Sunday, November 09, 2008
Tech Review: iPhone Apps We Love | When Apple released the iPhone last year, it was hard to deny that this little piece of technology would be a game changer | Oct 2008
Live Design: "When Apple released the iPhone last year, it was hard to deny that this little piece of technology would be a game changer. It's sleek yet sophisticated with a multi-touch screen, simple intuitive interface, and for a portable device, it has a lot of power under the hood."
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I remember how excited I was when I was flipping through the applications on my itouch and found the iswatch. With all of the hundreds of applications for the iphone, it's no wonder they've decided to create some for technical theatre. They really do seem very convenient, and the applications are either free, or affordable.
This is really exciting to me, as an iphone user, i usually turn to whoever is around me and say, "they need to make a ____ for iphone" and they are, beam calculators, focus remotes, swatch books, and other lighting tools literally at your fingertips. Another really cool app that i am a little supprised they didn't mention was the MochaLiteVNC which for free allows iphones to screenshare and control a computer on the same wifi network, instant console in my pocket anyone?
Yes there are a lot of useful apps for the iphone and ipod touch, but there may be an overuse of apps that are not as powerful or precise as the tools that they are replacing. I just fear that the apple apps are promoting using less than optimal tools. I do think that they are useful as "quick and dirty" tools though, and much easier to carry than a bunch on measurement equipment.
As time goes on I run into more and more uses for an iPhone or an iTouch iPod. It's incredible how quickly the product has evolved into a multi-tool for pretty much anyone. I've seen music students use their iPhone/iTouch to do incredible things as well as drama students. The fact that it's so accessible and portable makes it monumentally more useful than your laptop. Though I do feel that there are certain apps that would be better learned than used like the DMX dip switch app and other apps that do work for you that you really should understand and execute in a precise way. I agree with Aaron in saying that a lot of the time these tools shouldn't be replacing the tools or processes that they do. Sometimes you should just know how to do things in your head and you know, think.
All of these tools seem really useful, but they all start to add up pretty quickly. The applications that caught my eye were Omnigroup and the Lifetimer applications. A to-do list that tracks your location seems really awesome, but I can't imagine how difficult it gets when something goes wrong. Also, the Lifetimer application seems more like a quick reference tool instead of a permanent timer to keep track of everything you need.
Personally I would rather have a physical gel booklet but the iPhone can defiantly be used for good reason in the theatre. When I saw Teddy control the EOS i was pretty impressed. I'm sure eventually mostly everyone will have an iPhone or similar device becasue of their 1000 different uses. I know once the get a bigger hard drive I'll get one. I guess if the ME of a show ever gets mad at the LD he can turn on the light saber app and stab him with it.
I still think it's too son to say that the iPhone has really "changed the industry". I'm sure I'll get plenty of crap for saying this, but it really is just a sleeker, nicer Blackberry. The "new technology" it has introduced has been these apps that have not really made any huge change to the industry. A swatch book on the iPhone is pretty much useless when you can't see the gel itself, because it will look completely different. Instead of a dipswitch calculator, you can go back to 3rd grade and learn how to add 3 digit numbers.
it's so entertaining to look for applications or widgets to download on the website. it's so interesting to see new ideas being brought up. there are some really good ones out there and some that are not...
It's funny how products not originally intended for the stage find their niche more here than anywhere else.
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