Kitchen Technology, Part 1

This post originally appeared on Design Kula.  This is a fabulous blog and I suggest you check it out.

Technology: It’s everywhere these days. It’s evolving at a blistering pace. We all know how it goes, that shiny new aluminium tablet you bought two months ago is already out of date, replaced by something that is twice as fast, and half the price! That’s not just all marketing hype, there is a law, Moores Law. Moore’s law talks about the amount of transistors on a chip doubling.... Ok, I’ll forgo the technical jargon before you jump to your Facebook page. Basically the law says that computers will get twice as fast and half the price each year. This has been true for the last 50 or so years!

So how has this affected the kitchen in today’s market? Well, there is TONS of tech out there for the kitchen. Some of it good, some bad, and some just plain odd. I’ll guide you through just some of the things I have discovered in my travels. Before we start, I think I need to get some geek credentials out of the way:

My name is Eric Schimelpfenig, AKBD. I am a kitchen and bath designer, Sketchup modeler, trainer, public speaker, blogger, and a firm believer that the Internet is here to stay. At an early age I assembled my own computer in a cardboard box, and today I have no less then three screens on my desk at any given time. I could keep going, but I think you get the picture...

First up: The AlessiTAB. This tablet is a touch screen tablet that was developed for use exclusively in the kitchen. It runs on that all familiar Android operating system, and even features a TV tuner! I think it’s a great idea, but it’s going to be a dismal failure. Since it’s got all the tablet specs, it’s got the tablet price, without the tablet portability. The idea of having a computer or tablet in the kitchen is something a lot consumers want. With so many great apps out there for the kitchen why not get an iPad Chef Sleeve or just in put it a Zip Lock bag? (Yes, that actually works really well!)

Outdoor grilling, it’s one of the great outdoor pastimes. Imagine this: You are outside on your deck, you’re surrounded by friends, great smelling food, and wonderful weather. What could possibly make this day any better? Being able to leave all that and go hide inside. But how can you go inside to play another round of Angry Birds or check your Match.com inbox without the risk of burning your delicious meats? You can’t trust your friends, but you can trust iGrill. iGrill is a remote meat thermometer that communicates over Bluetooth to your favorite iOS device. Yup, you can look right at your iPhone or iPad and see the status of your meats without ever having to leave that computer chair. Frag on oh “master of the meats”.

Stay tuned to this spot towards the end of the week and I will unveil even more exciting (and actually useful) kitchen tech!

OSX Lion: Should you upgrade?

I love upgrades.  I am usually the first one to get a new operating system, an app update, or the latest beta version of a software.  Half of the software that I run on my various devices is in beta.  I love being on the cutting edge.  Sometimes this means you get the latest features, and sometimes you get some broken stuff.

Apple on Wednesday released "Lion" the latest and greatest update to what it calls "The best OS we've ever made".  I've checked out the reviews, watched the videos, and I think it looks fabulous.  Take a look for yourself:

With every major upgrade, there is the potential for stuff to get broken.  I almost updated right away, and then I thought I should do a little research.  A few Google searches later and I came up to this post by a Google employee on the Sketchup help forum:

On behalf of the SketchUp team, I want to give everybody a heads-up that we've encountered a few issues using SketchUp on the new Mac Lion OS. You can check them out below (along with suggested workarounds); we are working on improving/fixing these -- thanks in advance for replying here with any other issues you find using SketchUp on the new Mac OS!

Issue: SU freezes when generating scene thumbnails for models with background images (ie, those with Match Photo scenes).
Workaround: Keep the Scenes dialog box closed when working with models with background images.

Issue: In a model with 1 match photo scene, the camera is no longer synced back to the scene when clicking on the scene.
Workaround: Add a second scene via some method other than using the Scenes dialog - e.g. right click on the Scene tab and select “Add”. Adding a scene via the Scenes dialog is not possible given the first issue.

Issue: When trying to login to the 3D Warehouse from within SketchUp, you see the message “Service not available. Try again later”.
Workaround: You can still login to the 3D Warehouse outside of SketchUp by going directly to the site: http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/ From there, it is possible to then upload KMZ files which means you need to export your SketchUp model to the KMZ format before uploading.

Issue: When selecting a region using the “Photo Textures” dialog, only one pin is visible which makes it hard to accurately grab a photo texture. You can still grab photo textures - it is just that grabbing the exact region you want is now more difficult as you can’t see all the pins.

Workaround: By left clicking on the photo region and moving the mouse, you can somewhat manipulate the region you want to capture.

Issue: With the new Lion OSX, there is a new Mouse option (“Move content in the direction of finger movement when scrolling or navigating”) which is checked by default. When this option is checked, scrolling forward with the mouse wheel causes the SU model to zoom out and scrolling backwards causes the model to zoom in.
Workaround: In Lion, go to System Preferences > Mouse and uncheck “Move content in the direction of finger movement when scrolling or navigating”. Note: in a future release, unchecking this option should no longer be necessary.

Issue: Stacked Snappy dialogs can now break apart after resizing one of the dialogs in the stack.
Workaround: Re-snap the dialogs together if they break apart after a resize.

Issue: With Lion, SketchUp now remembers whatever models you had open in a previous SketchUp session and, on re-launch, opens those same models. This means that models can now show up behind the Welcome dialog, which is a change of behavior. It may also mean that SketchUp can take longer to launch and may potentially re-open a problem model from a previous session.
Workaround: Close your models prior to exiting SketchUp if you do not like this behavior.

So, I suppose not an entirely bad list, but there are a few alarming ones in there, particularly with the 3D warehouse.  No official word from Google on when we will see some updates.  So those out there itching to upgrade, you probably should let Snow Leopard purr a little longer.  Have you upgraded?  Tell us your experience in the comments!

Here is the link to the post on the Sketchup help forum.

KBIS 2011 Recap

KBIS in Las Vegas was certainly a great experience this year.  The show was smaller then it has been in past years.  Despite the small size, there was an air of optimism about.  People seem to be less nervous about the economy.

This year I presented in Kraftmaid's Knowedge Center.  This was in the technology area of the Masco Cabinetry.  I did presentations on how to use the iPad in a dealer showroom to be way more productive, and eliminate just about every piece of paper in sight.  I also did some Sketchup presentations.  Mark Johnson did wonderful presentations on social media.  Mike Tadros and the gang from Igloo studios launched a new plugin for Sketchup that will make ordering and specifying products lightyears easier.  There were even some live renderings using Shaderlight right on the show floor!

In the coming weeks I am going to get more in depth about each topic we presented.  For now, I will leave you with this YouTube clip that was recorded of Mark and myself on the show floor.

Stay tuned for more coverage!

3D Connexion: Making your mouse even more jealous

3D Connexion has just announced new drivers for their line of 3D controllers.  I reviewed one of these units a while back.  You are probably thinking "New drivers, big deal.  That's like me getting excited over regular vs premium gas."

You are right, driver updates are normally just bug fixes and other boring things.  This update is a little more involved.  After you install this update you will be able to whip through web pages, fly through playlists on iTunes, and even Windows Explorer.  You accountants out there could really spice up your day by panning around a giant spreadsheet (Yes, you can really do that now)

Best of all, this update is free.  It will make your 3D Connexion device, no matter what model much more useful.  Lets just hope your regular mouse is not the jealous type.

iPad, Motorola Xoom, and the HP TouchPAD

I am currently the owner of an Apple iPad.  I really like it a lot.  I find it a very useful tool at work, and a great entertainment device at home.  Apple had a lot of impressing to do for me to actually say I like another iOS device, after they hobbled my old iPhone 3G.

Even though the app experience is quite wonderful on the iPad, I still think its an incomplete experience.  There isn't any support for Adobe Flash, and probably never will be.  There is also limited interoperability between apps. Files you create in an app on the iPad generally remain within that app, and the files aren't available to other apps on anything other then a very limited basis.  This is a very limiting experience.  We're used to being able to open a file on our computers in any number of apps.

I think that these shortcomings have been largely overlooked because Apple is so far ahead of any other tablet that is out on the market.  Shortly after the iPad burst onto the scene, countless manufacturers have tried to rush something to market.  Most of these tablets have been based on Android.  Google itself has said that Android isn't designed for anything larger then 7 inches.  Of all these 7 inch and smaller tablets the Galaxy Tab is the only one that seemed to have potential.  I used one, and I wasn't impressed.  I couldn't figure out if I was supposed to use it in my lap, or hold it against my face like a giant women repelling phone.

There are two tablets that have been recently announced that I think actually have potential to rock the iPad boat:

The Motorola Xoom

The Xoom is the first tablet to run Google's "Honeycomb" operating system.  This one is specifically designed to run on larger screens.  Incidentally, the screen on this gem is just about the same size as the iPad's, which I think is perfect.  This screamer of a tablet also packs front and rear cameras, and a 3G radio for all the road warriors.  Motorola says that you can upgrade it to 4G as well.

The HP TouchPad

The HP TouchPad looks very intriguing as well.  I thought the Palm Pre was one of the best mobile operating systems out there.  I believe it failed because Palm spent all of there money on this bizarre add campaign.  After they were out of money they couldn't market or develop it anymore.  With HP's deep pockets, and its "play nice attitude" with its sister devices, I think this one has real potential.  WebOS and the Pre were developed by someone who used to work for Apple on the iPod, and it really shows in WebOS devices.

So which one is the best?  As soon as I can get my hands on one and compare it to my iPad, I'll let you know.  If you follow this blog, you'll know that while I love my Apple products, I am not 100% loyal.