Comments on: Your iPhone is simply a new interface

By: Sam Sabey

Sam Sabey — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 22:55:43 +0000

iPhone is just this and you’ve nailed it Ross. I took it to a meeting, and had internet, twitter, notes, could research the presenter in real time. All this in my front pocket.

I find my iPhone frees me from the PC. When my work day is done, I can relax on the sofa and tweet on the thing. When my day starts, I can check priority email before my boys get up.

I can be productive without having to carry 3 kilos of tech + it’s necessary appendages and built in typewriter. It’s good.

Sam.
@samotage

By: Steve Hopkins

Steve Hopkins — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 04:19:43 +0000

This reminds me of the presentation Kevin Kelly made about the first 5000 days of the internet at TED.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/kevin_kelly_on_the_next_5_000_days_of_the_web.html

In it, he discusses how we are progressing towards a place where you simply carry around ‘screens’ that access the network could(internet)to get your stuff done. He talks about how TV’s, phones, computers and other things will simply become windows into this cloud.

By: Rob James

Rob James — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 04:07:04 +0000

OK – stimulated by Ross’s blog and my comments about Connected Computing, here is my own blog post. Love to get your thoughts! :-)

http://robjam.es/2009/03/connected-computing-how-useful-is-your-device-without-a-network/

By: robjam.es » Blog Archive » Connected Computing - how useful is your device without a network?

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 04:04:42 +0000

[...] Hill had a recent blog where he discussed that he finds no real use for a netbook. He has a laptop and a iPhone. His [...]

By: Wolfcat

Wolfcat — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 03:31:28 +0000

I have an Asus R2h and a Hp Mini Note and my nokia n95-8gb… and I live on my phone… and I live on my net books as well.

One of the main reasons is weight.. I can take a netbook with me… and do all my basic file and image processing from my nikon d90 with a netbook that a phone can’t do. I like the size of the screen and the keyboard on the mininote makes it easy to use.

The R2H spends a lot of time in my car as a 7″ screen gps with full topo maps of australia… which are over a dvd worth for each state at xmas I travelled to 3 states.. a phone can’t store that much data.

If I go to a conf I like to be able to take notes and a netbook will let me do that by having it sit on my lap and still I can carry it around all day as well. Another use is when I go out taking photos.. I take a netbook (not much weight) and a 320gig USB hd as a back up device. That way I only need 2 $60 class6 Sd cards :-)

When I get home I access the big computer like the 2×24″ monitors that I have are great for detailed photo editing…

I think netbooks have a great place, as does my phone as does my big computer.. they all have a purpose and all get used :-)

By: Rob James

Rob James — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 02:45:37 +0000

Anthony, I was just chatting to Ross about exactly the same thing! I have an iPhone and a Macbook. About 8 weeks ago, I purchased a Dell Mini 9 netbook. It has been turned on all of 6 times and now I am looking at selling it. In fact the most use I got out of it was installing Mac OS X (ie/ hackintosh) about 3 weeks ago. I just don’t have a need for it. As Ross, pointed out, when I am out and about I use the iPhone and can achieve most things, the rest can wait when I have the macbook in front of me. This is why I highlight the network connectivity issue, lose that, and all three are almost useless (I still keep some files locally on the macbook, but I do use a lot of cloud storage these days).

Katherine, I just had a look at the article you referred to. I don’t think it is a new concept that I am talking about (connected computing), we are just getting more attached it;remote storage (DropBox), remote backup (mozy), remote email (gmail), remote documents (Google Apps) etc etc. What I am interested in how we got here, how it evolved here, and most importantly – where is it going? I feel I have a blog post on this coming soon :-) watch this space!!

By: Katherine

Katherine — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 23:52:16 +0000

@Rob James – There’s a similar concept in Wired’s March issue (http://www.wired.com/gadgets/wireless/magazine/17-03/mf_netbooks). The device is not the most important thing, it’s the network connection that’s the most valued commodity. Interesting concept.

By: Ross Hill

Ross Hill — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 23:15:30 +0000

Don’t do it Anthony! You don’t need one! Another shiny gadge will appear soon enough.. save yourself some cash and get the new iPod Shuffle :)

By: Anthony Guthridge

Anthony Guthridge — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 23:12:42 +0000

I have been trying to justify the purchase of a netbook for the last couple months… connectivity iphone, portability iphone, having a new gadge or charging my iphone is all I can come up with.

By: Rob James

Rob James — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:28:11 +0000

Great post Ross, you actually touched on something that I have been talking about for some time, the concept of connected computing. More and more, we are becoming less reliant on our devices, and more on the network. Which is exactly what makes this post so true for the iPhone. Once we lose that network, the device becomes less useful. In fact, that is true for any device. If you end up somewhere with your laptop that has no connectivity, it suddenly becomes a brick. This was so true last year, I was speaking at the Enterprise 2.0 show in Boston, and to prove my point, the afternoon had no wireless, and being inside meant a poor mobile signal. And for the first time, everyone in the auditorium had their laptops closed and were listening. Otherwise they would have been twittering, blogging, emailing etc. We have become reliant on our network more than the devices. Follow me on twitter @snaglepus