet at the same time it also being targeted to come up with a great price that Eee PC pioneered.

Imagine one day at $250-400 price range, people will have their thin portable "internet tablet" up and running. Enabling them to surf the internet better than ever before, with form factor that is larger than iPod/iPhone form factor, yet as thin, with lightness and simplicity that is better than today's ordinary notebook PC, and with navigation capabilities that is as simple as an iPod/iPhone interface.

Imagine also that you can write on top of this "thin surface", makes your "portable paper" experience even more digitized and your jot experience better.

Such would make our net-browsing, net-surfing, "net-writing" and "net-working" experience even more awesome. Through such devices, one day may be we will just "hand-glide" through the internet and "writing to our blogs" with our hand and "digital pen and digital paper", rather than "mousing through" and "typing" into it.

Fascinating future!

The Line-Up For iPhone 3G Is Still Crazy!

It was reported that even after the 1st million iPhone has been sold in the first week-end since its release on July 11, the line-up for iPhone 3G is still crazy.

People around the U.S are lining up for hours. 4 to 5 hours in New York city. 3 hours in Seattle. Check this out:

I would be extremely interested to "hear" what Mr. Ballmer would say after this. Another boring "pooh pooh"  against the iPhone once again Mr Balm?? >:) *little devilistic smile*

Microsoft really need to be humble and get back innovating once more. It start becoming a dinosaur these days.

As common people and any "student in history" knows: no matter how big and powerful dinosaur once are, once they become irrelevant (and start failing to adapt) to the emerging circumstances that surrounds them, dinosaur -- no matter how big and powerful they ONCE are -- totally vanish from the face of the earth, and start becoming another silent "artifact" in the long  journey of the great world history.

If Microsoft intends to sustain and survive even for the next decade, it shall NOT forever be "dinosauric" starting today.

Stop being "pooh pooh"-ed to anything "not invented at Microsoft" perhaps is a good start. In the past, Microsoft didn't invent DOS, Windows, Wordprocessor, Spreadsheet, PDA, Internet, nor Browser, anyway. Infact, Microsoft greatest strength is when they start embracing something, extending it and making it happen to the greater market. When they start to embrace (and extend) that's when they start to dominate.

This "humble, embrace, extend" strategy is something that the arrogant Mr. Ballmer seem to always "forgot". He's so busy "pooh-pooh"-ing other great products, too oftenly do his "crazy ugly monkey dance", and too oftenly resonating his deepest arrogance (and over-proud feeling) about Microsoft. Something that increasingly become the most "annoying" side of this complicated persona.

ps:

• iPhone 3G is now available in 21 countries—Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the US—and will go on sale in France on July 17.

• “iPhone 3G had a stunning opening weekend,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “It took 74 days to sell the first one million original iPhones, so the new iPhone 3G is clearly off to a great start around the world.”

• Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

• (Yet -- as of now -- we still don't know where Zune today is in the world radar screen). Microsoft really need to get back to the "root" of their own unique "innovation" approach, which they were once really good at, in the past.

Touch PC Is Coming Soon

In the near future, every PC will be "touch" based. One promising example is the HP TouchSmart PC.


Wanna buy movie ticket? Touch the screen. Wanna buy some McDonalds? Touch the PC. Wanna order Taxi? Touch the PC. Need to review and approve something? Touch the screen and the PC. It's that simple.

With this approach and interface, interaction becomes more fast, intuitive, interactive and easy. Nothing beats the finger better, when it comes to intuitive interface. The feel, sense and gesture just feel different.

Just don't touch this PC, while your finger still dirty (after eat KFC) probably. :-D

Samsung Instinct & HTC Touch Diamon Is Coming!

If iPhone is not moving fast to dominate the market, these iPhone-look-alike might eventually creeping in.

 

The Last Week Of Bill Gates At Microsoft

This would probably be the last week of Bill Gates at Microsoft.
Here's a link to his whole fascinating "career", passion, strategy and story.

And this is one his best best best vision ever; of how computing could be, at those momentous, daring, beautiful time:

Microsoft in the 80s, 90s, early 2000s (when they massively shift to the internet) -- all under Bill Gates direct, intense, passionate leadership -- is really really passionately awesome.

And to those great works and passion which has changed society and humanity for the better, there's only one proper deep word to say:

THANK YOU.

The world is one step ahead to become a better place for everybody.

 

"You don't get it. You don't get it. We are going to put a computer on every desk and in every home". -Bill Gates to Steve Ballmer, back in the early days of Microsoft.

Firefox Sets A New Guiness-Book World Record As The Most Downloaded New Released Software!

The formal announcement is not yet made, but the official is now preparing to announce Firefox as the most downloaded new-release software on the internet.

We always believe in the power of the people. The magical act of people doing things together.

But the way they do it is really really awesome. How they come up with an idea that makes people around the world do something great and really excellent together is really really awesome.

And -- at the end -- the way they let everybody that is involved to keep a "token-of-rememberance" of such world-scale accomplishment is really really wonderful. Truly wonderful too. This is how they did it:

People around the world. We can create truly magical things together.

Truly awesome!!

ps: I'm waiting for my "banner" too :-) Such would be really really awesome to keep and remember. :-) :-) :-) Once, in a lifetime occassion. :-)

Touch Most Likely Will Become The Friendliest Human-Computer Interface Of The Future

Touch mostlikely will become the firendliest human-computer interface in the future.

Yet although we say "in the future", to think that this interface is still "too far" away in the "future" is also not true.This "future tech" might not be very far away, after all.

HP for example recently introduce the HP TouchSmart PC. It boast a touch-enabled PC, where people can interact with this computer via touch, rather than via type and mouse. This is a very interesting development.

Do take a look how the HP's "touch interface" looks like:

Seems likely that this kind of approach and technology would be "something" that Microsoft and its Windows 7 would "bet" on; to allow it to make a huge "come back", after Microsoft's recent Vista "fiasco".

Click below for more info:

Firefox 3 Released -- Now Ready To Download!

Finally Firefox 3 is released! The best firefox yet, probably the best (and the fastest) browser so far as well.

Click here to download or for more information.

ps:

After nearly three years' development and three release candidates, Firefox 3 is now ready and will be officially launched on June 17, 2008, aka Download Day 2008, which is hoped to set the Guinness World Record for most software downloads in 24 hours. We have made pledges at spreadfirefox.com to help Mozilla team to achieve such a record, so do also tell your friends, family and colleagues to pledge to download Firefox 3 at http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/ during Download Day. To know everything about Firefox 3, click here to read Debra Lynn Richardson's "A Field Guide to Firefox 3". Go Firefox, the web browser is mush faster, safer than Microsoft's Internet Explorer which nowadays often gets staggered when I log in to my Google's Gmail account.

Amazing! This Digital Screen Could Be Folded Like Paper!!

It is amazing to see the form factor, dimension and capability of latest digital screen that Sony produced and reveal to public just recently:

Oh My GOD, can you believe that this ultra-thin, plastis, foldable object is actually a screen???

It is so magical.

People say that this "foldable screen" is made of organic plasma, which is being encapsulated in foldable plastic film. By design it is extremely "paper thin"! People can fold it and carry it around very lightly.

Here's a video that shows that:

Purely magical!

Imagine what would happen if one day this "foldable screen" also become so "affordable" in price, and so "connectable" to the internet.

1. More and more people would eventually more prefer to carry this "foldable digital paper" around,   instead of carrying physical paper anymore, because this digital paper can stream and browse information direct from the net.
2. We no longer need to carry "stack of paper", because everything is now available from the internet's digital realm.
3. Our computer would become thinner and more flexible, and we can fold this "computer" to make it easy to carry around. Then we can "unfold it" quickly when we want to start work at anytime.
4. Eventually we might be able to "write" on top of this "digital paper" computer, and send the result to the net to be stored and saved. We no longer need to carry our today's "thicker, luggable notebook computer" around anymore, because eventually our "digital paper" has become the "computer".

Imagine how a great amazing future it would be!

Through this "digital paper", everything that we want to do suddenly probably could be done more intuitively, more ergonomically, more flexible, powerful and easy than we could done it before.

Everything back become "as easy as paper" once more. The difference is that we are all now doing it "all again" through the new "digital realm" that is made possible by this cute little powerful "magical paper".

Wonderful!

ps:

• Some more information about this "foldable technology" current research state, and its future development, can be found here.
• Also do take a look here to see the latest state about this technology's reincarnation and development.

Multi-Touch Interface & The "Look And Feel" Of Computers In The Future...

Multi-touch interface will redefine how we interact with computers and how we interact with information that surrounds us.

In the past, multi-touch approach can only be done using specialized device that early pioneers such as Jeff Han had created.

But, in a not-very-long-future, multi-touch interface might touch every aspect of our life. It really perhaps one day should be the way we are interacting with our computers from now on.

Take a look at how it could be: