Digital Pulp Blog

Yesterday the buzz in the office was off the charts. Schedules were rearranged, pizza was ordered, and speculation was at an all-time high. What new digital revolution was Apple going to announce??

We gathered around the conference room table and watched “live blog” sessions from both engadget and gizmodo to ensure no details of the report were missed. As each feature of the new “iPad” was unveiled, we’d brainstorm ways that someone could use this “magical, revolutionary” device.

Someone else, that is. Maybe not us. We didn’t see much that made us want to queue up in the line that’s probably already forming around the SoHo Apple Store to buy this thing. Where’s the revolution?!?

Josh, a lead developer at DP, offered a great answer: the iPad (like the iPhone before it) is a device, sure — but more than that, it’s a platform that allows creative software developers to do things that couldn’t be done before:

The #1 comment on the iPad so far seems to be that it’s “just a big iPhone.” People say this like it’s a bad thing; I think it’ll end up being the selling point. The beauty of the iPhone was never in its form factor or its engineering…. The iPhone has been a three-year course in new modes of user experience. The best apps are those that solve the device’s size restrictions with elegance. Now that the designers and developers who brought out the best in the iPhone have some room to play, we’re going to see the same innovation applied to a whole new class of apps that approach the functionality of traditional desktop software. The iPad’s potential is as a platform, not a device.

(I totally hate the name, though.)

The iPad is here (or will be in March, anyway). But the real revolution is still to come, in the form of new applications that you’ve only just started to imagine…

Read more at: Apple’s Product Page | Engadget’s Live Blog | Gizmodo Live Blog

Producers are always throwing out crazy interface challenges to the DP Tech team. Beyond web site and interactive widgets some producer requests have gone to the ridiculous including requests for forcefields that repel rain and wireless power to keep cellphones charged (which is nearing reality). But this month Wired Magazine has grabbed the baton with its most recent article:

Russian Billionaire Installs Anti-Photo Shield on Giant Yacht

Aparently Ambramovich has installed an anti-paparazzi “shield” where lasers sweep the surroundings and when they detect a CCD, they fire a bolt of light right at the camera to obliterate any photograph. What can we say? Awesome.