tuesdayDeveloper;

A new way to receive information is on the horizon, and it’s pretty cool!

When you type a query into Qwiki don’t expect a list of results to choose from. In fact, once you’ve pressed the search button all you have to do is sit back and watch and listen. Qwiki is a new way to receive information; rather than being bombarded by pages and pages of results a computer gets relavent information and then reads it to you as you watch a slide show. Learn about cheetahs, The Beach Boys, or the iPad. These (and more) are created completely automatically.

Qwiki defining "Coral Reef".

Now, Qwiki is still in alpha release and it is still rocky, but I would say that it is an excellent start. What does it mean? Well, I’m no fortune teller, but I’m guessing that we’ll be asking our computers:

• What is antrax?
• Where is Timbuktu?
• Who was Martin Luther King Jr.?

And the computer will tell us with words and pictures.

So you may be wondering, like I did, whether Google is interested in this technology. Is Google going to buy Qwiki? Will Qwiki replace Google? Well, I’m sure that Google is interested (it does fit in with their “organize the information of the world” moto, but I don’t think that they’ll be aquiring Qwiki, since it is funded by Eduardo Saverin, a Facebook cofounder. But that doesn’t mean that Google won’t build their own Gwiki. As for replacing Google, I don’t think so, though at first I though so. The reason why is because the questions above are simple, they have well defined answers. They can’t tell you:

• What is the difference between a dolphin and a porpoise? (though they can tell you what a dolphin is and a porpoise is)
• I have gnats all over in my house and I have no idea where they’re coming from, what should I do? (ammonia on the window sill)
• Where is the best place for me to apply to graduate school? (err… I’ll get back to you on that one)

These question are more complex (they also happen to be questions I’ve asked recently) there’s no real formula to define the difference between two things, or a posible solution to a problem or corse of action. Really, Qwiki seems to be targeting wikipedia more than Google; wikipedia defines information, Google helps you find it. If I were to guess though, I’d guess that Google will release something like this in a few years, it seems to be right up Google’s alley. I’m sure we’ll see other copycats as well.

What are you’re predictions for Qwiki? Is this a service you would use? What would you like to ask?

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As soon as I saw the preview for Android 3.0, optimized for tablets, I was in awe just like everyone else.

The preview is amazing, right? I agree, but previews can be misleading. There are a couple unanswered questions: How is the battery life? How big of a tablet are we looking at? I may have mentioned that I don’t want another 7 inch tablet, I’d say that’s pretty important to me.

The answers to these questions will determine how they do against Apple’s iPad. I’ll explore a few key features that will be important if Google (or anyone else really) want to take on Apple.

Multi-touch
I know that Android has multi-touch, but it’s still not on par with iOS devices. It looks like transitions are smoother and more responsive, but then again I didn’t see any fingers either. If multi-touch isn’t improved based on what Android devices has now,people will continue to eye other options.

Battery
One of the best things about the iPad is that it will last a long time. Specs say that it will roam the internet for 9 hours without a charge. One of the ways they accomplish such great battery life is by dumbing down multi-tasking—but people love it. I for one would be willing to give a little battery time for more processing, but I wouldn’t bet that everyone is. If the battery doesn’t last long (I’d say at least 5 hours) … well, just don’t count your chickens… or baby bots.

Apps
Yes, Google, I know that you’ve got every possible version of every possible app on the internet from word processing to photo editing, but people are still a bit wary of that concept. To many, an internet app is a slow app, not everyone has lightning fast internet. The people I’ve talked to about their iPads say they can do more than 90% of their work on their tablets. They also all have Pages and Numbers installed. So, Google, you might want to think of a mobile version of Google Docs that syncs to a users account.

Screen Size
There’s not much you can do on a phone in way of real work. You can check your email, you can play a few games, but when you want to do real work you pull out a bigger screen. It does look like there will be a lot of variety (I’ve seen anything from 7-10 in screens) so there should be something to make everyone happy.

The advantage Google has over Apple is that Google has other’s developing the hardware for them (which leads to lots of diversity), the disadvantage Google has that Apple doesn’t have is that Google has other’s developing hardware for them. They don’t have as much say as Apple does. Googe doesn’t have one hundred percent control of multi-touch, battery life, apps, or screen size—so lets hope that the hardware vendors are listening too. I will say that if Google can live up to their preview of Honeycomb, they’ve got an awesome start when it comes to tablets.

Did I leave anything out? Let me know in the comments.

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There’s no shortage of speculation about the iPad 2. Wishlists and predictions abound—but I’m going to add my own as well. In addition to telling you what I’d like and what I think is likely, I’ll give you my take on what other people think is likely.

Release Date
Februaryish
Apple has had the iPad 1 out long enough to justify an upgrade, but they aren’t going to release it right after Christmas, they’ll wait a couple months.

New Specs
Probably higher resolution:
I’m not sure if the resolution of iPad 2 will match the iPhone 4, that would be ideal, but that would also be quite a feat (though Apple is prone to exceed expectations).

Front and rear-facing cameras
I’m not the only one who is sure that iPad 2 will have a couple cameras, it’s practically a given.

Thinner
While I couldn’t care less if  version 2 is thinner than version 1 (I think it’s already pretty good) I’m pretty sure it will be at least a third slimmer than its predecessor.

Processing Speed
There’s some speculation that iPad 2 will have better processing power; if so, I doubt it will be significant. One of the key characteristics of the iPad is that its battery lasts a long time. Faster processing power will retard the battery life and so I don’t think that significant increase in processor or ram specs is likely. While adding processing power will increase the functionality of the device, that defeats the purpose of the iPad. The iPad is for basic operations: surfing the web, checking your email, reading and editing a short document. The iPad isn’t for major things (they’re not trucks) image editing, lots of writing, and programming weren’t the intended purpose of the tablet device although I think that could be a use of future tablets, just not the iPad, at least not any time soon.

Screen Size
I don’t think that Jobs will allow a smaller iPad to be made, even though there may be some market for it. I hope I’m wrong when I think that Apple isn’t going to increase the size of their iPad screen, though it would be really nice.

Battery Life
I wouldn’t put it past Apple to improve the life of the battery even if it is thinner, they just do stuff like that.

Online Storage Backup
Also not likely, though someone should do it.

Apple iDonate to Mahon Program
Also not likely.

What do you think will make it to the next iPad? What do you hope is in the next iPad?

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If you had to choose to only use products and services from of the major technology giants, who would it be? Google? Apple? Microsoft?

Please answer the questions found at this form. Post any other comments you have below.

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So you may have read 20 Things I learned About Browsers and the Web and noticed the push from Google to bring users using outdated browsers and other old technology into the 21st century. This online “book” which describes the Internet, web application, browsers and the like in a very simple and easy to understand maner is using some of the advanced technologies it explains. There are noticeable javascript and HTML5 animations that make us feel that we are really reading a book. I absolutely agree that users should upgrade to the latest versions of their browsers and that IE6 should die, but I do have a question: Is anyone who is using an outdated browser (and therefor not technologically up-to-date) going to even read the book?

First of all, there’s the obvious: the people this marketing campaign is targeting don’t care. If they did, they would be using an up-to-date browser already.

Second, if they do care and they were just ignorant of the facts, are they going to read it? It’s pretty long. They don’t really get to the important stuff (their message) until your almost a quarter the way through the book or so.

If they do read it there’s the third question (since I’m using the latest version of my favorite browser I don’t know) how does this even look on an outdated browser? I’m assuming that Google took the precautions to make it viewable, but will the pages flip in IE6 like the do in Chrome? I’m guessing not, but maybe that is Google’s point in this stunt. Perhaps when a user tries out a new browser and sees the difference they compair the two experiences and decide never to go back.

Please don’t misunderstand. I want all web users to follow the counsel found in The 20 Things Book, I just don’t know if anyone will read it. As a developer I do want to try to educate the users of my products to ensure they are following basic safe practices, perhaps Google is hoping that developers will advice their web users to read the book. I guess we’ll see.

So what do you think? Is there something I overlooked? It this move brilliant, or is it done in an attempt to persuade people to make smartter choices and done hoping it will get read?

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