What I wish I could see in Apple's future device.

In 2 days from now, Apple will held an event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. During this event, according to most tech people and bloggers, Apple will release a new product, or their latest creation as the invitation suggests. And this creation is supposed to be a tactile tablet. Whatever its name will be, islate, itablet, mactablet; here's some features I wish I could see:

-News center: allowing to download newspapers or magazines via a yearly subscription. So as soon as I'm out of bed I can read my freshly downloaded articles of the day, with real-time updates. It would be great to have the possibility to adapt the content I buy/read by skimming the different sections of a neswpaper according to my preferences (a sort of improved Genius). I don't see having real-time updates as a gadget but definitely as what is next for the web and compulsory for the survival of news-media. It's what facebook and twitter are providing right now. I also think that press-media will survive by providing online paying content, the NY Times is going to charge online readers next year.

-Social Media center: I obviously want to tweet, facebook, blog, skype from that Tablet! It would be great having a seesmic like application that I can launch on the tablet in addition to Safari. it implies having a Software development kit accessible for developpers who can provide designed applications. To skype and chat, it requires as well a built-in camera.

-A computer tool/accessory: I wish that tablet could be a complement to my computer. It would be great to be able to use it as a graphic tablet linked via WiFi or Bluetooth to my Mac. It would also be useful to be able to edit text using iWork, and to use it for a PowerPoint Presentation, just as the Keynote application for iPhone but in even better.

When Apple releases a new product, it generally implies changes in other Apple products, whether it's iTunes, iLife and so on. It would be good in addition to see monthly subscriptions appearing on the music store. Anyway answer on Wednesday at 7 P.M. C.E.T.

#Iranelection #Tehran

Jack Dorsey (co-founder of Twitter) was recently explaining (read my article) that Twitter could be a powerful tool for Democracy, helping rebuilding Iraq. His enthusiasm to use social networks to gather a People, is being picked up in a neighbour country, Iran.

Since Friday, and the controversial presidential elections held in Iran, opponents to re-elected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have prostated in the streets of Tehran. Among those protestors undoubtedly stand some twitteres. Twitter is becoming inevitable to get information of what's going in Iran. The Iranian government filters websites, jams BBC satellite that broadcasts Persian TV and so on. As a consequence, journalists, and correspondents in Iran can't work, and transmit information (mainly to the western countries), fostering a flow of tweets coming from Iran. Journalists use those tweets, after confirmation they really come from Iran (with geolocalisation) to provide news in their countries. You can also find pictures from the events in Tehran on Flickr.

#Iranelection and #Tehran are among the most popular research and topics on Twitter. That also lead Twitter to postpone a maintenance operation scheduled June 15 at 9:45pm Pacific time, which would be the following day, 9:15am in Iran. Twitter in its Press Release, claimed the fact Twitter was used as an' important communication tool in Iran'.

Are those events the sneak peeks of what the web 3.0 could be? The integration of social networks in the political world? Or is just Twitter accentuating the buzz around its growing success and making a marketing 'coup'?

Meeting @jack

Last Thursday, in Shari Weiss' PR class, we had the visit of Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter (and one of the 100 most influent people of 2009 according to Time Magazine). Twitter is a social network that allows its members to do micro-blogging, those posts are called tweets. While it was created 3 years ago, it only really attracted people last year during the American Presidential election, the twitterers exchanging the last results and trend from the polling places.

Jack's intervention in our class was a delight (watch the videos). He is accessible, even if U.S. Twitter visits has increased of a 1000% in one year (according to Time Magazine, April 20, 2009). He explained us how he came up with the idea of Twitter, what his vision was. He sees Twitter as a tool for people to learn and participate, and thinks that just as for the rest of technology it will be as valuable as the users make it become.

His simplicity reflects in the way to use Twitter, only 140 characters to express what you want to share with people. But it is powerful, being a potential tool for Democracy in Iraq (watch CNN reportage here)

This one hour class was way too short, but will stay engraved in me.