I've been digital-nomading from a sailboat for the past 3 years... Works great as I get to have my office and take it wherever I want in the world (on the coast). See my previous comments for more info.
Since I sorta have a base for work I'd call myself a remote worker. I rarely work outside the boat, nothing ridiculous like working at a beach... So at the end of the day it's just a home office, so it's not too hard to get back into the work mindset after changing location as everything is static inside. Except my backyard changes all the time. I'm currently in downtown Barcelona after taking some time off the cross the Atlantic.
The lifestyle is not for everyone, sometimes it's quite hard, and I wouldn't say it helps my work that much... It's just something I enjoy doing (sailing and changing location), but have to compromise and do some work from time to time.
I've been planning and saving towards working remotely, with a stretch-goal of doing so from a boat. Would you mind sharing some details about your boat-type/unexpected costs?
I'm starting to work remotely from my sailboat in the Caribbean. It's perfect, I can just pack up from one paradise to the next, taking my office/working area with me. This is after working in NY for a few years and needing a breath of fresh air.
Currently at a marina in Bonaire, close to Venezuela, connected to power/internet to do a remote contract. It's pretty sweet to go freediving or scuba diving a few feet away, then go to the "office" and work my ass off. Afterwards I'll be free again, sailing around for another bunch of months.
Challenges, well the obvious... getting distracted with the outdoors, oh man there is so much to do out there. But the pros are totally worth it and you strive to work hard to keep the lifestyle. If you really want it, everything will work out.
price varies a lot, depends on where you're going and how you like to live... I opted for something that was working, ready to go, could take me across oceans safely and comfortably, and act as my home when I needed to stay put for a bit.
my search criteria was 35-42 feet, blue water capable, strong, proven old boat, $30k - $80k. It took me a few months of looking at boats online to get an idea of what I wanted. So many variables and unknowns and I hadn't even sailed seriously.
my training was a weekend sailing course in the NY harbour. After that, much reading... internet, books. There's a ton of info out there and you realize it's pretty doable.
after I finished working and could finally go and buy a boat, I knew exactly what I wanted. Bought the first boat I saw in person, after drooling for it for months and hoping nobody snatched it. She is a beauty and has treated me well these past few months jumping around the caribbean.
all in all it's a pretty good deal. For the price of a boat I get a home with the world as my backyard. I can't imagine living any other way at this point.
I'm probably being short-sighted, but I fail to see what else could you add to a TV that you couldn't already by attaching some device to it.. it's like saying Jobs will revolutionize the computer monitor. It's just a display.
But Apple did revolutionize the computer monitor, by permanently attaching it to a computer and thus effectvely making it not exist.
Whatever they have in mind for the television will similarly be not about adding things, but about taking things away. They will simplify it in a way that geeks will consider a downgrade while opening up a world of possibilities for mere mortals.
You're right, the 'television' is just a display, but the concept of 'TV' which most of us consider is the entire ecosystem of content, delivery and consumption.
To try to give you some context, think back to 2005, and question 'how can you revolutionize a phone? It's just a speaker and a microphone'. Of course, there had already been inroads into making your phone much more than a phone, just as set-top boxes and other connected devices have added capabilities to your television.
I don't think we'll see a 'rebirth' of television so much as we'll see television joining mobile, tablets and computers in the middle.
Really, the revolution of the phone was making it more like a computer, but more portable. The revolution of the television I suspect will be the same, but less portable. Just like the portability of the phone expanded the things we used our phones for, a less portable large screen product could expose similar capabilities.
The latest generation of microprojectors would make more sense than really big displays. Imagine buying something roughly the size of an AppleTV or Mac Mini which also is the television - you just point it at a white wall or sheet or screen for a nearly arbitrarily-sized screen.
I use a projector tv at home now but it's a pain to configure because it's designed to work with too many kinds of input. Integrate a more compact and elegantly designed projector with iTV, make iPad and iPhone your control surfaces but download content from the cloud - it could work. And unlike the big flatscreen, it'd be easy to take to the Apple Store for service/diagnostic if need be.
sure, but the success of the ipad, to me, shows that Apple is now more of a luxury marketer than anything else. People would buy an Apple TV for the same reason people pay more for a BMW. If Apple were to come out with a stylish looking TV, built in DVR and Bluray player, with easy WiFi connectability, and cloud storage of favorite shows/movies, and a streaming service for any movie or tv show you want to watch (which Apple can do with content providers because of its heft), and make it so simple your grandma could do it, then I am confident it would be such a success that their TV unit would become their greatest revenue generator by far.
1) iPhone as remote: First, they would probably allow iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches to be used as remotes. That would be the recommended use case, and in fact they've already got this with the new iOS5 Airplay:
2) TVs are lean back: Next, the key question is: what is the difference between a TV and a computer monitor? They are converging in many ways, but probably the most important differences are that a TV is lower res, bigger, with less control over content, and situated at a distance. It's a lean back experience as opposed to a lean forward one. So whatever you do with TV has to focus on the lean back/remote control experience. The Airplay link above seems like a real key to this, to make the iPhone the ultimate remote.
3) Show-specific remote control apps: In fact, given that the iPhone's display is programmable, you could make it a responsive remote that changes its UI in response to what's on the screen. So for example, if you are watching the Office, your iPhone's remote app could show
the top rated episodes of all time, with comments next to them. Tap that episode to watch it.
Going further with this, basically you could integrate the show website with the remote for a kind of "show specific app remote". You'd want to make this something that wasn't too much of a distraction while watching, but that you used to quickly get to the good stuff or learn more about a particular actor or fact -- or product -- in the show. For season long serial dramas, the remote might also show which previous episodes you should have watched to understand what's on the screen.
4) iTunes+iMovie for independent film monetization: TV content is programmable and you could supply that with iTunes. Hulu, Netflix, and Youtube are also potential content providers.
It might be more interesting if iTunes opened up "show development" in the same way that the iPhone opened up "app development". Make iMovie and iTunes really, really tightly integrated such that it's now incredibly easy for anyone to develop a TV show, push it out to everyone, and monetize it through iTunes.
While you're at it, integrate GarageBand and iTunes to do the same for music. Get all the bands which were internet savvy enough to set up on Myspace and attract visitors, and do the Amazon disintermediation strategy. Basically, allow bands and independent filmmakers to monetize without Hollywood and the record industry.
5) iTV Genius recommendations: one of the most interesting concepts with your super remote would be a smart clicker that would not just change the channel, but would be like a Zite for TV. With a deep knowledge of what you liked and what you didn't like, it'd almost certainly bring up something good.
6) Lean back applications: iTV could also be a deployment point for "lean back apps" beyond standard TV fare which are meant to be controlled with the remote. These could be Keynote presentations, educational presentations, or basically new kinds of apps that are meant to be interacted with at a distance through a smart remote. Again, iOS5's Airplay integration will be the first preview of these sorts of apps.
7) A true universal remote: If people get accustomized to this sort of thing, they'll expect a location-aware remote control interface to a lot of physical objects. This has a ton of potential. Not just for garage door openers and automobiles, but for restaurants, ticket vendors, home automation, and the like. Lockitron sees some of this potential already, I think.
This is just for starters. There's a lot they could do.
They won't use the iPhone as a remote. It's a personal device that lives in your pocket. The remote is a household device that lives on the coffee table. And you can't use a touchscreen while looking at something else.
The interface will be something magical, like a Wiimote. In fact, it may be exactly like a Wiimote. Whatever it is, it will be great for using an on-screen interface, and also for games. Yep, I can't see them making a TV that isn't a gaming platform.
No, a touchscreen tv would be horrible. That goes back to the RCA days where you had to get up and go to the tv to change the channels using the knob.
There's nothing wrong with the remote, just that it is starting to get very confusing to use (too many buttons). If Apple can find a way to make the modern remote less complex that would be a step in the right direction.
Sorry, just noticed this. Okay - how about this: organising your screen with various different views of the same sports match. So imagine you're watching a game of Rugby and "sports broadcasts of the future", given they have access to digital TV channels that are far less restricted by physical bandwidth, broadcast continuous streams of the coach, the bench, the score board, the commentators, the crowd and different camera angles on different streams, as well as the main "professionally edited" stream. You drag windows around and resize them to organise the various channels you're interested in into a custom viewing configuration.
depending on the size of the app, anywhere from $10 to $50 for a complete regression test and useful feedback on the app. I've never paid anyone though as it's easy to get friends to beta test
Indeed, accessibility labels are the only way to reference views. Granted, your tests are running within your process, so they sky is pretty much the limit.
We're still considering the best way to implement gestures. There's some rudimentary support, but it's incomplete right now. Your input is welcome!
Also, keep in mind that many views just "do the right thing" as far as accessibility goes. Buttons for example will use their title as the default accessibility label if you don't set one explicitly.
woah this looks really useful. Is there a gem for ruby that does this? I've just been doing the first 'String Similarity' step using levenshtein distance
Since I sorta have a base for work I'd call myself a remote worker. I rarely work outside the boat, nothing ridiculous like working at a beach... So at the end of the day it's just a home office, so it's not too hard to get back into the work mindset after changing location as everything is static inside. Except my backyard changes all the time. I'm currently in downtown Barcelona after taking some time off the cross the Atlantic.
The lifestyle is not for everyone, sometimes it's quite hard, and I wouldn't say it helps my work that much... It's just something I enjoy doing (sailing and changing location), but have to compromise and do some work from time to time.