WeatherproHD

Byrichard

Weather is something I don’t really care to take note of because it doesn’t change much about my appearance. It does change what I drive though. In summer when the weather is nice and warm then I’d much rather drive the scooter than the car. That’s because if I see a mother distracted by children whilst pulling out onto the main road it’s easier to overtake her.

It’s also easier, when at traffic lights to get to the front of the queue rather than wait like an unambitious car driver, and before you object I’m very often trapped in traffic, so please remain polite in the comments (as if there were going to be any.

The interesting part.

Today and yesterday I was at an event in the lovely rain one day and sadistic rain the next. I call the rain sadistic because it resulted in many cycling injuries during a local race around the lake. One person at the event was playing with weather pro on the Iphone, and from the glimpse I caught I saw something useful. I’m home now and I downloaded the weather app on the Ipad, after all if you’re going to spend money on an app you might as well have a frame to display it.

I love how this app displays information. You have the weather graphic to show the main weather trends of the day. You have temperature information, rain information, wind direction, pressure, humidity and more. As an additional feature you have the ability to add your favourite cities, let’s say London, Geneva, Paris, South Africa (for the World Cup) and maybe one more. Click on the right side of the screen and you have information for each city.

There are three bonus buttons at the bottom of the screen, the weather button, whose features I have described. The radar tab shows you where the most recent precipitation has been. Satellite images show you what the clouds have been doing for a set time period.

We’ll see how often I use this app. I like that it has all these features.

I have the ipad and these are my first thoughts

Byrichard

The iPad is a glorious device and I am in love already. What makes this device particularly attractive is that it has a large keyboard and a large screen. This is important for two reasons. The first of these is typing speed. I am very closes to touch typing speed already.

The second thing I like about it is that I could easily see myself putting it in the stand and using the calendar feature and e-mail client. The display feels like a sheet of paper. They tend to go for that look. The advantage with such a device is evident. I can see the whole email without scrolling. This means I am less likely to skip over something that I should otherwise have notice.

The sound when you type is quite interesting. You hear low taps most of the time but for some keys you do hear the sound of the nail hitting the glass. If you hold it vertical then with my hands you can type although the fingers stretch a little too much.

Geolorean

Byrichard

This is a simple Iphone, Android and other platform solution which allows you to add your foursquare, gowalla, brightkyte and other accounts to checkin.

The idea is simple. You have one interface where you see everything your friends are up to. You have a second interface where you can check in to locations several at a time. It will save time and battery life to use just one application.

An Ipad awaits

Byrichard

After the 28th of May I will have an Ipad. I have decided to get an Ipad for a number of reasons.

The first of these reasons is activity within the social part of the world wide web. I use it as a conversational and informational tool. I share my location when I’m out, I express my opinions and in general I am at ease with online social activities.

I also like being social face to face whilst being online. By that I mean that the age of the desktop and the laptop are coming to a fork. I would say end but laptops and desktops have a way to go. Photography and video editing are just two reasons for bigger machines.

At the same time look at how mobile phones have become more competent tools for most of what some of us do in the social media. We share images, we share pictures, videos and even our location on a 24hr basis. For the latter you need to earn the sharer’s trust.

Netbooks were an interesting proposition. They’re small, batteries last a long time and they’re practical. The problem is that the software they run is not optimised for a small screen. When you get an error message window where you cannot click ok you have a problem. When you attempt to play flash videos and the system hangs you’ve got another problem. When you visit the twitter site and the netbook struggles you’re just going to be frustrated.

That’s where the Ipad comes in. The operating system and applications are all optimised for a smaller screen, for a mono tasking machine. Blogging applications amongst others will be practical on such devices. Any time you’re out of the home you fit it into the bag, pull it out and start writing. You’re online anyway so things are instantly synced with the cloud. No need to worry about being tired after a day at a conference or as a traveller when you prefer not to leave your gadgets unattended.

I look forward to having an iPad, that glorified photo frame that can play video and communicate with the world.

Glocals and twitter

Byrichard

Glocals is a local website to find out what events are going on where for the international community in Geneva. It regroups events in a number of cities making easier to meet like minded people.

The reason for which I mention this social network is the low input high yield results from the site. In brief you see an event, you turn up, you meet some strangers and through conversation they become acquaintances.

This is contrary to the way I have approached social interactions on the web. I have spent years now building trust, building relations with people in a virtual environment. As a result of this it requires constant attention, constant interest.

I am thinking of twitter when speaking about this topic. 70,000 tweets have given me very little return on the time I have invested. In effect twitter is not only a waste of time but just the wrong social network for Switzerland.

There are a wealth of people to be met through the Glocals site, some work in the UN system, others for global companies and yet more for other settings. People who have been in Geneva for just a few hours or days meet up with people who have been here for years.

There’s also the gender balance. Going to many twitter events you’re surrounded by men, by workaholics, by self proclaimed entrepreneurs. They are focused on work, and profit rather than friendship.

In contrast Glocals is a nice mix of men and woman, physically active people who go canyoning, sailing, running and more. It’s a well travelled international crowd.

The most interesting aspet of my experiences over the past two weeks is that just because a site is talked about extensively does not mean that this is the site you should give most of your time to. There is a good chance that there is a tiny site with only a few thousand users that will reward you by turning up to events. No need for all that virtual conversing. Turn up, chat face to face and you will have gained new opportunities. The result is a more satisfied end of weekend. I will continue particpating in these face to face meetups and twitter will be a secondary network.

Seesmic video and HTML 5

Byrichard

Remember the video version of seesmic, the one that spawned.the francofous?

Things changed for two reasons. Bandwidth issues and ressources. Flash would suck down the laptop battery within a few minutes. It meant that you could.only Seesmic from a fixed position.

With html5 that problem will dissapear. What I look forward to is an HTML 5 optimized version. It could result in a greater number of users on less powerful machines.

I hope we see a growth in users and a more international set of users. I hope they also add more features at the same time.

Let us see whether Seesmic take advantage of this opportunity.

Losing interest.

Byrichard

There are many Geo location websites in the web. They have something in common. Using them openly in front of others will not result in positive opinions.

As a result of this you want them to work flawlessly. Spending three minutes logging in is too long.

That’s why foursquare has been deleted grim my phone. I am not ready to use that type of service when the site goes down for four hours.

I feel this way after twitter. Popular site with a lot if downtime. Relations between people degraded as communication became more hit and miss. Now friendships and the core of interesting users is gone.

Why invest in social networks where indifference is prevalent. Tara for now foursquare. See you in a year.