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What the medium means to the message

By February 25, 20104 Comments2 min read

If the iPod was to music, and the kindle is to text, then what will the iPad mean to [insert media here]. Fake steve jobs had an interesting point when he states the kindle is a piece of shit, if the first ipod was to music what we correlate the kindle being to books, then what is the ipod touch to music, and what is the future equivalent kindle to books?

We as a collective whole have been so focused on ways to cram existing/established media formats we are familiar with into new devices that we are missing the point of technological improvements/innovations. Say we decided that the iPad, which is the device I’m thinking about in this example, should just be a glorified feed reader with formatting similar to magazines or newspapers. Wouldn’t we be missing out on all the innovation possible? I for one can’t wait to see LAYERS of data sprinkled throughout the canvas of my future media content. The fact that we can add in extra information about anything, instantly, means we can AUGMENT the media and content creation we’ve become so accustomed to consuming in static format.

So if you aren’t excited about the iPad, then please step aside as there are other people out there more than willing to take your place in the creation of the future. The iPad strikes me as the most important step we’ve seen in quite some time in personal computing. It opens up the possibilities for the message to be enhanced by the medium.

4 Comments

  • Lori Todd says:

    Thanks for articulating something I was struggling with. So many people are bashing the iPad, but it's because they don't zoom out and see the bigger picture.

  • Brian, what passion my friend. Still haven't come to my a final say on the ipad, maybe when I hold it in my hand, I'll see for sure. I do have to give to apple for always making great looking stuff…my concern is, how is this different from a tablet touchscreen?

    Yes, the apple has its apps, and a great approach to new media…spectacular. But we have so many tech equipment, I feel like we hard hoarding ourselves to have an ipod, an iphone, laptop, and now apparently an ipad. Where will the madness end.

    But then again, we can argue, that we don't need all that, maybe some people just need an ipad, and not a laptop. Perfect for them.

    New media is exciting, reminds me of the tv show Caprica, and even funnier, Harry Potter and its magical news paper.

    Lets see what the future holds, I'm game, I'm open.

  • I think most people like my mom would be more than fine with just an ipad and an iphone. i agree though that it is almost an interminable flow of stuff coming that we always “have to have”

  • papasoft says:

    I'm with you Brian. I hear lots of geeks bashing the iPad because it doesn't have a particular spec they want. But I think it will open up technology and apps to a whole new market, especially to consumers who are not as tech-savvy.