Now of course this is a proof of concept and not actually “real” just yet, but what Bonnier have realized is something of marvel. With all the buzz about the soon to come Apple Tablet, concepts like this have been popping up everywhere in the search of what the perfect magazine publishing format and experience should be on reading devices of the near future.
Forget the Kindle, Nook or any other gen 1 handheld e-reader – I’m pretty sure my iPhone or any smartphone for that matter could do just a good job or displaying black text on a white background – what I’m more interested in will be the next phase of publishing on handheld devices…Bonnier thank you showing us a glimpse of what’s to come.
“Transform any pool table into a digitally-enhanced video experience. High-definition imagery responds in real-time to every shot. User-selectable themes yield infinite possibilities. As seen in the Paradise Tower Penthouse, Hard Rock Hotel & CasinoTM, Las Vegas and the Esquire SoHo apartment.”
Forget molecular gastronomy of today, Philips design has some concepts for the future of your fine dining needs:
“Philips Design in Eindhoven have designed a series of conceptual products for food, including a machine (below) that prints combinations of ingredients into shapes and consistencies specified by the user. Foods would be constructed from ingredients corresponding to the nutritional needs of the user, using a similar process to rapid prototyping.”
With all the Apple hoopla happening today, thought I would take the time to take a tangent from all the tweets and blog posts about the bright future of that company in Cupertino (it is bright, don’t get me wrong). Instead let me take a tangent and take this moment to confess my love and admiration for the soon to be released Nokia N900.
As some of you may now, I have an extreme problem holding onto the same handset for more than a month. I tend to sport the wandering eye to all the bright new shiny objects I see coming down the pipeline, but the one that has my absolute attention now is N900 or Rover as I used to know it. I’m not going to spend the time to break it down to granular details until I get it in my hands, BUT ditching Symbian for Maemo, Linux powered, hardware QWERTY, 32GB storage (expandable to 48GB), ARM Cortex A8 600 MHz, PowerVR SGX graphics, 800X480 resolution, 5 megapixel camera, flash 9 enabled etc. are all reasons for me to believe that this is a device for me. You will be able to download movies with a torrent client and watch your 1.3gig 720p divx movies all straight from the device…nothing but applause here.
Yes it’s a bit pudgy and a bit of a brick, but that’s the price you pay for having a cpu in your pocket. I’ve had the luxury of holding and playing around with the device a bit to put it through some quick tests, and I have to say that the easiest way to explain the N900 to the N97 is to look at it as the evil twin. Both are convergent devices, but with a different makeup.
N97 = Spiderman, N900 = Venom.
One is the hero, while the other is the villain. You wont see any big ad campaigns for the N900 (although W+K and one dot zero did something pretty spectacular using the N900 – breakdown here) and unlike all the PR and buzz around the N97, I’m sure the silent, but deadly N900 will like it this way.
What’s most interesting about the device is that you get a glimpse into the future of Nokia and where I believe they will be putting most of their chips – will this be the slow death to Symbian over time, or will they continue to create different product streams for the next 5 years? My guess is that that while the N97 is the pinnacle of what is possible with Symbian, that the future with Maemo will be very bright indeed for Nokia – now if only the company could put the pedal to the metal and be swifter to adapt and change with the speed of light. While Nokia is the clear cut leader catering to emerging markets and mid-range devices, there is only a matter of time when Apple will introduce the cheaper price point iPhone Nano to go for the jugular beyond the high-end affluent consumer.
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