Associated Press nabs the interview of the year

Well, we'd like to think so here at jkOnTheRun, but we're admittedly biased. If you hop over to Yahoo! News, you'll see a nice article by the Associated Press called "For PCs, smaller isn't always better". The AP pulled out all the stops on this one and nabbed some key mobile device experts, such as:

• Robin Budd, a senior director from FlipStart Labs
• Waldemar Karwowski, a University of Louisville director of the Center for Industrial Ergonomics
• Bill Mitchell, the president of Microsoft's Mobile Platforms Division

and most importantly: James Kendrick, who needs no introduction (I hope!) Congrats on the interview even if a 30 minute conversation got boiled down to a few lines; that's the "bright lights, big city" for you dude! ;)

The article is pretty good as it touches up on the usability challenges facing the mobile device market. The more we shrink 'em down, the more compromises we seem to be challenged with. Give it a read!

Update: I didn't know her alter ego at the time, but a jkOTR reader & commenter was also interviewed. Who's that you say? Find out here. - kct

Comments

[Elo]

Thanks Kevin for bringing that article to our atention!

It is interesting but still it stays in the surfaces of things as far as mobile and portable devices are concerned. I did like to hear Karwowski on how we must bend to the devices often ill conceived design instead of the design to be created with human interaction in mind. To me, this is the next big thing and what informational technology will be all about in 20 years.

[tnkgrl]

It's unfortunate that after talking with Jessica Mintz for 30 minutes, she distilled my interview down to a few sentences including this choice quote: "I'm a believer that some typing's good enough"...

Great :) Not to mention she didn't even link to my blog!

[James Kendrick]

Thanks Kevin, the article is a decent one and is about what I expected it to be. That's usually the way these things go, tnkgrl.

[Sumocat]

I rolled my eyes after they gave credit to FlipStart for solving the Ctrl-Alt-Delete issue (by using the solution that's part of Microsoft's Tablet PC spec), but the rest of the article is very good, even if James only got one quote. Though it is good that your use of an external keyboard got mentioned. Hopefully it helps spread awareness that the integrated 'board isn't the only hard keyboard option. I'm also pleased they note that full-sized versions of Windows aren't designed for small screens, which I keep hoping gets fixed. Overall, good stuff.

[Dave Haupert]

Congrats on the article!

I personally thought the author took most all of your (anyone quoted) quotes out of context. The entire article seems to have a negative slant towards considering a small PC, as opposed to all the ingenious solutions people have done to make the fact that a < 7" screen and small keyboard combination still quite usable. It may be just me, but it seemed like each person was probably quoted saying something like this:

"I agree that running a full blown regular version of windows on a screen 7 inches or smaller is not practical. But we've enhanced the usage model by providing something called the origami experience which gives you big finger access to the most frequently used things you'd need to do on the device".

But the article just took the first part:
"I agree that running a full blown regular version of windows on a screen 7 inches or smaller is not practical."

That makes it seem like there is even agreement from the manufacturers and developers that these solutions are no good.

Just my read on it- hope that more articles take the positive view of all that can be done with a UMPC or Tablet in the future that can't be done on a laptop or desktop because of their 'portly' size!

[tnkgrl]

Dave, I agree with your assessment of the article... It appears to have a negative slant!

She asked me a lot of ergonomics-related questions - I explained that despite there being a bit of an adaptation curve with handtops - how I've adjusted the font size on my OQO Model 01+ (not Model 01 as mentioned in the article), how I've become a skilled thumb typist, and how I've learned more keyboard shortcuts - it's not that much of an ergonomics challenge once you get the hang of it.

PS, thanks for the link to my blog, Kevin.

[Don't Panic!]

I just want to know when anything small with a practical OS became a UMPC? Is this in some news organiztions stylebook or something? None of those devices are Origamis. I guess handtops haven't made the lexicon yet. Seriously Cool being interviewed by AP though. Congrats all!

[James Kendrick]

Don't Panic!- this is the problem created by Microsoft when they decided to ditch the Origami name and call UMPCs such a generic (and non-trademarked) name like the Ultra-mobile PC. This is exactly the situation that results from that, anybody is free to call their device UMPCs and they do. There are far more portable devices that are being called UMPCs than there are "genuine" UMPCs, and that won't change. Nice to meet you in Seattle, BTW.