Two:Thirty AM

This is the first in what will most likely be an ongoing section on the blog. Concept Corner: short – medium length posts about concept ideas I have. No real agenda here, just getting my thoughts out on “paper.” If you like the idea and want to make a go of it with me, I am all for that as well. This initial round will be a concept idea I first had about 3 years ago. I call it, simply, Singularity. A more descriptive name without all the marketing feel would be “Single Use Tablet.” I will talk about this device as though it were one product, but would most certainly be a line of products.

Ok, so what is it already? Singularity is at its core a mac. So picture this, a tablet style mac that has the form factor of a MacBook Air, with a full Wacom supported touch screen on top, and this devices sole purpose is to be lean, mean, and run one specific set of apps, Adobe’s Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator). This device would not be a normal mac with these apps installed, but rather 2 things.

Enhanced Mode: In this mode you would have access to your Adobe apps, as well as standard apps like web browser, email, and so forth.

Here is where the fun begins.

Singularity Mode: In Singularity Mode you have instant on access to your Adobe apps only. This cuts out all unneeded processes which maximizes your speed and battery life of this ultra light device.

Specs: The specs of this device would be very similar to what we see today.
- 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
- 2GB Ram
- 120GB SSD
- 14 inch Wacom touch screen (with multi-touch capability)
- Dock mount for external keyboard / Mouse (if needed)
- 802.11N WiFi
- (1) USB 2.0 port, (1) FireWire 400 port, (1) Display port
- 3.5 Hrs battery life in Enhanced Mode, 5+ hours in Singularity mode.

Target Price Point
Version 1.0 – $1,799
Version 2.0 – $999
Version 3.0 – $799

I am by no means a graphics artist (as you can tell by the lack of sketches for this concept), but I could really see a need for a small, light weight, instant on device like this for the Graphic Designers out there. Why carry around a laptop and a Wacom tablet, when you could have this all-in-one device!

It has been about a month or so since it opened I believe, and my girlfriend and I have been wanting to go since it first opened. Well on November 1st, we finally got some time to go and it was brilliant! The lines were still pretty crazy, but buying the tickets online and picking them up there saved us some time. I was hoping that they had some neat looking tickets, but they didn’t, so I would recommend buying your tickets online and printing them out at home. The museum was stunning! The exhibits were very interesting and well done, not to mention the building itself was amazing. The construction and architecture is truly art. I took a bunch of pictures (198 to be exact) with my Nikon, and a couple videos with my iPhone 3G. A link to the pictures in my SmugMug gallery is below, as well as the 2 videos from my iPhone. Enjoy!

Another side note about tickets. Tickets were $25 each to get in. You have the opportunity to upgrade your tickets to a membership if you do it the same day, with the ability to put your ticket purchase price toward the purchase of your membership. We did this, so for another 50 bucks we get to go as many times as we want. We will definitely be going again so we can see all the stuff we missed!

If you have the opportunity to go, GO! You will not be disappointed!

California Academy of Science visit. 11/01/08 SmugMug Gallery

Short video of a lizard eating

A quick video of the living roof (it was raining)