more on convergent devices

Every time I think about this I get stuck in a rut for two or three days thinking about it. The underlying problem is that the average person does not want to walk around with a Batman-style utility belt to carry all his gadgets, so it's really hard to get someone to adopt a second device (after the cell phone, which is so revolutionary it changes our perceptions of what constitutes a suspenseful story line).

As a first cut, here are the devices I currently use but would like to combine:

• BlackBerry Curve (phone, email, web browser, text messages, camera)
• Digital camera (8Gb card, reasonable zoom, etc.)
• GPS (Garmin eTrex, no Bluetooth or USB port)
• iPod (60Gb)
• iPod (8Gb)
• Garmin Forerunner 301 (GPS, stopwatch, heart monitor)
• Nintendo DS (only stylus device in the bunch, soon to include the Korg DS-10)

I think what I really want is a device like the Curve but with real storage (100Gb to 250Gb) and a real camera, with battery life something like what I get for the Curve on standby: three to four days between charges, which should happen via a USB port. I want a real GPS, one that locks on like the Forerunner and will do real track and waypoint transport to and from the browser and other applications. I want dual screens, at least one of them stylus-sensitive, like the DS; I want to be able to manage files and controls via the sensitive one, again, like the DS. I don't want any cartridge ports.

I realize that most people think "driving directions" when they hear "GPS." I use Google Maps for that; I'm a geocacher, so my requirements are a little different. I want to run Google Earth with a "you are here" pointer and be able to pick layers with a stylus.

I don't necessarily need to hold this thing up against my head; I don't mind using a headphone jack when using it like a phone, but I'm not thrilled with the Curve's stereo headset; I like to be able to pick up ambient sound via my open ear while I'm on the phone in the car: a stereo headset is too immersive, and using it with just one earpiece is clumsy.

And that's just for starters; beyond that I really want a Gordon Bell data acquisition application with decent search on the fly. And I really want a health monitor that will read my vital signs on the fly and monitor my temperature, pulse, blood composition, etc. I want this device to be touch-sensitive all over. And it should be rugged and waterproof.

Yeah.

black medallions, no Chrome

Tuesday I downloaded Google Chrome and installed it on the second laptop I use at work: the slow one, the one I use when I need to be online (collaboration) and offline (on the customer's virtual private network) at the same time. I got the same sort of brain-cramping feeling I got when I started using Windows XP (why should I use the Start menu, again?) and Office 2000 (don't rearrange my menus, okay?), Firefox with tabbed browsing, autocomplete, and of course Firefox 3 with its address-bar autocomplete. The address bar went away, and I got a search bar in its place. I have some vague recollection of Microsoft trying this a while back with LiveSearch or whatever; I hated it, and was relieved to have the address bar and the search bar side-by-side. But that was LiveSearch, not Google. I hated the front page with the cache of recently visited pages; I don't mind my browser keeping tabs on where I've been, but I'd like to keep my personal view of the Web a click away from the default page. That's my gripe with iGoogle, too. But maybe that's because I use my work machine for personal uses.

Early Wednesday we got word from the company owner that we were not to install or use Google Chrome; it read, in essence: "I own the company. I don't like the EULA. Do not use Chrome." So I uninstalled it. It uninstalled neatly, but it complained and wanted to know why I was dropping it.

I do wonder if certain parties are being too cautious about this issue; the only article I've seen talking about enterprise use of Chrome focuses on its susceptibility to hackers, not the general way Google swallows data.

I'm not one of those "Google Is The Beast" people, but sometimes I wonder what they're doing with all that data. Mostly they make money by presenting ads, so I'd expect that they use whatever information they gather to target ads. Someday, though, they'll find themselves in their second phase, when growth of their ad-based revenue has peaked, and I wonder what they'll do with all the byproducts of the data mining they're doing today.

If and when a Mac version is available I'll probably install it. I don't especially like Safari, and I'm open to suggestions. And Google's already got all the data on my Mac.

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