Solar Eclipse, March 7, 1970

Forty years ago today a Solar Eclipse crossed the Southeast.  The line of totality stretched from the “armpit” of Florida into the Carolinas.

At that time I was a big astronomy geek.  A bunch of us from the Science Center in St. Pete put together a field trip to Perry, FL to view the eclipse.  We packed our telescopes. cameras, and gear into my dad’s ‘67 Mercedes and headed up Highway 19.  We had shortwave radios and were using WWV to time the event.

While we were setting up, mid level clouds started forming and it became overcast.  Sadly, we never did see the sun during totality.  What was amazing was how quickly it got dark as the sun covered the last bit of the sun.  In a matter of seconds it became so dark that the street lights came on!  After a few minutes it got light again just as quickly.


The photo above was taken during totality.  You can see some lights on a distant radio tower and the glow of a shortwave radio’s dial.  I’m the kid in the middle with the striped shirt.  Sorry for the poor quality scan.

Being clouded-out was a major disappointment, but it was still and amazing experience.

Is the Desktop an Endangered Species?

During the iPad introduction, Steve Jobs emphasized that Apple is a “Mobile Devices Company.”  Apple’s laptops and iPhones far outsell their desktop computers.  Apple bought LaLa, and new rumors predict iTunes’ streaming movies and content over the network.

Jumping on the bandwagon, Google’s John Herlihy says that desktops will be irrelevant in three years.  Everyone is jockeying for position in the new mobile cloud-based world order.

Gartner predicts that Notebooks and iPad like tablets will make up 70% of computers in just 2 years.

When companies like Apple and Google re-brand themselves as Mobile Devices Companies the prospects for desktops dim a bit.

Having just given up one of the all time best desktop systems available, I tend to agree.  The combination of a fast Mac Pro and the 30 inch Apple Cinema Display were awesome.  But now, I’m using the MacBook Air exclusively and couldn’t be happier.   I’ll grant you that it’s hard to beat Aperture on the 30 inch monitor.  But, 90% of the time the laptop works as well or even better than a big honking desktop.

So, where does the iPad fit in if you already have a notebook and an iPhone?

The iPhone is my constant companion, it’s never more than a few feet away.  It’s all about communication, about staying in touch with voice, text, email, Skype, Twitter and Facebook.

I see the iPad as a content consuming device.  It will be great for browsing the web, E-mail, reading a book, a newspaper, or a magazine.  Potentially even better than the best notebook or desktop.  I can’t see carrying the iPad everywhere with me.  It’s what I’ll pick up to read the paper, or a book.  It will be my iTunes controller on the sofa.  I can see sharing it with my wife.  It is the computer for the living room or kitchen.

The notebook will be a better content creation device.  With a built in physical keyboard it should be much better at word processing than the iPad.  With more onboard storage , a higher res screen, and a multitouch trackpad the notebook rocks at photo editing.

Remember, it’s not about features.  It’s about how well the tool you have does the job you need to do.

These are exciting times.  It’s a chance to remake the human-computer interface.  A chance to do away with the desktop metaphor and the mouse.  Getting the operating system out of the way and below the surface..  A chance to pick the right tool for the job from a wide variety of devices.

MacBook Air now my Primary Machine

I put the Mac Pro and the 30″ Apple Cinema Monitor back in my son Robert’s room.  The MacBook Air is now my primary and only Mac.  My desk is really clean and uncluttered now, the way I imagine Steve Jobs’ is.

When Robert returns home in May for the summer I’m sure he’ll want the Mac Pro and the 30″ monitor back.  They’ve been on loan to me while he’s away at FSU.  I know he’ll want to use the 30″ monitor with his 17″ MacBook Pro to watch movies.

Since I got the new MacBook Air, I’ve hardly turned the Mac Pro on.  I’m really enjoying the new computer.  To me, the combination of Expose, Spaces and trackpad gestures make the MacBook easier to use than dragging a cursor around on that huge 30″ display.

During the cold weather I don’t mind the heat put off by the Mac Pro and 30″ monitor.  Together they pull over 300 watts.  As the weather warms up I see that heat as a liability.  I remember how warm Robert’s room would get when he was running the Mac Pro.  The power adapter for the MacBook Air is rated for 45 watts, probably a tenth of what the Mac Pro pulls when working hard.  I’ll stay cool and maybe save a little on the power bill too.

On the Road and at Home with the new MacBook Air

Just got home from four days on the road with the new MacBook Air.  We had layovers in Los Angeles and London.

I’m convinced that the MacBook Air is the ultimate road warrior’s computer.  The first generation of the MacBook Air was a great machine, but it had it’s limitations.  I had to have my iTunes library on an external hard drive, it wouldn’t fit on the 64 GB drive.  The new version’s 128GB drive has room to spare, now I don’t have to monkey with external drives to play music or sync my iPhone.  Same thing with my Aperture library, it’s all onboard now.  I can really travel light.  And traveling light is what the MacBook Air is all about.

Right now, I’m sitting on the sofa with the MacBook Air in my lap.  Besides writing this blog, iTunes is streaming Pat Metheny’s “Orchestrion” over the network to the stereo.  I’ve also got Mail and iChat open.  With all of this happening the CPU’s temperature is a comfortable 130 degrees Fahrenheit and holding steady.  The old MacBook Air would be on it’s way to a thermal runaway with this much going on!

New MacBook Air

It’s always a happy time when a person gets a new Mac.

I sold my 2 year old MacBook Air to Mac of all Trades and got a fair price. With that, plus my Xmas money (thanks Mom!), I now have a new MacBook Air, 2.13 GHZ/128GB SSD, from the Apple Store in Tampa.

I loved the form factor of the old MacBook Air but needed more storage. The 128 GB SSD doubles the old model’s 64GB and enables me to have my Aperture library and iTunes library onboard. With the old MBA, I had the libraries on remote disks. 64 GB just wasn’t enough. I’ve had SSD’s on my last 2 Macs and love the speed and reliability they offer. The only moving part in the computer is the fan!

I thought about the 15″ MacBook Pro, but after using the MBA, the Pro feels like a boat anchor. The SSD option is also very expensive for the 15″ MacBook Pro. Since I travel a lot, I’m going with the MacBook Air.

Speed wasn’t a big issue for me. The old MBA was fast enough for what I do. It’s only problem was overheating when running video or working hard. So far, the new MBA’s running cooler and the graphics seem a lot snappier.

I think the build quality is even better than the first generation. The First one was very well built, but had 2 issues: The hinge on the first one was loose and it developed about 2 inches of play when open. The new MBA’s hinge is tight with no play. On the old MBA the sleep LED was misaligned, making it very dim and hard to see. On the new model the LED is bright and perfect. So far it’s perfect with no flaws or issues.

Being carved from a solid block of aluminum, the new MacBook Air still has the same solid feel. It should hold up as well as it’s predecessor.

Suncoast Smart Cars picnic at Ft. De Soto

Smart Cars with Skyway Bridge

The Suncoast Smarts had a picnic at Ft. De Soto today.  It was a beautiful day with temps in the mid 60’s.  Click on the images to see them full size.

Thoughts on the iPad

I posted this on my old blog a few weeks ago.

It’s been a while now since the announcement of the iPad and the dust has settled. The pundits seem to have divided into two camps:

The first group are those who are disappointed by the iPad’s lack of a camera, multitasking, flash, and being stuck with AT&T for data. For them the iPad didn’t live up to the mountain of hype before the announcement.

The second group are excited and “get” something about the User Interface and what it promises for the future. Place me in the second group.

I remember when the iPhone first came out and tech pundits bemoaned it’s lack of multitasking and flash. At the time there were other phones which arguably had a richer feature set–and there still are. Despite this, the iPhone has become a runaway hit. One reason is the User Interface. On the iPhone, the operating system is not in the way, it’s transparent. Have you ever tried to use a Windows Mobile phone?  It’s not about the features.  It’s about how well those features it does have work.

Some people like fiddling with settings and getting “under the hood” of their operating system. They spend so much time tweaking the system that it interferes with getting real work done. These people tend to be tech savvy “geeks” who look down on the average computer user with distain.

Most people just want to read the web, check out Facebook, or send an email. To them the operating system shouldn’t get in the way. That’s what the iPhone and now the iPad manage to do. There’s no need for the end user to get into the file system to read an email or surf the web.

I”m excited about this and what the iPad means for the future. It means that someday the operating system will disappear. It will still be there of course, below the surface, it just won’t matter to the average user.

The iPad also marks the beginning of the end of the “desktop metaphor” and mouse. It’s the start of a more tactile interface with physical manipulation of objects via tablet or trackpad.

The iPad is in version 1.0. Like the iPhone, the iPad’s hardware and software will evolve and get better over time. I can’t wait to see what the iPad becomes!

A nice day in Greenland

I flew from London to Los Angeles today.  Approaching Greenland from the east I took this panorama with the iPhone.  It was a beautiful clear day and the visibility was great.  I took a series of 4 photos with the iPhone and used AutoStitch to make the panorama.

Fresh Start on New Blog

Robert moved our web site over to our home server this weekend. I’ve decided to give it a fresh start.

Watch this space.

Bob