Uncarved

John Gruber of Daring Fireball writes another great piece, this time about the Pre, in which he struck upon a compelling insight with respect to the new device’s hardware keyboard.

From his post:

[I]t is my theory that a hardware keyboard is a significant selling point for only one group of customers: those who already own a phone with a hardware keyboard…

[...] Most normal people have yet to buy their first smartphone…. Normal people aren’t planning to do much typing on their new smartphones, and they’re probably right. Any smartphone QWERTY keyboard, software or hardware, is going to be better than what most people are used to, which is pecking things out on a phone with a 0-9 numeric keypad.

I type far better on my iPhone than I expected I’d be able to, and that seems to be true for everyone I know who owns one. The only people who struggle with the iPhone keyboard are those who are already accustomed to a hardware smartphone keyboard.

[...]

For as good as the Pre is, and I’m convinced it is excellent, it just doesn’t have much to offer that would sway someone considering an iPhone. But for someone considering a BlackBerry, the Pre might look very sweet: a big bright screen, a beautiful modern user interface design, a kick-ass mobile web browser, and, yes, a hardware keyboard. The Pre is the BlackBerry Bold done right.

My experience has been the same. The people I know that have hated the iPhone’s on-screen keyboard are people that had already become accustomed to using a hardware keyboard.

That particular insight aside, it’s great to hear — from someone whose software design reflections I’ve long respected — that Palm did such a solid job with the overall design of the WebOS.

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I’m so excited about this, I couldn’t wait to post about it before diving in. I present proudly to you Data.gov.

From the site’s home page:

The purpose of Data.gov is to increase public access to high value, machine readable datasets generated by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government. Although the initial launch of Data.gov provides a limited portion of the rich variety of Federal datasets presently available, we invite you to actively participate in shaping the future of Data.gov by suggesting additional datasets and site enhancements to provide seamless access and use of your Federal data. Visit today with us, but come back often.

Thank you, Obama Administration, for sincerely treating federal data as belonging to the People.

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Erik Sherman of BNET Technology highlights some interesting points:

Let’s start with the easy evidence: Apple hired Richard Teversham from the entertainment division of Microsoft. The 15-year Microsoft vet most recently headed strategy for the Xbox group in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

That’s on the heels of hiring Bob Dreblin, the creator of Nintendo’s Game Cube CPU, from AMD, as well as former top IBM chip design manager Mark Papermaster, and former AMD graphics chip CTO Raja Koduri.

Apple’s has tried at least once to enter the hardware gaming market, and has even made a number of other software attempts, such as Game Sprockets SDK, and even started to sell a handful of games for the “click wheel” iPod, but it wasn’t until the iPhone and its App Store came along that they managed any serious traction.

And with the growing emphasis Apple has been putting on gaming during their iPhone OS new release demonstrations, it’s getting harder to ignore that they’re gearing up to make a big strike here.

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Just, wow. Via DaringFireball.

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