Yes, iPad!

Ever since Apple announced their iPad last week, using a stupid old keyboard and mouse has seemed disgusting to me. I want one! And I’ll forgo a physical keyboard and pointing device to get it, one way or another, when it’s released later this year.

But what can be said about the iPad that hasn’t been said already? It’s a big iPhone! It’s unnecessary! It sounds like a panty liner! Etc., etc.. For the most part, criticism of the iPad misses the point, I think.

There’s no denying that it’s a beautifully engineered device, like anything out of Cupertino. But the hardware is only half of the story, if that. It’s the software, like icons versus command line, that will change everything. “It’s Apple saying once again that there’s a better way.” (The iPad isn’t a third device, but a third revolution /by Macworld)

And what’s the social media angle (because this blog’s got to have one, right?)? Well, the iPad announcement trumped President Obama’s State of the Union address with more mentions on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and the blogosphere (though only 42% of mentions were positive, versus Obama’s 65% honey). But it wasn’t really a fair fight: the State of the Union address is an annual affair, while Apple’s announcement was billed as a one-off.

Sentiments however were the same: Let’s make things better!

A pretty convincing argument

I posted this to my Tumblr blog in the haze of New Year’s celebrations, but it occurs to me that it might also be of interest here. It’s a pretty convincing argument, if you ever have to make one, to start a Facebook Page for your company:

In 1999, there were 350 million Internet users. Now there are 1.7bn, 350 million of which have Facebook accounts.

So, if it’s true you should “go where your customers are”, then isn’t it time you started a Facebook Page?

The magazine is dead. Long live the magazine!

With Apple all but confirmed to reveal the unicorn of the technology world – their already legendary tablet device, I thought I’d trudge up an old draft I wrote for my personal blog, which sits better here any way. Enjoy!

I like to think of myself as being ahead of the trend. Trendy, if you will (though who says that these days?). I got into Friends before the re-runs started, I’ve been wearing NHS glasses long before geek chic was even a thing and, I swear, I started the country drinking cider again.

And if there’s an area where I feel particularly on the bleeding edge, it’s technology. Though with that comes the inevitable conversations with the luddites. “Twitter is a waste of time,” they say. “The iPhone will never catch on.” And “destroy this mechanical loom!” (see Luddite to Lady.)

But, it turns out, I’m usually right (and not just about technology, Brooky Wook, if you’re reading). In this instance, however, I didn’t quite call it – there have been rumblings on the Internet long before Tiger Woods’ fourth or fifth mistress. And what they all say is the magazine is dead, long live the magazine!

So, here’s a round-up of some future magazine concepts I’ve seen recently, all loosely based on Apple’s rumoured iTablet device, set to be unveiled January 27th. I’ve also included a couple of links to other ideas that could work in the future or that are working right now.

And don’t say I didn’t tell you so.

Mag+

Sports Illustrated – Tablet Demo 1.5

Wired iTablet concept
(Turn your speakers down for this one. It’s loud and crappy.)

Pictory
Pictory is sort of the love child of Boston.com’s The Big Picture and NPR’s This American Life, but it has the look and feel of an exquisite magazine.

• Pictory

The Death of the Blog Post
Smashing Magazine kills the template-driven blog post and, with it still warm in its grave, goes about discussing and designing an alternative – and it’s decidedly magaziney…

• The Death of The Blog Post

Hello world/identity crisis!

I had all the right ingredients for an identity crisis: a second generation immigrant, an atheist born to a Hindu family, a country bumpkin in a big city. I didn’t think the breakdown would occur online, of all places.

But I’m starting this blog as a result of that and in an effort to better serve my splintered and splendid audience.

Get Mashed is my hat in the crowded ring of social media marketing blogs. But it’s a fun hat, at a jaunty angle. A “social media marketing blog for the rest of us” – tips, news, breakdowns in an easy to digest format. Mashed up, if you will.

I’ll be keeping up my personal blog, as well as my Tumblr; contributing to Enterprise Nation, the home business website, and saying a word or two on Am I Scary for You? (“Minstrelsy, Metamorphosis and Michael Jackson”).

Of course, you can keep up with all of this, as well as my day-to-day ditherings on Twitter.

In the meantime, thanks for stopping by!
San