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Mobile? Who Are We Kidding?

andersonjr.com

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Re: Mobile? Who Are We Kidding?

#21

Post by mil3s »

I ran a 30 day experiment only using my 8" tablet when I was not at work or home. I eventually added a small 9" bluetooth keyboard and 90 days later I feel really anchored down if I carry anything in addition to my tablet.

I use a terminal emulator to log into my VPS where I do most of my work. I have had to simplify my work flow but I do not miss the bulk one bit.

As technology changes, I want to be part of the first adapters, I don't see myself being able to take advantage of the cutting edge when I am unable to let go of current and fading solutions.

Of course this is not going to be the best approach for everyone, I find it exciting.

Re: Mobile? Who Are We Kidding?

#22

Post by e12e »

potatolicious wrote: post #16

Where I work everyone gets a desktop in the office and a laptop to keep at home. I can literally throw on a jacket and go to work - no bags, not even anything in my pockets. It's glorious. I've done the whole "schlepping the laptop everywhere" thing before. It sucks, the author is right. It's not just the weight, it's the unplugging, plugging in, oh-no-the-monitor-didnt-quite-detect-right bullshit dance. Where is the…

Hm, now that we have wireless charging actually marketed as a product (for mobiles and tablets anyway, I assume a "full" laptop might still be tricky? Maybe not if the goal is simply to not use the battery while docket (rather than charging it)?) -- we should be able to do usb1.1+ speeds via some kind of NFC interface -- and hdmi is possible to wirelessly -- so how long before we get docking basins/plates rather than docking stations? Two years?

Re: Mobile? Who Are We Kidding?

#24

Post by e12e »

dominotw wrote: post #19
BSousa wrote: post #17

I see these from some co-workers as well, but honestly, I carry my car keys, my wallet and a cell phone (a stupid dumbphone even). I leave my work at work, and at home I have my machine for whatever. I see +90% of the people on my commute (I drive but then cycle for 5 miles) carrying huge backpacks or messenger bags and for the life of me, I don't understand why they do it.

I have college textbooks that aren't available as ebooks yet that I need to carry around for school .

If you have something to "e-read" them on, and you're comfortable reading on that thing -- why not just scan the books yourself? Pretty quick on a multi-copier/scanner/printer-thing (the industrial size ones -- like you might find at your library or a copy shop (if you can find one).

Re: Mobile? Who Are We Kidding?

#25

Post by phaer »

potatolicious wrote: post #16

Where I work everyone gets a desktop in the office and a laptop to keep at home. I can literally throw on a jacket and go to work - no bags, not even anything in my pockets. It's glorious. I've done the whole "schlepping the laptop everywhere" thing before. It sucks, the author is right. It's not just the weight, it's the unplugging, plugging in, oh-no-the-monitor-didnt-quite-detect-right bullshit dance. Where is the…

ssh + tmux attach/detach does the trick for a surprising amount of developer jobs.

Re: Mobile? Who Are We Kidding?

#26

Post by Zigurd »

I use an LG gPad and a Perixx folding keyboard. Together they are about as small and light as a paper notebook. I wish Drive applications worked better offline, but I can tether if needed.

I only need to schlep the laptop if I need to code at the customer site.

Tablets really are all that 90% of your users need. If they actually got good tablets, they could step out of their cubicles and communicate with other humans.

Re: Mobile? Who Are We Kidding?

#27

Post by Zigurd »

thatthatis wrote: post #15

I have no idea what this guy is talking about, I'm more moble with better power and access to my data now than when I was in college and never more than 100 feet from a unix terminal. I have two carry modes: with laptop and without. In both modes I have a 8" tablet (my note taking device), my phone, and a dot grid notebook for the times when I feel like sketching on paper. Two pens, a pencil, two or three chargers (i…

Google Goggles has a high-contrast mode for taking pictures of documents. Works great for sketches on paper and for taking pictures of whiteboards. I could never get those digitizing notebooks to work for me.

Re: Mobile? Who Are We Kidding?

#28

Post by potatolicious »

e12e wrote: post #22
potatolicious wrote: post #16

Where I work everyone gets a desktop in the office and a laptop to keep at home. I can literally throw on a jacket and go to work - no bags, not even anything in my pockets. It's glorious. I've done the whole "schlepping the laptop everywhere" thing before. It sucks, the author is right. It's not just the weight, it's the unplugging, plugging in, oh-no-the-monitor-didnt-quite-detect-right bullshit dance. Where is the…

Hm, now that we have wireless charging actually marketed as a product (for mobiles and tablets anyway, I assume a "full" laptop might still be tricky? Maybe not if the goal is simply to not use the battery while docket (rather than charging it)?) -- we should be able to do usb1.1+ speeds via some kind of NFC interface -- and hdmi is possible to wirelessly -- so how long before we get docking basins/plates rather than…

IMO docking stations are the "faster horse". We could've used better docks a few years ago, but now the idea seems silly for most use cases. Why carry around a big ol' laptop when your data is available everywhere, is largely device-agnostic, on-demand? You don't need to carry around an email or spreadsheet or word processing machine - everything is an email, spreadsheet, word processing machine. You don't need to carry a device that contains your work, because your work accessible from anywhere.

If you're particularly security-conscious, great, throw everything up in a VPN (as everyone already does now) and issue company hardware if you must. At the end of the day having multiple bits of hardware for different contexts not only makes working easier, it also prevents you from having a bunch of hardware floating around on buses, trains, and airplanes containing your sensitive data. Not only that, you're dramatically reducing your odds of data loss.

There are real road-warrior types who will need actual "full" laptops, but the vast majority of people hauling big laptops to and from work everyday really just need a machine for work, and a machine for home, and nothing in between.

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