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The promise of iCloud is really cool: a full MacOS/iOS integrated syncing system. But the actual iCloud is… only ok. There are a lot of things still missing from the system, some of them critical. In this article, I’ll try to describe a few of the things that I’d like to see in its next evolution. It won’t be as long as the previous one about iOS 6, but I think I’m actually more excited about the changes discussed here… Let’s go:

• Background syncing for documents and data
  iCloud-stored documents suffer an important flaw: they are only synced when the application is launched. This defeats half the purpose of syncing to local storage in the first place (a strong differentiator with Google’s approach), the problem being that if you don’t have an internet connection when you launch your app, you don’t have your document at all.
  So I’d like to see these documents downloaded to all devices the moment they’re updated or saved. Basically, the system should manage this syncing, not the application itself.
• Web apps for iWork (and iLife, and more)
  This is another one I feel really makes the iCloud offering incomplete: the iCloud.com version of iWork barely allows downloading documents, and the only trace of iLife is the semi-hidden iPhoto journals repository. Also AWOL are Reminders and Notes.
  I believe the bare minimum would be for documents to be viewable on the web. Hopefully the closing of iWorks.com means its features (viewing, sharing, commenting) will be rolled into iCloud.com, but I would also like to see full galleries for iPhoto (events, faces, etc) and iMovie, as well as a Garageband “jukebox” for example. Being away from your own machine wouldn’t mean you’re completely cut off from your “stuff”, which is the whole point of iCloud. Heck, the welcome screen on iCloud.com is organized as a series of apps, so let’s get more apps! 🙂
  NB: Basic editing would be a nice bonus, but I could see Apple never going there (their idea is that your “devices” are the best place for your documents, not a web browser). (more…)

I won’t surprise anyone if I say I love my iDevices. I’ve tried many smartphones and tablets, and I keep coming back to Apple’s products, because the fit my mobile needs best.
“Best” isn’t “perfectly” though, and there are a few compromises I’d love to see revisited for the next version of the OS. Here’s my list:

• Background downloading
  I understand why applications aren’t allowed to multitask. Battery life, security, yada yada, I agree with all that. But I’d love to get a way for applications to silently download content even if they’re not active; RSS feeds, podcasts, emails, etc. It could be limited in different ways: only when the device is plugged in, or only once an hour per app, or only for apps that have been used in the past week… Or all of the above. Bottom line is, batteries are probably good enough now that if Apple allowed for a limited version of background downloading (not background processing), it would be more of a benefit than an issue.
  It works with NewsStand, I think it should be expanded a bit beyond that.
• Live icons
  By that I mean icons that can change to indicate different statuses. Again, it could be limited to preserve the aesthetics of the OS, and I’m sure Apple would check for every app that requests that Lordly privilege, but some apps could definitely use something like that: in some cases, having to launch an app just to get half a second worth of information is counter-productive, and there has to be a way to tackle that issue without compromising iOS’s advantages. I think. (more…)

I have already expressed my enthusiasm for Windows 8 a couple of times, but not until the Consumer Preview that was released a few weeks ago did I truly understand how important this next version of Microsoft’s OS is going to be for the computer industry.

It’s all in the iPad

Let’s be clear: Windows 8 is absolutely and completely a result of Apple’s iOS and iPad “revolutions”. They showed us that traditional PCs are unnecessarily complex for the common man. With the iPad announcement, we started looking at computers differently. My analysis was the concept of “easy computing“, and what it meant for the future of IT. In short: “if your parents can’t program a VCR, how in the world can you expect them to setup a computer, fool?” We realized then that we need something way easier for computers to become really mainstream and actually usable by everyone.

The Apple hare and the Microsoft tortoise

Microsoft has understood the importance of this shift, and how it applies to desktop computing specifically, better than anyone else. They have made Windows 8 is the ultimate “making things easy” OS. Most ironically (deliciously?), they are beating Apple at their own game: in the “easy computer” department, Windows 8 is blowing MacOS out of the water.
Many people cried foul when they saw the latest Apple OSes, arguing that they were on the path to betraying the spirit of what a “real computer” ought to be. But this is Apple’s DNA: they want to make easy computers that everyone can use. MacOS is taking safe baby steps though, simply adding “layers of simplicity” on the existing system. Windows 8, on the other hand, goes all the way, changing the system and the interface completely.
Microsoft is imposing their will on the users in an almost Jobsian way: their product is simple, beautifully designed, incredibly well thought out for both touch screens and mouse+keyboards, and they are saying “we’re doing it and you will like it, period”.

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Let’s set the iPhones and iPads aside for a second and talk about real computers, shall we? Macs and PCs, and the unending arguments they’ve fueled. Fifteen years or so ago, I was firmly in the “Macs are PCs for the rich and snooty” camp. It’s not the case anymore. They’re still more expensive and they’re still a bit snooty, sure. But those are now just elements of my understanding of the Macs and the industry, not the central focus which defines them. I suspect many people would have gone through the same “transformation” in their hardcore computer nerd beliefs. Let me know if this article rings your bell as much as it does mine.

So what changed? A few angry readers will argue that we “used to be real geeks”, and that we’ve now sold our souls to the Great Steve in the Sky. For iDevices, sure, there’s probably a bit of that. But Macs are different: PC enthusiasts didn’t start recommending and buying Macs because they changed, they did so because the world has changed. Macs just came along for the ride…

So let’s count the ways the Mac VS PC fight today isn’t the one it was 15 years ago:

1) It’s the Internet, stupid.

First and foremost, the way we use computers has dramatically changed. It’s hard to imagine today, but back in 1995 our computers where incredibly limited machines, and their functions were almost exclusively work related. Word+Excel were what most people did. Today, “most people” use computers as email/Facebook/YouTube devices. Any machine will do that; Mac or PC, they’re both great at it, no argument.
So the difference between what one can or can’t do has dramatically much less validity.

2) The Digital Hub.

Same story: computers weren’t really part of our everyday life back then. Part of our work life, sure. But today you will actively manage your music, your photos, your videos and many more parts of your life on those things… Our whole lives have become digital, so we really can’t look at computers the way we did when they weren’t.
Remember the “hub for our digital lives”? Has the Mac become an incredibly awesome solution that will solve all your digital hub conundrums in a second? No. Are they a bit better than an out of the box PC? Yeah, I think so. And the average mom probably thinks so too.

The two points above could be summed up like this: the word “computer” was meant for a very different kind of machine fifteen years ago. Arguments we had then don’t apply anymore. For the then “work machine”, I would argue the scale was tipped in favor of the PC. For today’s “Internet and digital hub for everyone”, things have largely evened out.

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In the American psyche, the French kiss is something of a fantasy. Countless teenagers have had humid daydreams of (almost) prude kisses on the lips, which, fueled by passion and hormones, turn into the torrid abandon to the lust and indecency of… of… (I can’t believe I’m going to be so bold as to wright it in plain uncensored text)… of tongue contact!
Well, I understand that there is nothing quite as intimate as sticking out your tongue to reach into someone’s mouth, but I’m not quite sure why my countrymen (and women) got the distinct honor of being forever associated with this deviant practice. Because unfortunately, this is a fallacy… As enjoyable as it is (and it is very enjoyable), we all know there is nothing exclusively French about this specific brand of face sucking. I’m fairly sure most people in the world came up with it on their own, and haven’t needed the help some distinguished world traveler to make the trip to the country of wine and cheese to bring back home the wonders of mouth exploration.

No, ladies and gents, the real French kiss is something quite different, and far more disturbing: it’s the everyday greeting performed by kissing someone on the cheek.

Horrifying, I know. French people kiss each other on the cheek every day. Men casually kissing women, women kissing each other, and sometimes two men are even caught pecking at each other’s face. Hard to fathom, but it happens every day. This practice, which regularly horrifies even the boldest of Japanese tourists, has been a hallmark of our culture for generations, and constitutes the true pinnacle of French depravity. It is such an integral part of our daily lives that we barely think about it, and launch head first into a lips powered hello that shames most self respecting native of foreign extraction.

It is a mystery indeed. And as all great mysteries, it demands studying and understanding. So I’ve decided to throw my two ethnological cents in, and try to explain the details of this strangest of practices, in three questions. (more…)

The title of this video is “The Most IMPORTANT Video You’ll Ever See“.
It’s a 80 minute lecture about the importance of understanding exponential growth, as it relates to population growth and resource consumption.

I’m usualy more than a little skeptical about these things. Over emphasized titles trying to alarm you and ridiculous conspiracy theories are not my thing, but I still watched it to make sure. Well, I have to say, the title is probably accurate: getting educated about the arithmetic Dr. Bartlett is detailing here is incredibly important, and I urge you all to watch it, bear with it, and make an effort to understand it.

Here’s the gist:

• The doubling time for a growth rate of 1% per year is 70 years. The world population’s growth rate is ~1.15%. That sounds tiny, but if you’re under 20, you’ll probably live to see it reach *14 billion*. (Damn, we just reached 7 billion a few days ago!)
• Optimistic estimates, which include all the oil *left to discover* (as in: that we have not found yet) put the peak oil production in ~2020. From there, we start having *less* oil every year. It’s a bell shaped curve and it keeps going down.

Put these two together, and you start getting the feeling we’re screwed. The best part: all this is fact, not belief or rhetoric. It is happening, there’s no way around it.

(Here is a link to the full playlist of all eight videos playing in sequence.)

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I love technology. It’s a kind of magic. It makes things possible that had only been dreams. A few decades ago, computers were going to change the world. And now they have, and we feel like we were part of something important. Steve Jobs was a big part of that something. Because of his vision and obsessions, he was perhaps the biggest part of all. If many of us feel that we’ve lost someone “close”, it’s probably because he has contributed so much to that “something important” that connects us all.

But it’s not about technology

My lingering feeling of sadness comes from somewhere else. It’s even more personal than that bond we all share. What I feel is the loss of someone that had the courage to live the way I try to live every day.

When I was 18, I was in a bad accident and had to stay in a hospital for a few months. Thankfully the damage was ultimately minimal, but the experience changed me, as it would anyone I’m sure. My priorities shifted. Suddenly, only a few things mattered: passion, and choices, and life.

Life, because death is coming for all of us, maybe sooner than we expect.
Choices, because making excuses will bind you more surely than chains.
Passion, because it is the only thing that should matter, everything else is secondary.

So I decided that I would live my life following one rule. Every time I’m faced with a really important decision, I ask myself: If I don’t do it, will I regret it when I’m 70?
If the answer is yes, then I have to do it. I just have to, no excuses. There are always reasons not to do something. But if you know in your heart that decades from now you’ll look back and regret not acting, reasons and excuses don’t matter.

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I have always been rather careful with who I friend and what I share,
but I suspect this will be a nice reminder to a few people.

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TL;DR: You didn’t think it was possible, but you’ll soon bring even more of your life on Facebook. And you’ll love it in spite of the privacy concerns, because it’ll give you more and cooler interaction with your friends. If you like sharing bits of text (most people do), you’ll love sharing tastes and activities and you’ll never look back.

Part I: The Gist

I was watching the Facebook keynote yesterday, where Mark Zuckerber was giving the details of what is probably the most ambitious update to his social network yet. Midway through, I stopped everything and went on Google+ to deliver this eloquent quote: “Zuckerberg is seriously blowing my mind right now”.
That was over 24 hours ago. I’ve had time to sober up, compose myself, and think about what was announced and whether or not is is actually groundbreaking. And here’s where I stand today: “Zuckerberg seriously blew my mind last night”.

Here’s why: he found a way to bring even more of our real lives into Facebook.
It might seem trivial to you, but brilliant ideas often seem that way.
Stay with me here: until now, we were mostly sharing status updates and photos. These are actually a very small percentage of what makes up our lives. With these changes, Facebook is bringing another enormous chunk of our lives into the world of social networking. Music, TV shows, movies, sports, games, and much much more… All of this will soon become available for sharing with your friends and family. And we’re not talking about you saying you like The Doors; that was always possible. We’re talking about your friends listening to The Doors with you, right there and then, as you fire up the song from across town or across the continent. We’re saying they can start watching The Shining for the first time, because you felt like watching it again that night. One click, and boom, they’re there. It just works. We’re actually talking about bringing the immense power of sharing that we already know to a whole new section of what we do. Sharing tastes, not just thoughts. Come on, tell me all that doesn’t sound like a huge amount of fun!
Not excited? Ok, different approach. Can we agree that life and communication were different before we had social networks? That brought on a huge change, right? Back then, we went from social networks that covered 0% of our lives (they didn’t exist) to social networks that cover 10% of our lives (text and photos). That was huge. Well, now we’re going from social networks that cover 10% of our lives (text and photos) to social networks that cover 40% of our lives (tastes, culture, activities, etc). After that, the ones where you can only share bits of texts and photos will have to seem incredibly dull… or at least very niche.

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TL;DR: While Google puts all your data in one place, Apple wants to make sure you have of all your files everywhere.

Read on…

The cloud is here to stay, there is little doubt about that. Everyone talks about it, but many misunderstand the reason it’s become such a hot topic. For the most part, the cloud is actually not a feature in itself. At its core it is a means to fix a problem: the multiplication of devices.

Ten years ago, your home or work computer was your only point of access to your data: your documents were stored locally on a hard drive and all was well. The amount of data we managed also wasn’t very large: a few documents and spreadsheets, and that was it. It’s only in the past ten years that we’ve started having digital photos and music, and mp3 players, and phones that can hold our whole lives in their guts. The digitization of everything and the advent of mobile computing are changing he way we relate to our data.

Today, everyone is accessing their “digital life” from many different machines: home and work computers, phones, laptops… All of which need to let us to access our set of personal data (photo, music, documents, and even settings from programs and games). But our systems weren’t built for accessing data across several machines, and this is becoming more and more of an issue.

Enter “the cloud” : a vaguely defined buzz word which essentially means “let’s find a solution online”.

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