Apple Macbook trackpad button and Internet radio
After a childhood of working with PCs, I bought a Macbook Pro for my college computer. Overall, I definitely like more than most laptop PCs, though one thing struck me as very odd, the trackpad has only one button under it! I was like, how on EARTH can Apple, allegedly one of the most advanced computer firms, limit functionality so much by having only one button! Whatever happened to right-clicking?! My shock soon disappeared though, when I figured out that you could configure the laptop to right-click when you put two fingers on the pad at once and click. Yes! I thought, you CAN right click on macs! But why, I thought, would they ever put such a basic functionality embedded so deeply in the system settings?
Well, I got my answer in October. The new line of Macbooks now no longer have a button; the whole pad is a button, you can tap on it, click it, and slide your fingers across or vertically over it all with 1 to 4 fingers to do different things. In the context of where Apple engineers were driving towards, it makes perfect sense to exclude a second button. Apple users have all had to accustom themselves to using multiple finger combinations on the pad itself to perform crucial functions; thus when the new trackpads came out, instead of being hailed as failures because they've gotten rid of buttons, etc. etc., there was praise all around.
Similarly, I was once angered by the fact that iPods don't have FM or AM radio. In fact I even bought a non-iPod last year because I really wanted to have radio. I thought, just like I thought with the trackpad, that how on earth could Apple leave out such a basic, useful, and relatively in demand feature? Well, I now think the answer is that once iPods become Internet enable (a direction Apple handheld devices and such devices in general seem to be going) FM and AM radio is going to become obsolete. And when that point comes, Apple doesn't want a few sticks-in-the-mud to be party-poopers and decry the loss of the (theoretical) FM and AM capability. Apple wants there to be praise all around.
From a marketing perspective, Apple is definitely one of the smartest companies around. They know how to advertise their product, they know how to drive sales, and they know how to maximize customer satisfaction. Although from a technological perspective, leaving useful features out merely for future marketing reasons can seem regressive (or at least anti-progressive), ultimately, what drives technological progress is demand for it, and maximizing demand for it by means that may even seem regressive is a good long-term plan for technological development.
Posted at 06:20PM Dec 06, 2008 by advargas in General | Comments[1]
Dune
Since the syllabus says that we are allowed to discuss technological movies in our weblogs, I'll take it that I can talk about good books as well. I first encountered the Dune world when I was sent Dune: The Butlerian Jihad by some friends in the US while I was living in Spain. The book was very big, so I don't think I made my way through the entire thing. It was only until last year that I found the first book of the original Dune series in the local library. I devoured the book and all of its sequels and also the later Jihad and House series. I liked them as much as I did because the world takes a very unique approach in futuristic science fiction. Many series show technology making humans invincible, some have technology overtaking humans and laying waste to them. Dune, on the other hand, takes its own approach: it has humans making perfect computers (called machines), being overrun by them, conquering control back from them and being layed waste in the process, rising from the ashes with a religious hate of machines, and finally coming to terms with technology as a legitimate form of intelligence.
I think many lessons can be learned from the Dune series. One of the most important is that no matter what technology does to humans, there will with almost certain probablity always remain a human remnant. If worse comes to worst, oh well, time and life go on; it's not the end, there's always more! Also, the series deeply analyzes the interactions between social groups. It has the Bene Gesserit sisterhood, the Tleilaxu flesh merchants, the Spacing Guild, the good and the bad nobility, the Fremen of Arrakis (aka Dune), and many other groups. It does it an exquisite job of weaving plots within plots, setting a science fiction standard that has rarely, if ever been reached. I highly recommend the series if you like good plot and a treatment of technology from a non-fatalistic (but neither a fawning) perspective. (!Warning: the series is significantly graphic in several parts)
Posted at 12:07AM Dec 06, 2008 by advargas in General | Comments[0]