Day 2 in San Jose, and I need to give the same disclaimer as yesterday.

“You can find more information at the conference website (http://www.redesignconference.com/). I will run through the sessions and attempt to communicate those points I found especially poignant. Much of this will be iterative, in that the presenter had a point, I may have heard it as they intended it or applied my own analysis to it. Either way, I should qualify that all of these ideas are not mine but at the same time many of these ideas were not the presenters’. That should be clear as mud!”

What We Can Learn from Disruptors – Carrie Whitehead – Zappos

What We Can Learn from Maps – Eric Rodenbeck – Stamen Design

What We Can Learn from a Voter – Adam Stalker/Daniel Ryan – Obama for America

What We Can Learn from Gaming – Christina Wodtke – Publisher, Boxes and Arrows

The Experiential Difference – Jesse McMillin – Virgin America

The story of Netflix and Blockbuster are a cautionary tale for any business. 5 years ago Blockbuster was in excellent financial position, expanding markets, a solid business. The markets and Blockbuster scoffed at the upstart Netflix and its business model. The truth was, complacency had invaded Blockbuster and today they are bankrupt while Netflix, despite missteps, is growing and positioned well for the future. The moral of the story is incremental improvements to business are important and powerful but CANNOT substitute for innovation. We need to look ahead, see patterns, see opportunities, and innovate.

We need to design for one task to touch many channels. Retailers like Amazon have to consider this. Users might browse on a tablet, phone, pc or tv. They might review products on the tablet and complete orders on the pc. They might manage gift lists from their phones or make media purchases there through apps. They might stream movies on their accounts from their tvs. All of these are part of a single task arriving from multiple touch points.

Quick technology geeked out moment and an example of good design: I am editing this post on my Chromebook Pixel. I have my notes open in Evernote in a window to the left of my editor. I can scroll in the Evernote window by placing the mouse over the background window and moving two fingers on the touchpad. I can do this without changing focus from my editor. I can scroll in Evernote while typing in my blog editor. Excellent design!

Mapping data sets is both an old discipline and one that in many ways is brand new. Over the millenia maps have been key to many things. They told stories about the land they described. Cartography is collected as a highly prized art form. Maps today have been reduced to a simple tool. Very little depth is present. Sure, you can make it look different with the treasure map layer on Google, but there is not a story there.

When we consider data in various systems we can choose to look at the numbers in tabular format or visualize data in graphs, charts or tools. If we take this a bit further and “map” the data in multiple dimensions, unusual patterns are visible, new questions are raised, and a greater understanding of the data is possible. The human interface for interacting and exploring this data still needs to be developed. Hollywood has its ideas, and we all know how realistic that is. It is clear that we are very close to being able to tap into historical data at a level that was impossible previously.

When we do map data there is an opprotunity to return to the storytelling of mapmakers of old. We can intentionally weave a manager’s job description in how the data is presented and manipulated. We can provide the “rest of the story” to a busy executive wondering how effective his workforce is many levels of management isolated from him. We can empower users with predictive inputs to help them make wise decisions in their businesses.

Big data no longer means collecting snapshots, it means collecting everything. The election in 2013 was an unprecedented opportunity to both track and influence social networks. The Obama campaign partnered tightly with Facebook and Google to provide daily inputs that directed the campaign. Every night 66k election simulations were run and analyzed, data was constantly challenged and tested, and changes in strategy were implemented. They had deep access to millions of voters’ data, during an emotional election season, with a crescendo of activity culminating in the election. What a researcher’s dream.

One use of social media was really surprising to me. The campaign had a list of undecided voters. They mapped those voters on Facebook in many ways. What photos were they tagged in? Who were they friends with? Who did they share with? Where did they live? Then they would measure the influence of their supporters with those voters using the same metrics, and score the “influence factor” of that supporter. Then they would send messages from the campaign giving supporters instructions regarding who to talk to. By this method and the election day vote efforts they estimate they swung 5 million voters nationwide. This is greater than the margin of public vote victory for the president.

Two other efforts, “The Life of Julia” and the explanation of Obamacare were both very successful. On both of these initiatives 75% of the users stuck through the application all the way to the end. This is a very high retention rate. The Obamacare app moved people through the legislation from 4 different inputs, through 500 paths, to 8 conclusions. Both of these applications flowed against the resistance we have to clicks in design.

One last conclusion from the campaign discussion was the way they drew people into donating. The entrance page for donations was very simple, the user simply selected an amount. There was much information that needed to be filled out but the user was not presented with this until they decided to give. The user rarely backed out once they made that decision. They found this far more effective than the past approach of presenting users with forms prior to the donation moment.

Game designers identify user types when building a game. These consist of killers, achievers, socialites and explorers. Another list is expressers, competers, explorers, and collaborators. There are similar patterns at play in a business when interacting with their enterprise applications. Executives, managers, workers, and administrators all have similarities in both personality and job description to these categories. If we map both personality and job against a category of user we can learn something about how to build an interface suitable for their use. It appears there is fertile ground in this area that could yield increased productivity.

In a media-cluttered world we crave things both immersive and memorable. We need to remember that when building systems. We cannot incorporate whimsy and humor in everything we do, but there will be opportunities to do so. Our users and clients will thank us if we do.

Now that I am through the conference I feel like I can put down the firehose and absorb this information. What a valuable experience, and a conference I would highly recommend.

I am attending a two day conference focused on User Experience Design. At the end of the first day I can clearly say this was a valuable event even if every presenter tomorrow is really awful. You can find more information at the conference website (http://www.redesignconference.com/). I will run through the sessions and attempt to communicate those points I found especially poignant. Much of this will be iterative, in that the presenter had a point, I may have heard it as they intended it or applied my own analysis to it. Either way, I should qualify that all of these ideas are not mine but at the same time many of these ideas were not the presenters’. That should be clear as mud!

What Can Experience Designers Learn From Rock Stars – Tim Richards (@nanotim) – Blitz

Graphic Design and Branding – Andy Gilliland – Punchcut

What We Can Learn From Connected Objects Around Us – Jeff Devries – Motorola Mobility

Learning From James Bond, Experience Designer – Danny Sill – IDEO

What We Can Learn From a Bad Remodel – Steve Tatham – Disney Imagineering

Reframing UX Design as a Profession – Peter Merholz (@peterme) – Groupon

The discussion of group dynamics was very timely as I look at the development of my teams at Oasis Digital. We need to be able to work collaboratively and we need to work solo. A big challenge has been having that solo work fit back into the collaborative effort. We need a shared language to be consistent. Each team member learns to communicate within the team but continues to use that shared language when they work alone. If we push to stay consistent, then individuals can innovate within the language of the team.

We also discussed the need to have the core message down cold. When you know it inside and out then true passion and innovation can shine through. The best musicians will play a piece thousands of times so that they know it completely. That way when they perform they can meet the audience at the experiential level and communicate without worrying about the content. We should know our process and our message without hesitation. If we do that then we can meet our customers where they are and provide them with more valuable service.

We also need to guard against doing it ourselves. Those around us cannot learn if we do not teach them. This is difficult when faced with deadlines and requirements, but if adhered to then the benefits are substantial. In a modern organization we need to be flexible with the parts we play. There are no menial tasks or work that is below us, there is the team and a goal. The team members have a responsibility to all push toward the goal together.

When presenting an idea we need to speak with passion and honesty, we should not apologize for limitations. We need to put our thoughts and ideas out to the world. Good design has persuasive power and we need to master our craft.

There was also discussion about the need to separate the idea from the execution. I like the quote “save yourself from yourself”. Often we can be our own worst enemy and destroy our own ideas. We load them down with requirements and additional ideas which can lead to a loss of the original point. We should iterate on the execution (how the idea is realized), not on the idea itself.

Simple is often the best approach once the shared language of the team is established. You should be able to distill core ideas to fit on a bumber sticker. This is not sales, it is communication. This flows into another point that was made which was we should design for behavior instead of designing for information. The ways users are interfacing with information are distributed across platforms and devices. We should be looking at the behavior in each context.

When a music artist wants the audience to “go nuts” they “drop the bass”. This is a universal message that invites the audience to participate. You can hear this principle in much of the music played during warmups at sporting events. A lot of dance music will make heavy use of this idea as well. As designers we should “drop the bass” in our systems. No, we should not incorporate Dubstep into our designs, we should invite users to use our software. We can do this through emphasis, colors, and simplicity.

The merger of structural thinking and visual asthetics is very important. We need to give content form and order. There is currently a convergence of physical spaces and screen spaces. A convergence of physical and electronic devices. We should start designing using good design principles and stop just putting the logo in the upper left.

Other design disciplines can teach us a lot. Industrial and Automotive design can teach us about feedback, the prioritization of information and sightless interaction. Landscape architecture can teach us about designing for space, considering flow and managing multiple user interactions. These are very important as we bridge the physical and the virtual. We can use these ideas to develop a consistent design experience that trancends interface options.

The way we store masses of information has changed the way we think and process. The way we use all of this input and store it outside of ourselves is a phenomonal change and we are only scratching the surface of its implications. We need to consider this change as we design a UI. Users today simply interact with applications differently than they did 5, 10 or 20 years ago. We will not be going back so we need to look forward.

We need to think from a systems perspective. We can learn a lot from systems that work (subways, ecosystems, beehives). We should not try to reproduce the same experience on different devices. We should make the experience make sense in the context of the use. This context changes between travel, home and work. There is a progression of interactions that is changing over time (keyboard/mouse > touch/voice > gestures/eye-gaze). These changes are additive, because we now use voice does not mean we stop using a touchpad or mouse.

Society keeps swinging between many devices and a singular multipurpose device. Not too long ago we all had phones, mp3 players, gps devices, etc. Now most adults have a smartphone and none of the rest. With the advent of the new physical devices (fitness tracker, smart watch, Google Glass) will these collapse into a singular device or will they have enough value on their own to persist?

Reverse mentoring can be powerful. Today, youth are coming in with skills and understanding that surpass those with experience in some very critical and narrow areas. Much like teachers had to move from being the knowledge experts in schools to guiding exploration by students we need to empower young coworkers to share what comes so natural to them. We need to adopt that role of guide to help them where they need it (most functional aspects of life), and not be threatened by their skills.

All developers should be concerned with the user experience. This is not the domain of an isolated team member. There is a shortage of designers so companies tend to use their design capacity for product execution and forget ideation and product definition. A good UX designer becomes a conductor and leader for the team. It is very easy for a team to get off the “good” path.

I was fortunate to come across two articles on work and life about the same time. There are times when one concept combined with another becomes a powerful statement about life: a compounding result that leaves you feeling empowered and with a new level of understanding. That was my experience when two different friends pointed me to these articles independently. I am very thankful that they did. A shout out to Tony Hartsfield and Kyle Cordes for your help.

I have been told by numerous people that my brain works in an unusual way so these connections might not apply to you. I hope that they do. The first article Working Stupid(ly) by Jenn Steele speaks to our limited ability to constantly focus at a high cognitive level. I know this is absolutely true for me. If I try to work extreme hours, for the first n hours I am 100% effective. After that point there is a steady degradation that occurs. The difficult part is that without a longer than normal break I find it impossible to return to 100% capacity again. If I push myself too hard it takes many days of down time to recover. It is not sufficient just to go home and get a good night’s sleep. When I chart this out it is quite clear that I can accomplish so much more if I resist the urge to plow through, and instead take appropriate rests.

It is the second article that triggered the “aha” moment for me. This article titled The Myth of Focus by Vishen Lakhiani talks about how highly productive people need to work on multiple complex things to stay focused. I have found this very true in my career, when I have only one priority I tend to slog along. I am disciplined to still get progress made but I am not inspired and vibrant. When I have two or three major initiatives in play something clicks and I start to become significantly more productive. I have always associated that aspect of my character to some sort of undiagnosed disorder along the lines of ADHD. But reading the article immediately following the previous one brought a lot into focus.

Another piece of foundational information before I get to my point. As a Christian I believe we were created. (That sound you just heard was all my atheist friends’ brains exploding). I won’t get into the creation/evolution debate in this article, I have some strong opinions that I may write about at some point. They will likely be surprising to many who know me (remember that comment about strange workings in my mind). The Bible talks about man being created in God’s image, in other words, we were designed to create (work), as well as play. In other words, we will not be happy if we do not work. I have written previously about this topic here.

What I realized in reading these articles was that our definition of “rest” is way off. We equate rest with leisure, vacations, and relaxation. While these are very important, I have found transitioning from a hard day working in the Technology Industry to even writing this post very relaxing. I have also made the same transition from my job to hard physical or skilled work on the house or yard. I think the brain finds rest in the transition, and that makes me very curious about the chemical makeup of our brains. How does a brain get “tired”, yet I know that mine does. But if I jump into something unrelated to my hours of effort my brain fires up and keeps going without a hitch. In fact, I have cured headaches that were quite severe in this fashion.

Now I want to combine this train of thought with answering another question. I sent these articles to my son and a couple of other young men as encouragement. Too often we tell young people what not to do without empowering them with what they should do. I passed along these articles as principles that might advance their career arc substantially. Sam Pepose, one of these young men asked a very good question. He wrote:

“I had never thought of over-working as being detrimental. I’m also a little confused about it because I’ve always been told that those who go above and beyond the status quo are the ones that succeed. For instance, my dad usually works 60 hour weeks to keep things running. What are your thoughts? Does it depend on your position or field of profession?”

My answer may sound a little convoluted but please think it through before judging too harshly. We are all made a little differently, with different skills and talents. Some people are well equipped to work on singular tasks with great focus while others need three or four things in the fire to feel satisfied. Professions are also different in their requirement of cognitive engagement. Some professions your brain is operating at a fairly low level waiting for short periods of intense congnitive release. Others require you to be operating at a high level all the time. The amount you work depends on your personal abilities and the demands placed upon you. In applying the principles of the two articles I think it demonstrates how different we all are (+1 for creation). We have to find the balance of work that allows us to both be creative and find the joy that comes with accomplishment.

Ok one word on the whole creation vs evolution debate…Entropy! Q.E.D

I have read a number of articles about Chromebooks, the new Pixel, and some of the implications of Google going up against Apple and Microsoft directly. I think there is a very important paradigm shift that I have not seen discussed to date. It is well known that as a Windows or Mac based machine ages it gets slower. Malware and bloated software like Microsoft Office all contribute to this phenomenon. Chromebooks, on the other hand, will get faster and more feature rich over time.

This is a really understated aspect of the Chrome OS, likely because marketing types in fancy suits decided it was too cerebral of a concept to communicate. Even the brand new Pixel page in the Play Store only alludes to it in this paragraph:

Like all Chromebooks, Pixel boots-up in seconds and stays fast, requires almost zero setup or maintenance, and comes with virus protection built-in. Best of all, it stays up to date with seamless updates every few weeks.

Lets look at the following three scenarios:

1. Tom needs a new laptop but does not want to spend a lot of money. He looks at what is available and settles on a $500 Windows 8 laptop at the local store.
2. Richard hits up the Apple store at the local mall, he needs a lightweight portable computer. He really likes the MacBook Pro but common sense wins out and he purchases an entry level Air for $999.
3. Harry needs a new machine as well. He uses mostly web based applications so he decides to give the $249 Samsung Chromebook a try.

We all know their experiences once they get home with these devices will be a little different. Windows is still a little frustrating to set up, Apple gets your credit card number immediately, and Google, well, you have to log in. Ok, that is a significant difference but not the point of this article.

Down the line 6-12 months is when the real difference will show. Over time, Microsoft and Apple’s operating systems get bigger, thicker and heavier. A machine purchased a year ago running last years OS X or Windows 7 will not run as quickly today on Mountain Lion or Win 8. This is simply a fact that has been true for decades.

Contrary to that, our Chromebook is faster and can do more that it could when we purchased it 6 months ago. There are certainly limitations. It is still not that polished editing things offline, file management is horrid, and niche apps are almost completely absent from the platform. In some ways it is really lacking.

What is exciting is that the list of negatives six months ago was 3X what it is now. This gives me the confidence that these other issues will be resolved also. The release of the Pixel as a high end computing device will require these remaining limitations to be addressed as well. The crowd that will spend $1300 on a cloud based computer will not put up with an incomplete device for long.

All this to say that I think my Chromebook will be more productive a year from now than it is today. NO OTHER PLATFORM CAN MAKE THAT CLAIM. This truth alone should make a difference for anyone buying a new computer. If you use a preponderance of online applications and very few monolithic programs I think the Chromebook is a compelling choice.

Interestingly one of the biggest reasons holding people back is a lack of understanding of this OS. Google has done a poor job communicating just how different it is. As writers continue to focus on processors, memory, storage size and other legacy PC issues, it misses the real value of the OS altogether. For example everyone is scoffing at the Pixel having 32GB of storage while providing 1TB of Google Drive space. As I have seen with my 16GB device, this is plenty of space. Writers also tend to try to pit Chrome against traditional PCs feature for feature. They are apples and oranges and not comparable in this way at all.

I am looking forward to when the mainstream media will begin to recognize this very real difference and the obsolescence protection provided by a very thin, constantly upgraded OS. One thing is for sure,Windows 8 and OS X will need to go on a serious diet to compete in the future.

We are stepping forward into a new developmental phase at the Affton School District. As I have written before we will need the support of staff, students, parents, and the rest of the community to be successful. To use a farming analogy, up to this point we have cultivated the ground and planted the seeds. The next step is to grow the crop so we can get to the harvest. This will take commitment and consistent focus, patience to allow people and systems to grow, and rain in the form of community support. If we can stay the course we truly believe we can be one of the top school districts in the state.

Ok, first off, a mea culpa. I have thumbed my nose at the Chromebook since its launch. I thought it was pointless considering how Android was launching its tablet OS (4.0 Honeycomb) and my Asus Transformer had a detachable keyboard, 15 hours of battery life, and a touchscreen. I thought the Chromebook was silly and would die a similar death as other products that arise at Google. This did not come true. Currently Chromebooks are being manufactured by Samsung, Lenovo, HP, and Acer.

I could jump all over in this article so I will keep myself focused with the following list. It also allows people to jump around and read only what interests them (I love when authors do that and save my time). I plan to cover the following points:

1. Google still made a mistake.
2. Let’s give a nod to the inventor of the idea, Mr. Jeff Hawkins.
3. Does this mean that Windows RT has a future?
4. Is the future of computing disposable and temporary devices?

Google’s Mistake

The mistake is very simple. For some bizarre, unknown reason, Chrome works on an ARM processor Chromebook just like it does on Windows or OS X, but does not on Android. Getting Chrome to work well has been a labor of frustration on Android and it has only seemingly been pushed forward by Opera, Dolphin and Firefox driving them. There must be a political battle, competing agendas, or something within elGoog keeping sensibility out of the equation. It appears to me that the Play store and the Chrome web store could have been merged over a year ago. We could be running the full Chrome browser as an option on our tablets or Phablets and the marketplace would be simple. “Chromebooks” could be more functional because they would have access to all the tablet apps, developers would be happier, customers would not be confused, and marketshare statistics would not be diluted. I don’t see any losses here. Lets hope this comes together soon. Jelly Bean is wonderful, Chrome OS is wonderful, it seems logical that the two should become one.

The Real Genius

Most people have no idea the Palm Foleo ever existed. Let’s rewind to May of 2007 when the Foleo was announced by Palm. You can read the initial information here. Remember, this device not only predates Chromebooks, it was what inspired the Netbook genre in the first place. It is really clear to me that this device was on target and it would have been wildly successful. All that can be easily tracked by looking at the sales numbers of Netbooks for the following few years. I am not going to add all the links here but I will provide a link to the search.

The device was killed by a lot of smart people who lacked vision. I would encourage you to read some of the articles. PC Magazine, Gartner, Tech blogs galore, all panned the device as a fool’s errand. Unfortunately for Palm, their leadership caved and abandoned the man who dreamed their company up in the first place. I bet they all regret that decision looking back, Palm is but a fading memory and with it many fortunes. This amazing device was instant-on, had long battery life, was inexpensive, synced docs and history with the cloud, had an app store, sound familiar?

The truth is that Jeff Hawkins is and was a genius. He gets it and understands how the human mind interfaces with the digital world in a way very few others have. The list of the device categories he has either invented or heavily driven are:

• PDA’s
• Smartphones
• Tablets
• Netbooks
• Touch OS
• App Stores
• Probably a few others I am too slow to remember

The guy is possibly the single most influential thinker in mobile computing history. And he works in technology part-time to fund his real obsession, brain research! The shame is that he is rarely mentioned in the same breath as Gates, Jobs, Schmidt et al. He has innovated as much as anyone in the last 20 years.

The impact of Chromebooks on Windows RT

I cannot imagine that the words “Chromebook” crossed anyones lips when Microsoft was discussing their target market. Bear with me as I make the connection. iPads and Android tablets are simply pdas/smartphones with really big screens. The devices and the OS they use spring from the “data bucket” concept. Their “orientation” is based on media consumption, not media production. Windows devices will always spring from a production mindset. Ingrained in the DNA of Microsoft is the utility of the computer. Creation of content has always been the focus of desktop and laptop computers running Windows, Linux, or OS X. Windows RT is a cloud focused, touch based representative of this ethos.

The Chromebook springs from the utility of the browser and web apps. Its premise is that all of life can exist in the cloud and production takes place in the browser. This is more akin to Windows RT than Android. I think I may have answered my own question I posed above. This may be why Chromebooks remain divergent from Android tablets. All the same I am irritated with Google for making my life complicated.

So with the connection made and the marketplace accepting the Chromebook, does that mean Windows RT has legs? I think it very well might but it remains to be seen whether Microsoft is really willing to bet its future on it. I believe if they do, they might have a chance to remain relevant. If they focus entirely on Windows 8 proper and its future brethren then I think they will devolve into obsolescence. Windows RT, in my estimation, is the only competitor that Chromebooks have. Only time will tell if Microsoft will place that bet.

Is the future of computing disposable and temporary devices?

Those of us that have been in the industry for a couple of decades understand the cyclical nature of technology. As I have written before, this is often in response to the same physical constraints being hit time after time. For the computer to be disposable, all data must reside in the cloud and they must be very inexpensive. Currently we are on swings for both of those things to be true. We have not hit the bottom of the barrel in cost of devices, because we have not yet approached the raw materials + production costs. We are also on a swing for all data to be stored in the cloud.

When you look back at the past you can see the progression. Computing started in the mainframe, moved to pc’s, swung back to client/server, moved to web devices, and now is moving to the cloud. The next step will be driven by yet unknown pressures solved by unknown technologies. For at least a time we will see the value of computing become more intrinsic to our lives but cost us less money, heartache and worry. A nice time to be using computers.

This article was written, researched and published on a Samsung Chromebook. I could have done this on a Surface RT just as easily. This Chromebook is a great tool that I do not have to worry about compared to my top of the line Zenbook. For a day’s work it functions just as well. THAT is amazing.

And standing for it…

My article titled “Who really invented the Smartphone“, posted a year ago continues to draw a lot of traffic. I thought it might be appropriate to tackle the newest member of geekdom to garner public fascination, the tablet. It really surprises me when I see very educated people blindly associating invention with whatever is currently popular. Sometimes true invention does occur but more often than not an old idea is finally plausible to execute on a large scale.

While mentions of electronic tablet use for specific purposes goes back to the 1800′s (Yes you read that correctly), I associate the development of the modern tablet to the visionaries that were mid-century science fiction writers. You can look specifically at Isaac Asimov’s novel “Foundation” for what appears to be the first reference of a tablet computer (Calculator Pad) that operates like the current tablets we know today. I wonder if this was the inspiration Jeff Hawkins (Inventor of the Palm Pilot) used in developing the GRIDPad, the first modern tablet in 1989. Yes folks, tablets were invented BEFORE smartphones.

The Palm Pilot really changed the way I interacted with my information. I have spoken previously about how having a data bucket in my pocket changed the way I worked forever. I just do not see the Palm Devices as tablets in the modern sense. Today, they would fall into that Phablet catagory that currently includes a number of products like the Samsung Galaxy Note series. In order to be considered a tablet it must be at least a threat to my laptop. It needs to provide full power user capabilities.

My first tablets were a pair of Toshiba Dynapads that I purchased in 1994. It was a Windows based machine with the following specs:

25MHz 386 Processor
40 MB Hard Drive
4 MB RAM
Windows 3.1
Microsoft Pen Services for Windows
3.3 lbs
2 Hour Battery Life
9.5″ Grayscale Touchscreen

My dream with these devices was to use them as the interface to automate aspects of my home. Specifically lighting and audio-visual. They turned out to be decent machines for showing off modern technologies but not really for use. There was no networking built into the device so you had to fight a PCMCIA network adapter to even connect them. At the time I was running pre-standard 802.11b wireless and it was unreliable at best on the Toshiba. I think the hardware was sufficient to be usable but Microsoft was not at a point where Windows was workable on a device like this. This occupied a place on a shelf for many years before I sold them, one of my first ebay sales.

It was not until 2000 that I tried another tablet computer. This time around it was the Electrovaya Scribbler SC-800. At that time my company was evaluating one to one laptop initiatives for a number of private schools. One of the biggest hurdles was not wireless coverage but battery life. We were looking for a battery technology that would allow a student laptop to run the entire school day without a recharge or swapping batteries. The Li-Polymer battery manufacturer was Electrovaya and they had developed the Scribbler for Microsoft as a proof of concept device. Bill Gates showed it off when Microsoft introduced Windows XP Tablet PC in 2001 at Comdex. The SC-800 had the following specs:

866 MHz Transmeta Crusoe
20 GB Hard Drive
512 MB RAM
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
4.2 lbs
8 Hours Battery Life
10.4″ XGA Display
Wacom Pen

When coupled with the keyboard dock this unit was surprisingly effective. After a month of use I actually let my laptop go and started using the scribbler as my main machine. The cpu was not a rocket but it was good enough for most uses. The battery life was really outstanding and I could easily get through a day on a full charge. I also liked the little additions of a fingerprint reader and a high quality pen from Wacom. The handwriting was more natural than tablets today offer and I am really surprised we are not further along. This unit was very pricey but it worked really well and I used it heavily.

While the Scribbler was heavy and full sized the Fujitsu P1000/P2000 were the opposite. They were small, light and portable. Some would argue accurately that it was not a tablet but it certainly served the purpose of one with its touchscreen, stylus and diminutive size. Its specs were:

P1000/P2000
800/866 MHz Transmeta Crusoe
30/40 GB Hard Drive
256/512 MB RAM
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
2.2/3.3 lbs
3/4 Hours Battery Life
8.9″ WVGA/10.6″ WXGA Display
Stylus/Aftermarket touchscreen

This series was more of a tablet with a keyboard than a laptop with a touchscreen. The lack of decent memory and heat kept this unit from being a winner. Battery life for the size was good and it performed better than the Toshiba Libretto, its main competitor. An impressive technical exercise but not quite usable as a daily computing device. The heat, cramped keyboard, and limited screen resolution were insurmountable.

When IBM brought out the X41 Tablet PC in 2005 we finally had a daily driver for a tablet. I was fortunate to get my hands on an early production unit while purchasing for a private school in Texas. This unit had a swiveling screen that allowed it to be used like a tablet or a laptop. It was rugged, reliable and despite its middling specs, fast. The units specs were:

1.2 Ghz Pentium M ultra-low-voltage
60 GB Hard Drive
1.5 GB RAM
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005
3.5 lbs
4 Hours Battery Life
12.1″ XGA Display
Digital Pen

Other than being a convertible tablet this unit was a typical Thinkpad. It simply worked and it worked well as a primary laptop. If the hardware had been compatible with Windows 7 I think we might still own it today.

In addition to these listed I have also, for many years, installed touchscreen and tablet computers in many production environments. Some of these include schools, museums, hotels, convention centers, and corporate installations. Most of these devices would have worked just as well as many of the tablets discussed previously. Unfortunately manufacturers never chose to market them to consumers. Very advanced tablet designs were left to industrial and commercial applications. If they had been marketed correctly, see Apple, the tablet boom could have happened 10 years sooner. If you think about it, today’s tablets are simply netbooks without the keyboard.

I need to move on to this next section because now enter the modern tablets. I have owned and/or used quite a list of tablet devices the last couple of years. These include:

Motorola Xoom
ASUS Transformer
Kindle Fire
iPad 3 (Retina Display)
Nexus 7

I have previously written a comparative review for some of these devices. That can be read here. For the purpose of this article I want to point out that all of these devices except the Kindle are fairly equal. Ironically the iPad barely keeps up because of some application limitations. Doing real work is simply harder on the iPad, this is why we ultimately sold it.

I have achieved a nice place with my collection of active devices. In the order of time (%) used on productivity computing (email, docs, chats, reading, research, media consumption), I would place them:

Asus Zenbook Laptop 40%
Galaxy Nexus Smartphone
25%
Nexus 7 Tablet 25%
Asus Transformer Tablet 10%

So as you can see, I am using a laptop for less than half of my work. At this point I rarely take my laptop to meetings or on trips. I will go days without using it at home. I am able to be 90% effective without a Windows machine. That is a really surprising result to me. Ultimately outside of my work requiring a working knowledge of all things Windows, I would not need a laptop. I am usually a little outside the norm but as I grow older I cannot imagine that continuing to be the case. I wonder just how worried folks at Microsoft are. The future does not look very bright for them.

The modern tablet is not that much different than the past generations of tablets. Sure they are more tightly designed and manufactured, but if you ever get a chance to hold an early Toshiba or Fujitsu tablet you will be stunned at the build quality. The reason for the lack of understanding is that today’s reality is driven by marketing machines and those machines do not care about the past. Hopefully as history is written the designers who truly invented the tablet will not be ignored and forgotten.