Sample the Web

Boogie Board Tablet mini-Review

C.K. Sample III — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:17:52 +0000

I ordered a Boogie Board tablet (pictured above) for sketching after reading about how it was a pressure sensitive display that never needed to be charged, ran off of a watch battery, and lasts for 5+ years. As you can see from the scan of my actual Boogie Board above, the “ink” is much darker than is indicated by all the bogus marketing materials on the Boogie Board site, where it appears as a bright sort of green. I’ve created a Flickr set, titled Boogie Board sucks that you can click through if you want to see more.

So as you can tell so far, the Boogie Board wasn’t what I was expecting, for numerous reasons. First, the ink is so dark as to be illegible in certain lighting situations. Then if you’re in a very bright lighting situation, it’s also illegible because the matte finish is oddly reflective and diffuses the light across the surface of the screen, somewhat obscuring whatever you’ve drawn or written.

The second problem is that while the Boogie Board is pressure sensitive, it is overly so. If you hold the board with your thumb on the screen, it will leave a thumb print. This means that the Boogie Board is not very portable. Throwing the device in your bag means that it comes out with all sorts of extra marks on it, so forget about writing notes on it and then transporting those notes anywhere. This also means that making thin, delicate lines is virtually impossible. The slightest pressure from any pen-like input device, like the included stylus, results in very thick line. If you bear down, the line gets even thicker, but thick to thicker lines doesn’t a good pressure sensitive display make. The thickness of those lines in turn makes the Kindle-sized (about as big as half a sheet of standard paper) screen on the Boogie Board too small to draw much beyond very basic cartoonish doodles. It also severely limits the amount of notes you could take on the device (even if you had some special protective case for it).

The Boogie Board comes with a small cloth to keep the screen clean and a stylus that feels poorly made and has no means of attaching to the Boogie Board, so you’re sure to lose it quickly enough (and again, underscoring that this device isn’t really designed for portability).

This gadget is an adequate replacement for a refrigerator white board to write short notes like “Call Janet” or “Buy milk” but really that’s about it. And even at that function, the screen is smaller than one would ideally need. It’s sized as something where you can write in the equivalent of a small 10 or 12 point font, but the thickness of the lines result in most writing needing to be closer to a 24 point font to be legible and not be all smooshed together. I consider it a waste of $30 and I’d advise everyone to steer clear.

It’s not a digital Etch-a-Sketch (they have bigger screens and are actually capable of much more detail), but it’s much more akin to those crappy pressure sensitive pads that we had as kids, where you had a thin sheet of film over a black background and as you “drew” on the film it would stick to the black background and create drawings. Then lifting the film made the image disappear. What were those crappy things called? This is the modern version of those things.

UPDATE: After several more days of using the device, losing the stylus and replacing the stylus with a stylus from a Nintendo DS, I’m liking it a bit more for just basic doodling. It’s still not nearly as detailed as I’d like, has all the problems mentioned above, and is over-priced and misrepresented by its marketing, BUT I think if it were priced closer to $15 and represented more as what it actually is, I might actually *want* to buy one and not feel ripped off, like I currently do.

Overanalyzing Steve Jobs’ grammar gaffe: missing helper verb in iPad presentation

C.K. Sample III — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:47:28 +0000

If you’ve actually watched the video of Apple’s iPad Special Event Keynote from yesterday (January 27, 2010), you probably noticed a few unpolished spots, like the Brushes developer being a little nervous with shaking hands while on stage (understandable), the N.O.V.A. game demonstration when the first time they attempted to fling a grenade using a “simple two-fingered, multitouch gesture” failed, and the very noticeable missing bit of Flash on this—”the best way to browse the web” aka “it’s like holding the internet in your hands”—device that is supposed to offer a better internet experience than either smartphones or notebooks (newsfash, Steve: You may detest Flash, as many do, but it is still a very active part of the internet). All in all, it wasn’t as polished a presentation as we’re used to from Apple.

It wasn’t even nearly as polished as it sounded from all the verging-on-fanboy-coverage of the event coming from the people who were live blogging it. For example, Ryan Block’s two asides near the end of his GDGT coverage:

“Yeah, you know, this video does a pretty good job of putting this stuff in perspective. iPad is pretty amazing — there, I said it.”

And then, again:

“ Will people buy it in droves? Is there actually room for a device between smartphones and laptops? That I don’t know — I’ve always been skeptical there’s room for a third category in there. But if there is a contender for this space, the iPad is it.

That’s too much fanboy reporting in response to a commercial followed by too strong of a prediction based on no actual time spent with the device itself (“if there is a contender for this space, the iPad is it”) undercut by a nice future escape should the prediction prove wrong (“I’ve always been skeptical”).

However, one moment in particular from the Keynote really grabbed my attention: the very brief amount of time that Steve Jobs spent demoing actually typing on the device, and the grammatical mistake he made while rushing through the experience in which he clearly said “oops” as he missed a space. Steve Jobs wrote:

“Wow, we really announcing the iPad!”

Something about the way he rushed through typing this, the way he left out the helping verb “are” that was needed for the sentence to be correct, and the short list of people to whom he addressed the quick email make me think that Steve’s not completely satisfied with the current state of the iPad and that this just might have been a little bit of passive-aggressiveness aimed at his colleagues. That thought would seem to be bolstered somewhat by the device not only not being available yet, but the fact that the device isn’t even available for pre-order yet. There’s just a “notify me when it’s available” email form on Apple’s site.

I can’t remember the last time Apple announced something in this odd way.

Multiple reactions to the iPad and the video of Apple’s Special Event are flooding Techmeme right now.

Working on a comic: Bosh & Bill

C.K. Sample III — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:41:39 +0000

So, I have started working on a comic featuring the two guys drawn above. The angry looking one in the upper left of the picture is named Bosh. He’s the half-rabbit half-human demigod (and therefore immortal) bastard child of the Easter Bunny (aka Eostre) and he’s basically chaotic neutral, if not extremely so. The second character is either Bill or Bilge or Bill G. (just some wordplay on Bosh and Bilge), but I’m not sold on that name and would love some input from others on what they think he should be named. I’m not sure what he is (maybe half-man / half-dog but I’m leaning more towards a random forest animal that has mutated). I’d rather this character be the more human, mortal, and cheery, somewhat goofy good character that most readers will identify with (and he’s to be more neutral good like Spider-man, but goofier).

These guys are destined to be an archetypal pairing based on odd couples like Mercier & Camier, Vladimir & Estragon, C3PO & R2D2, Tahei & Matashichi, Laurel & Hardy , etc. with Bosh bordering on becoming sinister like Loki and Bill, or whatever his name will be, bordering on becoming more saintly (and always on the edge of sacrifice) like Baldur. I have already written their initial meeting origin story in rough, and will be drawing that story soon and posting it somewhere.

But if any of you happen to read this and think it interesting, I’d love to hear your thoughts on these characters either on Flickr or in the comments below. I am especially interested in thoughts on the name for the second character.

I have a plan for these fellows to be the characters in a serialized epic adventure featuring the both of them over time, rather than simply doing a comic strip type format, which I realize I’m not really that good at.

Also, I won’t be posting as much of this type of thing here in the near future. I’ll be moving this comic to its own site when it’s more developed and I’ll also be moving most of my personal stuff over to cksample.com (once I get the site built up over there). This will become more of a blog about online and tech things.

My hope for Apple’s announcement

C.K. Sample III — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:38:54 +0000

I‘ve avoided jumping into the maelstrom of rumor-mongering that has exploded around the reported iSlate tablet-esque computer that Apple supposedly will be announcing on January 27th, mostly because the lion’s share of that “reporting” has been totally ridiculous, but also because I happen to have a source who has given me what I believe to be some legitimate information on what will be announced. I promised my source that I wouldn’t share this information publicly in writing. So I won’t.

However, the artwork accompanying the invitations to Apple’s special event that just went out today has me hopeful about a few details that I have no information about. I’m hoping that the popularity of many of the drawing applications on the iPhone / iPod touch, like Colors!, Brushes, Layers, and SketchBook Mobile, and all the noise that was made about a cover of the New Yorker being painted on the iPhone made Apple start thinking about how many creative people or people who want to be creative use Apple devices.

I’m hoping that all those spray-painted colors on the invitation parallel Apple’s awareness of this simple fact. I’m hoping that the devices that are announced on the 27th have a bit more power than just an iPhone on steroids. I’m hoping that in the same way the iLife suite has tried to simplify dealing with photos and videos on your computer, these new devices will come with some new software that makes doing things like drawing and painting on the computer more human.

I have no evidence that this is what will happen at January 27th’s announcement, but with this invitation, I have hope.

After years of being participant in Chinese censorship, Google stops participating due to security breaches, and the entire internet praises Google for the move?

C.K. Sample III — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:11:13 +0000

Really?!

I’m shocked to say this, but I agree 100% with Valleywag’s take on this scenario:

“Only now, amid executive turnover at Google China and a continued failure to best their state-sponsored competitor there, and after Chinese hackers have endangered the company’s interests globally, does Google get firm on the issue of human rights. It’s a clever way to dress up a security breach — and an embarrassing attempt to partner with China’s authoritarian leaders — as an act of nobility and courage.”

Shame on Google for going into business and accepting such censorship in the first place. Shame on Google for being participant in China’s evil for the past several years for profit. Shame on Google for spinning their current move as a noble one.

Shame on everyone else who applauds Google’s actions in this. You’re just encouraging Google to do more evil and continue to hide it behind PR stunts.

Also, this amount of coverage of the news with very few sane people pointing out that Google has been profitting from Chinese censorship for the past several years is a ludicrous amount of coverage. You’d think that the Apple iSlate had been announced; not that a company is backtracking on a mistake it made years ago.

What should Google do? Donating all their profits from Google.cn to humanitarian rights organizations in China would be a start.

And that is why Google Wave is, and will continue to be, a flop

C.K. Sample III — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:22:02 +0000

Gina Trapani, probably the greatest cheerleader for Google Wave’s success, today starts off a post about Wave, titled Frequently Asked Questions about Google Wave, with this very insightful sentence:

“Even folks usually bullish about new technology still don’t understand what they can use Wave for, how to sell it to their friends and co-workers so they have someone to use it with, and how to fit it into their workday.”

And that’s why Google Wave is, and will continue to be, a flop.

Google made several key mistakes with Google Wave:

Google overhyped Wave—You should never project your project as something that will replace something as standard and universal as email. If it happens to unseat a champion in the space, then you look like a genius and it’s a great success, but if you start out of the gates saying it will replace email, you’re doomed. It’s like an ice company coming out with a new shape of ice cube and saying that it will replace water. It sounds ridiculous, because it is ridiculous. It would have been what Twitter would have faced if they had pitched themselves as a blogging / SMS replacement. They didn’t do either, and they’re marginally succeeding at both.
Google released a product that depends upon everyone you work with using it in a closed, invite only beta—You cannot keep a walled-garden around a fundamentally social tool and expect it to grow and prosper. Collaborative information apps fail if you cannot collaborate with whoever you want to (this is why email continues to thrive and it’s also part of the key to Twitter’s success; Twitter is public so you can say @ whoever you like whenever you like).
Google duplicated functionality from their other products without providing a path to integrate those other products—I’ve heard that Google Wave is like chat, email, and documents all rolled into one very useful tool that integrates all these things into one nice flow of live collaborative information. The only problem? There’s no actual integration with my email or my documents. There is a slight integration with the people I chat with thanks to the use of Google Contacts as the basis for connecting with other Google Wave users, but again see the previous item. Most of my contacts don’t have Google Wave.
Google built something focused on features rather than focused on usability and how people currently use the web—There is a steep learning curve for Wave. Even for very geeky, technologically savvy people, it’s not a familiar medium to be working with. It doesn’t have the familiarity with an old format (as email mimicked real-world paper memos) that will help ease people’s understanding or learning of it. And as soon as it becomes more complicated to use than the less-feature-rich alternatives (like email), people will give up and stop using it.

Project Natal’s Kudo Tsunoda vs 30 Rock’s Judah Friedlander — CORRECTED

C.K. Sample III — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 15:17:47 +0000

I saw this post over at Engadget about Project Natal for XBox, and immediately thought that Natal’s ~~lead developer,~~ ~~Alex Kipman~~Kudo Tsunoda (thanks to Seraphina for pointing out my misidentification in the comments below) either is styling himself after 30 Rock’s Judah Friedlander, or that they were separated at birth:

What do you think?

If you agree, feel free to tweet this post.

Laughing pregnant belly button

C.K. Sample III — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 14:30:10 +0000

Kristin has reached that latter stage of very ripe pregnancy where her belly button is trying to decide whether to pop out or not. Last night, we discovered that when she laughs now, the belly button actually pops open a little wider. This in turn makes Kristin crack up and laugh more, looking down upon the phenomenon. Why? Well, when you look at it from her angle, it looks like the belly button itself is laughing. Here is a video of the phenomenon (posted with my wife’s permission; click on the image to play):

Also, here’s the YouTube version (if it ever finishes processing). It finished finally, so here it is embedded:

Link to this post: http://ck4.us/6b

Sample The Web’s Top Posts of 2009

C.K. Sample III — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 21:14:05 +0000

In case you were curious, here’s the top 10 posts:

Thanks to the over half a million of you who visited this site in 2009. Best wishes to all of you in the year to come!

2010 should be a good year for me, numerically…

C.K. Sample III — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:48:23 +0000

I was born in 1973. 1+9 = 10. 7 + 3 = 10. 10 + 10 = 20. I will be turning 37. 3 + 7 = 10. 2010.

My son’s due date is 02.10.2010.

Think it’s silly? James Joyce would agree with me.