WiFi, web application and a Starbucks with rentable small office(?)

Web applications for iPod Touch and iPhone are now released by Google, which include search, gmail, calendar, docs, etc. I tried them a little and now the home page is already bookmarked as my portal site. It works fast!!! I even found it works faster than the apps installed in iPod. Amazing!

It works so well that I even think an iPod can go well without apps installed, which might have been the original plan by Apple though. With a browser that works, most of the things can be done. In the near future, graphic and motion apps will be available. Even fonts won’t have to be installed in your PC.

By the way, my commuter train now throws a campaign that allows us to use free WiFi for as long as we want once a day. It’s only for iPod Touch users. (There’s no iPhone in Japan yet.) With that service, I don’t have to buy a newspaper or magazine to read on a train: I can read them on the net. (Sometimes I have to pay some money to be a member to have a full view of the contents, of course.) Also, I can deal with Word and Excel documents, move the data and send them by email. With a small device, I can WORK on a train. I can also read the blogs I have to check.

I believe this is already a business that someone started, but I hope there’s an office to rent, which is equipped with a PC with a browser and a WiFi connection. You can choose a scanner, printer or fax as an option, and the fees depend on the hours or days you rent and the office size (from one for 1 person). Renting a cool office for yourself costs a lot, so there will be lots of people who want to rent a beautiful office where we even think they want to invite someone. How about an office like a Starbucks? I’ve seen many people talking to their customers or affiliates in a Starbucks store. Soundproof walls should be installed so that we won’t have to worry someone will hear our talks. And this is what I want: you can order a coffee from your PC and a clerk will serve you. The fee is automatically added, so it’s easily done. Or, there can be a bar counter where you can pour your coffee for yourself for free.

The data is stored in the web server, so other people can access it from other places. WIth that, you don’t have to be a freelance.
So what do you think? Or are there places like this already?
Cool office you can rent at a Starbucks?

Read blogs on iTunes: To use an iPod Touch as an offline RSS reader

Blog on iTunesI would be really happy if I could read blogs or RSS feeds on iTunes because that means I can “carry” and see them on my iPod anywhere I go. That’s important to me because there are so few “public WiFi” places around me. Using the iPod’s text storage function is not good enough because it has lots of limitations for viewing websites.It’s natural to think that an iPod connects to the net and save data necessary when it’s available and switch to an offline mode when WiFi is not available.

Ultra thin display

sheet searching words
Accustomed to Google search so much, I sometimes look for “a search button” even when I read a real newspaper looking for a specific word. So it would be nice if there is a device like this to quickly find and highlight the word you specify. It would be even better if it can tell you the meaning of a word you don’t know. It’s so light and thin that you wouldn’t mind carrying it around at all. Oh, if there is a keyboard that can attach the screen to it, it’d be really good if it works as a computer.

translucent display
Pubic billboards and spaces are so much filled with information that it takes you time to find what you really want. With this transparent sheet, only you can see the info you want on various places like walls, floors, ceilings, notice boards, etc. In a large building with many people coming for the first time, such as hospitals, this sheet could be handed to a visitor (especially a senior) as a guide. This way, what you see and how you see it can be customized.


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Simple Projector

simple_projector
If you’re away from your computer and it tells you that you’ve got mail (visually), isn’t it useful? A simple USB connected projector reflects simple info against the wall, ceiling or desk. If your desktop is filled with lots of windows, it might be helpful if a “Meeting starts in 5 min!” message suddenly appears on the wall. Or if you’re concentrating on something so much you don’t want anyone to talk to you, you can say “Do NOT Disturb” without having to actually say anything.


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This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

My Dream Mac (Macbook Touch? Mac Nano?)

Please check out the latest post “My Dream Mac #2 (Macbook Touch Concept)“.

My Dream Mac #2 (Macbook Touch Concept)

(I updated my dream mac in a later post. See this one, too.)

macbook_touch5

Now that iPhone and iPod touch are out, “touch panel” is proved to be great by the world. I hope a mobile mac like this will come out. Technically it must be possible for Apple to produce this kind of PDA-cum-laptop. I’ve always wanted to carry a very thin light Mac (not an iPod/iPhone) running OS-X with Wi-Fi and bluetooth. I can give up a DVD drive and USB connection as long as it has bluetooth.

It has a thin lid you can flip open downwards, which can work as a keyboard. It can slide behind the screen when it’s not used.

12 inch might be too large for a touch screen because we use it much more closely to our eyes than a usual screen.

Please make something like this, Apple!

macbook_touch1

macbook_touch2macbook_touch3macbook_touch4macbook_touch6