One of the first projects for my new employer is to get the corporate website up and running. The launch is planned for June 30 – until then there is a simple placeholder which got a little polish from me and an embedded Google Analytics code.

The page gets barely accessed – which is no surprise as it really contains nothing more than our address. Most queries were for our company name – or some of its more popular misspellings. However as May 28 approached – the iPad release date for Germany – the queries increased. It was amazing how many phone calls we got, not only from Germany but from Belgium and the Netherlands as well. And it is amazing to see the interest in the iPad so graphically displayed.

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For the English readers – tweets from top to bottom:

1. We’re glad that we did not clean the windows. Outside, Aachen is sinking. Would have been a waste.
2. Sitting on the balcony with my laptop =)
3. Oh, Doomsday in Aachen. Nice to have met you all.

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A big step after 21 years with DOS and Windows? No, no at all. I expected there to be some toothing pains, some awkwardness during the transition, some problems and frustrations. But no, none of that. I switched off the Windows laptop, switched on the MacBook and started to be productive almost instantaneously.

Apple and I go back a long way. In school I worked with Apple II computers during the early Eighties. In 1983 I saw my first Apple Lisa, the predecessor of the Macintosh. While owning Commodore and Atari computers (and in the early Nineties my first PC’s) I wrote newspaper and magazine articles covering Macintosh computers, and even wrote a book comparing the Macintosh to other computers.

But somehow I never managed to get my own Mac. The machines were to exclusive for my budget, and later I was firmly integrated in the Windows and Linux ecosystem, compensating lack of finances with inventive spirit and the willingness to spend hours on end building my own machines and troubleshooting incompatibilities. In addition to that, two “traumatic” experiences alienated me further from the Apple universe: a rather unsuccessful experience with Apple stock (bought during a period which Steve Jobs recently called Apple’s “Near Death Experience” – and worth many times its initial value had I held on to it), and the outcry of over a hundred angry Mac users regarding an article I wrote for the ZEIT Magazin.

I grew tired of Mac evangelists, tired of the almost sect-like attire of Mac aficionados. I got angry when Apple managed to make even my parents think they invented the MP3 player. And I got annoyed by the smug “I’m a PC – I’m a Mac” advertising. But now  can freely admit it: all the time I actually liked Apple, actually liked Macs, and would have loved to have one for myself.

True, there is a lot to criticize about Apple. The tightly controlled environment. The secrecy. A certain arrogance of some of its promoters. My friend Bernhard had a quite nasty experience in the early days of iTunes. But after all Apple does what every company should do: maximize profits and controlling their market segment. Only with the addition that Apple tries to do this with perfect products, while other market participants seem to have lower standards for themselves.

On May 1st I turned a new page in my professional career. I started working with an exciting new startup company, and I switched from PC to Mac. Im looking forward to an exciting ride.

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When I picked it up for the first time I was surprised how light it actually is. Knowing how much technology is inside, knowing the frame is out of solid aluminium, knowing about the huge multitouch glass plate  I expected more weight. Since this first experience I handle it several times a day and have to adjust my statement. Holding it in one hand is actually a tiresome experience sine the weight is not negligible. Placing it on my lap however or putting it on the desk is a nice way to work with it.

The pad itself is fast. It is pretty fast. Launching apps is almost instantaneous, and interacting with them have no detectable latency. It is ho working with a computerized device should be: fast, responsive, intuitive. Intuitive is the key here. An application like Google Earth is incredibly intuitive to operate. The large multitouch surface leads to a natural and almost haptic way to deal with software Only in very few cases I have to rely on the online help of apps.

Is it for me? Not really. I prefer the versatility of a laptop – an iPad culd at best be an auxiliary device for me. But for browsing the web or answering emails, for my personal taste the cost is not justifiable. However I can see many, many applications for the iPad. It would be the ideal tool for my father, who does not want to deal with “normal” computers at his time of life, but would probably welcome an intuitive device like this. I can also see many aplications where the ad gets used as mobile data display and data entry device, starting with opinion research and ending at warehouse logistics.

The iPad definitely is a game changer which will redefine what we know about (mobile) computing. While there have been tablet PC’s for quite some years, the iPad  the first of its kind to really get to the bottom of an idea and strip all dead wood away.

The photo is for my dear friend Lorna, who lusts after an iPad but is not as fortunate as me to have one available in her job. Sorry, Lorna, I could not resist to tease you

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I am pretty sure that a “Pizza Diabolo” should have article number 666. In today’s lunch order it turned out to be aricle number 444, which was sort of anticlimatic.

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The video is based on a PowerPoint presentation I made almost 3 years ago. In a first step, we illustrated the content of the presentation with static renderings. Later we decided to put it into a short movie for display during presentations, on the webpage and – in reduced size – send it via email.

I realized the CGI parts of the movie in Cinema 4D. Some of the models were made by myself, other models were commissioned work. Wie briefly considered rendering the human operator in Poser, but then decided to keep the Zygote human to clearly show it is a CGI character.

I selected camera paths that added some sort of suspense to the scenes. Repetitive elements were intended to show repetitive tasks and act as anchors. The Zygote human became “alive” as well – having been static in early tests.

Like with a classic video production, I ended up with having far more footage than needed. The initial video was almost 7 minutes long – more than we could sensibly expect anybody to stay focused on. We then cut it down to its final length.

I am very pleased with the final results, especially since there was no budget set aside for the project and we had to squeeze it into the daily work. CGI rendering took about 4 days straight on a single machine – squeezed into small portions and some overnight rendering.

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So I was rather pleased to see that behind the scenes Google-Apps accounts and regular Google accounts seem to grow together. I don’t know for how long this has been the case, but today I noticed that Google Alerts now offers to manage both on the same page:

What I initially hoped for was that the Google Apps Account would fully replace the need for a regular Google account, however with a compromise like above I could very well live. Right now I need to do quite some handstands and juggle between Apps and regular account to get the full functionality. It would be nice if that would not be necessary for much longer.

I will write more about the move to Apps in a future post.

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I always loved flying. I won a balloon ride as a teenager and my father sponsored me a short helicopter ride as well. My first commercial airline flight was to go visit Microsoft in Redmond, and over the past two decades I amassed quite a lot of flight miles. While flying became routine for me, it still never ceased to hold some fascination.

Now the sky is clear. The image above is a montage of some shots out of my window. Being located close to 3 commercial and one military airport, the sky usually holds 2-3 condesation trails at any time. Those white, kilometer long stripes are such a common sight, that their absence rings a chord. A clear sky is a strange sight.

I spoke to a friend briefly this morning, and we spun the idea that if the ash cloud from iceland blocks air traffic for another 3-4 weeks, how would it change our behaviour and our perception of air travel?

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Ulrich Mühe on Wikipedia

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