Tag: digital

Paper vs Digital Notes and Vanishing Information

Carl Setzer

Today I was thinking today about the past. I worked on at project, in the mid-nineties, for Amazon. They were located in a single building in downtown Seattle, very close to Pike Place Market. Nothing to dramatic, just installed terminals in a new call center. I had fun. My main memory: a guy brought his Corgi to work every day. About once an hour, a ball would be thrown down the hall and the dog would tear after it. For me, that exemplified the kind of place I wanted to work.

Anyway, I was wondering what I could pull together from that. Who did I work with? For? Was I there for a week? A month?

All that info? Gone. Yeah, that was quite some time ago. But I’m a rather meticulous note-taker, so am a bit bothered by the information being simply gone.

Now, that was pre-digital anything, really. Ok, the world wide web was a thing (duh, Amazon), but I didn’t own a cellphone yet. There wasn’t a smartphone of any stripe (it would be several years before Handspring would launch the Treo). So, yeah…gone.

Much is made about the fragility of digital record keeping. But there’s fragility to paper, too. Sure, these notes may still exist in some box in my garage. But, most likely, they were tossed out, left somewhere, or… There’s no such thing as backing up paper “stuff”.

When I think about using tools like Evernote, Gmail and all the grand life in the Cloud, I’m struck by a key thing: syncing. My digital information is available cross-platform, cross-device, cross-everything. It’s easy to share (and, yeah, subpoena). Which, to me, sells digital over paper.

Now, I do have paper notes, and journals and notes and…I just need to remember to scan them in, just for a backup. Because, who knows, in twenty years, I might really be interested in where I was today.

Microsoft Challenges the iPod (Again) – New York Times

Carl Setzer

Microsoft Challenges the iPod (Again) – New York Times

I’m glad Microsoft is getting going in this space; it’ll serve to keep Apple honest and not take us for granted. Competition is good, blah, blah. Apple is (hopefully) not going to make the same mistake as they did in the desktop wars of the 80’s.

Apple Waves Its Wand at the Phone – New York Times

Carl Setzer

Apple Waves Its Wand at the Phone – New York Times

One of a zillion articles on the debut of the iPhone. Dave Pogue has one key piece missing from most others: he’s actually handled one (albiet for around an hour). I really appreciate Pogue’s review, especially in lieu of the aforementioned point. If you’re excited by the thing, this a great piece to give you some insight about how the thing actually works. With that in mind, another good piece on all of this is over at Treonauts. They’ve done a great job comparing the Treo 680 and the iPhone.

Another good piece to read is this one at the NY Times. It gives a good explanation about Cingular’s motivations in all this. In here, I have one point to argue with Roger Entner an analyst with Ovum Research (Ovum? Anyway…). He’s arguing that the price point ($499) will limit its appeal. He needs to look at the iPod, and how it was introduced. I would gamble that Apple has several lower cost options in the works (the iPhone Mini and Nano?), which it will release after it has solidly grabbed the “cool” market. The iPod was quite expensive to start, which ensured it was the domain of the chic. Notice, too, that Apple always has something in the spendy category, keeping the elite fueled with ego stoking while expanding the product’s reach.

It looks to me that the keyboard will be the key marketing grounds for these devices (remember, the iPhone has the virtual one). Though I’m filled with gadget lust for one of these, it’s hard for me to ignore price (I can get an unlocked 680 for the low end price for an iPhone. It is my deepest hope that the iPhone will kick start Palm, Motorola, RIM and the rest to redouble their efforts. It’s very clear that Apple’s here for the long-haul and will innovate the pants off of anyone slacking. To my chums at Palm, look closely (and quickly) at the iPhone, then get to WORK. You have the best chance to really compete.

What’s Holding Back the Digital Living Room?

Carl Setzer

What’s Holding Back the Digital Living Room? – New York Times

I’m a fan of David Pogue of the New York Times and Missing Manual fame. There are some interesting points he brings up here. However, the main reason I think that the digital living room hasn’t taken off has been bandwidth. Steve Jobs believed that it was the fact that people didn’t want to interact with their tv. Internet television isn’t, necessarily, about interaction. Nor is that the main value. The greatest promise with iTV has to do with freedom from the program guide. Even with cable, we were stuck with watching something only in a particular timeslot. Unless you were free at that moment, or had mastered your vcr (and avoided any quirky problems), you were hosed. Now, we are seeing “On Demand.” I can watch what I want, when I want. That is where the demand is.

With all due respect to the Great Oz of Cupertino, people do want some degree of interactivity with the tele’s. Look at the success of shows like “American Idol,” which brought in people in droves, spending 10 cents a shot to vote. Made money for the network, for the advertisers, and for the cellular carriers. And folks were entertained. I guess that’s the ultimate win-win.