Author: Bob Martens

Categories
Technology

Laptop Replacement

Laptop Replacement by Matt Gemmell

So you want to potentially not use a laptop anymore, but you also want a computer that does all the same things as a laptop, in pretty much the same way. In which case, I think the computer you’re looking for is a laptop.

This is the mindset Apple seems to be working in: that is you are looking for a laptop, then you want a laptop, and that their other devices are meant to be used for similar tasks but in different ways. Is Apple correct? Will the combination of the new iPad Pro and, especially, iOS 11 be able to move more people from laptops to iPads?

I know my parents have completely switched from laptops to iPads, and my dad continues to be iPad-only, having never been comfortable with traditional computers. He, obviously, would wonder why we want to use laptops at all.

Categories
Education Life

How To Become A Learning Machine: My Tips For Reading More

How To Become A Learning Machine: My Tips For Reading More by David Cancel

The one big takeaway for me is that I should probably look at being more purposeful both with my reading and with my note-taking. I have left a lot in those books, and forgotten a lot in my head, which could be useful going forward.

Categories
Business Education Technology

Make the open web cool again?

It looks like the open web is having a sort of renaissance in certain segments of the web. You can read some articles from John Gruber, Dave Winer, and Joe Cieplinski.

The term open web is amorphous and means many things to many different people, so trying to nail down a single definition and meaning is akin to nailing Jello to a wall so I’m not going to try to do it.

However, I will throw my hate in the ring and state that I have similar questions about where the web is headed and the continued increase in influence the largest of companies. Google, Facebook, Amazon, and others do not seem willing to concede control to users and this worries me.

Categories
Business Life Technology

Giving the iPad a full-time job

Giving the iPad a full-time job by Justin Searls (Medium)

Here is the money quote from the beginning:

As a result, I’ve come around to a more nuanced view of productivity: that of a tenuous balance between friction and focus. “Friction” is the necessary turning of knobs on my tools in order to do work. “Focus” is the intentional ommission of knobs from tools to foster clear thinking. Any knowledge worker must balance their own creative action with thoughtful attention, and every software interface crystallizes an attempt at striking such a balance.

Everything else builds from there. iOS 11 is a really exciting update for iOS and I am very tempted to move it onto my iPad Pro even in its incomplete state. The iPad is my preferred computer in so many ways, and it is SO CLOSE to being my full-time mobile machine.

Maybe the time is now?

Categories
Education

Student’s Aren’t Coddled. They’re Defeated.

Student’s Aren’t Coddled. They’re Defeated. from Inside Higher Ed

There is quite a bit that I like in this article, but I think there is the possibility that this is not an either/or but a both/and sort of thing.