If the world should blow itself up, the last audible voice would be that of an expert saying it can’t be done

Peter Ustinov (1921 - 2004), English actor & author .

The Loop:

What does this mean? Well, the PlayBook users on AT&T can’t check email at all.

Ouch.

Via @marcoarment.

There is an evil tendency underlying all our technology - the tendency to do what is reasonable even when it isn’t any good

Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

Ars Technica:

Instead of getting Steve Jobs to relent on his “thoughts on Flash”, however, Adobe is adding HTTP Live Streaming support to Flash Media Server.

I was surprised to read this at first, but it’s only logical. Adobe has painted itself into a corner with Flash on mobile devices. You know, that wonderful plugin that plays every kind of video on the Web and runs rich applications without burning through battery life? The one that is always mysteriously two-weeks away from being, you know, real? It’s coming back to bite them.

Adobe’s gamble was that consumers would rise up against Apple’s tyranny and demand Flash support on iOS devices, or else they would abandon Apple’s platform in droves. What they didn’t understand then is that playing video on the Web has never been an actual problem for iOS users for years. Nearly all of the video on the Web is available for Flash, yes; but under the hood, most of those videos are actually coded in H.264, which iOS devices can play just fine. In order to get to every user, many content providers are choosing to enable fallbacks to serve non-Flash users the original H.264 video directly through HTML5’s video element.

With each additional million iOS devices sold by Apple, Adobe’s stance weakens progressively. Every Android tablet that comes out sporting a half-baked version of Flash hurts their case and damages their image even more. And so, we have now come to a situation in which content providers cannot afford to ignore the iOS platform any more (content providers that want to make money, that is). They were waiting for Flash to solve their needs, but it was only a matter of time they started looking elsewhere. Adobe’s decision was not altruistic, it was a pure survival move.

It is ironic that, while Adobe’s public message and justification for Flash were ostensibly focused on defending the users’ rights and freedom, its actions seem to be focused on catering to the needs of content providers instead (which, coincidentally, are the ones that pay Adobe to use Flash).

I’m not saying that Flash is dead. Far from it. But I am saying that the days of Flash being the only way to play video on the Web are over. Flash will still be around and its relevance in the traditional PC space is huge, but if it wants to be a player in the mobile landscape, it needs to evolve.

This announcement marks Adobe’s first step on a new path. Only time will tell if it is the right one.

From my experiencing self, for my remembering self. I embark on my second year of travel. My name is Emily Caldwell. Nice to meet you.

Beautiful and Inspiring.

Nice to meet you, Emily.

We think too much and feel too little.

Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977).

Minimal Mac:

Then, a few minutes later he stated his desire to sign up and asked when we could set up a time. “You have your laptop sitting there so how about right now?”, I asked.

This is so full of WIN. It is a fantastic example of how technology can help us in our everyday tasks. That’s what Analog Senses is all about: technology should be at our service, and it should always be as invisible and non-intrusive as possible.

The latest challenger to the “iPad killer” title is finally here. How does it stack up against the ruthless scrutiny of our favorite tech writers? Well, let’s find out:

They all agree on the major points: very good hardware overall, awful power button, good battery life, rushed and unfinished software, horrible third-party apps, inexplicable requirement of having a BlackBerry smartphone to use email and calendar, but lots of promise for future improvements.

That’s it in a nut. It looks like a very promising device, but they still didn’t come up with a compelling answer to the million-dollar question: “Why would I buy one of these instead of an iPad?”

My guess is, if you already have a BlackBerry smartphone, then it kind of makes sense. Sort of. For everybody else though, not so much. Not yet.

Beautiful tribute, on the 122th anniversary of his birth. Here’s the video on YouTube if you’re reading this after April 15th, 2011.

These are interesting times to be an engineer. For the past 3 years I have been working as a researcher in the Bioengineering and Telemedicine Group at Technical University of Madrid (GBT-UPM), where I’ve been lucky enough to be involved in a number of exciting projects. I feel very fortunate to be a part of this group, because every day I get to work with extremely talented people who are just as passionate about their work as I am.

I’ve always found the engineering occupation to be very rewarding. It is an engineer’s privilege, and his duty[1. DISCLAIMER: The male form “his” is used throughout this article simply as a convenience. There are plenty of female engineers out there, you know.], to summon every ounce of human knowledge and use it to build something that will actually improve people’s lives. In a way, biomedical engineering is perhaps one of the truest engineering disciplines: it lies very close to the core values of our profession.

As biomedical engineers, we don’t cure patients; our goal is to use technology to create the kind of tools that will help doctors do their job better. We analyze their problems, and imagine new ways to solve them. We make sure they have exactly what they need, exactly when they need it, to the best of our ability. This is an exciting and demanding challenge that constantly requires us to push the state of the art and find new ways to innovate. We are the Q Branch) at the service of a medical James Bond, only instead of jet packs and explosive pens, we come up with artificial pancreases and virtual reality surgical simulators.

And it’s not only doctors that we get to help. Our job has a huge impact on their patients’ lives, too. We build systems and devices that allow people struck by accident or disease to regain control of their lives. We offer them a chance to be self-sufficient again, to overcome their challenges, and move on.

These are some of the reasons why I love doing what I do. Also, they resonate very well with the purpose of Analog Senses. As a certain somebody already said, I have always felt that technology alone is not enough. I suppose this is also in no small part why I love Apple. For them, technology is at its best when connected with the liberal arts. In my job, it is at the service of the medical sciences. For Analog Senses, it should be a way to enhance human interaction, while still keeping it human.

If you were to casually browse through the archives, you would notice that most of the posts and links here reference Apple. This is not intentional, I assure you, but it isn’t coincidental, either. It is only a by-product of a simple reality: when it comes to technology and humans, Apple gets it, most others don’t.

And so, it is with great excitement that we take on the new challenge of iOS development in the group, specifically targeting the iPad. Analyzing the current technological landscape, it’s easy to see why. Not only is it a great device for normal people to use (some might disagree, but that’s a whole other article), but its potential in the medical field is unmatched. The form-factor, the battery life, the connectivity features, the robust aluminum shell… all these things make the iPad the ultimate medical gadget. Even though its official adoption by clinical centers is still in the early stages, many doctors around the world are personally embracing it as part of their everyday equipment:

Other devices available at the hospital — computers on wheels, static workstations, laptops, tablet computers — fall short in critical ways, said Feldman and Dr. Larry Nathanson, an emergency physician and fellow iPad evangelist. Size, weight, and battery life get in the way, they said, and nothing can be flipped around and used at the bedside like an iPad.

The iPad’s hardware is ideally suited to be a doctor’s constant companion, but its greatest strength is undoubtedly the software. iOS is a solid foundation to build upon, and the official SDK allows us to turn the iPad into a swiss army knife of medical applications. We can build an app that allows doctors to check the electronic health records of their patients with just a few taps. We can enable them to monitor their progress and adjust their treatment in real-time. We can help them be closer to their patients, so that they’re able to guide and educate them through recovery much more efficiently, eliminating the need to be physically at their side, but also letting them know that they are never alone.

And while doctors can benefit greatly from using an iPad, the advantages for patients are even more impressive. From a doctor’s standpoint, it is a great tool to increase efficiency, but for patients it can actually be the device they use to receive their treatment.

A perfect example of this situation is the telerehabilitation field, where our group has considerable experience. Thanks to technology, patients are able to train and recover from traumatic brain injury or stroke, from the comfort of their own homes. By creating simple rehabilitation exercises, clinically designed to target and engage their cognitive functions, we can help them regain as much of their lost capacity as possible. This is not only about managing resources and cutting costs, but about delivering a more personalized treatment and ensuring continuity of care, two of the critical aspects of neuro-rehabilitation.

Technology has made all of this possible, and the iPad is the perfect instrument to take it one step further. It fits very well into a patient’s home, eliminating all the clutter and the technical difficulties commonly associated with computers (not to mention that these are people affected by cognitive impairment). Instead, the clean, intuitive interface of the iPad allows them to focus more easily on the task at hand. When technology becomes human, it can really make a difference.

For all the talk and speculation about the iPad’s usefulness, it has been a runaway success. In less than a year, it has changed the way we interact with computers, forever. And it will change the way medical devices are conceived, too. What’s most fascinating is that its potential remains largely untapped. We are only beginning to understand the possibilities of such a device, and people are coming up with amazing new applications every day. From an engineering perspective, as we embark on this new challenge, I’m incredibly excited about the future.

The reason I get up and go to work every day is not just to tinker with XCode, but to build something that will change people’s lives for the better. That’s deeply engraved in my DNA, and I cannot think of a better way to do it. As we go back to the lab and start planning our next step, I can’t help but play a scene in my mind, wherein a white-coated figure greets us, and we say:

Morning, Dr. Bond. Here’s your new iPad. Complete, of course, with all the usual refinements.

007 has Q. Doctors have us. And now, we have the iPad. Together, villains don’t stand a chance.