The Future of Interactive Mobile Computing

At TEDIndia, Pranav Mistry demos several tools that help the physical world interact with the world of data -- including a deep look at his SixthSense device and a new, paradigm-shifting paper "laptop".

In an onstage Q&A, Mistry says he'll open-source the software behind SixthSense, to open its possibilities to all.

iPad for Business

I have been searching for the ultimate mobility solution for the past 5 years with very little success. I think I have owned almost every possible piece of technology that had any promise of providing a mobility solution, from the very first Palm to the iPhone. I have owned Tablet PC's such as the original Motion to the very latest IBM x200. Everyone of these devices has promise and then after using it for a few days I realized that they were not good enough and that they would not be able to provide me with the functionality I needed to become truly mobile.

I almost gave up... and then arrived the iPad.

Man! was I excited! Steve Jobs didn't mention one word about the iPad being designed as a business tool, but I saw the potential. Portable, battery life, 3g, Wifi, thousand of application, unbeatable interface. This is it!!

Well I wasn't disappointed. I realized quickly that it wasn't perfect either. It took me a few days to find the perfect setup and that is what I would like to share with you today. How to make your iPad the perfect business tool.

3G is essential

Forget about what anyone says. Without 3G you will become terribly frustrated. You will constantly be looking for wifi hotspots and it will cost you way more money than the 3G, in the end. You can trick your iPad into thinking it has a wifi connection by using your iPhone as a wifi router. Do this if you don't want to buy the 3G iPad.

Business Apps for the iPad

Dropbox
Dropbox is the easiest way to sync and share your files online and across computers.

FTP On The Go PRO
An FTP client for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. View and edit HTML/CSS/JS/PHP/ASP, or other files on your server with its built in editor to change your website from anywhere. View images and documents (JPG, PDF, DOC, XLS, PPT, etc) too.

Dragon Dictation
Dragon Dictation is an easy-to-use voice recognition application powered by Dragon NaturallySpeaking that allows you to easily speak and instantly see your text or email messages. In fact, it’s up to five (5) times faster than typing on the keyboard.

PrintCentral
Print direct to most WiFi printers, or to ALL printers and ANY document type via your Mac/PC, even over 3G. View, store & print email, attachments, documents, files, photos, contacts, web pages and copied items from other Apps, on your iPad.



iMockups
Mockups provides designers and developers with the ability to quickly draft wireframes for their websites and iPhone/iPad apps. Created exclusively for the iPad, iMockups combines a beautiful interface with intuitive functionality, taking full advantage of the breakthrough touchscreen device.

The Wall Street Journal (Free)
Experience The Wall Street Journal’s award winning coverage, blending the best of print and online. Touch the stories that matter to you most, get latest news updates and market data throughout the day, and save your favorite articles and sections for later.

Pages
Pages is the most beautiful word processing app ever designed for a mobile device. It’s the application you know and love for the Mac, completely reworked from the ground up for iPad.

iThoughtsHD (Free/Paid App)
iThoughtsHD is a mind mapping tool for the iPad. Mindmapping enables you to visually organise your thoughts, ideas and information.

Keynote
Keynote is the most powerful presentation app ever designed for a mobile device. It’s the application you know and love on the Mac, but completely reworked from the ground up for iPad.

Mobile networks killing the economy

The Untouchables

The spectacular explosion of the cellphone industry in South Africa has created a myriad of opportunities for business. It has opened up many new markets and given almost every citizen in this country an opportunity to participate in the digital era. Instead of embracing this new opportunity, mobile service providers in South Africa are destroying it because of their incredible thirst for power and money. It is clear that their drive for profits far exceeds their desire to provide proper service to their customers and this is evidenced by the lack of infrastructure investment.

It is laughable that on most major highways in South Africa there is not 100% coverage. They have been aware of the thousands of complaints for a number of years but still they refuse to upgrade and invest in the infrastructure to solve the problems. In the meantime their executives are earning ridiculous salaries and bonuses for the fantastic profits they generate, but they are unfortunately not measured on customer satisfaction. Why should they care about customer satisfaction? They have a monopoly and definitely not a long term view. They don't need to listen to anyone and the complaints lodged fall on deaf ears. A few weeks ago there was a discussion on Talk Radio 702 and their switchboard almost crashed from all the calls about the pathetic service provided by these companies.

Salaries

Rob Shuter (Vodacom CFO) R14,205,882
Pieter Uys (Vodacom CEO) R10,700,571
Shameel Joosub (Vodacom SA MD) R9,452,685

Our government is helpless and clueless and doing absolutely nothing to resolve the issue. They have the power to force the mobile companies to improve their service levels but they don't. One has to wonder why they do nothing.

Marthinus Strydom