The Future of the Internet

The following story was published in the April 2012 issue of  Sun and Surf Magazine

The Future of the Internet
By John R. Patrick

The future of the Internet in our lives is very positive but we are only about 10% of the way there. Of all the things that could be done online that would save us time and simplify our lives, only 10% of them are there. Travel and banking web sites are getting better, but we are still at the early stages of what is possible. Consider retail e-commerce. Although there has been continuous and steady growth of retail e-commerce, it still represents just 5% of total retail sales. Why isn’t it 25% or more? Much is written about that here at patrickWeb but the short version is that there are still a lot of lame web sites. “Click here for the location of our nearest dealer where you can visit” or “call to get a price on the product you just found” or “Click here to download this form, fill it out, and fax it to us”. It is no wonder that Amazon captured 28% of all online sales in the fourth quarter of 2011. One company out of 4 million retailers got more than a quarter of all the sales. Have you ever heard a friend complain about poor customer service at Amazon? They walk in the customer’s shoes and deliver a terrific experience. Most of the rest of the e-businesses in the world have a long way to go. And in the physical world, there are the ubiquitous clipboards at doctor offices where we take a pen and provide a lot of information that they already have.

The changes in Internet technology have been continuous for decades and there is no end in sight. For the past fifteen years, I have been writing about the evolution of the Internet by describing developments in seven key areas: Fast, Always On, Everywhere, Natural, Intelligent, Easy, and Trusted. In the following paragraphs, I will hit the highlights of some of the more important trends and developments.

Fast
Broadband in the U.S. is not a pretty story compared to other parts of the world. We are second after China in the number of broadband users, but 28th in the world in the number of broadband users as a percentage of our population. The problem is that there are too many lobbyists, and the FCC is a political organization. The new FCC head is a very smart guy with technology and business experience. He totally gets it. The only problem is that AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon have more lawyers than the FCC does. Meanwhile France is offering 100 megabit access for $90 per month and rolling out WiFi throughout the country. Thanks to the telco lobby, many states have banned the offering of WiFi by municipal entities. Every citizen in Greenland has Internet access. We have 31,000 post offices.

Always On
WiFi is part of the fabric of the world. The big shift is the streaming of data — not just tweets, but data from *things* — bridges, toll booths, traffic lights, buildings, cars, iPhones, Androids, handheld GPS devices, weather instruments, and health monitoring devices attached to people. The growth in creation of data is staggering. Of all the data in the world, 90% of it was created in the last two years. YouTube receives 60 hours of new video every hour – an hour every minute. Wikipedia has 4 million articles and 8,000 editors. Hospital physicians will soon be adjusting the drip rate on infusion pumps in the hospital from their office based on real-time data from the patient. WiFi-enabled infusion pumps will enable hospital administrators to know where the pumps are (they never have enough of them) and which ones need maintenance.

Everywhere
There are one billion computers (including tablets), one billion cars, 1.5 billion televisions, and 2 billion Internet users. Small numbers compared to cell phones — 5.2 billion paid subscribers. The Internet used to be where your PC is, but now the Internet is where you are.  Most of the cell phones are dumb but soon most of them will be smart and they will all have Internet access. The mobile web is unfolding and is taking part in creating data by streaming data to the Cloud and then consuming data by streaming it from the Cloud. When you take a picture on your iPhone, it goes into the photostream and from there to iCloud and from there to all of your other devices and, if you choose, to the devices of your friends and family.

Natural
Social networking has become fundamental to all aspects of our economy and society. Integration of social networking with a full range of web applications will evolve to become the primary means of finding jobs, finding employees, finding business partners, and collaborating on projects. The emerging issue is that many people, especially young ones, are a bit liberal with sharing their every movement — what they are eating, listening to, where they are headed, their current latitude and longitude, and where they slept last night. They are not thinking that some day they may run for office or interview for a job. A new protocol will emerge to enable people to “erase” things they placed on the Internet. The Europeans may legislate it. OpenSocial is an important new standard that will enable social media apps that work across all of the social media sites.

Intelligent
The Semantic Web is the next big turn of the crank for the evolution of the World Wide Web. Most web pages have links but do not have context. The words on the web page do not necessarily mean anything — but they could. For example, if a web page said “Join us for a concert by The Eagles at Kimmel Center in Philadelphia next Tuesday” that set of words could have a lot of context. Clicking on it could add the concert to your calendar, knowing what “next Tuesday” means. It would also know exactly where the Kimmel Center is and provide a map. The Eagles is a performing group that performs a particular genre and your music player would receive a list of suggestions of music they have recorded or links to live concerts under way at the moment and make recommendations about their music to your friends. This is the tip of the iceberg. The semantic web will lead us to a point where most of the interactions of web pages will be between computers, not between computers and people. The biggest growth of intelligence is occurring in the field of analytics. Exabytes of data are being stored. A byte is 8 bits (a bit is a zero or a 1) and represents one character. An exabyte is a 1 followed by 18 zeroes! Business Intelligence and analytics are poised to enable new insight into the mounds of data – “Big Data” — that are being accumulated. Analytics will enable businesses to make sense of the explosion of data, develop digital models of their business, and continuously adapt it to what is going on. IBM’s Watson successfully challenged humans on the Jeopardy Show, but what is more interesting is the ability for a primary care physician to call and get a recommendation based on patient symptoms and measurements they describe to Watson. Within a couple of seconds Watson technology will be able to review all available medical information in the world and make a useful suggestion.

Easy
Technology is not the easiest thing at times. There are many dimensions to “easy” but one good example is the Nintendo Wii. At a local senior center, members find the Wii to be their exercise coach. It is not just for kids! The iPhone and iPad have shown how easy it can be to get applications on a handheld computer. Amazon has done the same with the Kindle. Most companies still don’t get the idea that the Internet is about power to the people. If you can’t make it simple, people won’t buy it. Cloud computing has become the mainstay for me and for millions. The ease, convenience, and reliability of the Cloud is compelling. Add Dropbox to your laptop and your iPad and your iPhone and you have a completely replicated set of data – all of your data at your disposal wherever you are and with whatever device you may be using. How about the future of TV? Three of the most common remotes — BlueRay, Cable box, and TV — include 151 buttons. Even a savvy child could not possibly master this impossible user interface. Boxee TV has produced a good model of the future of TV – think of it like TV Guide on the web — but I suspect that an upcoming Apple TV will be what finally provides the needed regime change.

Trusted
This is the big one. Can we trust the Internet? Security technology is available to achieve much higher levels of security than is presently deployed both at enterprise and consumer levels. It is a constant battle and requires significant budgets and a lot of talented people to maintain the needed security. The equally important issue is privacy. The good news is that there are some good technology solutions available to help us control access to our Internet habits. The bad news is that politicians have gotten interested in the subject. Banks have our personal information and they are using it. Healthcare insurers have more information about our health than our doctors do. Nevertheless, there is much to be optimistic about when it comes to electronic medical records. Perhaps 25% of doctors and hospitals use them but they are not easily interchangeable and accessible. This will change over the next few years as the government adds dollar incentives to make it happen. The result will be better quality of care, better outcomes, and fewer errors. And, fewer clipboards.

In January, I gave a talk about the Future of the Internet and Healthcare at the SIIA Conference in New York. The slides and a video of the presentation can be found here.

About the author

John R. Patrick (john@patrickweb.com) is president of Attitude LLC and former vice president of Internet technology at IBM. Mr. Patrick was a founding member of the World Wide Web Consortium at MIT in 1994 and of the Global Internet Project. He is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives.  He is a director of Knovel Corporation, WebMediaBrands, Inc., and Western Connecticut Health Network. He is the author of Net Attitude: What It Is, How to Get It, and Why Your Company Can’t Survive Without It (Perseus, 2001).

About SUN and SURF

SUN and SURF Magazine is published quarterly and mailed to all property owners in Hammock Dunes in Palm Coast, Florida. The magazine currently has a circulation of approximately 1,000.

Tags: analytics, big data, cardionet, corventis, IBM, internet, Internet Technology, ipad, patientslikeme, social media, telemonitoring

kindlefire – 1

There are many reviews out there already about the new Kindle Fire (see Nook’s Specs Are Exaggerated, Again). I would not glority this posting by calling it a review — it is simply my first reaction upon receiving the kindlefire this afternoon. The fire was actually delivered to the Marriott Atlanta Century Center on Tuesday. I have been in Florida for the last few days and when I got notice of the shipping, I had the Kindle diverted to where I would be staying during the weekend for a University of Phoenix residency (more on that later).

My first reaction on taking the fire out of the classicly simple Amazon packaging was that it was heavier than I expected. It is not as heavy as the first Nook, but it is heavier than the other new Kindles. After a few hours of using it, I would say it is lighter than the iPad and not really so heavy after all. Speaking of the iPad, the obvious question from many will be “how does it compare to the iPad?” My son reminds me that the fire “is not an iPad”, and it should not be compared to something that is totally different in design and intention. I agree — the two are different animals with different purposes.

I had some difficulty setting up the fire because of the marginal WiFi signal in my room at the hotel. The fire wants you to confirm your Amazon account after getting a WiFi signal, but the Marriott wants you to confirm your room # before it activates your wireless. It took a while to figure out how to get around the Catch 22. The fire is clearly a content device — it is designed for reading books and the news, watching movies, and listening to music. There is a large selection of apps but I have not yet had time to try many. The free enhanced email program available in the Amazon app store works very well.

The fire navigation is a bit awkward but I think that is a matter of getting used to a different paradigm. The text entry mode has a nice movable cursor for use in corecting entries that is very nice. I need more time to experiment with it, but as a first impression, I think that text entry may be better than the iPad in that respect. I know — don’t compare the fire to the iPad! They are both great and I look forward to more experience with the fire and will share that as the days progress.

Tags: amazon, fire, ipad, Kindle, kindlefire

Book Stores

With the exception of one washout, this has been a great summer for motorcycling. Yesterday, it was a trike ride down to Bethlehem, PA taking only back roads to get there. It was about 75 miles from the lake. We saw a lot of downed trees and wires along the way. We parked the trike in the historic area of Main Street and had a nice lunch outdoors at Mamma Nina Foccacheria and then visited some of the shops. The most interesting was Seasons Olive Oil & Vinegar Taproom, which carries a large collection of exclusive, fresh extra virgin olive oils and traditional balsamic vinegars – all on tap from stainless steel Italian “fustis” for sipping before you buy.

The largest shop on Main Street is the Moravian Book Shop, the oldest continuously running bookseller in the world, founded in 1745. I don’t know what percentage of their sales comes from books, but the store offers a wide variety of distinctive merchandise. The failure of Borders leaves Barnes & Noble as the only national bookstore chain in the U.S. and it is racing to grow its e-book business with the Nook, while overall book sales continue to decline. Although printed book sales are continuing a long-term negative trend, they are not headed to zero. With unit volumes going down, printed books will surely rise in price. Some people will go to Blurb and print their own books. Many people will continue to go to book stores–maybe not the megastores like B&N–but to stores like the Moravian Book Shop where there is an entire room full of books for children and tables and displays throughout with printed books of all kinds. Then there is the Cocoon Coffee House in Hawley, PA. Many people go there for WiFi, panini, salad, and a glass of wine, but others go to buy a book. It is not exactly a book store–more of a cooperative arrangement with local libraries who may have some books to turnover. Books will be around for a long time. Libraries are not going away any time soon either. See WorldCat.

Tags: barnes & noble, bethlehem, book stores, books, cocoon, e-books, foccacheria, hawley, Mamma Nina, moravian, nook

R2D2 – WiFi – 1xRTT

A high school teacher named Kristen wrote to say that her students had been using some web pages from the patrickWeb blog as a source of information for their studies and projects. The posting below is one of the pages they found useful. The story was originally posted on June 10, 2003. One of the students in Kristen’s class, Brian, contributed an additional link to the blog that he has found particularly valuable in using Linux. I am grateful to all readers for using patrickWeb and especially appreciate it when they make suggestions or report errors in the site. Having just updated the site to an all new design, I am sure there will be some bugs that are discovered.

WiFi is such a clean and user-friendly name. WiFi stands for “wireless fidelity” and it is based on a standard called 802.11 — but who cares? It is becoming a household name, more and more available, and extremely useful. The information technology and telecommunications industries often get enamored with the technical name or the name of a standard and then these “tech-names” take on a life of their own — even though they may be next to impossible to remember, spell, or understand. An example is the technology used in the Sprint PCS wireless service which I use with my ThinkPad. It is referred to as 1xRTT. Somewhat like R2D2 except that I think most people know what R2D2 is.

According to Webopedia.com, 1xRTT is short for single carrier (1x) radio transmission technology, a 3G wireless technology based on the CDMA platform. 1xRTT has the capability of providing ISDN-like speeds of up to 144 Kbps. 1xRTT is also referred to as CDMA2000. Clear as mud? What are 3G and CDMA? Again, according to Webopedia.com, 3G is an ITU specification for the third generation (analog cellular was the first generation, digital PCS the second) of mobile communications technology. 3G promises increased bandwidth, up to 384 Kbps when a device is stationary or moving at pedestrian speed, 128 Kbps in a car, and 2 Mbps in fixed applications. 3G will work over wireless air interfaces such as GSM, TDMA, and CDMA. The new EDGE air interface has been developed specifically to meet the bandwidth needs of 3G. Seems that each definition leads to several others.

CDMA is short for Code-Division Multiple Access, a digital cellular technology that uses spread-spectrum techniques. Unlike competing systems, such as GSM, that use TDMA, CDMA does not assign a specific frequency to each user. Instead, every channel uses the full available spectrum. Individual conversations are encoded with a pseudo-random digital sequence. CDMA is a military technology first used during World War II by the English allies to foil German attempts at jamming transmissions. The allies decided to transmit over several frequencies, instead of one, making it difficult for the Germans to pick up the complete signal. Because Qualcomm Inc. created communications chips for CDMA technology, it was privy to the classified information. Once the information became public, Qualcomm claimed patents on the technology and became the first to commercialize it.

As for what to use, I’ll stick with WiFi. When on the train or other places that don’t have WiFi yet, I continue to use the Sprint PCS service. Or is it 1xRTT? Or 3G? Or CDMA? It really is a good service, albeit expensive. I rarely get the advertised 100 kbps+ speed but it is usually at least 50 kbps. The best part is that there are no wires and if the signal is lost, it reconnects when a strong enough signal reappears. I hope the definitions were useful to those may have been curious like me. I found them at Webopedia, which is one of internet.com‘s network of more than 160 Web sites. They have the sites organized into 16 channels. You can find further information at Internet.com.

Other patrickWeb stories about WiFi

Tags: Internet Technology, internet.com, WiFi

iPad 2 Launched

The iPad 2 announcement was mostly as expected. Ordering it at 7 AM this morning was also as expected — easy, fast, pleasant, enticing for extra goodies, followed by immediate and precise confirming communications from Apple. The order status shows: Ships: 5 – 7 business days and Delivers: Mar 22 – Mar 29. I ran into a friend at lunch who ordered around noon and his confirmation showed April 8, so that implies a large backlog already created. Not surprising. I have heard many people say that the iPad 2 will cause them to order because of the cameras for FaceTime. I agree with them — that is going to be a really great feature of the iPad 2. I can’t wait to see my grandchildren on it. Not a substitute for seeing them in person but a great experience in between visits. I read today that a manufacturer of private aircraft is including an iPad with each airplane that will include the POH (pilot operating handbook) and all documentation associated with the plane. This is just one of many thousands of ways that the tablet computer will integrate with our business and personal lives. Even if the price was the same, who would want to buy an airplane and get a PC included with all the documentation? Nobody. It would never be considered. There are many implications of tablets. One of them is that physical media is history — disks, tapes, diskettes, CDs, DVDs, USB memory sticks, external hard drives, etc. When you combine an iPad with Dropbox you have it all — a powerful computer connected to the Internet and a cloud computing repository that will sync all of your data between the iPad, the iPhone, your Mac, your PC, Windows, Linux, whatever. Although Bill Gates’ PC is moving toward history, he was right when he envisioned information at your fingertips!

Tags: apple, cloud computing, dropbox, facetime, gates, ipad, ipad 2, pc, tablet

iPad 2

The iPad 2 announcement was mostly as expected–thinner, lighter, faster, two cameras built in, and a gyroscope! A new dual-core processor, branded the A5, is included and promises significantly faster performance. The positive surprise is that all the new features come with the same great battery life as the first iPad, and an innovative new magnetic cover with a choice of two materials and ten colors that helps keep the glass clean and doubles as a stand to elevate the iPad for typing. The only disappointment was that an upgrade to the brilliant retina display of the iPhone 4 was not included.

The new iPad comes in various models based on storage size and networking preference. As far as storage goes, I always recommend getting the maximum available for two reasons. First is that the shift toward more video in our lives requires a lot more storage. Secondly, assuming you want to get an iPad 3 as soon as it comes along, you can get more value on eBay for your prior device with the larger storage capacity. As for network options, if you want WiFi only, the iPad will work in most places but not everywhere. If you want it to work more ubiquitously, you can select a 3G model which will work with your favorite network operator– either AT&T or Verizon. Too bad there is not more competition in the network operator space as neither of these giants is great. The good news with them is that you do not need to commit to a contract. It is pay as you go. If WiFi is available where you are, then that is what you use–automatically. If there is no WiFi then the cellular connection kicks in. The cost is $15 per month for 250 megabytes of data from AT&T and $20 per month for a gigabyte from Verizon. There are significant differences between the two operators as far as what happens when you use more than your initial limit. I have found 250 to be adequate to get email in out-of-WiFi-range and to use the web moderately. If you plan to stream Pandora music or Netflix movies you will use up the 250MB in a hurry. For very heavy use of 3G, the Verizon offering looks better. I plan to stay with AT&T.

There are going to be many thousands of apps spurned by the iPad2 that will take advantage of the faster processor, the gyroscope, and the two cameras. I think the built-in FaceTime app is mot significant because of how easy it makes it to connect with friends and family. It will work with another iPad 2 or with an iPhone 4. If you have grandchildren, you need FaceTime! I view FaceTime as profound. We have a remodeling project going on right now more than 100 miles from our primary home. The builder has an iPhone 4 and can call not just to ask about a bathroom fixture but to show us the wall and point his finger at where we want something installed. He marks the wall with an X while we are looking at it. If you have an injury and need your doctor to look at it, the iPhone is the perfect way to show him or her. There are issues of scheduling time with the doctor and the doctor getting reimbursed for time spent with you on FaceTime but I am confident these issues will be worked out. FaceTime can extend our lives into other places and other’s lives into our space — if any of us so chooses to do so. As for the other apps, I can’t wait to try the new GarageBand for iPad 2.

If you haven’t watched the keynote where Steve Jobs introduces the iPad2, I found it an enjoyable 63 minutes. He is justifiably proud of this latest Apple innovation. I don’t know where the limit is, but at the current price of Apple stock, the company has a market capitalization of 1.5 times GE, IBM, or Microsoft and is catching up to Exxon, the world’s most valuable company.

Tags: apple, facetime, garageband, ipad, ipad 2, jobs, WiFi

Kindle 3

The new Kindle 3 — “Smaller, Faster, Cheaper“” — arrived on Friday morning, a few days earlier than Amazon had promised. I would say that the new device will assure Amazon’s lead for some time. It is really fantastic. I had no complaints with the Kindle 2 — in fact I love it — but the new one has a nicer feel to it. The slightly smaller size allows you to truly read “one handed”. The power switch was moved to the bottom from the top and I find that much more convenient. The new color seems more with the times. A few other button changes but overall it is pretty much a refined version of the Kindle 2 which was a refined version of the Kindle 1. I am sure we won’t have to wait a year for the Kindle 4.

The Kindle 3′s new no glare screen has increased gray-scale contrast — it is clear as a bell and it loves the summer sun. The battery life is supposed to be one month. The migration from Kindle 2 to Kindle 3 was trivial. Took the new device out of the box, plugged it in, and turned it on. I clicked “register” and gave it my Amazon account id and password. I also gave it the SSID of my Wireless Access Point here at the Lake and that was it. In seconds I was reading the book that I had started on the Kindle 2 (and read parts of on the iPhone 4 and the Kindle app on the iPad).

I still love the iPad but when it comes to reading  books the Kindle is hands down better and with the Kindle 3 that advantage will be multiplied. The new Kindle comes in two flavors: one with WiFi for $139 and one with WiFi and 3G for $189. For most of us the WiFi model is more than adequate. If you are going on a trip you can download your favorite newspaper plus a book or two or more using your home WiFi and you are set. You don’t really need 3G for other applications because the Kindle doesn’t have other applications! That is what your iPad is for.

The magazine, book, and newspaper publishers still haven’t figured out what to do about the rapid adoption of e-readers. The iPad is great for reading news, but which news source is best to read?  The New York Times has the worst model. They offer a dozen stories and plan to charge if you want more. The Wall Street Journal charges $3.99 per week for their news on the iPad but if you want to read a WSJ story on the web or your iPhone they want you to take out another subscription. Wired and Time want you to pay $5 per issue of their magazines.  I believe people will be willing to pay for good content but nobody yet has the right model. I have experimented with quite a few news “readers” that display the RSS feeds of just about all publishers. I currently like NewsRack the best. None of the news readers are perfect but they are all getting better.

Meanwhile the Kindle DX has found a temporary home on eBay. The auction began Friday evening and already has 13 watchers and eight bids. The Kindle DX has been in use for airport and approach charts on the airplane but is no longer needed now that the pilots have iPads. This is a good example of where a “multi-purpose” device is better. There are many applications that are very handy in the cockpit and the iPad becomes an EFB (electronic flight bag). Hopefully, the pilots are not reading books while flying!

Tags: amazon, author, Aviation, efb, electronic flight bag, ipad, Kindle, kindle 3, kindle 4, publisher, WiFi

Grand Canyon

Until this week I thought the Grand Canyon was a unique place in Arizona. The Grand Canyon there is the giant for sure — 277 miles  long, up to 18 miles wide and over a mile deep — but now I have learned about another Grand Canyon — in Pennsylvania. The motorcycle trip started out in cloudy weather but within the first hour we encountered rain — not just a few sprinkles but a steady downpour. By the time we reached downtown  historic Tunkhannock the streets were flooded. We found a place to park and went into Twigs Restaurant and Cafe.

I was anxious to check the radar at wunderground.com on the iPhone 4 to see where the storm lines were so I asked the hostess if they had WiFi. Oh, yes we do she proudly announced. Great, what is the SSID? You mean the password? No I mean the name of your wireless access point. Oh, just use “twigs”. Is that with a capital T or lower case? It doesn’t matter. Excuse me, but it does matter. No problem I will try both. Neither worked. Excuse me, is that with one g or two? Just one. Sorry but neither work. Sorry, said the hostess. The owner knows but he isn’t here. Maybe someone else knows? The hostess returned and said it was Twigs1. Nope. No, you need two T’s. I tried TTwigs and Ttwigs, and ttwigs. None worked. The bartender said it is TwigsTwigs1. I tried with and without the 1 but had no luck. The hostess said she had confirmed with the owner that it was correct so if it doesn’t work then you have to contact WiFi! If that doesn’t work try your Internet Service Provider. I explained that the name was set in a little box right there in Twigs and that it was up to them what name they gave it and seems strange that they would want to make it so hard for their customers to use. I finally gave up. At least the food was good. Looking out the window at the downpour and the four of us suited up in our rain gear and headed out into the torrents of rain.

The next hundred miles was more of the same. We could tell that the scenic U.S. Route 6 — more than 3,000 miles long extending from Provincetown, Massachusetts to Bishop, California — offered some great views of the hills and valleys. The stretch of Route 6 we were traveling along the 444 mile long Susquehanna River was beautiful but unfortunately we were not going to witness that on this day and we also needed to keep very focused on the road in front of us. The 175 mile adventure ended in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, a small town of 3,500 people but with a disproportionate number of shops and restaurants to accommodate the tourists who come there to see the Grand Canyon of PA.

First steps for my brother and I and our wives were to check in to the motel, get our motorcycles parked, get a hot shower, and get our rain gear spread out to dry. The  motel WiFi was simple and fast and the iPad was great for checking email, the day’s market activities, and the news and weather — no longer a need to travel with a heavy laptop.  We headed out with umbrellas to Timeless Destination, a fine Italian restaurant a few blocks from the motel. The food was great and just for grins, I asked if they had WiFi. Oh yes but only the manager knows the password and he isn’t in today! I still stand by my deciiion to have gotten the iPad and the new Kindle (coming in a couple of weeks) with no 3GS, just WiFi. WiFi may not be ubiquitous but it is getting there — with a few exceptions in north central Pennsylvania.

After eggs and potatoes at the Wellsboro Diner in the center of town (did not bother asking about WiFi),  it was time to head out west on Route 660 to Grand Canyon. We gambled that we would not need our rain gear and although the weather was not picture perfect we did escape all but a few sprinkles for the day. A short ten mile ride through the hills and valleys brought us to the end of 660 and to the scenic overlook on the east ridge of the canyon in the 160,000 acre park in the Tioga State Forest. I haven’t been to the Grand Canyon in Arizona since I was a child so I can’t compare accurately but the Grand Canyon PA was quite impressive. Also known as Pine Creek Gorge, the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania is situated along Pine Creek. The Canyon begins near Wellsboro along Route 6 and continues for approximately 47 miles. The maximum depth of the canyon is 1,450 feet and the distance from rim to rim is approximately 4,000 feet. It is worth seeing and with more time it affords some excellent hiking.

The ride back to the Lake gave us the chance to see the scenic overlooks that we had missed during the prior rainy day. Near Towanda in Asylum Township along the banks of the Susquehanna we saw an historical marking that states, “Marie Antoinette Scenic View, 2000 feet”.  Turns out that in 1793, during the French Revolution several French loyalists fled France and the French island of Santo Domingo (present-day Haiti) to escape persecution and death for their loyalty to King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette. They landed on the shores of Philadelphia where some prominent Philadelphians agreed to finance their stay in Pennsylvania. 1,600 acres in Northeastern Pennsylvania were purchased and given to the refugees.  The loyalists traveled up the Susquehanna River to a pristine area in the valley. They had found their safe harbor and named it Asylum. (During the Reign of Terror, at the height of the French Revolution, Louis XVI was deposed and the royal family was imprisoned. Nine months after her husband’s execution, Marie Antoinette was tried, convicted of treason, and executed by guillotine in October 1793.

We stopped in Towanda for lunch. The main street was similar to many towns along Route 6 including it’s own Opera House dated 1886 which is now a hardware store. Unfortunately, the business landscape of rural Pennsylvania and New York reveals many closed retailers and manufacturers. The primary place you see thriving buildings with full parking lots are at schools, hospitals, medical labs and clinics, senior citizen living centers, and various government buildings. I have been fortunate to have traveled to many countries around the world but there is much more to see within a day’s motorcycle ride in the northeast part of America.

Tags: french revolution, grand canyon, grand canyon pa, marie antoinette, motorcycle, rain, route 6, towanda, trike, tunkhannock, wellsboro, WiFi

iPhone 4 – Part 6: et tu, iPad?

The iPhone 4 is going strong. I took some pictures today and noticed how much faster the capture is — significantly faster than the 3GS. Between the faster processor and additional memory the performance for everything it does is better. One thing I had not anticipated, however, is the impact of the iPhone 4 on the iPad for those who own both. What I mean by that is the perception that the iPad is not as good as it could (and surely will) be in the Fall when it gets the upgrade to iOS 4.

Task switching is really nice and when you get used to the double push of the home button on the iPhone 4 you begin to expect it to be the same on the iPad, but of course it is not the same. It is not there at all. There is not multi-tasking on the iPad. I am sure Apple did not intend to have the iPhone make the iPad look bad but I think that for many users that have both of the new devices they will begin to get impatient that the iPad doesn’t have some of the advanced features of it’s little brother. The folders made by possible by iOS 4 are really great. In stead of 100 apps spread across 8 screens I now have many of them in folders and everything is contained on half as many screens. The same 100 or so apps are spread across the eight screens on the iPad and while some apps are unique to each device, many are common but in different places. I already finding myself thinking how nice it would be if the iPad had the Navigation, News, Aviation, Shopping, Utilities, Productivity, etc. folders that the iPhone has. Hmmm. Will I begin to get frustrated with the iPad? Maybe a little. The main difference for me is the session time with an app. With the iPhone it tends to be short while on the iPad it tends to be more for reading and surfing of longer duration.

And then there is the Retina display I described in the last post. The iPad has a great display but it is not Retina. Could it be? Seems likely. If you look a bit further at the specs you also see that the iPhone 4 actually has more memory than the iPad. Hmmm. So there are some clues as to what may be coming. Seems likely that we will see a new iPhone once a year in the summer and maybe a new iPad once a year before holiday shopping time. No regrets on my part having the “magical” iPad early even if it gets replaced with a lighter, faster, thinner, brighter one in six months. Gazelle will be there to take care of the “trade-in”.

Other iPhone 4 Thoughts
Other iPad Thoughts

Tags: apple, folders, gadget, gazelle, ipad, iPhone, iphone 4, iphone4, mobile display, multi-tasking, retina, retina display, task switching

iPhone 4 – Part 5: 2nd Day Impressions

Tags: amazon, apple, apple store, back lighting, ebay, facetime, gadget, gazelle, ibooks, in-plane switching, ipad, iPhone, iphone 4, iphone4, Kindle, lcd, micrometer, micrometre, mobile display, patrickWeb, proximity sensor, retina, retina display