Android as universal hand held device?

October 22, 2009

I've recently downloaded the Android SDK from Google, and I've been familiarizing myself with it. It looks like programming for it is going to be a lot of fun: Its my favorite language (Java) on my favorite OS (Linux). Of course there is a huge buzz over Android, to the extent where even wary Wall Street is feeling excited about it. The blog post I just linked to explains it in terms of an aggressive marketing campaign, but is that all? I personally think its more than just noise.

What has been striking me following the world of Gizmos and gadgets is the broad market desire for some kind of universal hand held computing device. Not a phone, but more. Much more. This desire is so strong and has been around so long that frankly I'm amazed that it took the Apple to recognize some of the potential with the iPhone, I'm surprised it wasn't done much earlier.

But Apple only recognized some of the potential. Its true that we want a phone that also plays mp3s, can surf the web etc. But we also want a platform to do more, to do things we haven't thought up yet. I went camping with a friend not to long ago, and the question came up as to why we can't just walk up to a thin client, with our handheld devices, and have all the setting of our home computer automatically loaded onto it for use: Our exact home computer away from home. Or why we can't walk into a bar and cue some mp3 file from our playlist into the jukebox. These apps don't exist yet, but the could, if the platform is sufficiently open to allow really creative development with it.

The other thing is that great strength and weakness of Apple has always been their dependency on their hardware. As a result, their hardware is top notch and always works great, but this approach puts them in the position of being a follower in many ways. Its been said that evolution requires mutation, many failed experiments must take place for a something brilliant to move forward. In the case of open hardware, vendors can make those experiments, and through that process things can really move forward.
A new dual screen netbook/ebook reader (Wired) that shows some of that innovation:


Will the ultimate portable device look more like a small netbook with detachable earpiece than a cell phone? Maybe. Only lots of experiments in hardware design will tell. If Android is positioned to be the platform for all these many design experiments, They are actually in a really good spot.

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Up and running on IIS.

October 22, 2009

So I'm running on IIS now, after years of hosting this site on LAMP. For the most part the transition was pretty painless, with some quirks. For instance, I now offer my resume in PDF rather than Open Office format, as IIS doesn't recognize the mime-type, and thus refuses to serve it. Its a quick workaround, but I actually like PDF.

It will probably be a week or too while I craft my new blog and get other applications uploaded. Stay tuned!

Transitioning Blog Software.

October 22, 2009

So if you're wondering where all my posts have gone, the answer is that I'm currently switching blog software for my big switch to Windows hosting from Linux. I have decided I don't like this one either, so I'm done; I'm just going to write my own in ASP. I will probably do this before I map all the old posts back in to the new solution.

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