Ben Benner’s Blog

I do not follow many blogs, nor do I repost or comment on others blogs here much. I guess I am a bit anti-social even on the web. I am endevouring to change this, but that is not the topic of this post.

One of the few blogs I follow, Anil Dash, had a really good post yesterday, the title was ‘re:Vision’.

“…is it a good thing for the world if this thing takes off? My sense is that we’re more likely to get positive answers to that question if the teams that are making these products are led by an appropriately ambitious vision.”

Those closing lines of Anil’s re:Vision post, are what made me feel compelled to comment on his latest article. I have been paying more and more attention to product design over the last couple of years and I don’t just mean the style of the design, i.e. how cool something looks.

I have started asking myself whenever I come across a new product (or service), “What problem does that solve?” Because, a great product should solve problems (or at least more problems than it creates).

Rarely, have I thought about “is it a good thing for the world if this thing takes off?”

I think to looks a product/service and be able to really answer that question, you do need to look at the vision, move beyond what is quite frankly just the utilitarian aspect of “solving a problem”.

“When launching the new version of Amazon’s book device the Kindle, Jeff Bezos offered up the vision that the company has for the device: “Our vision is every book, ever printed, in any language, all available in less than 60 seconds.” It’s a message that Amazon has been consistently advocating since the device’s initial rollout, and meshes nicely with the early Amazon vision of being the world’s biggest bookstore. “

The opening paragraph of Anil’s article. He quotes Jeff Bezos, who states the vision for the Kindle(2). I mean, in terms of solving a problem, if there is someone out there that truly needs access to every book ever printed and they need it in less than 60 seconds, then Amazon’s Kindle devices are going to likely be their best bet.

But, as I said, moving beyond the utilitarian aspect of “solving a problem” the idea of being able to access any book in the world in less than 60 seconds (for a nominal fee of course) is amazing. It would seem like the stuff of the future just a couple of decades ago, only the futuristic worlds of the Jetsons or Star Trek would allow you to have that sort of information at your fingertips.

But thanks in part to many of the other companies, some of which were mentioned in Anil’s article, like Microsoft and Apple that dream of instant gratification has become a reality. After reading books like “Where Wizards Stay Up Late”, “What the Dormouse Said”, “Accidental Empires” and lastly “Dealers of Lightning”, I would have to add companies like Xerox, IBM, Bolt Beranek and Newman, government agencies such as ARPA (later known as DARPA).

I also want to also mention Vannevar Bush for his idea of the Memex (proposed in 1945) having influenced J.C.R. Licklider who is considered one of the most important figures in computer science. Lick, as he was known to friends, wrote a fairly famous paper Man-Computer Symbiosis.

My point of all of that is that, the idea of being able to access man’s collective knowledge is something that has been around what seems like forever (in Internet time). And I applaud Amazon as taking up the vision where others have left off.

I am glad to see that there are companies out there that are doing more than just solving problems, they are trying to change the world. I know that the made for TV movie, Pirates of Silicon Valley comes to mind, in regards to a young Steve Jobs talking about how they are “changing the world, overthrowing dead culture” (paraphrased).

And of course, it just also happens to fit nicely into Amazon’s business plan to be able to give you access to any book in the world, with no physical delivery to deal with (or a warehouse, or physical returns, etc).

Latez

bdbenner Technology, amazon, apple, blogs, kindle amazon, anil dash, apple, kindle, microsoft, vision, xerox

Now anyone who followed the early days of Apple’s iPod, should remember the criticism they faced about the fact that the battery is not replaceable, and that initially they did not even offer you the option to pay them money to replace the battery. Initially you were screwed.

Because of the fact that the batteries are good for about 16 months or so (depending upon how much you use it), the story didn’t break for a while. The fact that you cannot simply replace the battery means that there is a built-in upgrade cycle. For some folks they will want to retain their cherished iPod and simply pay the $69 dollars to get a fresh battery in what is likely not their original iPod.

While I am talking about the non-replaceable battery and how Apple has a built-in replacement cycle, guaranteeing that a chunk of their consumer-base is going to buy a new iPod ever 16 months (or at least shell out another $69). What I am really wanting to write about here tonight is how, Apple, god I can’t believe that I have to write this.

Apple stole my iPod Nano.

Yup, I am relatively certain it was an agent of Apple who stole my iPod Nano from me, whilst I was getting off American Airlines flight 502 from San Jose and landing in Austin around 10:50pm (central). It was there one minute and I could swear that I put it into my laptop bag, but when I looked for it the next day at the office (because it was time to blast my eardrums with some loud and abusive tunes), it was gone.

No where to be found. I thought that maybe I had removed it from my laptop bag and had left it (or dropped it) somewhere in my home office. I even searched the trunk of my car, but to no avail, it has vanished.

In discussing the disappearance of my iPod Nano with Jeremy, he reminded me that Apple had just released a new iPod Nano.

And that is when it hit me. An agent of Apple must have filched my beloved silver iPod Nano (3rd Gen) to ensure that I am forced to buy a new one (4th Gen).

But before, I get a cease-and-desist notice about this blog post. Let me say that, I in no way am accusing Apple or Mr Jobs of stealing my iPod Nano.

For the record I do not think that there is any sort of master list of all the folks out there that have iPods  and Mr Jobs is arranging for them to be, hmmmm, what would be the best term, let’s just say ‘retired from service’. I am sure he has a VP for that. (just kidding)

I was an idiot and left it on the plane. I had been listening to it on the way back an reading More Joel on Software. And I had been using the seat next to me, well as an open seat next to me to store my various ‘carry-on items that I had taken out during the flight’. I remember telling myself to put everything from within the seat into my bag. And I managed to put everything in there, except the black timbuk2 accessory (velcro) pouch that held my Nano.

MORON!!!

It just happens to be a (lucky) coincidence that Apple releases the 4th Gen iPod Nano at the same time I was a moron and left my Nano on the plane.

I had been wanting to write a blog post about how ‘I am an iPod Junkie’, because of the fact that I own(ed) a Nano, a Touch and a Shuffle. Well, if I do end up getting the 4th Gen Nano, maybe I will finally do that post.

The wife has told me that I should use my iPod touch more. I do use it, but usually to surf the web, read email (quickly) and watch movies. It however lacks that scroll wheel, which provides the tactile interface allowing for quick changes in volume and the ability to quickly scroll through your entire music collection.

The topic of how I should just use my Touch while waiting to see if American Airlines happens to find it (or a good Samaritan happens to turn it in), I told him that it didn’t make sense to me that the Touch doesn’t have a speaker in it, so that I can listen to music or movies without headphones or the ability to change the volume without having to ‘wake it up’. I also think it would be better if it had a camera built-in, given the fact that there is a ‘photos’ ‘button’ so prominently placed on the main screen of the Touch.

Guess what else Apple has released, as 2nd Generation iPod touch.

YUP! It has a speaker and external volume controls, maybe the 3rd Generation will have that camera built-in.

Well, I need to get to bed. Maybe Santa will bring me the 4th Gen Nano for X-mas, course my b-day is literally right around the corner.

Laterz

Please note this post is an expressive piece of FICTION, the only real truth in here is that I lost my iPod Nano and that Apple recently launched the 4th Gen iPod Nano and 2nd Gen iPod Touch.

bdbenner Technology, newTechnology apple, conspiracy, new ipods