Since I forgot about the thing immediately after ordering it, I was delighted to see that the mail lady delivered it yesterday afternoon. And although they had never seen a harmonica before, the boys were quick to give it a try.

Here’s Asa (2 1/2 years old) with a quick demo:

And, Kael (4 1/4 years old) with a longer performance:

Any suggestions on the next instrument we can introduce to our fledgling band?

It turns out that I’m a sucker for children’s books with great typography — especially when it’s used to great effect in the storytelling. While browsing yesterday, I found one I just had to bring home based on its cover —  Big Plans by Bob Shea, illustrated by Lane Smith:

The story follows a boy who has “BIG PLANS. BIG PLANS I SAY.”, and he’s not afraid to let everyone know it. I love the design of this book, which, while not fully appreciated by a four and two year old, adds a lot to the humor and tone of the story. WhatTheFont wasn’t able to identify the fonts used, so maybe I’ll have to submit a sample to their forum to figure out the main typefaces.

In any case, well done Bob Shea and Lane Smith. Well done.

The Name Sucks.

This is not opinion, this is established fact. It’s an uninspired brand coming from Apple, looking and sounding way to close to iPod for my tastes. And the feminine hygiene jokes were immediate and plentiful.

I wish they would have went with something like Canvas, though that name implies creativity over consumption — the opposite of the iPad.

It’s a Bigger, Faster iPod Touch. Or a Crippled Netbook Without a Keyboard. Take Your Pick.

The iPad is beautiful — a work of art. But Revolutionary? No.

It runs the iPhone OS and can run apps designed for the iPhone/iPod Touch in addition to new applications designed specifically to take advantage of the 9.7 inch display and the Apple designed A4 processor. This means that for yet one more device, Apple will play gatekeeper to what applications you can and cannot run. Or, as Dan Gillmor aptly put it earlier in the day:

The iPad is clearly Apple’s answer to low-cost netbook computers, but the problem is, it’s not really a computer in the way we typically think of one. Here is an incomplete list of things you can do on any netbook, but not on the iPad:

• Download and install applications from any source off the internet, including open source projects
• Choose an alternative web browser (Chrome, Firefox, etc.)
• Watch Flash-based video and view Flash websites
• Run multiple applications at the same time
• Use any USB device

One last, important thing to note in this section: All of the many amazing use cases given for the iPad today could just as easily be accomplished on a laptop/netbook or the iPhone/iPod Touch. All of them.

The Price is Better than Expected.

Apple did a couple of really clever things regarding price for the iPad:

1. In the weeks leading up to Apple’s event, it intentionally fed the “around $1000″ price point to the media, setting expectations on the iPad being an expensive device.
2. Focused completely on the “starting at” price of $499. Nevermind that most people will opt to pay more for extra storage or 3G wireless — The iPad is now seen as a bargin.

In the end, an WiFi-only iPad costs $300 more than an iPod Touch equipped with the same amount of memory (though the entry level iPad gives you 16GB instead of 8GB like on the basic Touch).

It Should Make a Good eBook Reader Killer.

For all but the biggest book lovers, there won’t be a big debate between buying a dedicated eBook reader or spending a little more for the versatility of the iPad. The high quality screen should be just fine for reading large amounts of text. Plus, you can always watch HD video on it if you need a break.

Personally, I think Amazon’s Kindle brand will be around for a long time to come. They’ve got deep pockets and a huge advantage with the relationships they’ve made from their dead-tree book business.

But these other, up-start eBook readers? They’re screwed.

3G Wireless Sans-Contract is Nice. No Verizon Option is Lame. 250 MB Data Plan is Super Lame.

I’m glad Apple is offering 3G wireless broadband as an option for those who want to pay extra for it. And the fact that it’s being done without any long-term contracts is really nice. I hope that becomes the industry standard.

Apple partnering up with AT&T again for the iPad is a disappointment as they’ve already proven they can’t handle the network load created by the iPhone. It would have been nice to finally see a Verizon Wireless option.

The 250MB/month data plan for $14.99 is useless. You can burn through 250 megabytes in a couple of hours if you’re watching YouTube videos or streaming music from Pandora. I really think it’s there as a psychological pricing trigger — If you see it next to the option for “unlimited” data for twice the price, a lot of people will pay the extra money and be done with it.

iMeh.

The iPad is unquestionably an amazing consumer electronics device, but it’s not obvious why I’d want one. Maybe, as some Apple fans have said, you have to actually hold one in your hands in order to get it. Problem is, I don’t remember needing to get my hands on an iPhone to appreciate its significance.

And that, I think, sums up the Apple iPad.

Possibly related posts:

1. Apple Announces iPhone — Cingular Only
2. The Problem with Tablets
3. Apple and AT&T: Inglorious Bastards
4. Wow — A Free Apple iPhone!
5. The iPhone on Verizon: Break My Heart Again, Apple

And while you can be sure I’ll be tracking Wednesday’s event coverage on GDGT Live and TWIT Live, I’m skeptical that Apple’s tablet device — or any tablet for that matter - will be a commercial success. Not necessarily because they’ll make a dud (possible, but unlikely), but because the very idea of a tablet computer seems unnecessary.

Still — I can’t wait to see what Apple has made.

Awkwardness

Although Apple will be getting all of the attention for its new tablet this week, it is far from the first company to take a crack at the form-factor. Microsoft alone has been pushing pen-based computers for at least eight years (I remember seeing Bill Gates demoing one at a technology conference in Fargo in 2002), and there have been various rumors of an Apple tablet for nearly as long. The product category has seen some success in niches such as law and medicine, but the average person has shown little interest so far.

Why? One big reason is size. There is a small size range — between 8 to 10 inches — that makes sense for a tablet screen. Any bigger and you might as well carry your laptop. Any smaller and you’re competing against the iPhone or Android-powered phones which already do a Good Enough job of running apps and providing connectivity wherever you are. The problem is that a 10-inch device is incredibly awkward. It’s too big to fit in your pockets and too small to comfortably get real work done.

Another problem is that, at least in the past, tablet functionality has been tacked onto existing interfaces and operating systems. Windows XP, Vista, and 7 are each capable of functioning on tablet devices, but from everything I’ve seen and heard, it’s not a great experience. Windows was designed to be used with a keyboard and mouse, and shoehorning stylus or touch technology to work with it creates a novel secondary form of interaction, at best.

Perhaps the best discussion I’ve heard on the basic problems facing the tablet form-factor is from the December 3, 2009 episode of the gdgt weekly podcast. The relevant section — which you can listen to below — is a few minutes long, and worth listening to.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Cost

Let’s make the easy to believe prediction that Apple’s table is beautifully designed and has a user interface to match — It’s a home run by every technical and aesthetic measure. That still levels the important detail of how much this new device costs. Apple doesn’t aim to be the price leader in any category (especially with a new product), so expect something in the $800-$1000 price range depending on storage and a few other “premium” features.

Again, the tablet is stuck in the awkward middle. You can get a Macbook for essentially the same price, or a netbook with a 10-inch screen and a keyboard for 1/3 the cost of an Apple tablet. Granted, it won’t be an Apple and the screen will suck, but for most people, price matters. But wait — there’s more! If rumors are true, not only will buyers of the Apple tablet pay the typical premium for the new product (that’s not a knock, by the way — I’ve happily paid it many times myself), but other ongoing costs.

First, it’s expected that just like with the iPhone and iPod Touch, Apple will use the iTunes Store to distribute and sell applications. If this is true, it means you’ve got to go through Apple’s walled garden for every program you put on your tablet — no open source apps, no “unapproved” apps, etc.

Second, it’s rumored that the new Apple device will be the premiere platform for reading books, magazines, and newspapers. If this is true, guess where you’ll be going to purchase or subscribe to this content? Yup — the iTunes Store.

Third, it’s likely the Apple tablet will come with the ability to use Verizon or AT&T 3G broadband to give you an internet connection anywhere. Let’s hope this is at least optional, otherwise that’s another $30–40 monthly subscription you’re required to pay.

Watching with Interest

Don’t misinterpret my skepticism of tablets with a desire for Apple to fail with their new product.  Sure, I have issues with their general lack of platform and application openness and the potentially high ongoing price tag for their tablet, but I hope they deliver an innovative device that forces just as much industry change as the iPhone did. I just think they’ll face a much harder sell than getting people to buy a phone or a laptop.

And while nobody has scored a hit with a tablet computer yet, if anyone can, it’s Apple.

Possibly related posts:

1. Apple Announces iPhone — Cingular Only
2. iMeh: A Few Quick Thoughts on the Apple iPad
3. Steve Jobs Still Hates North Dakota
4. Apple and AT&T: Inglorious Bastards
5. The iPhone on Verizon: Break My Heart Again, Apple

Like all of our Christmas cards, this one was done by my sister, Tera Christianson, of Blessings Photography.

Possibly related posts:

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2. Merry Christmas!
3. Merry Christmas!
4. Congratulations Tera!
5. Merry Christmas From the Berberichs (2006)

One of the daily diversions Sullivan has incorporated into his site is what he calls The View From Your Window. Started as a week-long experiment of reader-submitted photos in May 2006, the project evolved into a favorite of regular readers. Here is Andrew on the goal of this daily feature:

The point of the project is not to document snow fall in New Orleans, the aftermath of a hurricane in the South Pacific, or a beautiful sunset in the Arizona desert. The best window views are those depicting what you see everyday when you look outside. So show us — and every other reader — your world. Don’t pretty it up; just show it as it is — a glimpse through the looking glass of a blog, at the world its readers live in.

That’s really what it is — a unique opportunity to peek into the daily lives of people throughout the world with whom I have at least one thing in common. The project turned out to be such a success that earlier this year, they decided to turn it into a book:

While they were wrapping up photo selections for the book earlier this year, a call was put out for good candidates from several different states, including North Dakota. I happen to have an amazing window view from my office here at the Center for Innovation in Grand Forks, so I decided to submit a photo. Here it is, in my copy of the the book I just received yesterday:

Here’s another shot that I took from the same spot (the Center’s break room) earlier that same day (April 24, 2009).

So, since all the photos in the book are uncredited, I just wanted to share my excitement in having my very first photograph published in a book. Besides, it gives me a good excuse to put in a good word for Grand Forks, my home for 12 years.

Possibly related posts:

1. State of the Blog
2. 10 Years Later: The Great Red River Flood of 1997
3. Britney in Grand Forks
4. Tip of the Day: Customize Your Google Homepage

Claim #1: Google is EEEEVVVIIILLL!!

Google’s critics were quick to jump on this story as proof that, despite its code of conduct, the company is engaged in some evil games. The attacks come down to a few different themes:

1. Google is trying to further embed itself into the fabric of the internet
2. Google is going to data mine the DNS records and use that information to show you lots of ads
3. Google already knows everything about you, but now it’s going to know everything about you

Here are a few examples. Kris Smith at TechStartups:

Google Public DNS is a data mining opportunity for Google that goes above and beyond Analytics JavaScript, cookies, RSS and hosting your profile. This is a big deal. Every request made to a site that uses this service will have to pass through their DNS servers. Let’s just say that this will be bajillions of records with lots of data associated with them. To be honest, this product has to be about one of the scariest things that I have read about in the last decade. Google already sits on mountains of data about usage, traffic patterns, search, documents, phone calls, publisher content creation from its immediate publication and I’m missing about half a dozen other things.

Ryan Singel at Wired’s Threat Level:

Maybe this is Google trying to show ISPs how to do it right. But instead, the news just feels like Google inserting itself into one more layer of the net — just because it can. Now I can use Google DNS to look up Google.com on my Google Chrome browser running on a Google Chrome OS. And Google DNS will get me to Gmail and Google Books and Google Voice and maybe soon it will even tell my browser where my Google Toothbrush is. And it will do so faster and better than Comcast’s DNS could. We get it, Google. You are smart. You can do anything better than anyone else (except say social networking and online video). We get it already. But you are starting to get annoying, and you won’t be running my DNS anytime soon, no matter how nice your privacy promises are. It’s still called the internet, not the Googlenet.

These arguments ignore a few very important facts, however:

1. You have to explicitly opt-in to Google’s DNS service by manually changing your network settings on your computer
2. Google’s privacy policy for this service makes it extremely clear that it doesn’t permanently store any personally identifiable information. Your IP address — the only piece of data it could tie back to you — is deleted within 24–48 hours.

Claim #2: Google is Taking on OpenDNS and Other Providers!!

This argument was more prevalent for a couple of reasons:

1. It’s common for tech writers to frame everything as a battle since it’s exciting and everyone loves a good fight (Mac vs PC, iPhone vs Android, Microsoft vs Linux/open source, etc.)
2. Google can’t introduce any new product without stepping on someone’s toes

DNS had been a forgotten commodity for years until a few years ago when OpenDNS offered a faster service than most ISP-run DNS servers along with content filtering and other capabilities. It’s by far the biggest player in the market (I’m currently a happy user of OpenDNS). So when Google announced its free DNS service, some people automatically took it as an attack on them. OpenDNS’s own David Ulevitch:

Google claims that this service is better because it has no ads or redirection. But you have to remember they are also the largest advertising and redirection company on the Internet. To think that Google’s DNS service is for the benefit of the Internet would be naive. They know there is value in controlling more of your Internet experience and I would expect them to explore that fully. And of course, we always have protected user privacy and have never sold our DNS data.

And, blogger Jesse Stay decided to take the battle theme to its logical conclusion and declared DNS the new browser war:

Now that you see the potential for controlling the network, you realize that on the “open web”, he who controls the network controls the entire internet.  That’s powerful from a monetization and marketing, and especially advertising standpoint (which Google has a vested interest in).  When one company controls DNS, that company has the potential to control those that connect through that DNS.  Now what happens when Google makes this “Public DNS” the default DNS for its users of the Chrome OS?  Now, not only will Google have an edge in the desktop market, but they also now have an edge on the internet itself. I predict DNS will become the new Browser War.  Now that we have the players in the window to the internet (IE, Firefox/Mozilla, Chrome, Safari), the competition is now shifting to the internet itself, and who controls the actual browsing experience for the user.  You’ll see players like Microsoft and maybe Apple, and maybe even Facebook enter this race.  Let’s hope Google continues to follow its model, “Do no evil” as they approach this.  I hope they build open architectures allowing users to control their data and control the experience rather than Google itself.  I hope Google stays competitive, rather than knocking services like OpenDNS out of service.  I hope they find ways to work with others as they do this. There’s a new “war” a-brewing and we’ve moved beyond the browser to who controls the web itself.  Does Google get first-mover advantage?

Wow. Talk about reading a lot into Google’s announcement. Jesse is making some pretty big mental leaps to arrive at those conclusions. Bringing this back to reality, there is zero chance of Microsoft, Apple, or Facebook(!) spending the cash and effort to roll their own DNS services. Zero. There is no war here. The battle is for what will run in the browser.

It’s All About Speed.

Google Public DNS is, quite simply, all about making the web faster. In Google’s eyes, a faster web experience is a better experience that will lead to more time spend online, more viewed pages, and ultimately, more ad revenue for itself. Kottke nails this.

If you look back to some of Google’s recent announcements, this makes perfect sense. The Chrome browser is all about speed, as is the Chrome OS. Their JavaScript compiler and experimental SPDY protocol too, are designed to reduce page load times. The company is also instructing web professionals to focus on performance, as it might become a factor in how sites rank in search results.

So, I don’t see this as some nefarious plan to spy on users and gain control of the internet (again, Google’s DNS is completely opt-in). Instead, I’m once again impressed at how Google has aligned its own interests with those of the web as a whole. Sure, a faster, standards-based internet might result in more income for Google, but it ultimately creates a better browsing experience for everyone, even if they don’t use all of Google’s tools and services.

Possibly related posts:

1. Chrome is Google’s Latest Jab at Microsoft
2. My Thoughts on Google Web History
3. Tip of the Day: Customize Your Google Homepage
4. A9 — The New Google Rival
5. Google App Engine: Embrace the Constraints

It’s worth noting that the version of Seesmic for BlackBerry I’m showing you is currently an Alpha release, so it’s still buggy and incomplete. Seesmic has a good history of frequent updates though, so fixes and new features should appear rapidly.

TweetGenius

Although it isn’t free, TweetGenius is currently the best Twitter client available for BlackBerry. Here are some of its notable features:

• Option to schedule the fetching of new tweets, ranging from every 3 minutes to every 4 hours
• Familiar keyboard shortcuts for frequently used actions (composing a message, replying, sending a direct message, etc.)
• Ability to mark messages as favorites
• Can send your GPS location. The current version (1.1.2) does not support Twitter’s new geolocation API
• URL shortening with bit.ly
• Search and view trends
• Upload photos to TwitPic or yFrog, and view images without leaving the app

I’m a big fan of the TweetGenius user interface, too. It probably has the best design of any application I have on my Tour.

TweetGenius has an extensive settings area where you can customize many of its options.

Seesmic for BlackBerry

Even though this alpha release of Seesmic is pretty rough, it’s good when compared to some of the other free Twitter clients for BlackBerry.

Some of its pluses:

• Auto-downloading of older messages when you reach the bottom of your list
• Background notifications  to alert you of new replies and direct messages
• Support for Twitter’s new list feature
• Support for native geolocation using the BlackBerry’s built-in GPS
• TwitPic and yFrog support
• URL shortening with bit.ly
• A clean, simple interface inspired by the built-in BlackBerry email client

And, some of the minuses:

• No keyboard shortcuts yet, so everything needs to be done via the menu and the scroll ball
• No option to mark a tweet as a favorite
• No ability to follow new people
• You can’t few someone’s Twitter profile information
• Clicking on a photo link launches it in the BlackBerry browser instead of viewing it right in Seesmic
• The process to shorten a URL is not intuitive at all

Get used to that menu, because you’ll be using it a lot.

Seesmic’s Settings screen is surprisingly sparse

Keep an Eye on Seesmic for BlackBerry

I have no plans to switch over to Seesmic from TweetGenius anytime soon, but I’m definitely going to keep an eye on it. Its maker (also called Seesmic) has a reputation for listening to user feedback and innovating quickly, so I expect it to be a real competitor very soon.

Possibly related posts:

1. What I’m Using On My BlackBerry Tour
2. Review: Two Weeks With Verizon’s BlackBerry Pearl 8130
3. The BlackBerry Storm is Verizon’s Vietnam
4. A Week With Verizon’s BlackBerry Tour 9630
5. Searching for My Next Phone

Friction, Baby.

I’ve personally tried at least a half-dozen of these tools, including DailyBurn, FitDay, Traineo, SparkPeople, and the Daily Plate. They’ve each got their strengths and weaknesses — some focusing more on diet, some on exercise, and others on building a community to support you in your Quest For Better Health™. However, they all suffer from the same fatal flaw: They’re too much work.

All of these web apps want me to sit down at a computer to enter every piece of food I eat and every exercise I do. This isn’t a big deal when you’re sitting in front of a screen during the work day, but it’s a huge inconvenience when you can’t get to a web browser for awhile. Spend one weekend out of town and away from a computer, and the thought of logging three days worth of snacks and meals at once will be enough for you to say “screw it” and call it quits.

And ironically, logging your food intake on these sites is even more work if you choose to eat healthy by making your own meals and avoiding processed foods. Because, while processed and franchise restaurant items are almost certainly already in these sites’ databases, there’s a good chance you’ll need to manually add the individual ingredients if you’re trying a new recipe for dinner.

Striking a Balance

Detailed data is nice, but it’s not necessary. If you look at the study above on food diaries, you’ll see that the key was not calorie counting, but becoming more aware of what you’re eating. So, I think a compromise is in order: Instead of tracking just a couple of things in depth, record more items in less detail using a method that has zero friction in its usage. I’ve found just such a solution in your.flowingdata.

your.flowingdata is a project created by UCLA graduate student Nathan Yau, author of the FlowingData data visualization blog. This deceptively simple application makes use of Twitter direct messages to log your data, which means you can do it anytime, anywhere from your phone.

Anytime you want to record something it’s as simple as:

d yfd ate banana

The beautiful thing about your.flowingdata that I didn’t completely grasp at first is that you can use it to literally record anything. Food intake, weight, sleep, how much TV you watch, how many times you go to the bathroom, whatever. You can keep track of it as long as you can convey what you want using the simple message syntax:

action [value] [unit] [timestamp]

Since I started sending the application data on November 4th, I’ve logged over 345 items, including 22 weight measurements that create this nice scatter plot graph (notice how it’s trending down…):

And, it highlights the fact that I haven’t gotten to bed before midnight since I started recording data, and that my shortest night of sleep was just last night (less than four hours, due to an early-waking toddler).

Sure, some of the things I’m currently tracking may turn out to be of dubious value. But because logging actions is so easy, there’s really no downside. And who knows — as I accumulate data over time, it might become even more valuable and highlight some trend I wouldn’t have noticed otherwise.

Possibly related posts:

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1. Whether Mint “sold out” by cashing out early instead of building the business for the long-term
2. What will happen to Mint (once considered the anti-Intuit) now that it’s under new ownership

The first topic is interesting, but it’s been done to death by the tech entrepreneur crowd, and I have little to add. Personally, I think it’s great they were able to make a ton of cash off Mint after being around for just three years. More power to them.

As for the second question, worries of Intuit buying and then killing off Mint were not only unfounded, but wildly inaccurate. Not only is Intuit replacing the current Quicken Online with Mint, it’s putting the Mint guys in charge of innovating the Quicken product.

As a long-time Mint user, this is all very exciting. But, I do have one beef with this whole thing: Quicken Online actually has a couple of nice features that Mint doesn’t, and I’d hate to see them get dropped when the current version gets killed off.

Mint is amazing for keeping track of how you spent your money, but is still lacking when it comes to managing the money you’re going to spend. It did get improved budgeting tools a few months ago, but there currently isn’t any way to consider upcoming transactions and their impact on your account balance.

On the other hand, Quicken Online handles this with ease. At a glance, you can see your “RealBalance” — the amount you really have on-hand today dispute transaction lags — and how much discretionary money you have for the next month after bills and automatic withdrawals are considered.

This small feature is extremely useful, and is actually the main reason why I use Quicken Online in addition to Mint right now.

Similarly, Quicken Online gives you a handy graphical representation of how expected future inflows and outflows will affect your account.

Finally, Mint still doesn’t have a way to easily track purchases made with cash. Again, Quicken Online does this without any problems.

Taking a look at the Mint discussion forums, many others have been asking for these features too, and Mint staffers claim the company is hearing the requests. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they are working on adding a cash account and upcoming transaction support to Mint in the future, but I just hope they’re able to do it before they replace the current Quicken Online.

Possibly related posts:

1. Keep Track of Your Finances with Wesabe
2. Moneydance