The Integrative Stream

Multidinous MIPS, Multiple Monitors, Man Machine Mergers

My friend Jim pointed me to an article in Slate on why you should buy a bigger monitor. It’s a good article, and you should probably buy a big monitor. I use two medium sized ones, which is more or less the same thing. Computers these days are fast – will buying a slightly faster one actually make you more productive?

The article triggered a thought, which is this: we’re at something of an inflection point in personal computing. As the article points out, upgrading computers to get a faster processor just isn’t something you have to do all that often anymore, unless you’re a hard-core gamer. The last time I bought a desktop computer was because I needed another physical computer, not because it’s predecessor had gotten to slow.

So innovation has shifted to finding better ways to get at that processing power. Multiple monitors are an easy way to to do that, at least for people with an Internet oriented working style. It’s incredibly useful for software developers – so much that one of the first things I look for when evaluating a software development team is whether they have enough screen real estate. If they don’t, it’s a pretty good sign that management is saving money in a spectacularly wasteful way. Working on a 15″, or even a 17″ monitor requires a tremendous number of context changes – and each of those changes, besides taking time, distracts the developer from the flow of the task in a way that glancing to the other side of the screen doesn’t.

So for those programmers, buying a bigger screen is going to increase productivity a lot more than a marginal processor speedup would. The effect is less for the average business user, but it’s still real. And a second monitor is cheap – under $250 for a 17″ LCD.

Another example is the scroll wheels that started appearing on mice in the late 1990s and are now pretty much ubiquitous. Being able to scroll a web page without clicking on the side of the window or reaching for the keyboard is a huge time saver. And the scroll wheel was the first major advance in the physical connection between the user since the mouse itself. It’s no surprise that Logitech has come out with the Revolution MX which, in addition to sporting a $99 price tag and a web site that would be more appropriate for a Japanese luxury sedan, purports to take the scroll wheel revolution one step further.

It’s ultimately all about price and performance. Back in January I wrote about Ndyio, which takes another approach to the profusion of raw processing power. It’s a cheap little box that connects a bunch of monitors and keyboards to a single computer running Linux. I’d lost track of it until yesterday, when I saw it mentioned in the Economist’s Technology Quarterly. It solves the problem of what to do with all that surplus computing power by sharing it. Ideal for third world cybercafes, where hardware costs are still a big deal, but also potentially useful for corporate environments and schools, which could benefit from the lower administrative costs associated with having fewer systems to administer.

My readers, if they haven’t abandoned me completely during the blog-dry spell, will likely have other examples.

30,000 Feet

Just a quick check-in, as I still haven’t figured out exactly how I’m going to maintain this site during my Federal career. Although, to be fair, that’s a bit of a cop out, since I’ve been busy enough.

At the moment I’m on the way to HelsIT, the the Health IT conference in Norway. I’m giving a talk on healthcare delivery in the US, and introducing a workshop on the electronic personal health record.

The cool thing is that I’m currently at 37,000 feet (11,200 meters) according to the captain of this Airbus. We’re somewhere over New York. And, thanks to the magic of Boeing’s soon-to-be-discontinued satellite Internet system, I’m online. I haven’t tried Skype yet, but I’m going to give it a shot momentarily.

Sadly, the business model for Boeing didn’t work out – they couldn’t get enough carriers to sign up, and the service is being discontinued as of the end of this year. So I’m glad to have had a chance to try it, even though it means that I’ll spend my next intercontinental flight griping about how I don’t have Internet access.

SAS, incidentally, is a great airline. I’m up in Economy Flex, which has some extra legroom, and, more important, AC power at every seat. So my laptop is plugged in, wide open, and online. It’s like being in the office, except people come by and bring me drinks. And I can simultaneously work and watch Mission Impossible III.

Thinkpad X41 Tablet Mini Review

Now that I’ve been using it for a few months, I have some slightly more developed thoughts on the various merits and demerits of the IBM (Lenovo) ThinkPad X41 Tablet. As blog readers may recall, I picked up this particular piece of black plastic back in October, promised to write about it in more detail, and then never did. That, by the way, is why these things are called blogs.

I’ve been very happy with the machine itself, with one notable exception and a few small ones. On the plus side, general performance has been very good, and battery life, with the eight-cell extended battery, is excellent: I can usually get four hours or more of active work. Dialing up the power-saving functions gets further. The X41 is also extremely light, which is a real benefit over its predecessor. And like most ThinkPads I’ve used, the keyboard is excellent. I’m typing on it right now. I’ve also become a convert to the new style trackpoint device, which is made out of a software rubber rather than a pencil eraser. The only striking design flaw is the positioning of the fingerprint scanner, which is extremely hard to use when the system is in laptop mode, and upside down in tablet mode, at least in the orientation I tend to use. A higher resolution screen would have been nice, too, since the 1024×768 display can be cramped. More pixels would also allow smaller handwriting in tablet mode.

The big exception, though, is the bootup time, and the other X41 owners I know all agree. Going from power-on to actually using the machine takes a minute or more, and that’s with a gigabyte of RAM. So I generally avoid turning it all the way off and use the Hibernate function instead. This works fine for a while, after which I start having WiFi problems and need to reboot all the way.

I didn’t originally pick up the docking station, but I went out an got it later, since the base X41 doesn’t include a DVD drive. Carrying the docking station around when travelling is a pain in the neck, although the system comes with software that lets you mirror a few DVDs (or a lot of CDs) to the hard drive. The dock station is fine, although it doesn’t have a DVI out connector (which isn’t a big deal) and doesn’t have separate mouse and keyboard connectors (which is). The lack of separate connectors means I can’t tie the X41 into my keyboard/monitor/mouse sharing arrangement at home.

Of course, the real issue is whether or not the tablet functionality has changed my work patterns. I bought the computer mostly because my situation had changed: I didn’t need a large screen, software development workhorse computer anymore, I needed something small, portable, and good for note taking and the occasional spreadsheet. Tablet mode is great for sitting in lectures, since it allows unobtrusive (and quiet) digital note taking. The propensity for distraction is a little lower, too, since the pen moderates the speed at which you can, for instance, write email. You can still web surf to your heart’s content, though.

Tellingly, though, I’m currently sitting at a desk surrounded by paper printouts, all of which are covered with notes, and all of which are sitting on my desktop in electronic form. The problems are density and random access. The tablet PC pen writes more thickly than its 79 cent equivalent, so you can’t squeeze as much in the margin, at least if you want to keep it readable. Again, this is where a higher resolution display, even at the same physical size, would be a real improvement. And it’s still easier for me to flip through a printout of a journal article or business plan than it is to scroll. So the pen usually comes out for quick notes, small sketches, and lectures.

Bottom line, though, is that I like the machine even if I’m not getting everything I’d like from the tablet functionality. I’m certainly using it enough to justify the cost, although I bought it mine through MIT and thus paid a little less than at Lenovo’s web site.

Ndiyo’s Low Cost Labs

I recently came across the web site for Ndiyo. This is very clever stuff. They’ve taken a very simple approach to building low cost computer labs for developing countries (or any cost sensitive group). Little boxes, not much more than a network connection and a monitor port, connect to a central computer running Linux. A $800 computer can provide services to six or seven terminals, running web browsers, office applications, or whatever. Their goal is to get the technology down to a level where the adapter box costs a few tens of dollars – or is built right into the monitor.

The opportunities in education are really interesting. At their current price point, each terminal could cost $250 or less, even with flat panel displays. That’s far and away the cheapest way to equip a classroom. And there are maintenance advantages. By having a single server the maintenance overhead falls dramatically. This is really important in small school districts without a lot of local IT support. Configurations could even be managed centrally for an entire district. No troubleshooting required for individual PCs.

Eight or nine years ago I wanted to get into the network computers for education market. I moved on to other things when the network appliances that Oracle and Sun were pushing turned out to be more expensive and less useful than they needed to be. Commodity computers (for use as servers) are cheap enough now that this model should be revisited. The cost of ownership benefits, along with the initial cost savings, could be considerable. I can’t wait to see how much traction these guys get.

Tablets and Keyboards

I just upgraded my laptop to a ThinkPad X41 Tablet. It’s too early to actually review it (and I’m still getting used to interacting with it in tablet mode). My initial impression is positive, though. The best thing about it, maybe a little oddly for a tablet PC, is the keyboard. I’d forgotten how good ThinkPad keyboards are, particularly compared to my old Dell.

Pascal: the gestalt gadget

I’ve spent a lot of time searching for the perfect convergence device; something to replace the cell phone, laptop and PDA that I seem carry constantly, and the MP3 player that tends to be left behind. CNET went and got an industrial design firm to tell us what it might look like (built off more or less current technology). We won’t be seeing any of these for a while, though.

Pascal: the gestalt gadget – CNET.com

First Full Week

One thing I’ve learned this morning is that an accounting textbook, placed between one’s lap and one’s laptop, provides excellent insulation and raises the laptop keyboard to an appropriate typing height. It also contains much valuable information on the subject of financial accounting, but that’s just a nice side benefit.

Last week was the first full week of MBA classes at Sloan, and it has given me the chance to fully reacquaint myself with the word “deliverable.” I’ve also grown to love my Palm Pilot again. That particular device spent most of the summer sitting on the side of my desk, since I seldom had more than one or scheduled events a day. Such simplicity is in the past. Since I’m carrying two devices around again, I’m giving serious thought to chucking my Nokia and switching to either a Treo or one of the latest Windows SmartPhone devices when my TMobile contract comes up next month. Treos and Blackberries are fairly common around Sloan, even though most students don’t strictly need that kind of functionality–now. But they did before, and they will again.

iPhone fails the convergence test

The new Apple/Motorola “Rokr” phone came up in conversation at lunch today. The consensus statement was that the device said a lot more about the business models of Apple, Motorola and the various mobile carriers than it does about what consumers actually want. Mobile phone companies, in particular, have been particularly zealous in their search for revenue streams via ringtone sales and other presumably “value added” services. Verizon goes so far as to require use of their picture mail service at 20 cents a shot (last I checked) to get photos off your phone. That kind of wholesale customer abuse is a big part of what caused me to switch to TMobile, which has been kind enough to not disable the Bluetooth transmitter on my phone.

Anyway, as soon as I came home I saw this article from the UK’s Guardian newspaper that sums up the issues with the iPhone pretty well:

John Naughton: Why the iPhone won’t rock your world