wtfwtf_ok

Here's the thing about the iPad:

If I'm sitting at my desk using my computer and my wife comes along and starts talking to me, I need to stop what I'm doing and pay attention. But I'm still sitting at my desk. I start to get uncomfortable, like "I'm sitting here but must resist looking at the screen".

If I'm sitting on the couch or laying in bed using the iPad, and the same thing happens I can toss it aside. I can throw it around in a way one can't with a laptop. And then I'm sitting there, comfortable, and can listen to my wife without getting fidgety.

It's a far more interruptable experience because when I return to it it's instantly ready for me to pick up where I left off, with no concerns for the battery life. (I don't have to make the laptop choice of: am I coming back in 2 minutes or 2 hours? Should I put it to sleep?)

And this has nothing to do with the great user experience of Apple's software. Just the form factor, so I imagine it would hold true for any similar tablet from another company. It's the kind of thing that's hard to convey, and took me a week or two of using it to realize.

• 21:56 Remember when albums were released? Now they drop. #

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• 13:37 Running firefox (as opposed to chrome) to use some plugin is like when I used to boot into Windows. Only far, far less painful. #

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Twitter's 140 character limit has got to go.

I do like having a stream of "short form" posts that I can read when I don't have much time. But 140 characters is too short. Does anybody really still use texting to post or read Twitter? I either just visit the website (on my desktop) or use Tweetie (on my iphone). I hate shortened URLs (have I seen it before? I don't know) and I hate that they count towards the character limit. I don't want to use a plugin that auto-expands them.

My proposal: RSS readers have a "short" mode, in which only posts that are 200 words or less (or some similar limit) are shown. Up to one URL may be included.

Then I can just use my standard reader, and everyone can just post things in one place, long or short. I don't have an elegant proposal for "@" functionality aside from all bloggers registering some username with some entity and having that be in their blog metadata. Your reader would then know your @ name and be able to search for it.

• 19:55 @samskivert So what's the default position if the batteries are drained: locked or unlocked? #

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• 12:21 #chokehold 911? That's the whole point! That's what we're protesting! "Hello, I'm having a emergen--" **dropped call** #

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• 12:07 Operation Chokehold is a great idea. If AT&T drops emergency calls while some geeks listen to music, what will they do in a real emergency? #

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• 12:49 My pants have threads sticking out of them. I'm parallelized from the waist down. #

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• 13:14 Drain makers: default position is open. Accidental closure should be difficult. #
• 22:32 My apartment has such a faucet and such a drain. They frustrate me. #

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• 13:20 Faucet makers: pressure can be a function of temperature, but the reverse should never be true. #

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