2012 – The year of the tablet
In 2010 Apple announced the iPad and I said, however long it took, the company would eventually persuade everyone why they need one.
Usually this happens in stages – with the iPhone the original was good enough for everyone to know they wanted one, but not good or cheap enough for everyone to get one. With the second-generation iPhone Apple released the phone people wanted to see and with the third perfected it.
Those who were brave enough forked out the money to get the original iPad but it wasn’t every day you saw someone carrying the tablet or using it as gleefully as in the adverts.
In 2011 the iPad 2 brought more people on board. Those who waited out for the batch of original iPad testers to tell Apple the thing needed to be thinner, lighter, more powerful and have a camera, joined the party.
By the end of 2011 those companies who had been caught flat-footed have finally released reasonable tablets after spending a few years playing catch up.
With the Samsung, Blackberry, Amazon, Motorola and Barnes and Nobel tablets, running a mobile version of Android, joining the market it seems people are now saying they need a tablet.
When the iPad 3 (or iPad 2S) is released in 2012, it is likely the iPad 2 will drop in price. This means those who have been waiting for Apple to iron out its product and those who have been waiting for a more affordable option will be satisfied.
And when Windows 8 is released, the new Microsoft operating system is designed to work on both desktop and mobile devices. The competition will then really be underway and the tablet computer will properly take off.
So what will it do to us? The rise of the smart phone turned us into a society of citizen journalists, tweeters and cameramen.
I don’t see the tablet replacing either the smartphone or the laptop, so it could really be more evolutionary than revolutionary with its greatest affect on the computer.
Companies are already making their computer operating systems and programmes match their tablet versions and sync with them.
With cloud storage now being pushed into the mainstream it is likely the iPad will be used in those moments when you haven’t got your laptop and your smartphone isn’t quite powerful enough.
Whatever happens, it will be interesting to see.
Steve Jobs – 1955-2011
“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
RIP Steve Jobs.
9/11 was 10 years ago?
In 50 years time, should I see the day, my grandchild will come home from school and ask the question: “Grandad, what was it like on 9/11?”
It will be an easy answer because that day will still be as clear in my head then as it is today.
I hate this cliché so much but it is absolutely true to say that Tuesday 11th September 2001 was a very normal September Tuesday – grey, dull, a little chilly and a school day.
I was sat in Mr Humphrey’s (the old one for those CWHSers) biology class blissfully unaware of what was happening.
No teacher ran in declaring the world was coming to an end (which is what happened while I was on a college open-day during the 7/7 London bombings) and, on reflection quite oddly, there was no typical high school over-exaggeratory bullshit whisper-thon: “I’ve heard World War Three is starting.”
There was one thing different on that day – no Will Lee show. Me, Lee and Goody walked home from school every day, but I had to go to the dentist at 4pm so instead I was meeting my dad outside the school gates who planned to drive me home so I could brush my teeth and go straight to the appointment.
Me and Lee used to like to walk home fast so we could watch Arthur and Woody Woodpecker on CBBC, so I asked my dad to drive fast so I could watch TV before the dentist.
“They won’t be on today Will,” he said.
“Nothing will be – the two tallest buildings in the world have been bombed and fallen down.”
I didn’t know what the World Trade Centres were and in my sweet young ignorance I was more annoyed by the cancellation of Arthur than the murder of 3,000 innocent people.
As I was in the car I didn’t have the aid of the completely shocking TV images or the mature mind to put together quite what a huge incident this was in my head – but two things made the event’s magnitude hit me straight away.
Firstly – the tone in my dad’s voice. It was confused, flat and shocked. It was like having to explain someone’s death – there’s so little to say but so many ways to say it you just end up choosing the simplest one. He told me that he and one of our neighbours (Brian) watched the news when they heard something had happened, at the time they thought it was a plane crash. He told me as they were watching the live coverage they saw the second plane hit the tower. At the time it didn’t hit me but now I’m older this is the thing that spooks me the most about 9/11 – it was timed for everyone to watch it on live TV. Chilling.
Secondly – we turned on The Chris Moyles Show, which of course was in the afternoon in those days, no talking, no laughing, no quirky jingles or funny voices. “There will be no show today because of what’s happened in America – so here’s some music.” It was like a normal boring old man on the radio. It’s what Chris Moyles would have sounded like if he had taken up a career as an insurance salesman.
From that moment the day was filled with the same images. I got home and turned on the TV – every channel was rolling news, showing images from throughout the day. If we weren’t shown them over and over again even 10 years on I would still remember exactly what they looked like.
A special edition of the Worcester Evening News was hitting the shelves as I walked down to the fish and chip shop to get dinner. With the same images throughout the paper – there was no other news.
When I got to the fish and chip shop, the images were on the TV and everyone was talking about it in the queue.
We got home and the evening TV schedule had been cleared for an ITV News special: “America’s Darkest Day.” My mum saw they were going to show footage of people jumping out of the building from the higher floors and told me not to watch.
I went to bed and woke up. The morning after something huge happens is always very weird because it always seems so surreal – like it didn’t happen. But it did and it was all anyone talked about. Every programme, every paper, every person. And when I got to school – every teacher and every student. Even the idiots.
Although it was obvious how huge the event was, I didn’t really understand until I was a little older, geopolitically and ideologically, how this would change the world because at the time I didn’t really know how it was before or understand the meaning of it all and it was the same for my friends.
This was evidenced by the first thing someone said to me at school the next day: “Will,” said my friend Tom, “Did you hear that the cleaner at the World Trade Centre got the sack?” “No?” “Yeah because she left the light on.” “?” “The fireball …” “Oh …”
Turns out that joke wasn’t actually funny. At all.
RIP to all those who lost their lives on that day and may God comfort those who lost love ones or who are still suffering.
WilliamTomaney2011
Images
I see so many things throughout the day that I don’t write about or forget about.
So instead I’m putting them here – http://wtomaney.tumblr.com
WilliamTomaney2011
Why I do not support House of Lords reform (although I want to)
The paperback release of Tony Blair’s memoirs, A Journey, sees the former British PM write a new foreword and intro for the publication.
In this, he outlines six key problems with the British political system, and I agree with 100% of his points.
What I find most interesting is that when looking at the issues he does outline, you can see why Blair outright refuses to comment on this government.
Not only does he know what it takes to be Prime Minister, and therefore the position politicians are in with regards to decision making, you can also see that the coalition are making these problems bigger, not solving them.
Nick Clegg’s latest project is to get people on board with his House of Lords reform.
Forgetting the fact that Clegg would probably have to hand out money to get anyone on board with anything he does at the moment, I just don’t think it’s a good idea, and doing so would make Blair’s key problems even bigger issues.
The Deputy Prime Minister is trying to reduce the size of the Lords to about 300 people and make 80% of its members elected, using the STV system, for 15-year terms from 2015.
The argument, when put simply, makes plenty of sense – in a modern democracy, should we have an unelected upper chamber? It doesn’t sound very democratic.
But let’s consider the point of having the House of Lords in the first place.
The most important function of the chamber is to revise legislation, scrutinise it, and hold the government to account.
Politicians aren’t experts in anything – other than speaking and debating.
If the government are trying to push through a law on climate change, I would like experts in the House of Lords – scientists, geographers etc. – to suggest changes, and to vote on it.
Reforming the Lords in this way, will mean that one group of professional party politicians will vote on a law passed by another group of professional party politicians.
It’s also likely that the balance of an elected upper chamber is going to mirror the balance of the elected lower chamber – if Labour win a large majority in the Commons, it’s unlikely the Conservatives are going to take the Lords – meaning effective scrutiny could be put aside in favour of towing the party line throughout Parliament.
And to consider how disastrous the process of law making can be when it gets too politicised, look at the US healthcare reform debate. Instead of asking the experts – doctors, medical professionals and university professors – politicians campaigned according to their ideology. The argument was based around how companies could retain their power and make the most money off of people’s health – rather than how the most expensive health system in the world could become the most affective.
Blair points out that politicians are too similar to each other, describing the political gene pool as “frighteningly limited.”
He also worries that bright outsiders are not involved in politics, and the system is almost incapable of allowing leaders to take good decisions.
Not only would none of these problems be solved with an elected House of Lords, they could actually be made worse, and I agree with Blair that they are genuine concerns.
It’s a shame, because I want to like Nick Clegg – it was just over a year ago when his offer of such a fresh and exciting approach seemed so promising, and becoming the poster-child of £9,000 per year tuition fees, I feel, is a little harsh.
So I wish I was able to support him on this, but I just can’t get on board with the idea.
WilliamTomaney2011
How to play the game.
I first learned it from my grandmother.
Now, my grandmother is a wonderful person – she taught me how to play the game Monopoly.
She understood that the name of the game is to acquire.
She would accumulate everything she could and eventually she became the master of the board.
Then she would always say the same thing to me, she would look at me and she would say: “One day, you will learn to play the game.”
One summer, I played Monopoly almost every day all day long, and that summer I learned how to play the game.
I came to understand the only way to win, is to make a total commitment to acquisition.
I came to understand that money and possessions – that’s the way you keep score.
And by the end of that summer I was more ruthless than my grandmother, I was willing to bend the rules if I had to to win that game.
When I sat down to play with her that autumn, I took everything she had – I watched her give her last £ and quit in utter defeat.
And then she had one more thing to teach me. Then she said:
“Now it all goes back in the box.
All those houses and hotels.
All the railroads and utility companies.
All that property and all that wonderful money.
Now it all goes back in the box.
None of it was really yours.
You got all heated up about it for a while
But it was around a long time before you sat down at the board, and it will be here for a long time after you’re gone.
Players come, players go.
Houses and cars.
Titles and clothes.
Even your body.”
Because the fact is – that everything I clutch and consume and hoard is going to go back in the box and I’m going to lose it all.
You have to ask yourself – when you finally get the ultimate promotion, when you have made the ultimate purchase, when you buy the ultimate home, when you have stored up financial security and climbed the ladder of success to the highest run you can possibly climb it, and the thrill wears off – and it will wear off – then what?
How far do you have to walk down that road before you see where it leads?
Surely you understand – it will never be enough.
So you have to ask yourself the question – what matters?
WilliamTomaney2011
Law revision word association
Reasonable
Expectation
Section
39
49
8
5
3
1988
2000
2003
1933
Children and Young Persons Act
ASBO
Juvenile
Anonymity
Injunctions
Confidentiality
Privacy
Rights
European Convention on Human Rights
PCC Code
Press Complaints Commission Code of Conduct
Moral responsibility to protect sources
Public interest
Fair comment
Honestly held opinion
Malice
Facts
Privilege
Qualified
Police
Attorney General
Absolute
Contemporaneously
Letter
Explanation
Contradiction
Libel
Defamation
Defamation Act
Section 1
Contempt
Substantial risk of serious prejudice or impediment
Merely incidental
Frustrate or render impractical the administration of justice
Blackmail
National security
Active
Arrest
Arrest Warrent
Name
Address
Work
Identification
Picture
ID parade
Witnesses
Pixelation
Jigsaw identification
I*****
Sexual offences
Rape
Voyeurism
Anonymity
Dang.
WilliamTomaney2011
I am not fooled
It’s how they’ve always been and they intend to stay.
I can’t explain why we live this way,
We do it every day.
Prophets on the sidewalks begging for change.
Old ladies laughing from the fire-escape,
Cursing my name.
A window and a pigeon with a broken wing.
You can spend your whole life working for something,
Just to have it taken away.
Wearing paycheques like necklaces and bracelets.
Talking about nothing, not thinking about death,
Every little heartbeat, every little breath.
Carrying their hurt and hatred and weapons.
It could be a bomb, or a bullet, or a pen,
Or a thought, or a word, or a sentence.
It’s how they’ve always been and they intend to stay.
I don’t know why I say the things that I say,
But I say them anyway.But love will come set me free.
Love will come set me free,
I do believe.
Love will come set me free,
I know it will.
Love will come set me free,
Yes.
Some things never change at all.
Keep on building prisons, gonna fill them all,
Keep on building bombs, gonna drop them all.
Breaking your back, make you sell your soul.
Like a lung that’s filled with coal,
Suffocating slow.
But politicians lie and I am not fooled.
You don’t need a reason or a three piece suit,
To argue the truth.
Slavery stitched in to the fabric of my clothes.
Chaos and commotion wherever I go,
Love I try to follow.
I do believe.
Love will come set me free,
I know it will.
Love will come set me free,
Yes.
There ain’t no reason things are this way,
It’s how they’ve always been and they intend to stay
I can’t explain why we live this way,
We do it everyday.
iPad 2 review (yes, I know I am late to the party)
with 2 comments
The iPad has completely surprised me in the last two days.
When it first came out I commented positively on it because there was potential and you know that if there wasn’t, Jobs wouldn’t have released it.
But quietly, I was skeptical. I thought it looked thick and ugly. It was heavy. And most off-putting of all – what would it do?
When introducing the first iPad – which the purchasers of first-gen Apple products are essentially beta testers – Jobs said “for this to be successful it needs to be better [than a laptop and a smartphone] at some key things.”
He listed these “key things” as email, Internet browsing, photos and videos.
I didn’t believe him – how on Earth could a slate with no mouse or keyboard, on a mobile operating system be better for browsing the web or emails than a computer?
I’m not sure the iPad 1 with iOS 3 and 4 was, but as I did not own one I can’t comment on that.
I made the leap after iPad 2 met iOS 5 – and I’m blown away.
Of course there is a certain amount of personal preference – my friend Lee probably couldn’t store and edit a film on it (although it does have iMovie), but as a writer, I need a browser to search and read (I barely download anything), a word processor, my email and I need to take notes and organise meetings. It’s perfect for all those things.
Writing in pages on the keyboard in landscape mode (as I quite comfortably am right now) is an absolute dream and as fast for typing as a normal laptop keyboard.
Email is right there, its fast to receive, read, type and send. Boom.
Reminders and iCal sync with my phone and my laptop and with notification centre on iOS 5, means I will always get the message.
Notes and note apps such as Evernote and Voice Memo also sync with my other devises, but the greatest thing about these apps is they are so instant. With my laptop it takes a good few minutes to take out of my bag, rest it down, start it up, start the app up, type it up, save it. With my phone it’s a little fiddley to get everything down. With the iPad it’s right there, tap tap tap, back to sleep, back in bag. Job done. Pick up phone when home, its right there.
My other surprise was that not only are these “key things” better than on a laptop and a smartphone, so are the apps. App developers are genius’s and have clearly gone all out for the iPad.
The best place to use Facebook and Twitter is on the iPad. It’s the best place to read the news and blogs and as a gaming platform it, perhaps doesn’t threaten the big boys, but it certainly stands up.
The iPad has also got me reading in a different and very enjoyable way. I get The Times delivered to my device every morning ready for when I wake up, and I’m enjoying iBooks.
Gripes? Well it would have been nice to have been able to choose the 3G model, but having to shell out more money and another contract for a data plan was too much. I’m also slightly afraid that by this time next year the iPad 2 will seem ancient, as Apple updates it’s products so regularly.
After looking at the iPhone’s retina display, I can’t help but imagine what the iPad could look like with that kind of screen and I’m sure that will be the big thing at the iPad 3/2S announcement next month.
All in all I have to say, if you are on the edge with buying an iPad and can genuinely see a use in your life for it – if you like blogging, reading, social networking, or if you have a job where you find yourself in situations where you need to make a quick not or schedule an appointment but you can’t aways quickly pull out a computer and your smartphone isn’t quite capable enough, this is perfect.
If you need it for more than that, I’m sure you don’t have too long to wait. Look how far Apple has come with just ONE revision of the iPad … I’m sure being patient for a year or two would pay off.
Maybe it’s not for everyone and every need but I feel fairly safe in saying tablets are the future – but other companies are going to have to start stepping up before the iPad monopolises this particular market. Even if Apple didn’t release a successor to the iPad 2 this would still be way ahead for a good year or so.
But not all of the credit goes to Apple, it’s the apps which make it what it is.
Written by William Tomaney
December 27, 2011 at 01:59
Posted in Apple, Me, Opinion/Comment