via cityofsound.com

City of Sound have a very good piece on Apple’s new iPad that takes quite a pragmatic approach to the device and doesn’t give into the hysteria (both positive and negative) that has surrounded it’s release. The author takes an urbanist approach to the review, in which they state that the iPad is a device for the life between buildings. For the “third space”. It is a device for “airplanes, taxis, public transport, park benches, coffeeshops, pubs, bars, bistros, co-working spaces, breakouts, studios, receptions, meeting rooms, plaza and piazza, public libraries, beaches nd all manner of transient spaces, civic spaces”. In short: “It is a device for cities”.

Light and small enough to fit in a handbag or satchel, yet powerful and productive. That is one of the reasons that laptops have risen so much in the last few years, but whilst the laptop will require often external power, or a larger screen – when all one might want to do is just run through a presentation or check out some images – the tablet might be more appropriate.

Some, thinking of third products rather than third spaces, have queried the idea of a third computer anyway. The thinking here is stuck in pre-’New World computing’ mode. As the author says: “In particular, that Old World thinking centres on a techno-centric view of computing as the ‘universal machine’, or Swiss army knife, capable of doing anything and so highly flexible – and so rarely used to its capacity and for most of its existence using a minute proportion of its processing power. You might almost say this is a resource-abundant view; another anachronism.”

The idea of a “primary computer” is increasingly ridiculous, especially now that we are moving toward “an internet of things” with data fluidly stored anywhere and accessed anywhere.

This is a very good article, and I recommend a full read if you get the time.

Posted via web from Pete Gilbert