Showing posts with label idea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label idea. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
The New Apple Pencil Sketches New Shade on an Old Idea
The New Apple Pencil Sketches New Shade on an Old Idea
The Apple Pencil is upon us. While its not a new concept, it does deserve a more in-depth look at its features and abilities. Its essentially a stylus for the iPad, and its introduction is a bit shocking to followers of Apple products. Steve Jobs is well-known for stating his disinterest in creating a stylus of the iPad. He routinely pointed out that your finger was the best pointing device. With the new CEO of Apple Tim Cook taking the reigns, it seems some big changes are coming to Apple products. If you take a closer look, youll find there are actually several features that make this pencil a really good idea.
The question of why Apple would decide to design a stylus after all these years is an important one. It seems that the stylus will appeal mostly to graphic designers and business professionals who need to mark up their documents on the go. The stylus wont work with the iPhone, and its likely going to require you to purchase a new iPad to get the functionality. This device should help to spur new iPad purchases, and Apple can continue to raise the bar on future incarnations to make it even more feature-rich. It offers a more life-like experience than when using other stylus products. Ultimately, the new Apple Pencil works much more like a real pencil.
It Enhances Precision
Your finger is convenient, and it worked well with the iPad when it was in its infancy. However, as the technology has improved and app developers are creating new technology, its become necessary to introduce a more precise pointing mechanism. Of course, it wouldnt be an Apple product if it didnt do something other products cant do. The Apple Pencil detects position, force and tilt. The pencil should act as a catalyst for app developers to start making apps that take full advantage of the stylus. It can also use your iPad to keep itself charged when youre not using it.How Its Made
The Apple Pencil is made to work with your iPad software. A stylus that you can buy in the store uses passive technology. They are just replacements for your fingers. It much the same way as checkweighers work, the Apple Pencil can sense the amount of pressure you are using. The Apple Pencil and the display are two parts of the same device. The Apple Pencil works with the technology of the display to use both pressure and angle sensing. Its made to work only with the iPad, so you cant use this device with other systems. The device offers very little lag, it connects quickly and it automatically charges when youre not using it. For it to work properly, most of the touchscreen has to be able to sense hand pressure and differentiate it from the Apple Pencil.It Annotates Better
When Apple demoed the new Apple Pencil, they invited a representative from Microsoft on stage. The purpose was to demonstrate how the pen worked in Microsoft Office. The representative demonstrated how items can be circled in documents, and shapes can be drawn directly on PowerPoint slides. Once the objects are drawn, they can be easily converted into graphic objects for placement anywhere in the document. Overall, the stylus worked very well and seemed to make the process of editing documents much more productive.It Draws Better
One of the issues many users report with using a stylus, is that the image doesnt appear on the screen instantly. With the Apple Pencil, when you draw something it appears instantly. This is a crucial step forward that makes it an ideal object for artists who work in graphic design. The ability to detect pressure, force and tilt will enhance shading and dimension in graphics. It works well in Adobe Photoshop FX, and it should also find its way into several other applications that are useful for graphic design.The question of why Apple would decide to design a stylus after all these years is an important one. It seems that the stylus will appeal mostly to graphic designers and business professionals who need to mark up their documents on the go. The stylus wont work with the iPhone, and its likely going to require you to purchase a new iPad to get the functionality. This device should help to spur new iPad purchases, and Apple can continue to raise the bar on future incarnations to make it even more feature-rich. It offers a more life-like experience than when using other stylus products. Ultimately, the new Apple Pencil works much more like a real pencil.
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Monday, October 24, 2016
Windows 10 revives the old smartphone as PC idea
Windows 10 revives the old smartphone as PC idea
The portable PC notion was very appealing four years ago, but technology advancements have since passed it by
Microsoft today let the other shoe drop on Windows 10 -- the mobile shoe. After announcing new Lumia smartphones with features youd expect in any current smartphone, Microsoft showed off the Continuum feature, which lets a phone be a PC when connected to a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
What appeals to me about the Continuum notion is that I could plug my smartphone into someone elses PC setup and have my PC with me. The smartphone is a portable brain that blooms into a PC when connected to the right stuff. Its "just" a smartphone the rest of the time.
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Thats not a trick youll see in Android and iOS. Although both can send their screens to a monitor, the user interface and apps dont scale up to be real PC apps; all you get is a blown-up version of the smartphone screen. Continuum makes your smartphone into a portable PC that acts like a regular smartphone when operating by itself.
Continuum uses the Universal apps capability in Windows 10 to enable apps to scale to their current hardware, from smartphone to tablet to PC.
But does that notion actually make sense? In early 2011, I thought it did. At the time, Motorola Mobility had delivered its Atrix 4G smartphone and Lapdock device that together let the Android smartphone become a Firefox terminal on your TV or monitor when you connected a mouse and keyboard into the Lapdock. This way, you had a true full-screen browser experience when at a desk -- and you could run the Android part on your big screen, though only in a scaled-up window.
Despite their promise, the Atrix and Lapdock flopped, and technology advances seem to have made them irrelevant since then. Now Microsoft is trying to revive the idea with Windows 10 and Universal apps, taking it to the full Windows experience.
I liked the idea in 2011, but Im skeptical in 2015, for two reasons:
First, the apps and functionality available on smartphones today are light-years ahead of what existed in 2011. You can use the full Microsoft Office or Apple iWork on a smartphone today; in fact, theres little you cant do on a smartphone that requires you to use a PC when away from your desk. Smartphones today are way more capable than they were in 2011 -- and we have tablets like the iPad that are becoming laptops in their own right.
Microsofts other foray into a portable PC, Windows 8s Windows to Go, has gained very little traction in its several years of existence. With Windows to Go, you plug a thumb drive into a PC to make that PC a thin client of the Windows environment stored on that thumb drive. Windows 10s Continuum makes your phone that thumb drive, in a sense.
Second, if you need more screen size and peripheral support when working away from your desk, chances are you have a tablet and/or laptop with you anyhow. The need to make someone elses PC a thin client to your smartphone simply isnt that strong. Although I would love it if my iPhones apps scaled to Mac dimensions when I streamed my iPhone screen via AirPlay to my TV or monitor, the truth is I would want or need that capability only once in a while.
Continuum is a minor convenience that happens to be cool. But I certainly wouldnt abandon iOS or Android to get it.
Available link for download
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