As a non-coffee drinker I've been told by multiple people that Starbucks of all places is very proactive about this stuff. I think they had an app for the original iPhone almost right when the Appstore opened that laid some of the framework like being able to save billing info in the app along with giftcards. Clearly certain companies payed enough attention early on to realize that NFC or something like it was coming soon and it was a good idea to get people used to the concept of using their phone in the transaction process. Chipotle also did something similar early on, but for whatever reason they scaled it back a bit and seemed to shift more to scannable coupons which still accomplishes the goal of getting people thinking of their phone as a means of improving the ordering process. The main cost for these retailers isn't the food/coffee they serve it's the time and space you take up as you order it and then have to wait for all the inefficiencies with cash, cards, or checks. Getting you in and out as quickly as possible is their goal. The side benefit for them is that for once their methods for saving them money also have the effect of making the experience quicker and more pleasant for you. An uncommon win-win in the world of low margin penny pinching retailers.

I can vouch for that. I work with lots of old scientific instruments and was just working on a 3.1 machine a mere 3 hours ago messing with a printing issue on the equally dated dot-matrix printer it has connected. Since I work at a university and still remember these old systems I'm always tasked with fixing anything NT4 and before. Thankfully thats only 4 machines and they hardly ever break. But when they do it's always a adventure. Luckily I think the bright yellow plastic, funky looking mice, and cloudy old CRT displays keeps people from messing with them mostly. It's sort of strange to think that almost all of the student workers and a ton of the research staff weren't born or were infants when those suckers came out. Man are computers easier to use these days, but god damn are those things built to last.

Personally at Nexus 7 size I think the phone layout is a good choice. My guess is anything actually useful like when you need to pull up the keyboard would just be too cramped to be more than a fun little gimmick that you use to show off to phone users and then never look at again. But I do know what you mean. For instance a 9-10 inch tablet seems like a totally different ballpark. To this day the full size iPad and similar Androids still give me that oversized iPod Touch feeling that caused lots of mocking back when the original iPad came out. While the consensus here was wrong about if this format would be useful to anybody (it clearly is) I do think you are right that OS's need to be more flexible about offering more than just full screen as a way to interact with our expanding expectations for tablets. Anybody who has ever played with one of the Android powered large style PC's or Windows 8 knows that certain things about a huge screen only running one app in the foreground at the time feels odd, and uncomfortable from both an interaction as well as a information display perspective.

We've been hearing this argument since 2007 and it is still hasn't happened. Frankly X and iOS will not merge because Apple seems to have simply no interest in it. They've had years to start warming up developers and start the shift but it just hasn't happened. In fact looking at OS X from a user standpoint it really hasn't changed at ton since the first beta in 1999. The colors have changed, and a few visual things, but for users it pretty much the same thing just with lots more features you can use if you want. The only thing we've seen lately is a couple of debatably good ideas cross over from iOS but only when they can mesh with the desktop paradigm. Stuff like Launchpad isn't even noticed unless you know where to look. Looking at the next version which will be around for at least a few years I still see nothing that suggest you are right. And after seeing Windows 8's public response I highly doubt Apple wasn't to be seen as not just a follower of MS, but one that cribs it's worst ideas. iOS apps on X might happen, but I would be shocked if it wasn't offered as more of a cool extra perk to as opposed to a migration strategy. If Apple were planning that they've had ample time to have gotten things moving.

I like your idea, but it would never fly as more than a very niche product for people like us. Nobody will ship a mainstream successful phone that doesn't have a unified interface. It's suicide to expect the average smartphone user to understand, much less make use of 2 different totally different ways of operating their "phone". And that is assuming it is seamless and doesn't need to be messed with when one wants to transition. I trust Google and Apple to perhaps be able to nail that part, but even if it really is automagical it will still confused the shit out of most users. Sure the pitch might sell a few of them for the cool factor and geeks will love it, but most people are barely able to use their smartphones as it is beyond installing apps and opening emails. Look at desktop PC users and you will know what I mean. Windows is old as sin by now but it still is mostly a mystery to the average user who uses it almost every day. I think the Moto Atrix was an attempt at what you are talking about, but I never really followed it after hearing about all the drama the software/ROM had. I'd be curious is others have tried this and what the resulting products were like.

Dude, whoooshh! I'm pretty sure he was talking in jest.

and written up by the dedicated hacks over at NetworkWorld. Too bad for them they could only span it over to measly pages. Think of all the advertising dollars wasted.

I never trusted pilots! I just wasn't sure why, but everybody who told me I was a loony can go suck a bag of dicks. I mean think about it who else flies planes? Terrorists on 9/11 thats who! Why is nobody in the liberal media is reporting this connection? I mean think about it, they say they lock the cabin door for their own safety but what are they hiding? A mosque? WMD's? I think we have a right to know who these so called "Captains" really are. I know this is a lot to take in, but somebody has to speak the truth. Sometimes you just have to have faith that if an idea doesn't seem to make any sense or be based in anything rational then it must have been put in your head by God. Where else could it come from? And if God is putting super smart ideas in my head then everybody better just pay attention to every word I have to say or risk eternal damnation. I mean I prefer Coke to Pepsi, is that because God told me to? Why risk it, best to stock up on Coke. I mean you could chance it, but that's a pretty big gamble to take. If any of this doesn't make sense to you it just proves how liberals and their heathen worldly "education" can poison the pure childlike mind required to accept The Truth without question. Now I command you all to buy my forthcoming book where I reveal even more of His Word exclusively for the special introductory price of $29.99. End times are right around the corner so better buy now.

Not trying to troll or anything, but despite a casual interest in Mozilla and mobile OS's and being an avid desktop FF user I had no clue it was out of beta. No doubt I missed a post or two, but considering I use FF Mozilla's top product and am often sent to their site to report bugs I really think they should fire their marketing people. Breaking into mobile is hard. If a guy who has been using FF since it was still called Phoenix isn't aware you put out a final product I would venture to guess the people who just stopped clicking the big blue E on their desktop are not likely to be coming out in droves. Something has gone seriously wrong at Mozilla over the last few years and this is just another example.

You are right that in some cases the options are wide and require effort to investigate. In that case I weigh the productivity loss of looking into it further, if it is a minor feature or something I only use rarely I have no shame in letting inertia keep me on what I'm used to. I rarely use a painting program on my PC but every now and then I need it for some random thing I just keep using what I'm used to without worrying too much about missing out on something a tad better. My OS's on the otherhand are very well researched, and in a hypothetical world where there was a $1000 one that vastly increased what I could get done and still run my software I would buy it in a minute. Cost is certainly a factor, but unless you have a philosophical belief in only using free solutions you are not really looking at the big picture. Had a friend who does quite a bit of Photoshoping try and go GIMP because it was OSS. I wished him best of luck, Adobe blows- but he was back in a week. In the end his enthusiasm for all of the great qualities of open software simply weren't enough to deal with a not very good product (according to him).

I'm not afraid to admit I use a quite of commercial software and have been quite happy with many products out there. Yes even a few MS ones. But as a person with a functioning brain and an interest in productivity you can bet your ass every time I'm looking at an upgrade I take a moment to survey the options. Often over the course of a major version upgrade cycle I learn that a cheaper or if I'm lucky an OSS solution has become viable for my needs. Any time I see an organization act outside of that simple principle I can suspect only one of two things and neither are good. I usually hope it's just narrow minded ignorance, which with luck can sometimes be cured, but when you lock people into a paid-for only solution it usually ends up being bribery of some sort. Governments are in the end just made up of people, and like in the corporate world the decision makers are often the most selfcentered people in the land. Add to that despite using and recommending certain MS programs and services I have little doubt in my mind that MS is one of the most unethical technology companies in the world- it's how they got where they are.

This. MyFordTouch 2012 (Powered by MS) car owner here in full agreement. I get angry every time I see an ad touting this hellish "feature". Other brand's seem comparably nearly as bad.

Wow, did a quick Google and learned a lot about this infamous sound-check. Reagan... really seems like a fool. Was just a little tyke at the time but the more I hear the less I like the man.