Archive
Evolution and the Death of the Computer
Today, the world changed. Well, the technology world anyway. I say this as I look back on the past from the new era of personal computing. I write this from my Apple iPad.
This afternoon, at around 2 pm, my Dad, sister, and I drove to the Fashion Valley shopping mall and walked into an Apple Store. We were there to see the new iPad, just like the hundreds of other people there. My Dad was determined to wait for the 2nd generation model, which will likely be released around Christmas. We left the Apple Store with a piece of the future, and a case to store it in. We were stunned by the simple beauty and elegance of the iPad and the ease with which it emphasized the relationship between man and machine. We paid the $700 because even though there will be a better version in six months, what we experienced with the iPad was so revolutionary, so unprecedented, that it clearly represents a milestone in the evolution of the computer.
Everything about the iPad screams cutting edge. Everything from the lightweight but robust aluminum and glass enclosure to the shockingly responsive multi-touch display and beautifully slick interface represents the future of the computer. Apple has once again found a way to fundamentally alter and improve the way we interact with the digital world.
As all those people who had the honor of trying the iPad before it’s launch said about their own experiences with the iPad, when I walked into the store, I thought, “what would I ever use this thing for?” And yet after just a few hours with this ultra-cool device, I say, “just you try to take it from me!!! I can’t live without it.” I can’t remember the world before it.
One thing I was especially unprepared for was the web. The iPad revolves around the Apps, but the Apps revolve around the web, so the iPad revolves around the web. And it is the web which the iPad does best. Safari is by far the most important of the many thousands of Apps in the Apple library. All I can say is that the future of communication and personal computing is in the web and portable devices that offer a window into the web effectively will dominate the future. The iPad is one of those devices, and the first real mobile computer.
The last thing I want to mention was the last thing my Dad and I tried while setting up the iPad. The Apple Sales Rep said that the standard Apple wireless keyboard would work with the iPad, and so we decided to give it a try. We turned on the Bluetooth, and as my Dad powered on the keyboard, he said, “If this works, it will be the death of the computer.” The keyboard worked, and just the way a keyboard should work. He pushed the iPad’s box and wrappings away and positioned it and the keyboard on the desk. While surveying his new workstation, my Dad said with a smile, “This is the death of the computer.”
The iPad is the death of the home computer as we know it. It is the first computer that lives on and for the internet and in a world where people live through the internet it will overpower and replace the old home computer. It will not replace the powerhouse workstation that is needed to edit videos or run Photoshop, but even Photoshop is going online. The rest of the software world will either follow in Photoshop’s footsteps or be replaced by something that does. The leading technology researchers and analysts have stated that the future is in the web, in cloud computing, in the internet. Apple has accepted this and embraced it. The other computer companies will either follow in Apple’s footsteps, or be replaced by someone who does.
My iPad is amazing. It is the future. It is Apple.
The 3 Part Explosion
Part 1: The Big 1/12th
1 blog.
2 people.
31 posts.
259 comments.
2,662 hits. (palindrome)
1 month.
It make you wonder what the future holds in store.
Part 2: Standing Against Yoda
Well, as you may have guessed from the seemingly random facts listed about, this blog is now one month old. Actually, it turned 1/12th at about 3pm.
I have talked quite a lot about the direction that CRDESIGNLAB will be taking both here and here, and so I won’t bore you with any more repetitive details. I would just like to add that with every passing day, I become more and more devoted to expanding and improving this young site. With every passing day, I realize just how much potential the 2.0 web holds, and how with a little hard work, almost anything is possible. With every passing day, I become more and more enlightened as to the possibilities that exist within the Mac Lab. And with every passing day, I try harder and harder to make CRDESIGNLAB the best it can be by being the best I can be, by being everything that the Mac Lab is about, and I do so with a happiness and sense of gratification that I do not get anywhere else.
And that is why this site is great. Because I try to be great. I try. And sometimes I succeed, and sometimes I fail. Luckily for me, my successes are far more numerous than my failures.
On Saturday, I commented on Philip Behnam’s brilliantly beautiful new blog header pattern and I asked him how he managed to change the header. He said the setting was in the appearance menus. I looked, but to no avail. I desperately wanted to trash the horrid grey gradient that had been sitting atop CRDESIGNLAB for a month, and so I turned to my last resort: Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). I bought the CSS Styles upgrade for WordPress a while back, but to be honest, code kind of scares me, so I have been reluctant to delve into it. I decided I would brave the unknown and try to dig the code for the header out of the current theme’s CSS, and as you can see, I succeeded. I was ecstatic! I left a jubilant comment on Philip’s blog and literally jumped for joy. I had actually, on my own, figured out how to make something happen by using code! Man, I was happy. And to be completely honest, it was a piece of cake. It took me two minutes and the result was really cool. The moral of this seemlingly pointless little anecdote is that I TRIED!!!! For two minutes, I gave it my all and to my great surprise, I succeeded. Whoever heard of such a thing!!!
Basically, I am trying to tell all of you people who are sitting there thinking “how in the world did they do that stuff” or “how in the world did they find the time” or “how in the world are they so smart” to take a moment to try. Just try to do something. Anything. Just not nothing. I challenge you, I dare you, to put forth some effort and I guarantee you will be shocked at the outcome.
Yoda (from Star Wars) said “Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.” I would like to think of Yoda as a wise old Jedi Master, as his 900 years surely lent him some experience, but I stand conflicted on this statement of his. I believe there is a “try”, and I also believe that if you “try”, the “do” will come naturally. I believe that you cannot have the “do” without the “try”. And so I think the Master is wrong, in a sense. Trying is part of doing. And the latter cannot exist without the first. And the first inevitably leads to the latter. Did I forget to mention that I like circular logic?
Bottom line: try.
Man, ranting is fun! And shockingly tangential sometimes. I started out talking about the blog and ended by telling you to try. It’s it amazing how the lessons of the web 2.0 world can be so relevant in daily life.
Part 3: The Lines of Light
Now for the feature of today’s post. The featured photo was taken when Kyle and I went to downtown on 1/17/2010. The 43 second exposure captured cars as they drove past and then stopped at the red light. It is not as good as a few of the other light painting we did that day, but I think the cars make it very cool. Also, during the car ride downtown, we opened the shutter for twenty seconds or so at a time and captured the lights of the cars moving down the highway. The results of four such experiments are now on the light painting gallery, along with the car picture. I don’t want to devote too much time to these images, as the tangential point of today’s post is discussed above in Part 2.
Well, I guess that is all. I kind of exploded into my computer during 7th period today, and this post was the result. The title was the last thing I wrote, because I feel like that simply is what this post is. My mind exploded. I just threw a bunch of stuff at you. Now do with it what you wish.
Blog Update
As its title suggests, this post is an update about the blog. All the pictures that Kyle and I took yesterday are on the memory card that Kyle took to Orange County and I have been unable to reach him all day. This means that I have no new images or anything to feature on this post.
However, I have spent a little time working on the blog. After a few minutes of digging, I found the portion of the CSS code for the blog’s theme that deals with the header image, and after a few more minutes of experimentation, I figured out how to change the image. I took one of my old light paintings and quickly turned it into a new header image. This image will only be temporary: we will create something cool to replace it sometime soon. I also changed the font of the “CRDESIGNLAB” title. By the way, by changing the CSS, you can change anything, from the fonts, to the backgrounds, to the layout of the blog and the posts. Everything.
I downloaded the SnapzProX trial on my MacBook Pro and experimented with the software. I plan to start filling the “This is How We Do It” page with tutorials similar to those that Mr. Skocko makes. I even looked on the FAQ page on the Mac Lab Blog to find the exact settings that Mr. Skocko uses. As soon as I recover from the cold that is currently plaguing me, I will start making these tutorials, starting with how to change the theme header image and then light painting basics. Normally, it would cost $70 to upgrade WordPress to support video, but by placing the movies in the Dropbox » Public folder and then copying the public link (tutorial coming soon too), I will bypass this cost.
I also uploaded CRDESIGNLAB’s first piece of 3D art, my first animated logo. I built it a long time ago, before winter break, but just hadn’t gotten around to uploading it yet. Hopefully even the 3D galleries will fill up soon.
Today, the blog got its 250th comment, which I think it amazing, given that CRDESIGNLAB has existed for less than a month. I would like to extend a great thanks to all of you that have been following and commenting on my work and that of CRDESIGNLAB. As I said in a previous post, it is a great feeling to know that you are appreciated and an inspiration to others.
Well, that’s all for now. Please come back soon!
The Quadruple 1
Yesterday at around 10:30 pm, this blog passed the 1,000 hit mark. Founded just 17 days ago, the CRDESIGNLAB blog has rapidly grown to a massive project that has dominated my digital life. So far, we have had 1,111 hits, 125 comments, written 16 posts, and built 8 pages. That is truly amazing.
I have been planning to write a special post for this blog’s 1,000 hit milestone, but I did not expect that milestone to come so fast. Yesterday evening as the ticker lept past 1,000, I was deep in a light painting discussion with Philip Behnam and a comment war with Fadi George. These conversations led to a massive 251 page views and 59 new comments in a two hour period. And so instead of pausing my marathon commenting to author a new post, I have waited until today, where I could to this post justice.
In order to properly describe the evolution that CRDESIGNLAB will undergo in the coming weeks and months, I feel that it is necessary to look into the past, and enlighten you all as to how this blog came to be:
17 days ago, on Saturday, January 9, Kyle and I were at my house, sitting around my iMac and MacBook Pro, unloading pictures from my Canon Rebel T1i. We had just taken some pictures around my house in Monarch Ridge. It was then that we started the discussion about founding a blog. I think we only decided to go ahead with it because other people were starting blogs and we wanted to stay up to date. Kyle wasn’t even sure he wanted the blog to be a part of our Mac Lab work.
Over the next few days, as I built all the pages and the two of us wrote our first posts, it became clear that this was not going to be easy. But are the best things in life ever easy? A few talks with Mr. Skocko solidified my idea that CRDESIGNLAB was not going to be just average. I decided that I was not going to merely do average work. I knew at that point that I was going to give this blog my all and make it the best I could, and then make it better. Over the past 17 days, I have been working tirelessly to expand and define CRDESIGNLAB. For every hour I work in class, I spend at least three working on this blog outside of class.
And then we get to today.
And now to venture forth into the unknown with only a computer and a plan.
And so here is the plan. I have spent so much time being a photographer, editing images, building the galleries, and writing the posts, that I have neglected a very important element of the Mac Lab philosophy: the act of helping others. There is a page entitled “This is How We Do It,” and currently all that is says is that we will build it after Finals. And that is what I intend to do. That page will, hopefully, become the greatest of them all, and will be where Kyle and I communicate to the Mac Lab and the world as a whole how we have filled our galleries. The “How We Do It” page will finally tell you how we do it.
Also, the blog itself will change. By the end of the year, I hope to have learned enough of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) to completely, or at least partially, redesign the look of CRDESIGNLAB.
Of course, the galleries will also grow, and multiply. Kyle and I will continue to take and edit pictures. Furthermore, I will create dedicated galleries for light painting and 3D Design and Animation, as well as the subcategories of our Digital Art: self portraits, logos, and posters.
Ultimately, I would like to transform CRDESIGNLAB into a resource for aspiring photographers, both in the Mac Lab and beyond. In the spirit of teamwork, I would like to ask for suggestions or opinions as to where this blog should venture and what we should do in the future.
This post was written during the 7th period Mac Lab Final, so I do not have access to my photo library and therefore have no image to represent what I have said here. Truthfully though, nothing represents this post better than the blog itself, so I leave you with that: CRDESIGNLAB.
