David Michael Bruno

iPad and the not-so-revolutionary Consumer

I have just a few thoughts regarding the iPad and its relationship to the consumer.

But first a couple of minor points. Can you say, "Lame name?" How did that get through creative? I'm stunned.

As for the technology, it too is lacking. There's more hope in the technology, however, than in the nomenclature. Several folks have pointed out that the iPad is like the earliest iPods. Remember those awkward, monochrome things? The iPad, it is said, is just the first version of an amazing product, two years from now.

A revolutionary technology must be able to do two things: 1. it must conjure possibilities in the end user's imagination and 2. it must be easy to envision how it will develop into an exponentially better technology in the near future.The iPod went from an MP3 player to a mini computer to a mini computer/game console/phone/camera. MacBooks have gone from laptops to laptops. It's clear which one was revolutionary. The iPad might be revolutionary, but it's hard to say.

And there is a motive force called "expectation" that will create resistance to the iPad. When the iPod launched it was unspectacular. No one expected it, and no one put expectations on it. When the iPhone launched it was spectacular, and people were expecting it to be. This week when the iPad launched, the expectation was all or nothing - either better than the iPhone or so-so gadget. Most people seem to think the iPad is a so-so gadget.

Nevertheless, a lot of people are going to buy it. And this is where I'm personally most disappointed. The iPad does little more than offer you and me the chance to, you guessed it, buy one more thing.

The iPod turned us into consumers. With an iPod you could listen to the audio version of the New York Times. The iPhone turned us into contributors. With an iPhone you could produce the pictures and tweets and audio that might contribute to the New York Times. The iPad seems oriented toward putting us all back in our place as buyers of things. It has a nice application that lets us read the New York Times.

With an iPad, it seems to me, the average person can add value to the world, if "value" means playing games, buying media, and looking cooler than the person without the latest gadget. With an iPad there is not much for you and me to contribute, yet. And that's not revolutionary, yet.

Why iPods and iPhones aren't that exciting

Quick rant. My daughter's iPod Touch came yesterday. My parents bought it for her birthday. Just like everyone says, it is really cool.

We only had a few minutes before bedtime to setup an iTunes account for her and get the iPod talking to our WiFi. The rule is that she needs to buy whatever games or apps she wants. But since we are nice parents, I offered to buy her one starter game.

We started browsing. Sex Quiz was the game that jumped out. It's little icon blazed "sex" on the screen. While we've talked about the birds and the bees with our kids, they aren't too interested right now, so I doubt it made much of an impression.

My daughter takes horse riding lessons and loves all things horses. So we decided to search for a horse game. There are a handful. All of them are pretty much aids for horse race betting. But one seemed like a real live horse game. We downloaded the trial version for free. Oops. It's a game where you bet on horses and then watch the iPod race them around the track, hoping for your trifecta.

Obviously not all iPod/iPhone games/apps are nonsense. Even the ones that are nonsense can be a little bit of fun, I'm sure. But the other day our daughter read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets because she wanted to take a quick break from reading The Lord of the Rings. She and her sister are helping our family support the village of Muzye in Burundi with their own money. They love the fact that we support and pray for a little girl in India through World Vision. They love to go outside and play.

In some ways I'm happy that she has an iPod. She needs to loosen up and enjoy gadgets and have fun (she's our serious, rule-following child). But I'm also aware that the world of iPods is overwhelmingly stuffed full of junk. Mindlessness. Un-virtue. Distraction. Escape. I don't think we live in a world where we can ignore such things. It's just a tiny bit sad as a parent to get to that point when your kids have to start dealing with them.

That said, I'm excited for the opportunity to parent well. For the opportunity to walk along side my children as they grow up into adults. Help them make good decisions and use stuff to do good things.

Feeling Low On Technology, Here's Why

First things first. No comments about how I am using my MacBook Pro to write about my dislike of technology on my blog, which will feed directly to my Facebook where some of you might comment on this. I just know that there is a Latin name for the logical fallacy of dismissing an argument because it uses

[Unreal! I am not making this up. I had just spent the last thirty minutes writing a profound harangue about how technology is becoming less useful and more frustrating, all the while trusting the Auto-Save feature built into Typepad, when I went to correct a misspelled word, using Firefox's built-in spell checker, and lost everything but what you see above. Incredibly... Incredibly I have just discovered that Typepad does not have an "Undo" feature in its editor. And neither does Control - Z work. Inconceivable! Ooooh, I'm feeling loooow on technology.]

Educational Advantages

Today is New Student Orientation at Point Loma Nazarene University, where I work. I'm excited.

My work (in the Marketing and Creative Services department) is enjoyable. We're redesigning the school's Web site, which is shaping up to be an epic project. But what gets me most enthused about my job is the opportunity to interact with students and their education. You just cannot deny that college is about the best time of life. It's a shame that most of us have to stop going to college at some point and move on into the "real world" - oh how I hate that lame criticism of college life. I once heard Bill McKibben suggest that college is about as "real" as this world gets. Community. Friendships. Accountability. Education. Vocation. Thoughtfulness. Everything but the food at the caf is "real" on a college campus.

Anyhow, in honor of NSO, and with deference to my good buddy Jon who's doing an amazing job shaking things up at eduFire, I'd like to celebrate the return of students to PLNU by recognizing Nicholas Carr's excellent read of the recent report that was completely blown out of proportion online.

Long live the classroom!

Technology Use - Why?

Technology has been on my mind recently. I keep seeing it everywhere. I should say, I keep seeing everywhere how other people own more technology than me.

Like iPhones. Wherever I turn, people have iPhones. This past weekend we were hanging out with a group of close friends like we do every Sunday night and all of us were talking about some pretty intense issues in our lives. Every few paragraphs someone broke out an iPhone to check something.

At work last week it was more dramatic. Each meeting felt like it was a showdown at the saloon. Except instead of all the participants dropping their six shooters on the bar counter, everyone drew their iPhones and slapped them down on the conference table.

Let’s run with the six shooter metaphor for a moment. What exactly do you use a gun for?

1. Shoot things
2. Tricks
3. Security blanket

There really are not too many things to shoot. People. Animals. Targets, where “targets” can include paper targets made for that purpose or discarded trash you might “plink” with a gun. There probably are more tricks you can do with a gun than things you can shoot. For example, you can spin the gun (pistol) on your finger. You can holster it and draw it super fast. And of course, there is the whole range of shooting tricks that involve a target, like shooting a playing card in half.

Some people use guns as grown-up security blankets. They wear their six shooters on their hip while at home. I’m not going to comment on this use at this time. I have a young child who is not keen on giving up her “blanky,” and so I know how traumatic this last use can be.

The point is that our use of technology is kind of like this. There’s really not much we use a computer or iPhone or some other device for.

1. Write things
2. Read things
3. Communicate
4. Waste time
5. Security blanket

Last night I spent some time on number four. Right now, like I do every morning, I am taking time on number one. Later today, technology will facilitate numbers two and three. But at some point in my day, I’ll be mostly caught up on the first three uses of technology. Since a computer will be in front of me, I’ll be tempted to keep moving down the list.

More and more I am wondering, why? I have no major agenda in this post. I’m just wondering. Why?