A gif I made tonight.

Slugabed – Skyfire

I remember hearing this song for the first time in around grade 7 in Saltspring Island and thinking it’s a good thing I’m not 23. Well, this song is strangely appropriate now.

Hey – I’m in this show. It’s put on by Vancouver is Awesome, is starting next week and is taking place at Shine nightclub. Should be pretty cool. Check out the full flyer here for all the details, and big thanks to Randy Laybourne for asking me to take part.

I just got these awesome bowls in the mail called Ooma Bowls from a fellow named Thomas Both. Thomas is a friend of a friend and needed a typeface for his company, Cube and Corner. Eventually Neighbourhood was chosen as the typeface and Thomas got in touch with me about making a trade – use of Neighbourhood in exchange for some bowls. I agreed, and finally got my bowl in the mail today. This thing is pretty neat. The whole idea is that it’s made for “tableless” dining, as more often than not we are eating food on the go. Check out the Cube and Corner website to read more about the bowl, and apparently you can now pick them up at the SFMOMA as well.

The iPad is a device that turns it’s users solely into consumers instead of creators. Computers up until this point have encouraged creativity by giving users the choice of software and tools to create whatever they want. If people who are new to technology start using the iPad they will never progress past a consumer level. The iPad is designed to make it easy for you to buy music, movies, books and apple approved applications. However you would never use it to develop a web page, create a piece of design or make music. The iPad, more or less, only allows users to be a spectator and consumer of media. The iPad is aimed at people who aren’t tech savvy, and if they start using this they will remain non tech savvy and ignorant to the real value of computing.  If the iPad catches on it’s just going to be the same as putting a TV in front of that user, which would really be taking 2 steps backwards.

I have no problem with the iPad for people who are already using computers daily and want something light and portable to use once in awhile, but what worries me is that this product is being marketed to a “new to computing” crowd.

The iPad is not a magical device, it’s simply going to make people less inquisitive. It’s so unfortunate that the iPad completely underestimates its audience. What’s much more amazing, and something that has been happening for a long time, is using a computer to make new and exciting ideas a reality.

Edit: Alex Payne summarizes my thoughts better than me.