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All over the Internet is talk of Apple releasing a touch screen computer. Everyone has their own theory on what the product will actually be:

• a tablet computer running OS X
• a jumbo iPod touch running iPhone OS
• or something in the middle

I believe that the device Apple ultimately releases will be closer to the second option, an oversized iPod touch with a modified version of iPhone OS. Let’s call it the iPod pro.

Bringing tablets to the mainstream

Tablet PCs in their current incarnation are a relatively niche product. They have yet to break into the mainstream in a big way. I highly doubt a tablet running OS X would change this. The iPhone and iPod touch popularized touch screen devices with the general everyday consumer, and these devices have brought touch screens to the masses like never before. Touch interfaces on full-blown computers can’t compare to the experience on the iPhone, as the original operating system  has been hacked around to support touch, instead of being designed for it from the ground up.

Portability and ease of use

The iPhone has been so successful because it is dead simple to use and highly portable. Tablet computers have been unsuccessful in the mainstream because their input methods and user experience is poor. Apple could modify OS X for touch input, but why bother when they already have the best touch OS in the market, the iPhone OS For the iPod pro to be successful, it should be highly mobile and easy to use, making iPhone OS the obvious choice.

One virtual keyboard to rule them all

Many criticise the iPhone’s keyboard, but it is simply the best virtual keyboard on the market. I would argue it is the best smartphone keyboard period.This keyboard works really well on a small device like the iPhone, because you can type with your two thumbs easily. Any larger than the current iPhone’s landscape keyboard and it would become unusable, due to being unable to reach all keys with your two thumbs.

Wide as the iPhone is tall

The size limitation of the keyboard leads me to believe the device Apple will introduce will have a screen that is as wide as the iPhone is tall, and with the same aspect ratio, 1.5:1. Two thumbs can only reach so far, and this is the only way to efficiently type on a mobile device. This form factor will enable Apple to use the iPhone’s landscape keyboard as the portrait keyboard on the iPod pro. The iPod pro would have a resolution of 720×480 pixels if the screen has the same DPI as the iPhone, and could even be 1080×720 pixels with if it had a higher DPI. (720P HD video anyone?)

Building on success

The iPhone has been a tremendous success for Apple, and it makes sense to keep building on that platform. Sticking with the same aspect ratio would avoid adding complications for App Developers that want to support both the iPhone and the iPod pro. Using the same keyboard and a slightly modified iPhone OS would avoid splintering the platform and would further strengthen the iPhone, just as the iPod touch has.

Conclusion

The iPod pro will utilize the already touch-centric iPhone OS to continue establishing the platform as the premier touch operating system. The design of the iPhone’s keyboard and the maximum reach of thumb-typing lead me to believe the most likely form factor for the device will be the width of the iPhone, and the same aspect ratio to maintain consistency among the iPhone OS devices. Apple has a chance to establish the iPhone OS the the premier mobile operating system with the iPhone as the central device supported by the iPod touch and iPod pro. They  have already designed a successful device in the iPod touch. The iPod pro should simply be an evolution of that design that will bring the iPhone experience to a whole new market.

Blogger John Gruber, of Daring Fireball, raised five questions that Apple will likely solve with this device. Here is a quote from him with my suggested solutions added in:

His mistake is assuming that Apple would ship a tablet without having solved these very real problems. How do you type? [iPhone landscape keyboard] How do you carry it around? [smaller than a netbook] How do you protect the screen from getting scratched? [my two iPhones and iPod touch never scratched] If you’re supposed to watch video on it, how do you prop it up? [I will let them be creative with that one] If you already have an iPhone and a MacBook, what would you need this for? [you don't, but there is a huge market that doesn't have an iPhone or MacBook]

I think my proposed iPod pro fits in nicely between the iPhone and an actual computer. I see my iPhone as a computer – and use it as such – save for a few cases (serious document preparation, Photoshop, and web development) – so a bigger version would be even mote suitable as a computer replacement.

This weekend tr.im, very popular URL shortening service, decided it was time to shut down their service. This news comes as competing service Bit.ly is getting a lot of attention.

I believe that it is quite obvious that the business of shortening URLs does not come from the act of shortening, but from other services offered in conjunction with this feature. Bit.ly’s statistics on clicks are an incentive to use it, and even more indepth insight into clicks and other analytics data would be considered worth paying for to many marketers and publications spreading links to their content.

These URL shorteners pass a lot of traffic through their links, traffic that can be analyzed and turned into valuable data, data valuable enough to provide insight into what is popular on the web in near real-time. There are many rumours of Bit.ly planning to launch a news service featuring popular links to compete with the likes of Digg and Reddit.

URL shortening is a feature, not a business. It is what the company does with their URL shortening that will make it a business. Tr.im decided their battle against Bit.ly was too uphill, even though they had a significant userbase and a more logical domain name. They seem to think the aforementioned uses of the data are not enough to base a business on. So how will Bit.ly pull it off?

Bit.ly has deep pocketed backers that will fund the company while they attempt to find what works. I think they should attempt to use their data and service in as many ways as possible, and see what catches on. After following their Bit.ly Now Twitter account, I believe their data is useful enough to base a “popular news” service on. Will people pay for “pro” analytics features on their URLs? I bet they would, so why not try offering it.

This is my second post about URL shorteners, and more specifically, Bit.ly. Check out my first post on the topic: Bit.ly is going to be big. Stay tuned for more thoughts on this “business.”

Or so TechCrunch seems to think. Reading TechCrunch for the past month I have noticed one thing, they have found a way to link to their story about Bit.ly Now almost everyday.

Bit.ly is definitely an interesting service. The company has raised $2 million to create a service that dead simple to duplicate – so they must have something up their sleeve!

The theory TechCrunch is pushing is that Bit.ly is going to create a news service to rival websites such as Digg, called Bit.ly Now. Currently they have a Twitter account called Bit.ly Now that tweets the most clicked Bit.ly link of the hour. I have been following this account for the last month and have actually found it useful. Although most of the links are irrelevant to me, I have found two things that I would have missed if it were not for Bit.ly Now.

I am very interested to see where Bit.ly goes with this concept. This month I am actually about to begin a project that will integrate with Bit.ly’s services through their API.

Stay tuned for much more on Bit.ly in the coming weeks.

I have been really busy with work and my final presentation for the course I am taking, so I haven’t had time to write anything recently. Instead I will present to you, a song I have been listening to:

I don’t particularly like Jay-Z. For every album Kanye West puts out he has maybe one and a half good songs.

This song probably fills Kanye’s good song quota for 2009.

Nevertheless, check out the song: (YouTube embed)

A blog entitled “Abu Aardvark’s Middle East Blog” – that normally covers foreign policy issues – wrote an analysis of hip hop beef, particuarly focused The Game’s recent Jay-Z diss track. (YouTube video mbedded below)

So what does Jay-Z do?  If he hits back hard in public, the Game will gain in publicity even if he loses… the classic problem of a great power confronted by a smaller annoying challenger.   And given his demonstrated skills and talent, and his track record against G-Unit, the Game may well score some points.  At the least, it would bring Jay-Z down to his level — bogging him down in an asymmetric war negating the hegemon’s primary advantages.   If Jay-Z tries to use his structural power to kill Game’s career (block him from releasing albums or booking tour dates or appearing at the Grammy Awards), it could be seen as a wimpy and pathetic operation — especially since it would be exposed on Twitter and the hip hop blogs.

Read the whole thing on ForeignPolicy.com

The Game’s Jay-Z diss track, “I’m So Wavy”

DOA? No, T-Pain stays – old N**** goes

Thanks to Sian for sharing the story with me!

When I opened my mailbox this evening this brown envelope was starring back at me.

Turns out it is case for my new iPhone 3GS from Sian!

The case is similar to the iFrogz Luxe case, though I believe it is a knock off version.

For my old original iPhone I had the iFrogz Luxe case, so it is nice to get back to the familiar feel and style.

Check out some pictures of it below:

UPDATE FEB 15, 2010: It has landed, check out Meebo for iPhone!

Meebo was quick to release a webapp for the iPhone before native iPhone apps were allowed. Now that the App Store has been open for over a year, why is Meebo still a no show?

They demoed the app at the iPhone 3.0 presentation months ago (YouTube video embedded below), but have yet to release it. Meanwhile, apps like eBuddy and Nimbuzz are beating Meebo to the market with acceptable, but not great, free multi network IM applications that support push notifications.

I have been waiting over a year for this app. As a diehard user of Meebo on my PC and Mac, I really want to continue holding out for Meebo to finally release the Meebo iPhone app, but how long do they expect us to wait? At this point I am sure most iPhone users have dropped $5-$10 on an app like BeeJive or IM+ or are using the free ones like eBuddy. Either way, will there be anyone left when Meebo finally hits the App Store?

Seth Sternberg, Meebo’s CEO, said they were waiting for push notifications because they did not want to release a less than satisfactory app. Push notificaitons are here, so what is the hold up? My hope is that Meebo has recognized they are horribly late to the game and are putting in a big effort to include some innovative features that the competition are lacking.

If they don’t impress everyone when they finally release, I can’t see many people switching over to Meebo (unless they are already using Meebo on their computers like I do).

UPDATE: TheAppleBlog posted a review of a number of iPhone IM apps, although they left off my two favourites – Nimbuzz and eBuddy

The Emperor and Empress of Japan came to DFAIT this morning. I was right up at the front beside the media photographers and managed to get a video and picture with my iPhone.

I was going to write a post on typing on the iPhone and why people who say you can’t are very wrong, but DaringFireball has summed it up well.

I have owned a BlackBerry but still prefer to type on my iPhone – not that the BlackBerry was bad. The iPhone is just easier and faster to type on.

Scrolling through all of the contact I have on my iPhone is a bit of a pain. When the App Store first launched I was patiently waiting for FriendBook, however after Mike Lee left Tapulous the app didn’t live up to my expectations. It took me until now to finally find one to fill the void: Groups by Guilded Ways Technologies.

Groups is an iPhone app for managing your contacts. I initially put off buying this app until I could get a chance to try it out . I wanted verify there was more to it than just a fancy interface. They don’t offer a “Lite” version of it, however another app by the company, Faces Visual Dialer (App Store Link), does have a free version. I tried it out and it actually functions, unlike many other apps out there, so I decided to take the plunge on Groups.

The app allows me to easily drag-and-drop my contacts into as many groups as I want. In no time at all I managed to get all of my contacts filed away into five groups. The nice thing is a contact can be in multiple groups, so my buddy Bryden can be in my “Ottawa” and “Toronto” groups. These groupings synchronize across the Phone and Contacts apps, as well as to your computer as usual. I am often sending out e-mails to my whole family. This app makes that a breeze, providing the ability to send e-mails to everyone in a group.

Another nice feature of this app is the interface. This developer seems to really care about the aesthetics of the UI, something I really look for when considering an app.

What I Liked: Looks great, works great, and saves a lot of time when searching for contacts. Quick sending of group e-mails is very convenient.

What I Didn’t Like: Everytime it launches it flashes an empty view of your contacts/groups then shows the real list. Not a big deal, but kind of annoying. See what I mean in the screenshots below.

Groups by Guided Ways Technologies Ltd. – $2.99 on the App Store