The future of computing?

One of the questions I have been pondering lately is whether or not tablets really are the future of computing. With the release of Apple's iPad 2 we are, according to Steve Jobs, now living in a Post PC era.

While I don't agree with the idea that an iPad can replace a PC, I do think we are heading down a path where the line between PC and tablet is blurring. With the release of the Asus Eee Pad Transformer I think we have been given an example of how the future of computing could look.

I envision having a tablet with enough processing power for media consumption, day to day computing tasks and that can dock to a keyboard and larger screen when required. With the next generation Transformer we may have this. It is rumoured to be coming out in Q4 of 2011 with a next gen Tegra 3 Kal-El 1.5 GHz quad core processor. Not only will this be far more powerful than the Tegra 2, it is also supposedly more power efficient to boot. Imagine one of these devices with 10+ hrs standalone battery life and then another 15+ hrs when docked; all I can say is that I can't wait.

While some will argue that tablets will never have the same processing power as a PC, I argue whether you need all of that power. If I can have a hybrid device that allows me to consume media and browse the web on the go, but can then perform routine business tasks, I'm all in. Do I really need a Core i7 processor for my Excel spreadsheet calculations?

With the advent of cloud computing and HTML5 web applications I can see no real limitation for potential activities I could perform on this hybrid device. If I want to draw a process or network diagram do I need to use Visio? Well, no, I could just browse to diagram.ly where I get nearly all of the same functionality in a web browser.

What about more bandwidth and processor intensive applications? OnLive is a great example of the potential of cloud computing. In this case, OnLive allows you to play graphically intensive games that require low latency through the cloud. For the average business task you do not need to have even remotely near this much computing power and could easily use web applications to fulfil the average business's requirements.

Currently Microsoft have around 90% of the desktop computer market share but have almost no market share in the mobile space. With Windows 8 they are trying to buy into the rapidly growing mobile device market. Windows 8 is supposed to unify the tablet and PC user experience. If Microsoft manage to pull off a hybrid device that gets accepted in the corporate world, then I can see the future of the workplace changing. Whether they are successful or not, I think technology is going to continue in this same direction.

While hybrid devices will not fit all use cases and are unlikely to entirely replace the PC, I do think the future of computing involves devices like this. We may be several years away from fully realising this technology but I for one am looking forward to our hybrid tablet/PC overlords.

This post is based on my biased observations of technology development, so feel free to leave your opinion in the comments.

HTC Sensation UI Demo

For all those who missed my post on Geekzone about the Sense UI, here's a short video I made demonstrating it:

I have also since posted an article about the 3G speeds on Telecom's XT network here

On a completely different note, I had an engagement party in Hamilton recently and visited a couple of wedding venues so will probably write a (hopefully) brief post about that in the near future.

HTC Sensation Official Telecom/Geekzone Blog Up!

Hi everyone,

After much anticipation my first blog post is up on the TelecomTech Geekzone blog along with my fellow HTC Sensation reviewers.

If it pleases you then check it out here:

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/TelecomTech

HTC Sensation

I just received my HTC Sensation from Telecom NZ today. I will be a Telecom Ambassador for this device and blog posts will appear on geekzone.co.nz.

For now here are some photos:

Starting Again

So I pretty much abandoned this Blog a couple of years ago and have just now decided to start up again. I'm not sure if I have terribly important things to say but I feel like more people should hear my opinion, especially regarding technology.

I guess a status update on my life is a good start though:

I'm now 25 years old and no longer an Intern. Since working at Hamilton City Council I moved to Lower Hutt and spent a year working as a Business Analyst at Foodstuffs Wellington. I felt that the position was not going anywhere career wise so took up an Application Support Analyst position at ESR.

The goal was to work in a sort of hybrid role becoming involved in app support as well as analysis on small pieces of work. Despite some setbacks I now have a rough outline of the path to becoming a BA and will hopefully be going on a Business Systems Analysis course before the end of the year.

I recently asked my girlfriend of 6 years Laurelle to marry me and have attached a picture of the ring on her finger.

We are planning a long engagement of around 2 years. Hopefully this leaves us enough time to save for it and plan well enough to make it a perfect occasion.

Pretty much as soon as we got engaged there was a Wedding Expo going on in Wellington so I ended up going to that. It seems like Weddings are now highly commercialised and anything relating to weddings is given a large price increase.

I guess the other thing that's changed is that I'm now an Android fanboy so might start posting about that.

Here's a list of potential topics that I could cover:

• Board Games e.g. Catan, Stone Age, Carcassonne
• Android Apps/Games as I've noticed there are very few game reviews for Android
• Devices that I'm interested in
• Ways to stay anonymous after the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill comes into effect in NZ September 1st 2011 (VPNs, Seedboxes etc)
• General NZ consumer item reviews
• What it's like working in the IT industry
• Anything technology related that I'm interested in
• Wedding planning

Difficulties getting to Japan

My first overseas trip began with a somewhat rocky start.

Photos will be added at a later date after sorting through them all.

22 July:

Firstly my Qantas flight QF44 due to leave ate 6.30pm (+12 GMT) was delayed not once, not twice but three times. This meant that I was not due to arrive in Sydney until my connecting flight had already left. This was a very big worry for me as I was supposed to meet up with my sister in Sydney as well as make it to Tokyo in time for domestic flights the next day.

Unfortunately I was too broke to afford travel insurance and I wasn't the person who booked the tickets so I was unsure of what to do. I debated not even getting on the flight but after paying $10 twice for 2 hours of internet I managed to contact my brother and ask him what to do. Typically he told me to trust god. So I did.

I was stressing somewhat on the plane but ended up just trying to relax and rest. Once I arrived in Sydney I was handed an accomodation voucher and was told my sister was waiting for me. She didn't have to wait for me but since it was my first time flying she asked Qantas to rebook both of us for the next night and provide us a hotel room with breakfast, lunch (but not dinner) provided.

23 July:

Despite being set back a day it ended up working out well as we were both able to sleep and then spend a day exploring Sydney. They have some nice Apple stores where you can jump on Macbook Pros and check your emails while pretending to be interested in buying. My sister who is technologically challenged managed to use google maps on an Iphone to find the Sydney harbour for us. She now loves Iphones.

We also had a look around the asian markets but most of the items weren't any cheaper than NZ, I did manage to get a couple of souvenirs though.

My sister Lish of course had to visit Meyer which is a large department store which sells $2000 dresses and $500 bottles of perfume, and those are the cheap items. I didn't get suckered into selling my soul to smell nice for a few hours but my sister did pick up some swimsuits for her daughter (50% off, of course).

We made it to our flight from Sydney to Tokyo with plenty of time to spare and departed around 10pm (+10 GMT)

24 July:

After making it safely to Tokyo's Narita airport we went through customs and within minutes had bought Narita - Haneda Limousine (Bus) tickets and were directed through some nearby doors to wait outside. Unfortunately the road the bus drove on had sound proof barriers all along the sides so I was really unable to see anything of Tokyo during the trip. On the bright side however I was able to use free wifi while on board.

Haneda is where all the Japanese go for domestic flights so my sister and I were the only gaijin around. For an airport it was pretty cool as it has around 6 floors of shops and a lot of cool memorabilia and historical products. One amusing thing I saw was a JFK doll in a rocking chair that announced 'authentic rocking action', unfortunately I didn't get a photo. I did get some photos of Starbucks and myself sitting in a very tiny chair/stool type thing.

The process of getting my boarding pass was smooth and simple and waiting at Haneda wasn't overly boring due to there being a TV with random advertisements and Jpop playing.

The actual flight from Haneda to Kochi was uneventful apart from the crew onboard repeating all announcements again in English. I'm pretty sure the sole reason they did this was due to my sister and I being onboard. Go the Japanese courtesy!

Arriving in Kochi was also smooth although getting off the plane was like stepping into a sauna. The amount of humidity is unbelievable and coupled with the heat makes Japanese summers somewhat difficult to cope with.

Anyway that's a summary of my travel to Japan, I will follow up with some of what I actually did in Japan and then my return travel after I get back home to good old NZ

Leaving for Japan

I have a lot going on right now so I'm going to have to keep this brief.

Today's happenings were:

• My girlfriend's car exploded and covered the street in smoke, the fire dept. came and put it out and fortunately no one was hurt.
• her new G502 phone arrived today so I was playing around with it and setting it up so she can email me while I'm in japan.
• Finished up my work for the week so I'm ready for a trip to Japan tomorrow!
• Didn't do the packing as it was done for me by my darling :D

So my main preparation for Japan now is just making sure I have enough entertainment for the long flights. I have the last book in the Fire of Heaven series, a PSP with Dark Angel and Bleach episodes, & my MP3 player with some musics.

Leaving for Japan tomorrow evening 6.30PM NZ time.