When we think about printing, we’re carrying the weight of the romantic response and the mysticism to our notion of the book. In Craig’s experience with content, as we move into an almost entirely digital space, there are three constant tasks that we perform, that will become more and more important.

To begin with, there is a need to tame unfiltered data. That is, the data that we get in, whether it be Twitter, RSS or other feeds, we need to filter to get the important and relevent bits, which has become almost a daily routine for a lot of us who deal with content.

Secondly, there is a step to produce quiet data. This is a trend that has popped up within the last few years within design, where designers are striving to create an experience where the frame drops away to create an uncluttered experience with the content. For example, if you put a Kindle and an iPad next to each other, you notice that the Kindle blends in to the environment and allows you to consume the data with a minimal amount of distraction. In comparison, the iPad provides far too many distractions to be able to consume content within a chromeless, distraction free environment as, in Craig’s words, ‘Twitter and Angry Birds are just a touch away.’

Finally, we need to coralle the data, bringing together both of the previous points, to make the filtered data as easy to consume as possible, in the right place.

However, Craig warns us that as designers who craft how content is viewed, we also need to keep an eye on perspective. Craig talks about the ‘PhD nipple’ that Matt Might did a post about, illustrating the fact that we work within a much wider perspective than we sometimes realise. Our specialities exist within such a tiny, tiny part of the wider context of industry, or general knowledge, and sometimes we lose focus and forget this. We need to keep perspective on everything else that’s out there and visit other ‘cities’, or pots of knowledge, to push forward.

This is a report on Craig Mod’s talk on ‘The Shape of our Future Book’ at dConstruct 2011 on 2nd September 2011.

Have you thrown the Christmas wrapping paper away yet? With Christmas 2010 wishlists including a world of slate devices vs. 2009’s netbook-heavy bonanza, does this signal the death of the netbook? Are slates here to rule or will they be the netbook of 2010? We take a closer look at the devices and predict what we’ll be seeing a year from now.

Where they came from

Netbooks

Small personal computers have been around in various shapes and sizes really since the mid-nineties. Apple’s eMate 300, a cross between the Newton PDA and a standard notebook was released in 1997 but quickly fell under the guillotine with the re-arrival of Steve Jobs as CEO. It wasn’t until Asus released their Eee PC in 2007 that the mass-market felt the force of a small, low-cost PC that could do the things most people did most of the time. and relatively cheap due to the Linux install – the device originally designed for emerging markets quickly found its feet as a companion device in larger countries. The PC was for productivity and other weighty tasks, the netbook was the portable device for content consumption. Hitting the coffee shop with netbook under arm, Facebook with your latte became the chic image.

Hardware was initially based around a 7-inch display, 85% sized keyboard, and weighing around 1kg. Solid-state drives were commonplace as they were faster, lighter and prone to handling more movement than traditional hard-drives, at the expense of disk size (with a median around the 40GB mark). Wireless connectivity was omnipresent, with some also including ethernet ports. Processors hovered around the 1.6 GHz mark, running x86 architecture.

With software it quickly became apparent that Linux wasn’t to the mass-market’s taste, however, and PC manufacturers quickly turned to Windows XP, and subsequently Windows 7, to stem the tide of consumer returns. With the heavy dependency on web usage, companies such as Google have attempted to bypass the OS altogether – running a flavour of Ubuntu that requires just enough to power up the hardware and relies on the browser to do the rest. So far however, the Chrome OS project (especially through the own-brand CR-48) has so far suffered significant delays and user-experience headaches.

Slates

The slate’s big brother was really the Tablet PC, introduced to the world in 2001 by Bill Gates, who, still riding the wave of Windows XP, felt the PC, mouse, keyboard input model was to be outstripped by a more natural form factor – a standard PC became a digital ink input device when the screen was slipped round. Despite a relatively palatable price point, poor battery life and lack of ‘killer apps’ meant its main success was in enterprise spaces such as healthcare, where ink input such as signing prescriptions and patient checks was combined to great effect with line of business applications – rather than the consumer space such as students.

Slates in their current form where announced to the masses by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at 2010’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), such as this HP device.

What really captured the imagination of the consumer audience was of course the iPad. While initial reports dismissed it as “just a big iPhone” the slick device, great battery life and simplicity of use sent sales through the roof. In the final quarter of 2010 alone, sales were estimated at over 6 million.

The forerunner slates

Let’s take a look at the flagship devices per OS, and look ahead to a year from now:

iOS: iPad

The Good: Uber-slick hardware, approx. 300,000 apps, faster than it seems.

The Bad: No webcam/USB, rigid rules for app development, no Flash compatibility.

Where it’ll be a year from now: With a v2 heavily rumoured to be released in Q1 2011, we’d expect the lack of webcam/USB to be fixed, improved battery life and a slightly thinner casing. Anyone remember the iPhone 4…?

The contender: iPad 2 (release TBA)

Android: Samsung Galaxy Tab

The Good: Small 7” screen makes it suitable for pockets, runs Flash, huge number of Android apps, decent 3.2MP rear camera for photos plus 1.3MP camera for video calls.

The Bad: Difficult to type on (in-between the ‘two thumbs’ approach for phone, and two hands for a PC), claims to also be a phone – but feels too oversized to use properly.

Where it’ll be a year from now: To successfully take on the iPad, the Galaxy Tab will need to either look at lowering its price (it’s only about 30 pounds cheaper) or develop more applications designed specifically for the 7” screen – rather than upscaling phone apps. The hardware’s currently a bit plastic-y, which we’d expect to change.

The Contender: Motorola Xoom (running Android Honeycomb).

Windows 7: Asus Eee EP121

The Good: The most powerful slate at CES: Intel Core i5 processor (an ultra-low voltage variant) and can be configured with up to 4GB of memory, 12” screen is among the biggest for tablets, with great 1,280-by-800 resolution. As full Windows 7 OS, can handle all the heavy apps. Wacom digitised layer + pen takes advantage of handwriting recognition. Click here to see a demo of it in action.

The Bad: At 2.5lbs, it’s over 1lb heavier than the iPad. No rear-facing webcam or 3G options. Solid-state drive models only.

Where it’ll be a year from now: Expect a lighter version with longer battery life – but the real magic will come in handwriting-optimised apps that light up the device.

The Contender: HP Slate 500

So which is better?

It became clear from CES 2011 that most of the PC manufacturer innovation is in the slate space – dropping the keyboard and peripherals, and investing in screen technology is a smart move for many PC OEMs who also make TVs (ie Samsung, Sony, LG) but it also stops PCs becoming a commodity where the lowest price wins.

But the real sticking point is this: If you’re going to spend 400 quid or so on a new device do you really want to limit yourself? Slates are great, slick and definitely built for content consumption – but for those little moments where you just have to finish off writing the document, spreadsheet, presentation or edit that photo will an onscreen, will a virtual keyboard really suffice? Netbooks certainly aren’t the quickest devices on earth but at least they do let you type properly – and after forking our your money, when you’re really in need – that could be the difference.

Expect to see a merger of the two moving forward in the form of a new tablet: Dual-screen slate devices that don’t carry an old-school keyboard but rather let you use the 2nd screen as a virtual keyboard when standing it up right. Have a look at my favourite bit of hardware from CES, the Acer Iconia:

Are you a netbook fan or a slate guru? Let us know what you think of the devices. Plus, check out our round-up of CES here.

Bing to be search option in Opera browser – it started with Apple’s Safari 5 browser and now it’s Opera. Extending the choice of search engines to users is a good thing, right?

Cleaners, beware! Robot porters invade Scottish hospital. Well, not exactly invade, they were specifically ‘asked’ to join the team at Forth Valley Royal Hospital to clean, dispense medicine and food and carry clinical waste. They’ll even have their own network of corridors beneath the hospital, while on board sensors will tell them if they need to stop or if anything is in the way. When can I get one?

Gulf Restoration Network Uses Joomla – blog provides regular updates on the consequences of the oil spill

Microsoft Partners See Kinect Going Beyond Games, with potential uses extending to healthcare, biometric security applications, virtual reality scenarios and replacing the remote control.

Calling all Catholic tekkies! Priest develops Mass app for iPad. It’s shiny and means you don’t have to go to church to be a good Catholic.

Take a tour of Mars through the eye of a telescope (soon, anyway!)  – Microsoft’s World Wide Telescope Ready for 3D Views of Mars

Chinese Supercomputer Is Ranked World’s Second-Fastest, Challenging U.S. Dominance – pumping out one thousand trillion mathematical operations a second (or 1.27 petaflops)

Adobe reveals magazine iPad-izer software – new viewer software lets publishers create splashy digital versions of their magazines – you can use Adobe’s new InDesign CS5 layout software to create the digital version. Adobe’s not giving up without a fight!

Tech Crunch UK reviews the new-look MSN UK. Opinions on the new look are welcome!

Microsoft edging Google out of iPad-like devices. Taiwanese laptop-maker Micro-Star International (MSI) is now the second major Taiwanese vendor to dump an anticipated Google-based tablet launch at Computex in favour of one with Microsoft Windows 7.

Want to stand up and be counted in support of the bid for the FIFA World Cup to be held in England in 2018? Put your face on the official supporter’s flag and back the bid! The flag was created using Silverlight Deep Zoom by the way…

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg pledges easier privacy by giving people back simple, easy to use control over their personal information. Will it stop the 13,500 Facebook members committed to deleting their profiles on 31 May 2010…?

Paul Allen-backed researchers launch 3-D map of the brain. The Allen Human Brain Atlas creates a searchable 3-D map of gene activity in the brain documenting which genes are expressed, or “turned on” where.

There could be an exception to the ‘free’ rule as Freeview HD launches in the UK.

Grundig pushes BBC iPlayer to Freesat boxes – although some early boxes can’t receive the upgrade you need to get iPlayer. If you own one of these old boxes, you can get the upgrade for £15.

Diesel showcases clothes via interactive video – users hover over an item to find out more information and click to buy. Hmmm… better get that loan then

ITV adopts Pluck platform to boost interaction with This Morning, aggregating content from the This Morning website with Twitter and Facebook

Need to use maps for your website or app? Ordnance Survey frees up mapping data - good times

Fancy watching Top Gear in 3D? Cheaper 3D glasses option coming to homes this May