Christian Oliver's digital thoughts

I’ve been holding on for a while to give my opinion on the tablet matter given that there’s so many rumors and speculation going around. Now that the date is near, I want to put it out there.

Let me begin by emphasizing that I do believe a Tablet will be a very useful device, if done right. That is a big IF. It turns out that I’ve used TabletPCs (HP TC100 and later the TC1100) in the past but no longer use them. I’m also currently using the LiveScribe Pulse SmartPen, a MacBook Pro an iPhone an Apple TV, a Kindle, a Nook and a Sony Reader, among other things that are not relevant to this post.

Even though I abandoned the TabletPC in 2004, right after finishing my MBA, I didn’t do it out of frustration or lack of satisfaction but out of lack of necessity for it. In fact, I was very happy and grateful for the TabletPC during my MBA. Turns out it was ideal for the classroom. To begin with, at the time laptops were prohibited in the classroom at Duke due to the collective noise generated by the keyboards, among other smaller details. With the TabletPC I was able to take notes without such disturbances and in fact I got TabletPCs officially approved in the classroom with the school.

The HP TC1100 had an 11 inch screen (if I remember correctly), a removable keyboard and it weighted about 4-5 Lbs. It was a relatively light computer for the time which made it relatively practical. It ran on Windows XP TabletPC Edition.

The tablet was great for many reasons. To begin with, the school actually provided most of the reading materials in digital form and all professors published their slides ahead of the class or at worse at the time of class. This meant I could read a lot of things on the tablet and make comments, highlight and draw over documents, just like paper. I tried to do this as much as possible so that I could digitally preserve my MBA for the future and in fact, all the materials are still on a Duke folder in my computer, which is sometimes visited for reference.

For note taking and even for critical reading, having the option of a stylus is preferable than just using your fingers, particularly if you require precision. Thus my ideal tablet will be primarily used with touch but would support a stylus.

Another important factor for note taking is text input. By using the LiveScribe Pulse Smartpen for about a year now, I’ve learned that it is mostly useful only when I don’t have a keyboard handy or I need to do a lot of non-text inputs. This is because by far I’m a better typist than a freehand writer and this is increasingly the case for most people.

Back in 2003, the MBA class where the tablet was most useful was a Microeconomics class given by a great but not so technologically inclined professor, “Pino”, who preferred the old school chalk boards, was very fast with the chalk and with the tongue. Enter the digital camera.

The notes that I’m prouder of from my MBA where those for the mentioned class. I took a strategic position on the classroom with full frontal view of the board and put my camera on a small tripod on my desk, next to my TabletPC (yes, if you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m a gadget freak). “Pino” would start his class and I would begin writing on my tablet. The best part of the technological magic was when Pino drew a chart on the board, I would just draw a square on my notes and take notes about the chart as he explained it and when he was done, I would zoom my camera in and snap a picture. Then I would write the image number on the designates square and continue.

After the class I would just embed the photos on their corresponding spaces and make any necessary corrections. Then I would post my notes on a PDF to the bulletin board.

I’ve never been on the very top of the student rankings thus I was very proud when I saw several classmates studying with printouts of my notes.

I remember wishing at the time that the camera was better integrated to the TabletPC and that the software I was using could immediately embed the picture in a designated spot as soon as I took it. Now I even believe it would be better if I could embed short videos of the professor explaining the chart in the designated spots but with the “thumbnail” being of the finished chart, making the notes truly multimedia but also printable.

I also wish I could have used the keyboard for typing text next to my drawings but this would only really work if the keyboard were external to the Tablet, like a small Bluetooth keyboard. That would have made me an even better note taker.

In a sense, I was making the ultimate live-blogging possible or at least the ultimate reporter’s notes or the ultimate drafting tool.

We now have all the technology necessary to do this at a reasonable price, it’s just a matter of putting it together. Furthermore, it’s not just about hardware technology, as Apple proved with the iPhone, software may be the most important piece of this puzzle.

An important software component for note taking is something that the LiveScribe pen has; audio recording with the timecode association to the writing. In other words, when played, the audio is matched to the content on the page.

This software feature, which I also use on the Mac with an App called Pear Note, allows me to use the text as just an index/pointer to the different sections of what I’m recording. For example, if the speaker if about to explain a concept I can just write “Explanation of concept X” and keep listening. Later on I can just click on that text and the audio will play from that position. Imagine this with video as well!

Most analysts and reviewers are focusing on the Apple tablet as a media consumption device. Granted, it has to do that and in many cases it will be ideal for it. But I see little discussion about the tablet as a content creation device, as a tool for creative input. I don’t expect it to be the end all of content creation tools but I do hope it will be capable of becoming the ultimate drafting/prototyping tool. It would be a bridge device, a device that will allow me to create concepts, take notes and draft ideas wherever I am. Later on, I (or someone else, wink, wink) could polish and finish my drafts on a full blown computer.

Many analysts believe Apple has its sights set on the educational market as well. If this is the case, it is vital that the tablet excels at note taking.

Thus, aside from a great content consumption device, I want the Apple tablet to be the ultimate drafting and prototyping tool, a content creation device. It would be then also ideal for many verticals, particularly for journalists. My wife, an architect, dreams of using this while doing construction management for creating the so called “punch lists”.

The technology is there, so how could Apple pull this off? Here comes my Tablet wish-list (in no particular order):

Size:

I hope it’s less than 10 inches. My experience with the Kindle DX is that it’s way too heavy for prolonged content consumption. It requires too much finger torque for sustained reading while holding on one hand, particularly in bed. 7-9 inches at most. Pretty much the size of a Kindle2/Nook or even the LiveScribe Notebook.

Built in cameras:

Ideally one frontal and one in the rear. Some companies have tried swiveling cameras but that’s just not an elegant solution so I don’t see Apple doing it. I would pick a rear camera if forced to choose but rear on for an alternative.

iPhone integration:

The iPhone can be a great sidekick to the tablet, particularly when it comes to the camera. From my experience with the TabletPC, having an external camera for content creation is much more versatile and it wouldn’t cost much to Apple to create a software solution that allowed the iPhone to share its camera with the tablet, including the video functionality. Imagine taking notes or having a video conference or live blogging on a Tablet with the iPhone as a freely movable camera. At the very least the Tablet should be able to wirelessly browse the iPhones Camera Roll and embed its pictures into any app running on the tablet as part of the SDK (Software Development Kit)

I will even argue that the iPhone’s keyboard may be a good alternative to the Tablet’s on screen keyboard. I’m probably wrong here and it will greatly depend on what the Tablet’s keyboard looks like but it wouldn’t hurt to have the iPhone as a remote Keyboard and trackpad. This could help when the tablet is on a stand displaying content. Also, one handed typing works on the iPhone due to its size but it may not work as well on a large tablet. At the very least, there should be an easy way to share clipboards between the devices.

Bluetooth HID profiles:

In many occasions having an external keyboard for fast typing will be ideal. I don’t think we need to explain this one too much. Bluetooth Headset profile will also be very useful for VOIP and cable-less media consumption, obviously.

SD Card Slot:

It’s got to have a way to download pictures from another camera and for sharing media and files. This is unlikely to happen though because it would increase the width of the device. I would choose thin over SD because external storage can be easily solved via USB.

Wireless Connectivity:

One of my favorite rumors is the possibility that it integrates Whispernet (Kindle) style connectivity for purchasing and downloading content anywhere. This would mean that the cost of the connectivity is included on the price of the content purchased from iTunes. Want to watch a TV episode on the Tablet, buy it for $2.99 and get it via built-in 3G.

Alternatively one would just subscribe to a 3G plan on AT&T or Verizon. I just hope this is not mandatory as in the case of the iPhone.

WiFi has to be in, obviously.

OS:

I’m betting it will be iPhone OS or a derivation. Apple won’t miss that 30% margin on the apps and it requires less system maintenance that full Mac OS. Besides, it would run thousands of apps from very early on. Besides, let’s not constrain our imagination to iPhone OS 3.0 as this would likely be a 4.0 edition with Multitasking and other substantial improvements. Also keep in mind that the iPhone’s screen resolution is already obsolete (compare with Droid and Nexus One), which means that developers should start working on new pixel dimensions for their apps anyway!

HID:

Like I said before, primarily multi-touch but with the optional use of a stylus for precision drawing. If it doesn’t support a stylus natively, I’m pretty sure some third party styluses will appear.

iTunes/Software:

I’m also betting this will reveal a new iTunes version, one that is much more integrated among devices. Home Sharing will be available for the iPhone, the iPod Touch, the Apple TV and the Tablet, all bidirectionally. So whatever media I have on any of my Apple devices can be streamed or copied to another one of my devices. With the acquisition of Lala it’s possible that this could even be done over the Internet. Even better would be if the our complete media library could sit on MobileMe.

iTunes would also incorporate an eBook store with a new format capable of displaying multimedia content, pretty similar to what has been done with iTunes LP and even more similar to what my Duke notes with video would look like. This would be the same format that one could create on the Tablet. Maybe this could be iWork 2010 with online sharing?

I’m dreaming too much!

Yesterday I was thinking precisely about dreaming. I was at the Atlanta Content Strategy meet-up and Margot Bloomstein mentioned companies wanting to be more like Apple. What does Apple have that makes some of us loyal? To me it’s that it allows me to dream, dream that there’s a company who could actually make them real.

On the realistic side, I’m absolutely sure of something. Just like Obama, the Apple tablet is destined to disappoint. When expectations are so high, it cuts both ways.

I recently bought a Netbook, the MSI Wind U100-432 to be precise and I must say I’m very happy about it.

Granted I’m grumbling about having to use Windows XP and remembering why I love Mac OS so much. Nevertheless, the advantage of running full applications when compared with my first netbook, an early eeePC.

My setup is simple. I run Dropbox to synch a folder with the files I’m currently working on and Evernote to take notes.

I also have Firefox 3 with the same Extensions I use on the Mac (No Script being a MUST since I’m on XP) and TweetDeck to remain connected to the Twitterati.

Mostly I don’t worry about local downloads of emails since I use Yahoo! Mail and GMail mostly.

For my To-do lists I’ve been a long time user of Remember The Milk.

All this really helps me work remotely without much power requirements. I’m wondering if it would get to the point of allowing me to travel with a Netbook and leave my Laptop behind on short trips.

One very good upside of this setup is the cost. For less than $500 I have a working environment even capable of videoconferencing via Skype. This is very attractive specially when thinking of risky places like Venezuela. I would be much less worried about having this stolen than my MacBook.

To make things even more interesting, there are ways to hack this machine to run OS X. That would make it almost perfect, since an Apple version would be the ultimate.

Another very big upside is the battery life. I don’t have precise data but today it lasted the whole afternoon, even with intermittent WiFi and it even helped recharge my iPhone which almost died on me today with low battery.

On the downside, the keyboard is not the most comfortable and the Windows key mappings are a pain since I’m so used to Mac commands now. Also the screen is not so big, so really it’s only tolerable to do work on texts, small spreadsheets and small MindMaps. I wouldn’t do Photography retouching on it or other large scale documents such as Project in it. Not unless it was urgent to do so.

Yesterday I received my new MacBook. It’s meant to replace the MacBook Pro I’ve had for more than 2 years now. It’s not that that MacBook Pro really needed replacing as it works great. I’m most surprised at how long I was able to keep my old MacBook Pro and how well it still performs. That NEVER happened to me while I used Windows based PCs. I think my record for keeping a laptop might have been a year and a half at MOST.

I’m still impressed at how quickly one can be operational on a new Mac. It would normally take me days to have a Windows machine fully operational with all my software and settings properly adjusted.

Here are some pictures of my unboxing and I placed a video in YouTube which has been surprisingly commented. Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU73tOt4GHY

BY CHRISTIAN OLIVER
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE 2008 WAN REPORT

Much progress has been made in creating multimedia newsrooms over the past couple of years, and newspapers of all sizes have built newsrooms capable of producing content for a variety of media outlets. Every company has had its own approach and the focus has mostly been on pure organizational aspects such as who reports to whom and how working groups are formed as well as the physical aspects of the newsroom of the future. In last year’s Innovations in Newspapers report we talked about how a cutting edge multimedia newsroom operates and is laid out.

As multimedia publishing continues to grow, team work is becoming the norm, not just for special projects but for everyday content production. The days of the go-it-alone prize-winning reporter are numbered. In the future, award-winning journalism will be produced by well trained multidisciplinary teams. The bar has been raised to the point where no single person has all the skills needed to pull it off on his or her own.

Keeping this in mind, and assuming that the physical and organizational changes for a multimedia newsroom have taken place, let’s explore the kind of tools that newsrooms will rely on to compete in the future.

Technology Framework

The architecture of the newsroom is a key component of the newsroom of the future, but newsrooms can’t truly become multimedia unless they have the technology platforms needed to actually publish content in multiple media outlets.

Unfortunately, many newsrooms still rely on print oriented content management systems (CMS) that are completely independent and separate from their website’s content management system. In many cases, the web’s CMS is an appendix, or an afterthought, to the newspaper’s system. Another problem is that most publishing systems have evolved from print to web and still use the newspaper product as the core system for publishing content.

Using the newspaper as the system’s anchor is not nearly as good as basing it on the web, since the web provides an incredibly broader scope of content possibilities, and thus would be the ideal core of a modern Content Management System.

A truly multimedia-capable CMS is the crucial underpinning for the newsroom of the future. It must be able to manage input and output for a large number of media outlets with flexible, on-the-fly, content construction and delivery. Most importantly, it must be able to interact with “the next thing” every time it appears. One way to achieve this is by being able to interact with systems through common and standardized data formats such as XML (Extensible Markup Language). This not only increases the flexibility and speed of adopting future new platforms but also makes it easy for the core system to be entirely replaced in the event that something better becomes available.

Another crucial component that should be part of the newsroom of the future is secure remote connectivity. Working with e-mail is fine but incredibly limited and incredibly insecure. The necessary infrastructure has to be put in place so that journalists and other team members are able to work remotely with full access to all the tools and resources that are available inside the newsroom. Thus, all the tools yet to be mentioned should be remotely accessible in a secure fashion.

Team Work Support Tools

Even well trained teams cannot function without tools to support their work. Some are still being developed, but others have been in use in other fast-paced industries for years. In fact, I’ve written this article based not only on my expertise but also by looking at best practices in other industries that require fast and well coordinated team work.

The ability to communicate effectively is critical. A team that relies solely on e-mail or on walking to somebody’s desk (if he/she is there), and on being able to talk face-to-face is bound to run into trouble. Adopting a robust communications platform is the key to solving most of these problems and increasing productivity. There are many solutions ranging widely in complexity and price but the most important components are shared calendars, to-do lists, discussion forums, file sharing and even collaborative authoring. The overriding goal must be simplicity and ease of use. One very important advantage of using such a system is that everything stays documented: why decisions were made, what was considered, what problems were faced, etc. If someone new joins a team, it’s very easy for that person to catch up and quickly learn the history of a project. Tools of this type have been adopted extensively in the software and web development communities.

The way we communicate has become fragmented in the sense that there are different tools for communicating specific message at a certain time and in a certain place. The new generation knows that it’s ineffective to make a phone call when the message is more appropriate for an SMS. They also know that some things have to be discussed in person and that sitting around a table is sometimes the best way to resolve an argument. But what are these other tools that can be used to improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness of communications?

Without a doubt, Instant Messaging is one of them. A well deployed platform would allow team members to quickly exchange information as needed, including files and links. Furthermore, instant voice conversations and video conferences right from someone’s desk or laptop can improve the speed of decision making and content production. This doesn’t mean phones will no longer be used. They will just be used in different ways. In the case of mobile phones, SMS (Short Messaging Service) will no doubt be used as much or more than voice, particularly when someone is not at his/her desk or available over the Instant Messaging platform. In fact, broadcast SMS messages can become very useful for time-sensitive alerts that must reach everyone.

The latest iteration of the Mac OS’s chat application even includes a feature which allows users to share their screen during a chat session. This can be very helpful for some types of training and troubleshooting. Imagine helping a co-worker with a computer problem without even leaving your desk.

But how good are all these communication tools if we don’t know whom we need to be communicating with? The Rolodex needs to be replaced by a centralized “people repository” which includes not just a person’s contact information but additional information such as areas of expertise, relationships with other persons and keeps track of the interactions with external contacts. Think CRM (Customer Relationship Management) for the Newsroom. The best practices in shared contact management are in sales, personal relations and support. Why can’t a newsroom use tools to track everyone it “knows” and how it interacts with them. Granted, there are confidential sources and those should be handled differently. Such a tool would help reduce redundant contacts with a source and even detect over-reliance on certain sources, while leading to an overall improvement in the relationship with the source.

Individual Work Support Tools

Other tools can help improve individual productivity. In some industries, Intranets have been used for a long time, particularly in consulting. Some of the largest and most successful consulting firms rely on extensive document repositories to allow their employees to be more productive on their own and reduce the time usually wasted in reinventing the wheel. Newsrooms can leverage such platforms to share documents and manuals which can be used by all employees. Furthermore, using tools such as WiKis, which are sites that can be collaboratively edited, the newsroom can have instant access to style manuals, standardized letters, reference content and even training materials.

Speaking of training, this is one of the areas where newsrooms need more help on a continuous basis. The media world is changing and will continue changing at a fast pace and journalists need to keep up with the technologies, applications and tools that can help them do a better job, starting with the tools mentioned here, which can be learned though interactive training programs such as those available from Lynda.com. How can one make a photo slideshow with voice over? How can one edit an audio podcast? What has changed in the latest version of my favorite program?

There are also tools that can help to improve journalistic work. Keeping tabs on sources has always taken a lot of time, but now the audience and the competition need to be tracked as well. Tools such as RSS (Real Simple Syndication) and customized widgets (small applications that run in the background on the computer) can help journalists keep track of developments involving their sources, their competition and their audience. They can receive notification of new comments about their articles or view traffic to their stories or keep abreast of the areas they are covering. Another widget could provide live tracking of user searches in the website, providing help in reorganizing the layout of stories in the homepage. This would help determine the audience’s reaction to a story and point the way to additional coverage.

Finally, newsroom managers must be prepared for one important challenge: the generational difference in adoption rates for such tools and technologies. Younger professionals are quicker to see their advantages and are used to working with digital devices. Older professionals may not be as willing to adapt, a situation that can sometimes lead to frustration in the ranks and may ultimately lead to difficulties in retaining employees.

This is the second day at the Next Newsroom conference. Today we had a non-conference format. Attendees suggested subject matters on the conference’s wiki and those were turned into break-out sessions. I led a session on Productivity Tools for the newsroom of the future. It turned out very well. Then I attended another session about the Business Models that would pay for journalism.

My breakout session was very interesting and makes me think of the possibility of focusing this blog on that subject matter.

Now I’m headed home because I’m feeling terrible with a cold.

Chris O’Brien opening the day