As reported here on Crunch Gear, concepts for Electronic cars are popping up all over the place. Some look like the creations of a sci-fi fiction writer. But you know what? Some seem like viable forms of transportation.
The thing that annoys me about all this jazz concerning global warming and emissions is the fact that the politicians are addressing all the right problems bar one. The most important one at that.
The image. As of now, it’s not cool for an 18 year old to hop into a tiny lithium powered car to go to college. But I think if they spent more time creating a sense of image and maybe lowered the driving age for electronic vehicles (in European countries) to sixteen and slashed insurance costs because it’s not like they’re going to be speeding any time soon, then these things would take off as cheap, viable forms of transportation. Right now, they’re hippy mobiles and uncool.
Unfortunately for mother nature, we don’t live in a dictatorship and nobody is just going to go out and buy these things to solve what is an invisible and speculative problem. What we need is for three-wheeled electronic, two-seater cars to be cool. Much like the Volkswagen Beatle and camper van were popular back in the 50s and 60s.
Remember a few weeks ago, right around the time of CES, when everyone was yammering on about the Apple iPad. All the other prospective touch screen tablets which were ‘up and coming’ took a back seat. The HP Slate was given the cold shoulder and the MSI 10-inch tablet? Forget it.
Now however, the sobering release of the real Apple iPad (not the wishy-washy dreams of Apple fan boys) have us looking at the competition. And according to DigiTimes, MSI’s tablet will retail at a pricy $500. Ouch.
However, I do smell a level of success for this one. You see, the iPad has been bombarded with criticism for being an oversized iPod Touch. Everyone wanted a slim, touch screen computer but that just didn’t happen. MSI might fulfil the prophesy.
It’s got a desktop much like that of your standard PC and has numerous ports and external ports. It’s not as sleek looking as the overgrown iPod iPad but it does have an aura of practicality about it.
This is a tough one to call. And to be honest, it’s destiny (and perhaps even that of the HP slate) relies on how well publicity goes for the iPad over the next few weeks. If the launch goes well and people get over the iPod feel, then MSI might be in trouble. If things keep going as they are though, then the MSI tablet might just be the next big hit for portable touch screen computing!
Dear Readers,
At this stage I’m getting fed up. Every day I open my inbox there are a dozen e-mails from colleagues and readers of the
various publications I write for including Crenk asking about the news or a new product. There’s always at least one talking about the supposed upcoming Mac Tablet.
‘What do you reckon will be included?’, they ask.
Honestly, I’m nowhere near 100% certain. Obviously you’d have a touch screen QWERTY keyboard, media centre of some sort and maybe even fingerprint recognition (I believe Apple have patented that idea).
In truth, only the bigwigs at Apple could tell us. And even then they would probably just numb our brains with pre-release jargon so we all buzz around the internet still asking ‘Ohh, what could it be?!’
My reason for writing this post is clear and simple. I want to know what you would like in a Mac tablet. Send us in your thoughts, opinions and ravings here at Crenk. Either leave a comment below of tell us on the Crenk Twitter.
They could be about anything – ‘when will it be released?’, ‘what features will it have?’, ‘how much will it cost?’, ‘what will it look like?’ and so on. I look forward to reading your replies.
-Dean Sherwin
As reported here on Crunch Gear, concepts for Electronic cars are popping up all over the place. Some look like the creations of a sci-fi fiction writer. But you know what? Some seem like viable forms of transportation.
