This is a quick demonstration of a recently completed Interactive Exhibit for a Visitors Center in Washing DC. Sorry about the shaky video. I shot it with my phone.

With Apples reveal of the long-rumored iPad touch tablet, tech pundits and mainstream press alike shift from predictions to post-announcement reaction. Skepticism abounds regarding the need for this “third category” device.

The iPad is a perfect solution to an unknown problem. It is likely to spark the next revolution in personal computing and user interface. But it could just as easily turn out to be summarized by Moses Hadas’ famous phrase; “It fills a much needed gap.”

Tablet computers have been around for years, but have mostly been repackaged versions of the existing Microsoft Windows user experience. All have failed to capture the mass interest or imagination of the public in general. Apple’s approach brings fresh thought to the space by defining the use (some might say dictating), and refining the user experience.

Apple has a history of success in taking over existing markets with innovation in these areas. The iPod captured virtually the entire portable music player industry from successful predecessors, none of whom names come to mind. The iPhone brought smart phones to a wide consumer audience that had no interest in the devices … until they did.

Creating a new industry from scratch is another order of magnitude in difficulty and expense. But history shows that innovations in User Experience Design (UX) can open new markets, as well as create them.

John Dessauer struggled for years to build a working prototype of his plain paper copier. Without funds to manufacture and market the device, in 1956 he took it to IBM. But rather than build units or user test the never-before-seen product, they commissioned an 18-month viability study. The study conclusively proved that there was no market for a plain paper copier.

Two main issues; there was no volume market for copies, and the mimeograph process, which the study chose for comparison, was 10 times less expensive.

Mimeograph copies required the user to first “cut a stencil.” Waxed paper mounted on stiff cardboard was inserted into a with a ribbon-less typewriter. Forceful typing created the stencil holes. The resulting stencil would be affixed to an ink-filled drum which was hand cranked to turn out fuzzy purple copies; a process that Gutenberg himself would have found familiar.

Long story short: Dessaur and Chester Carlson, the inventor of electrostatic photography later called xerography, founded their own company. Changing the user experience of inexpensive printing from an ink-stained hand-cranking to push button simplicity sparked a multi-billion dollar industry.

Pink Floyd founder Roger Waters and I are close. Or at least we were last year at the Pavilion in The Woodlands Texas. My second row seat was only a few feet away. There were cameras aplenty in the pit, and mine was one of them. So below are the snaps from the May 5, 2008 performance.

The sold out performance was one of the best classic rock concerts to roll through Texas in a while. And it doesn’t get much more classic than the shows second half which featured Waters and band doing Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety. The smoke, lights and lasers were all accounted for, but the giant video screen backdrop presented a stunning array of visuals that perfectly complemented the performance.

Here is a review of the show from the Houston Press.

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Pick your favorite metaphor because it’s time for a dance off,  showdown, deathmatch, taste test, point/counterpoint between the Samsung NC10 and the ASUS Eee PC 1000HE. Find out who gets served and who stays standing at high noon. Who will be fragged to giblets. Which PC has the richest, mountain grown flavor, and which is the ignorant slut.

These are the two leading netbooks in their class. Both contenders are decked out in similar specs regarding screen size, amount of RAM (1 GB) and hard drive space (160 GB). They have the same processor although the Samsung CPU runs at an imperceptible 0.06 GHz faster.

Round 1 – Size and weight
If thin is in, then Samsung wins on style points. The sleeker look, the chrome detailing and the front grill all add up to a more stylish approach than ASUS. The ASUS is a bit bulkier than the Samsung by fractions of inches, but it is noticeable. This makes it a tad heavier than Sammy, 3.2 lbs compared to 2.8lbs, but for these lightweights it is hard to notice a difference.

Round 2 –  Screen
The casual observer may not notice that both netbooks sport the same screen size and resolution; 10.2 inches at 1024 by 600. The ASUS screen sits a bit higher when open. This is due in part to the overall larger size, but the hinge mechanism plays a part as well. It doesn’t effect the usability. It is more of an aesthetic difference.

Samsung is the winner in this round thanks to its brightness. Both screens are fantastic with sharp, well defined images and rich color. The refresh rates seem to be the same, as both demonstrated the same amount of occasional screen tearing when playing web videos. The only difference  we could find was that Samsung can be cranked up brighter, I am estimating 15 to 20 percent brighter. It is very noticeable. Nothing comes free and I imagine this price is paid back with shorter battery life when burning brightest. But having the option to turn Sam’s screen up to 11 makes it the easy winner in this tightly contended category.

Round 3 – QWERTYing
As I researched my first netbook purchase, I spent hands-on time with almost all of the brands available at the time. It was the quality of these two keyboards that narrowed my final purchace decision down to these two models.

Typing is as good as it is different on both machines. Both keyboards are large enough for comfortable typing. Samsung claims their keyboard is 93% size of a standard keyboard, ASUS claims 92%. Neither feel cramped when typing. Some netbooks present a learning curve for skilled typists who have to somewhat relearn key positions and reaches. This is not an issue with ASUS or Samsung.

The ASUS “chicklet” keyboard solid and responsive. It also has a more modern feel than the beveled keys of the Samsung which seem a slightly old school. But don’t dis the Samsung for this esthetic shortcoming. Sam’s keys fell just as solid and offer reassuring tactile and audio feedback. The ASUS keyboard may be a tad quieter when typing which some users may prefer.

This category is a tie to be decided by personal preference. Just be reassured to know that you can’t go wrong with either choice.

Round 4 –  Build quality
Another tie. Both units are sturdily constructed. They feel solid enough to throw place into a backpack. The solid build along with the light weight and low price is what make netbooks so appealing.

Round 5 – Mousing
ASUS is the standout winner here. The larger trackpad feels huge when compared to Samsung’s. This is the main advantage of the larger form factor. The edge-on buttons are well designed and easily accessible.

I have written before about Sammy’s trackpad issues, so no need to repeat is here. Just note that ASUS does not have the edge of pad issues that the Samsung suffers from, nor does it have a clumsy recessed toggle button. ASUS’s rodent replacement takes the cheese in this category.

Round 6 – Sound
Audiophiles look elsewhere. No netbook I tested had what could be described as great sound, but under normal conditions all were adequate for typical usage. The ASUS inches ahead here with smarter speaker placement. The speakers appear louder than the Samsung because they are where they should be; pointed at the listener.

Samsung chose to place the speakers on the bottom of the unit, pointed downward. In theory, the sound should bounce off the table top back to the users ears. It does this to some degree when placed on a flat table top, but I seldom find myself using it in these ideal-for-audio circumstances. I did not have an opportunity to compare the headphone jack output, but I will have a full report on Samsungs audio quality pros and cons in Part 4 of this series.

Round 7 – Price
The most basic components, the processor, RAM, motherboard and hard drive, are identical. So all that Samsung NC10 style and design come at a cos, about about $70 more than the ASUS Eee PC 1000HE.

Conclusion – The real winer
There you have it. Both units have their strengths and weaknesses, but the real winner is … You. You just can’t go wrong with either choice. I can’t honestly recommend one over the other.

For me, the cool stylings of the Samsung along with the brighter screen won me over. But the lower cost, louder audio and better trackpad of the ASUS are a compelling argument. My best advice is to lay hands on both and see what strikes you. When you make your decision, please write to me here and let me know what influenced you.

Previous Field Test articles in this series include Part 1 – Coffee Shop, and Part 2 – Back Yard.

In this first in a series of surreptitious snapshot stories, No Cameras Allowed is pleased to present these photos of one of my favorite live acts, Alice Cooper.

Sorry, on this one all I had with me was my iPhone. The cameras in these first and second generation iPhones are lacking to put it mildly. But I did manage to grab a few sole-stealing snaps of The Coop before and after they hung him for his sins.

Below are photos from the October 2007 performance at the Verizon Wireless (maybe that’s why my ATT phone did poorly) Theater  in Houston Texas. The first photos is of the opening act, Lillian Axe. The second blurry photo is Alice’s set list. It was being passed around the audience before the show. The remaining shots are all pure Alice. Enjoy.

The Houston Chronicle ran this interview with Cooper the day of the show.

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This weeks Netbook Game of the Week is World of Goo, the 2008 Independent Game of the Year, from indie developer 2D Boy. WoG is an intellectually challenging physics simulator. Sound fun? Then how about this? You stick gooey balls together to build stuff and solve puzzle. Better?

Each level presents an intriguing new area and a logistical challenge to solve. You become a structural engineer as you invent and build precarious bridges and teetering tower, which the Goo Balls swarm over in their climb to safety. Remember the tower of ants in Indiana Jones 4? Kind of like that, but much cuter. Managing you resources of the number and placement of balls, balancing the and weight and sway momentum of the structure, and taking the wind and other environmental factors into account is all part of the highly enjoyable game play.

Parallels to the Amiga game Lemmings are many, and that is a high compliment. In this 1991 classic mono-skilled Lemmings (builder, blocker, exploder) would direct the single-file marching line to their goal by altering terrain with bombs, digging tunnels and parachuting of precipices with umbrellas. The World of Goo is inhabited by different species of Goo Balls that stick together and tear apart in different ways. Goo Balls are just as charming as any green-haired Lemming, and they have a language all their own. Goos must be Apple Computer fans since they often triumphantly shout “Ihnatco” upon completing a difficult task or reaching the summit of one of their Jellloish edifices.

Netbook owners can fully enjoy World of Goo since it plays smoothly on Samsung’s Atom processor. It looks and sounds just as great as it does on more powerful PCs. While the track pad works fine for early levels, you will want to switch to a mouse for the later challenges. Be sure to set your trackpad to Tap and Drag and disable those silly scrolling zones. For more info on tweaking your track pad, try Jez’s tips and tricks at SammyNetbook.com.

This game is smart, with beautiful 2D graphics, and a wonderfully cinematic score. The full soundtrack is available here as a free download. A quirky story winds through the game drawing leading you from one level to the next. Don’t let the Indie moniker fool you. This is a triple-A quality title. One would never guess that is was conceived, written, programmed, illustrated and scored by just two guys. World of Goo is a triumphant achievement in compelling game play, graphic design and music. It is well worthy of the industry praise heaped upon it.

As an independent production it will have no national ad campaign or movie tie-ins, so spread the word to your game-playing friends that this is not one to be missed. The DRM-free game is available for $20 at the 2D Boy website as well as on Steam. There is also a full first level demo available for PC, Mac and Linux.

UPDATE, March 25, 2009: World of Goo is now part of the MacHeist bundle. MacHeist is a $39 collection of Macintosh software that includes amazing apps like Kinemac,Wiretap Studio and  iSale. It is a limited time offer so bargain shoppers should hurry over to the site and check it out.

UPDATE, March 26, 2009: World of Goo took top honors yesterday for Downloaded Game of the Year at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Congrats again 2DBoy.

The Caps Lock key predates the electronic marvels we type on today by about 100 years. Talk about your legacy hardware.

Originally called “Shift Lock” on mechanical typewriters, it was quite useful back when the shift key actually shifted something; a lever that physically raised the typing bar. The weight of the typing bar was difficult to hold for very long with only a pinky finger. Pressing the “Lock” key flipped a hook mechanism over the shift lever allowing you to type a series of capital letters without excessive digit fatigue.

I seldom use Caps Lock key intentionally. Usually I discover having pressed it by accident by noticing that ALL MY TYPING LOOKS LIKE SHOUTING. In an era of effortless key presses and compressed netbook keyboards, we have outgrown Caps Lock usefulness and it has overstayed its welcome.

Ruffling the Registry

John Haller mercifully provides us with a Windows system-level method to change evil Mr. Lock into more friendly Mr. Shift. You may prefer to change to a different key or disable it entirely. Visit the Disable Cap Lock web page at John’s blog to download a Windows .reg file that will bring the era of accidental Cap Lock to an end.

The Mac Attack

Lets not leave out my Mac friends. They can go to System Preferences, click on Mouse & Keyboard, click on the Keyboard tab, then click the Modifier Keys… button and finally select No Action from the Caps Lock drop down menu. Five clicks and your done.

A Window of Warning

As John warns on his web site: “Incorrect changes to the registry may damage Windows or other installed software. Be sure you know what a given .REG file contains before merging it into the registry.” I have used these files successfully on my Samsung’s XP install with no adverse effects, but this doesn’t mean you can come crying to me if they break your computer. DO NOT INSTALL ANY REGISTRY PATCHES WITOUT FIRST UNDERSTANDING WHAT THEY DO. (I typed that with my pinky.)

The specs are great, the reviews are glowing, and it’s a leader on style points. But until I put hands to keys and use the Samsung NC10 in its natural habitat, it’s all hearsay. So begins this series of field reports as I brave the wilds of coffee shops, waiting rooms and economy airplane seats in an effort to document the real netbook experience.

Today I am at a Panera Bread in Sugar Land, Texas, just outside of Houston. Flipping open my shiny blue netbook, I notice that I have the smallest computer in the place. Cool. A press of the power button wakes Sammy from her slumber. Firing up Firefox I am easily and quickly connected to the free Wifi. Total time from bag to surf, less than a minute. Not bad.

Task One – Waste Time on the Web

As I peruse a few web sites the limitations of netbook life are immediately felt. The screen is small. No surprise that the 600 pixel height will take some getting used to. But it is a fair trade off considering the portability and poundage.

Performance-wise, it is a winner. The puny Atom processor has just enough oomph to cruise through the majority of sites thrown at it with ease. Flash animation plays smoothly. Both Flash and QuickTime videos play without a hitch. Occasional screen tearing seems to be the fault of the video chip or maybe the screen refresh rate. It is noticeable, but far from a deal killer, as I watch partial screen Hulu shows and full screen QuickTime video trailers. Add a good set of earbuds, and you have quite an entertainment package.

Trackpad Issues

The trackpad size is stingy but just large enough to be useful. A bit more height would have made a big difference. Perhaps cutting the height of the numeric and function key rows to half or smaller would have been a good design decision. That would have left more room for the mousing surface. Reducing the size of these lesser used keys would not hamper the typing experience like some have done by compressing all the keys (I’m looking at you, Lenovo IdeaPad).

The main problem with the trackpad however is not the size or width. It’s the depth, or rather lack thereof. Positioned almost perfectly flush with the palmrest surface, it is impossible to locate by touch alone. When your finger crosses the edge of the pad with no tactile feedback  has the effect of making the cursor feel unresponsive or stuck. You have to take your eyes off the screen to realize your finger is off the pad, reposition your finger back on the pad, and slide again continue you cursors journey. Repeating this exercise several times per minute is unfortunately standard procedure on the NC10.

With so much thought and good design put into the best-in-class keyboard, lets hope that Samsung addresses this interface shortcoming in the next product cycle.

More to come…
In part two of the Samsung NC10 Field Test, we will look at screen quality and go hands-on with the keyboard quality on the NC-10.

Continued from Part 1.

Previously we looked a the impressive Zoom ZFX hardware. But hardware was only half of this “total guitar package” … the better half!

The Sights

The software is graphically rich with colorful illustrations of stomp boxes, amps and such. The art style is about equal to most modern music interfaces, maybe a half-generation behind interface leaders like Apple and the latest Line 6.

The spiral notebook on the left contains an extensive library of amps, cabs, effects and tools. There is no shortage of mix-and-matchable gear simulations with all the usual sly names that reveal their original “inspirations” without inviting copyright infringement lawsuits.

Plop a piece of gear into place by dragging its image from the pages of a notebook to one of three windows on the right representing your rack, live room or stage floor. The descriptions of the gear on the notebook pages is a nice touch, as is the split signal routing that can be accomplished with items in the Tools area of your notebook.

The Sounds

The sounds are a mixed bag, but that is to be expected when so many factors intertwine such as lots of effects, near infinite connection options and personal taste. Most of the presets lean toward extreme effects and crunchy distortion, but there are many good clean sounds to choose from as well. Most of the sounds I played with did not have the richness and depth that I get from my PODxt, but I do get the feeling that if one lived with this software long enough, one could find good tone.

The Smells

So what’s not to like? In my opinion, enough. The interface is very twiddley. You are constantly scrolling around and selecting from large menus through tiny windows. It feels like looking at the interface through a hole. There will be lots of zooming in and out just to tweak a few virtual knobs on your peddles.

With just four or five effects it is annoying at best. As your setup grows in complexity, all the mousing quickly becomes overly cumbersome. If Zoom was trying to simulate the experience of repeatedly bending over to adjust a real pedal board, they nailed it. Using these unnecessarily restrained view of the gear feel like looking through a narrow slot, like a doorman of a 1920′s speakeasy sliding open a viewing slit to see who Bugsy sent.

The total package is very cool. The sounds are interesting but even if I could force myself to live with the interface, it is the performance where everything falls apart. This is what reveals the 1.0-ness of the software.

The crazy lag, the CPU hogging and the crackly sound left me cold. The handy CPU guide in the upper left corner of the interface hovered between 70% and 80% at startup. This is before sending any sound through it! My computer performance and screen refresh fell correspondingly. I am not quite sure what this 80% represents since my System Monitor reported Zoom taking up a 35% of system CPU. Either way, it was bogging down the system and produced unusable lag.

The Verdict

I like Zoom. I have always liked their higher end products and I really wanted to like the ZFX. Perhaps if I fiddled with it longer, I could coax more performance out of it. But life is too short to beta test commercial products. I look forward to checking back in a few months in hopes of an improved version 2. Until then, the search goes on for my office guitar system.

The legendary Las Vegas entertainment duo Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn returned to the Vegas last week for a farewell performance. Just in case you missed going to the $10,000-a-plate fundraiser, here are some exclusive photos from the event.

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