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Once again I am adding my 2 cents to the overwhelming coverage of the iPad. Here goes..

YAY! Warning! I am about to come off like a total fanboi.

This device is very exciting. Yes there are things that I would change. I would add a camera. I would add multi-threading. I would make it more open. I would free it up to other carriers. But other than those few complaints I am very impressed.

As I said in my last post, Steve Jobs has a special knack for being one step ahead of the rest of us and releasing paradigm shifting technologies. As he said in his speech apple has recognized the need for a new form factor between an iphone and a laptop. Google has been saying the same exact thing. And I totally confer.

Considering my passion for the web I really can accomplish 75% of my tasks with only the web. Even more so when I am casually surfing the web or watching video. This device will perfectly accomplish that for me.

This is truly a new device. If you read some of the writings of Jeff Raskin (the creator or the Mac) he talks about making a piece of consumer electronics that simply gets out of the way and acts as an appliance and not a computer. And I think that this moment is the fulfillment of that idea. Apple has now moved the web and apps from “computers” to people friendly tablets.

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As if the fever pitch about the supposed Jesus tablet hasn’t reached a climax now I will add my two cents. Since so much has been said about this everywhere else I will keep it brief.

Please keep in mind that I don’t know anything specific about this other than the rumors I have read all over the web. This is entirely conjecture. Still interested? Read on…

On Wed. Apple is having an announcement in San Francisco. It appears that this is the actual launch of the mythic slate/tablet device that everyone has been going crazy about for a year.

Do I think this is about to happen? Yes I do. And here is why.

It’s no surprise that technology keeps moving and speeding up. We all know that. But it’s too easy to forget that paradigm shifts do happen. And once they happen it’s hard to think back to a time before them.

Remeber a world without iPhones/Androids? Remember a time without youtube? Remember a time without the web? etc.. etc.. The list goes on and on and on.

And one amazing thing about that list is that (at least in his adult lifetime) Steve Jobs has managed to be involved in each of those paradigm shifts in some way. Sometime is was directly like the creation of the Macintosh or the iPhone. And sometimes it was indirectly like the web being created on a Next computer at CERN by Tim Berners-Lee.

Another amazing thing about the list is how microsoft (at least in it’s lifetime) managed to copy and steal each emerging market. We see it with Dos (they didn’t create it–they bought it for $50,000).  We saw it with windows (they stole the idea from apple who had stolen it from Xerox). We saw it with Internet Explorer (they didn’t create it, they bought the source code).

And what have we seen this year? 15 tablets launched with microsoft software! This year at CES Balmer stood on stage and showed off a sleek new tablet running Windows 7. Ooohhh Aaaahhhh!

So clearly this is the year that tablet computers come to the fore. But as always microsoft is just taking an idea that other people have had and putting their software on it. There is nothing paradigm shifting about the new microsoft tablets. There have been microsoft tablets for years. No big deal.

But Apple and Steve Jobs are different. Each time they have released a new product catagory it has been a game changer. They always manage to see something in the product that noone else saw. And that puts them not 1, not 2, but 3 steps ahead of the game.

And that is what is coming wed. Apple is not only going to introduce a tablet. That would be cool and everything. But it’s not a big enough deal. It’s not different enough. And remember, Jobs Thinks Differently.

I think that apple is going to take Microsofts “three screens and the cloud” theme and shove it down their throat. Imagine a system that allows you to seamlessly send your apps and personal data between your big screen (mac or apple tv), your mid size screen (the new slate/tablet), and your small screen (the iPhone). 3 Screens and the cloud!

Also imagine a whole new GUI. Possibly even as drastic as ditching the whole “windows” and “desktop” model and going with something so far out that is like minority report or UFO stuff.

Yes, I do think that apple is going to change the game this wed. I think that this device will be so epic that we will measure our computing by before and after the apple tablet.

Now let’s hope they actually release the darn thing…

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Very exciting news today for the open source community. The mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, announced that San Francisco officially has an open source software policy. That means that when government officials go to buy the next round of software that they have to consider open source equally with closed source.

Gavin Newsom had glowing things to say about open source including “The opportunities with open source are tremendous: lower costs, greater agility, better reliability, improved security, and increased innovation.”

This is a really big deal IMHO for a couple of reasons. 1. San Francisco has traditionally been ahead of the curve when it comes to social norms. If we are now at the place where our local governments can go to open source software then that is a good sign for the rest of the country and world. 2. Open source software is important in general because as time goes on and everything in our society is basically reduced to information and bits it will become more and more important to have everything be open (within reason of course).

It will be interesting to see what software the city government of San Fran actually picks. I will also be interesting to see what other cities follow suit.

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Ok, Darwin time. It’s time to admit the truth and face the facts. Internet Explorer needs to die. Die Die Die. And no I don’t just mean version 6. I mean every version. Even the unreleased version 9. Microsoft needs to give it up. If they absolutely must make a browser they should just use the open source webkit rendering engine that Apple and Google use. Its the fastest engine around and it is completely open source.

Hot off of the heals of the German govt. the French govt. has issued a release telling people to not use IE. The French and German governments are rightly concerned that businesses are using technological stone age browsers to view and send sensitive materials.

There are really a few of reasons that Internet Explorer must be laid to rest for the good of the people.

1. IE really sucks when it comes to creating websites. Ask any website designer and they will tell you. When you are creating a website you need to actually design several sites. First you design a site how you would like it to look in Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and Opera. And then you develop a website for each version of IE—6, 7, & 8. This is no joke. Designers spend seemingly endless hours tweaking their designs to get them to look good in IE. It is a waste of time and energy and is detrimental to a good work flow.

2. IE really really sucks when it comes to web standards. And standards matter more than any other thing on this great web of ours. Tim Berners Lee often says how if you put a bunch of ants together you won’t get an ant hive if they don’t all operate according to standards. Standards allow amazing things to emerge out of chaotic networks. And internet explorer has horrible standards support. Which means that it is holding back potentially amazing emergence’s. You can really see this with my work in HTML5. Internet Explorer doesn’t really support HTML5. So all of the great new bells and whistles won’t be able to be used by anyone using this dinosaur software. And we can expect many more amazing things to emerge from the web. Each one of these things will be held back in some way by internet explorer.

3 Internet explorer really really really sucks at security. And this might be the most important point of all. Because even though IE sucks at standards support that is really only something that someone who creates websites cares about. After all, the end user doesn’t realize what went into making a site look good across browsers and so therefore has no sense of the difficulty IE brings to developers. But the average user does realize if their system gets hacked. These recent attacks on Google and 20 other major tech companies show that the greatest computers in the cloud are vulnerable to this kind of attack. Do you really think that your personal PC is safe? It isn’t! Stop using Internet Explorer!

I realize that there are still companies that are dependant on IE and that is just ridiculous. I think it speaks volumes about Microsoft that they don’t bend heaven and earth to create some kind of software that allows these legacy systems to somehow upgrade to a standards compliant IE9.

Can you image google for 1 day allowing something to happen like this with Chrome? It would never happen. I’m not saying Chrome will never be hacked, I’m sure it will. What I am saying is that if Google had a major hack on an old version of it’s browser it would use some tech magic to help people move away from that browser. It is in their business interest to do so.

Microsoft just doesn’t seem to get that. And that is kinda worrisome. It is worrisome because Microsoft is one of the biggest software companies in the world. They are so entrenched that I would think they are set in stone for a generation. But that may not be the case. the web is like a rushing river. And even the mighty microsoft can get washed away if it doesn’t go with the flow.

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Lately it seems like I spend most of my time reading technical specifications. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining. I personally enjoy digging in to a good spec. Although a bit jurisprudent at times, a complete spec is the final word when it comes to a technical questions. Either something is to spec or it isn’t.

The most contentious spec around right now is definitely HTML5. It seems to be taking on a nearly mythical and religious status in the web developer community. Either you hate it or you love it. But either way you feel really strongly about it. Me? I happen to love it. It is the right spec for the right web at the right time.

But HTML5 was only relatively recently brought in to the W3C for official specification. Before that it began it’s life as a project of the WHATWG—which stands for Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group. This group was formed in 2004 after the W3C voted to continue work on XHTML2.

Initially it was formed by a small group of 9 “members” from 4 of the 5 main browser vendors. These people believed that incremental improvement to HTML was better than the W3C’s vision of a complete overhaul with XHTML2. And although the WHATWG wasn’t an official part of the W3C they were the browser vendors. So they could go ahead and implement features that they were creating.

Eventually these new HTML5 features became so popular that the W3C had no choice but to bring HTML5 into the fold with a reconstituted HTML Working Group. (I realize that this is a generalization and simplification and I welcome all corrections in the comments )

Over time the WHATWG grew to include many more “contributors” than the 9 initial members. Disclaimer – I am a contributor to the WHATWG as well as a member of the W3C HTML Working Group. So I see it from both angles. And here is my take.

HTML5 is in a very interesting place right now because it is effectively being developed in 2 locations— the WHATWG & the W3C. Of course some would argue that in the end the W3C is all that matters. After all it is the standards body that sets the official recommendations. Governments, big businesses, and education world wide won’t really be able to back a spec until is gets the official nod from the W3C. So in that sense no matter what the WHATWG creates it will ultimately be up to the W3C to give it the final OK.

Also, as people much smarter than me and who have been doing this much much longer than my have argued elsewhere the job isn’t complete with HTML5 until it is completely accessible and W3C Standard. And that isn’t the case right now sadly. Also, the WHATWG doesn’t have a patent policy like the W3C. And that is worrying.

On the flip side of the coin. The web is speeding up. That isn’t hyperbole. I really mean that. The speed of innovation as well as the speed of our actual computers are speeding up. And this isn’t the 90′s anymore with microsoft holding 90%+ market share of browsers.

Now open source browsers are becoming the norm. Now mobile phones are becoming the web. Now applications and not static documents are becoming the web. It is no longer a time to drag on the process of creating new web technologies. So in that sense I appreciate a group like the WHATWG that pushes innovation forward. We are very fortunate that we have the W3C to temper the WHATWG.

As a final note let me say that I have only been observing this scene a relatively short time and in no way mean to offend anyone from any of the groups mentioned above. As I said before, please correct me if you see an error or have something you would like to add.

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From The Next Web

“Internet Explorer just cannot catch a break these days. The German Federal Office for Security in Information Technology has officially advised people to stop using Internet Explorer, all versions, until Microsoft releases a new patch for the latest gaping security hole.”

Read the full article here.

Really Microsoft?! If only you were the largest software company in the world with billions of dollars at your disposal and some of the smartest minds on earth!

It really is like Microsoft is trying to destroy their business! The world is obviously going mobile and yet microsoft is bringing old Windows Mobile (with it’s decade old UI) and Internet Explorer—a browser so bad that the government is actually telling people not to use it!

If you are visiting this site with Internet Explorer not only I, but now the German government highly recommend that you help make the web a safer place and choose a modern and open browser. They are totally free of cost and take about 5 minutes to install.

Not only will you be making the web safer you will be upgrading your browser, which will drastically enhance your web experience (HTML5/CSS3).

I recommend Firefox. But there is also Chrome, Safari, & Opera.

Oh yeah, and Microsoft/Internet Explorer. You continue to suck…

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It’s almost painful to listen to people go back and forth about iPhone apps vs Android apps. Sure they are both pretty amazing, but THEY ONLY WORK ON THAT ONE DEVICE. That to me is a deal killer. No matter how great the app is I want to be able to access it from any device anywhere.

Do I have that completely now? No, I don’t. Sadly today I am tied down to a few native applications on my computer. Where would I be without my Illustrator & Photoshop and Smultron—the precious? But make no mistake about it. There are very few programs that I am tied to. Even the few that I just mentioned are being ported to the cloud. Check out photoshop.com – and check out Mozilla Bespin

What are the benefits of a web app? For one you can access it from any device that supports the modern web. Just think of your email account and you start to get the idea. You can access your email account from any computer because it isn’t stored on your computer. It is stored “in the cloud” on a server somewhere out there on the network.

The same goes for web apps. Instead of relying on your iphone or android to have access to that killer app. You will be able to use the app on any modern web supporting device. This allows for a far broader reach when deploying your apps and ideas. This also allows for many different use cases as each device access the app may have totally different functionality.

That seems pretty complicated you may be saying. And you are right. Good thing we have some of the brightest minds on the planet hard at work on it night and day. The W3C has several working groups that are working towards standardizing the API’s that allow this magic to take place.

If you are interested I recommend you check out: http://www.w3.org/TR/widgets/ http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/Overview.html http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/complete.html http://www.w3.org/2009/dap/

So what does this all mean. Let’s flash forward a few years. In a few years tablet devices will the norm. These devices won’t have large hard drives and will be connected to the web 90% of the time. This will provide the perfect environment for web apps. Instead of forcing the user to download and install a bulky native app they can simply visit your website and your website will have the full functionality of a native app.

Developers will be able to launch full blown apps without having to ask apple for permission to sale it in their marketplace. Also developers won’t have to fork over 30% to google and apple for each sale. You will be able to launch your app on your site, put up a paypal paywall, and reap the benifits.

Finally, the W3C web applications languages that are being created (IMHO) are easier to learn than native languages. At least in my experience it is much easier to build a basic HTML5 page and give it video/audio, some flashy canvas, geolocation, and offline cache than it is to create the same app in objective c or java. This is going to open the doors to a whole generation of developers who can turn simple HTML markup into an amazing app that can effect people worldwide.

Apple was so far ahead of the game with the iPhone that they have set the stage with native apps. It is what people have come to know and love. But even Steve Jobs himself said on the day of the iPhone release “Our innovative approach, using Web 2.0-based standards, lets developers create amazing new applications while keeping the iPhone secure and reliable.” hinting at what many thought was a web of apps.

But in the long run apple nor google will be able to keep the entire app industry under it’s roof. That is why Google has taken the plunge and backs HTML5. They know this. I think apple knows this too, obviously they aren’t stupid and this year I think that they will start pushing web apps more and more.

So web apps vs native apps. I think you know my opinion.

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This isn’t going to be a review of the nexus one. I haven’t seen one in person and I might purchase one, truthfully I am still undecided. Nope, this post won’t be a product review. This is more of an exploration of my thoughts regarding Google getting into the hardware and mobile business.

What does it mean when the internet’s first software company decides to get into hardware? This isn’t a decision to be taken lightly and I doubt that the brainiacs in mountainview did. Consumer electronics is a tough market. The margins are razor thin and your product is practically out of date on launch day. It’s not like software and bits where you can edit a text file, load it onto the web, and bam! you have a million users with feedback to iterate on. Nope, with hardware you gotta deal with atoms. You gotta manufacture, and ship, and store, and market, and sale, and troubleshoot when things break. Hardware is seriously a whole other ballgame than what Google is used to. So why did they do it?

To answer that you really need to understand what is going on with computing. And when I say you need to understand it I don’t mean like “yeah. computers are getting faster…right?”, I mean like “computers are doubling in strength at a speed of about once every 12 months. This doubling isn’t stopping—in fact it is speeding up!”

Google has internalized this. They know better than anyone the metrics of internet usage worldwide. They know that within the next 5 years 3 out of every 4 people who gain access to the web will do so on a mobile device. They know that in the last 2 days the human race produced more information than it did in every previous generation combined from the dawn of homo-sapien through 2003. And they know that the iPhone signifies that “cell phones” are actually high end computers that you carry with you everywhere and all the time. They also know that soon (5 years) wireless will be ubiquitous.

Google points to a “perfect storm” of 1. The cost of netbooks dropping drastically resulting in mass adoption of inexpensive computers 2. More and more people spending 90%+ time in the web browser 3. A sweet spot is forming between phones/tablets and laptops/netbooks. That sweet spot is epitomized by the still unannounced and mythical Apple Tablet.

As that form factor ripens there are going to be 2 major choices. Apple already has the “high end” $1000+ market cornered. Google is positioning Chrome OS and Android to be the other choice. For the 95% of people who don’t buy high end devices. They will be able to get a nice phone, tablet, or netbook running Google software. To grasp the magnitude of this just think Microsoft Windows. And now multiply that times the world wide web! Yeah, now you are starting to get it…

So if Google is so nicely positioned to pick up all this market share from Windows why would they get into the hardware business? The reason that I see is that Android, in all it’s open source glory, is just that—open source. Which means that hardware manufacturers are free to do with it whatever they wish—including forking the code into some android bastard child.

Google can’t allow this to happen and has been forced to step up to the plate and set a gold standard of what an android phone could and should be. Of course hardware manufacturers can still do whatever they want with Android, but their phone will have to compare with the official Google phone, so unless they do something extremely creative they won’t be able to stray too far from whatever model Google lays down.

Google has been talking about cloud computing and mobile for a couple of years now. But with their entry into the consumer electronics market in the form of a phone it looks like that time has finally arrived.

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Registration for the 2010 Google Developer Conference (Google I/O) became available today. The cost is only $100 for students to attend both days! That is just too good of a deal to resist. And seeing as how I only live 45 minutes from San Fransisco….. See ya there!

From the site—”Join us for two days of deep technical content featuring Android, Google Chrome, Google APIs, GWT, App Engine, open web technologies, and more. Google I/O features 80 sessions, more than 3,000 developers, and over 100 demonstrations from developers showcasing their technologies. Talk shop with engineers building the next generation of web, mobile, and enterprise applications.”

There are breakout sessions on HTML5, Chrome, Chrome OS, Wave, and many other things Google.

Last year Google introduced and gave invitations to Wave. They also gave an android phone to everyone in attendance. My intuition is that Google will play off of the 10 in 2010 with regards to the I/O in Google I/O.

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