I like devices that rely on touch-based interfaces because the gestures that we use to operate them seem so natural and effortless. And I’ve seen old folks and children (barely the age of 4) take to them easily as well.
However, until we develop input devices that let us operate computers simply by just thinking, tactile input seems here to stay. And why not?
When I visited the AMD Learning Centre at the Rainbow Centre Yishun Park School, Mr B N Krishnamurthy, a speech language therapist at the school, demonstrated the myriad devices that help the students learn with computers despite their physical disabilities. It was an eye-opener for me naturally and quite a heartening experience to see basic concepts of tactile-based inputs being applied to enable these kids to develop spatial, communication and social skills just by using specialised learning software with their computers.
Here’s Mr Krishnamurthy demo-ing the various devices:
It has been several weeks since my review of iLife ‘09 creative suite was published. You know, that multimedia software suite of iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb and Garageband that gets updated annually and comes with every Macintosh machine you buy?
This creative suite has been touted as one of the reasons why people get a Mac, as it makes photo management, movie editing, web publishing and music making a breeze.
So while I was reviewing iLife ‘09, I kept wondering if Apple would make a Windows version of iLife. I mean, the success of iPod, iPhone and iTunes Store owes very much to the porting of iTunes to Windows. If there were no Windows iTunes, we wouldn’t be seeing the phenomenal success enjoyed by Apple today.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m a Mac OS X user. I just feel that such a good software suite should be enjoyed by a larger audience.
Porting the suite should not be a tumultuous task for Apple since it already has applications like Safari and Quicktime available in its friendly competitor’s operating system. Perhaps the only reason why Apple hasn’t ported the suite is because iLife is an integral part of the Mac OS X experience.
If Apple thinks that having Windows iLife might prevent Windows users from switch to Mac, I think its worries are unfounded. In fact, the contrary might happen. We have already seen Windows users switching to Mac on account of their experiences with the “it just works” iTunes. Having Windows iLife might be another “trojan horse” (if I may paraphrase Walt Mossberg) that compels Windows users to switch.
As we mentioned in our review today (PDF or text), we made a video showing what we put the Panasonic Toughbook CF-F8 through during our tests. It was shot on a digital compact camera and the editing’s amateurish (the cheesy piano song takes the cake) but we reckon it’s still worth watching because no one would put their laptops through such tests. The tests were far from scientific but here’s what we put the Panasonic Toughbook through:
A 1m fall on its bottom surface (we had to use a carpeted floor to avoid scratching it)
A 40 cm drop on my desk from different angles
A 95kg man stood on it momentarily and then walked on it repeatedly
Poured a glass of water on its keyboard while it ran
Except for the third test, we actually exceeded Panasonic’s claims. What can we say? We live dangerously. According to Panasonic, the Toughbook can stand up to a 76cm fall on its bottom surface, a 30 cm drop from 26 different angles, up to 200ml of liquid spillage on its keyboard and touchpad and up to 100 kg of force on its screen lid.
Unfortunately, we still managed to crack its screen (you can see the damage as we pour water on its keyboard) when my 95kg colleague stepped on it. I actually winced and felt sorry for the laptop. In Panasonic’s own tests, it spread out the weight evenly with a wooden or glass panel to avoid damaging the screen.
Ah, a new spiffy-looking all-in-one desktop from Lenovo (and some laptops). Very sexy. Wonder if they were planning to steal a bit of thunder from Apple’s (last) announcements at the Macworld keynote address later this week. No word yet from the Lenovo folks on whether it’ll be out here in our neck of the woods. [via Gizmodo]
