Ben Thompson writes –
At the first iPad presentation, Steve Jobs was at pains to explain that the iPad would only work as a product if it found a spot between the iPhone and Mac where it did some number of things much better than either. […] Over time, though, that middle has shrunk.
Phones have gotten bigger and Macs have gotten smaller and get better battery life.
Last year I bought an iPad mini for the first time. Initially I loved it, and was thrilled that I could carry it everywhere I brought my bag. But increasingly I realize that I don’t use it that much. I mostly use it at home, where it might as well be the bigger iPad Air.
There are very few things the iPad can do that the iPhone can’t, and that’s why – when you’re out and about – you’re almost always going to reach for your phone. The iPhone Plus may well be just as good for reading, which is one of the main things I use the iPad for.
Thompson notes that “the downside of a bigger phone is reduced convenience and portability, opening up room for a device that is even more portable and always with you – the Apple Watch.” If you’re carrying a big phone that may not be usable one-handed, you can see why you’d want a smartwatch. A lot of my iPhone uses are relatively brief interactions that require a minimum of data presented: weather, figuring out when the next streetcar is coming, seeing a notification, fast forwarding a track. You can see how this could be taken over by something on your wrist.
Tablets are far from useless, however. I prefer a touch interface to a mouse or trackpad for many computer-y tasks (web browsing, feed reading, photo editing, music creation, games). Also, the sheer size of a tablet makes it better than a phone at other things (games, reading, video).
But it strikes me that a) I want the biggest size since it will only get used at home, b) I don’t need the newest, fanciest model, and c) maybe don’t even need it to be iOS. The video apps I use are all on Android as well – it’s really just games that would make me stick with iOS.
That is something Thompson notes: there was an opportunity for the iPad to define itself through killer apps, and Apple has mostly blown it. When you see a good iPad app, it’s impressive: all the fun and usability of a phone app, most of the power and real estate of a desktop app. The iPad is more of a computer alternative (and eventual replacement) than it is a phone. The middle hasn’t vanished, but it has moved, and may be swallowing one of its neighbours.
I realize these are dull first world problems for people who have more than one fancy gadget. Still, it’s interesting to see how computing changes over the years based on both tech and how people actually use the things.
I’m no jazz expert but I did take a lil’ course in university and one thing that stuck with me was the definition of jazz that the prof gave us: the blending of European harmony with African rhythms. There was nothing about improvisation.
I’ve continued listening to jazz since that course (you go to see some live shows and drink some sangria and realize, hey this is really fun, despite the knock on it that it’s just for middle-aged white guys now). As the saying goes, I listen to a lot of stuff, but a personal staple is electronic music, and it struck me a while ago that the definition of jazz applies equally to that genre.
The biggest stumbling block for people is that jazz emphasizes improvisiation and live performance, whereas electronic music is traditionally a recorded art. But that has changed with time. Software like Ableton Live and various live-performance hardware tools, and the coordination of elaborate visuals, have made electronic music more and more performative. On the flip side I can think of a few jazz releases of the past few years that were very much studio albums (say, Takuya Kuroda’s Rising Son).
Two recent electronic releases have really cemented that: Aphex Twin’s Syro and Flying Lotus’ You’re Dead. The Aphex Twin album is very much a studio production but the palette is all polyrhythm meets jazz harmonics. Looking into the FlyLo album I see Herbie Hancock played keys on much of it, and Flying Lotus’ aunt is Alice Coltrane (John Coltrane’s wife, who played piano with him).
People may think jazz is dead. Those same people may listen to these albums and not even think about jazz. But it’s still there, maybe moreso than ever.