Kickstarter Projects

Interesting Kickstarter projects I am backing....take a look and see if they are something you want to back as well.

Not closed and funded yet so you can still get in on them:

Already funded!

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Playing with the new HP TouchPad Tablet

Just testing now with the free 50GB of cloud storage with each tablet.  

It seems in the press now there is a focus on a lot of great and some not great reviews of the 'features'.  Like a competitve comparison.  

• TouchPad vs iPad/2
• BlackBerry PlayBook
• Galaxy
• other 'droids (both honeycomb and not)

Seams you can't swing a *** without hitting another great review.  To me, they have been pretty honest, some really cool aspects (nailed the IU), needs more apps and needs to be faster (etc).  All pretty accurate, but there is a tiny nugget in the HP TouchPad.  

No, it's not touchstone (but that's way cool and way underrated...coming from a guy who travels and carries 3 laptops, 1 iPad, 2 cell phones which require cables on every trip), not running Flash (which by the way sucks and has nothing to do with HP, Adobe just can't get it right, time to move on, I recommend turning it off, or at least make it ask).  It's not cut, copy and paste (which are all there, just gotta figure out how to use them), it's not the webOS butler - which was a hidden (but I am sure very costly) touch that makes it a good 'experience'.  By they way I have called and I will give you the details in a future review (let's just say it was like my favorite Chinese food, sweet and sour).  It's the real revolutionary part.  The game changer part.  The second part of the problem.  The first is hardware, HP did pretty good...for the time.  Unfortunately the time was back a bit.  Not a lot, but there is some cool stuff, but it's more third gen and current state of the art is fourth gen (with fifth in the wings).  It's the UI.  In this case it's webOS.  The word on the web was that it's based on Linux.  That would be an interesting topic to explore. But regardless, it's smooth and the concept is perfect, next generation.  It's how people work.  Think of the email story, get an email, click the link, open another page, that's the email app, the email, first webpage, second webpage.  All in a stack.  Native.  Just like you think...then you play a game...it's not in the email stack...doesn't belong...and if you want it there, it's as easy as touch and move it over.  Naturally.  Ok, cool as that is, that's not the reason for the article.  It's the paradigm shift that HP is bringing to the table.  My take on the idea of webOS is a connected cloud based OS.  That's way ahead of it's time, the TouchPad is just a way to view it.  But it could be anywhere on other IT gear.  Now the challenge is are we ready for that?  I hope so, we are progressing...remember life before an app store?  (Don't worry I am sure Windows will get one someday)

Yes I think we are.  And HP put in a gem to prove it to ourselves.  They gave a tiny gift that can change your life.  box.net  Yep...or even more generically....50GB of storage in the cloud on box.net (I will do a separate post on box...it's a whole new take on storage....a reboot...and we really needed it).  So when you test your TouchPad (and yes you should test it, this is different) HP is giving you 50GB of storage in the cloud.  Anything you want, your music, your picture, files, your resume, your budget, memos, your scanning of paper documents.  Your life, your digital life.  For the price of a portal, you get the universe.  No more "opps I deleted" or "I can't find it", it's all there, all digital all the time.  I do a lot of public speaking and it reminds me of something I use a lot.  IT should be like a toaster.  Simple plug it in, put bread in, push down.  Yes sometimes you have to reboot, but you don't worry it will eat your toast  :)

I think with my quick look the HP TouchPad can be so much more than a device that on day one has copy and paste.  My suggestion....take a look.  I am

By The Way  A recommendation to HP, "Analyze our app cat searches", we want you to know what we are interested in, keep feeding the developers, it's a costly time, but you have the reach and it's a great product you are peddling.

Please note, I do work for HP. I do NOT speak for HP or in anyway represent them (I am not even in the same division), I am just a geek and in my spare time really enjoy technology.

iOS 4.hell ??

Ok, is it just me, or has the iOS 4 train taken us down a bad path?  I have an iPhone 4, and within the 4.x updates it really seems like Apple has taken us back to DOS.  I have to reboot my iPhone 4 about once a day...just like a good old Windows box.  Now don't get me wrong, I may not be a typical user?  To me the iPhone is a computer.  I run apps.  Lots of them, probably 10-15 a day.  But it seems like I should be able to do that...right?  Anyone else having problems?

Take a Glympse

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Very interesting new web service. You use a client app on your iPhone to generate a link and send it via SMS, eMail, Twitter* and FaceBook.

That's right, an app that takes your GPS coordinates and puts them on the Internet. Ok, ok, that sounds much more creepy that it is. It's actually pretty useful.

Think about it.  The classic example is you are running late, no time to talk to explain, just pop open the Glympse App on your iPhone, press your "I am running late but on my way" button in your favorites and you are covered.

What happens is Glympse sends an email to the person you want to know where you are.  They open the email and click the provided link. (the above is an example of what you see).  Very cool. Now there are lots of other uses like finding out exactly where your teenagers are! :)

Or if you are an Internet junkie and want the world to know here is a neat trick:

• Set up a new twitter account (make up a random name:  98987793)
• Associate your Glympse app with that new twitter account.  Download the Sample file from Glympse
• Add Twitter to the To box
• Post it up

Now whenever you want to post where you are going, just post to that twitter account (as seen above).