App Cloud

It’s been some time since I’ve posted anything (curses to you prosperity and popularity!). Anyway, hero Brad Hill of TAP turned me on to this very cool cloud based app called, well CloudApp.

Simply put, It’s a file sharing platform that works seamlessly with the Mac OS. It has two parts: an app that displays up on your toolbar (which is a little cloud, that acts as a progress bar and glows blue when your upload is complete), and a browser-based management tool called My CloudApp.

They have a slick little idea called Raindrops. They appear to be like scripts which you can do stuff like: Set it up to automatically upload screenshots. Through a hot key, upload a selected song from iTunes, or send up a Keynote presentation to access later. And then you can share all these files with whomever you choose. It’s dead simple and dead useful.

This is version 1.0 and there is room for improvement (like a simple share button, no apparent login on the home page, or unaware when I'm on their blog that I just came from My CloudApp and might want to scurry back without the browser’s back button). But I'm sure improvements are on the way.

And the best part: It’s free! It appears they have a pro version in the works which would do away with ads (which aren't there yet).

My advice, keep your feet on the ground and your head in the clouds and don't just check it out, sign up.

iPad: A Lesson in Projection

All jokes aside, the overwhelming reaction of the geek class of pundits are missing the point: Apple’s iPad is not for them, at least not yet.

The Steve did say it was between a smartphone and a laptop, not a new device to replace them.

Geeks, powerusers, programmers, and yes, designers are all frowning on the Pad because it doesn't do anything for them. Or should I say, it doesn’t do anything more for them. I’m calling this projection, or projecting what they know, what they’re used to and most importantly, what more they want form the next iGadget.

Here's what they don’t get: It’s not for them. It’s for the un-them.

Apple’s iPad is for my wife. She loves Facebook. She loves family photos. She loves making photo albums in iPhoto. She emails, browses the web a little, shops a little, watches a movie or two on her iPhone the handful of times she travels, pay bills online and that’s it.

The iPad is for my daughter. She does just about everything my wife does (except pay bills).

Apple’s tablet is for my mom who has never figured how to use a computer let alone set one up, install software, manage all the cables, printers, scanners, external hard drives, burning CDs, backing up, viruses, connecting to the internet, email, blah blah blah.

The absence of multitasking, Flash, a camera, an always there physical keyboard and whatever else the computing class have grown accustomed to, all amount to stuff that's done on devices that the iPad is not trying to be. And though the iWork stuff was pretty amazing, it’s stuff my wife, daughter and mom don't really care much about.

So, instead of looking at what the iPad is not, the important thing to remember is what it is: (present company excluded) A computer for the rest of us.

I think I just projected back in time.