Thanks to the wonders of Twitter, and a tweet from @yuccatree, I found this wonderful video clip from 1964. The clip, filmed the year before I was born, shows Arthur C Clarke predicting a future which would have seemed incredible, even preposterous, for most people then. His predictions have, however, come true in many ways - 1:32 into the film and things get spooky.

Watch and enjoy:

Anybody care to predict what the World will be like 50 years from now?

The final design for the "New Bus for London" has now been released and the project is moving forward ready for 2012. The result looks fantastic - and it's got a rear platform, just like the old Routemasters!

Take a look at this video from Transport for London:

This is going to be a great bus to ride on - particularly if you, like me, love the old routemaster's rear platform and hop-on, hop-off bus trips. It's a great feeling being able to just jump onto, and off from, the bus with an open platform. This feature is also going to create jobs as there'll be a need for a second crew member, a conductor, to check oyster cards and issue tickets.

The bus will be light and airy and will also be significantly greener than existing buses as it's a hybrid. All in all, this looks like it'll be a real winner for London and it promises to bring back some of the uniqueness of the old Routemaster and make the London Bus something special again.

The only thing that Transport for London need to do now is give their drivers a refresher course on smooth driving

Firstly: No, I haven't bought one.

Secondly... well, let's just go through my initial impressions first:

I popped into the local Apple Store today to take a look at, and play with, an iPad. As expected, the area nearest to the entrance was occupied by said device and a few people were swiping and punching away at the around 10 devices on display.

I found one and picked it up. Not particularly heavy but heavy enough to be a recognised cause of RSI of the left wrist (or right wrist for those of a left-handed persuasion) after a reasonable period of time using one.

The screen was also disgusting - grubby, greasy streaks all over it. Combine that with the shiny display surface and it wasn't the easiest viewing experience ever. OK, so the one at home is likely to be less grimy and better protected than the ones in the store - but it does give an interesting view into just how susceptible the screen is to grease and dirt. I also hate shiny displays and am not yet updating my MacBook Pro because I'll have to pay extra just to have a non-shiny display. I want to see what I'm working on/browsing and not to watch my reflection! Here are some thoughts from Charlie Brooker, who apparently also dislikes the display

Anyway. The navigation was as expected, using the by-now-automatic gesturing approach which sometimes has me wiping my fingers across my laptop display if I'm been using my iPhone a lot

A few apps were installed and I played around a bit. The "to-do" app looks nice at first but I found myself clicking around the screen, trying to turn what looked like pages - until I realised that this was just some sort of background image meant to look like an analog "organiser" or filofax. Why did they bother? Oh well. I'll stick with my "Things" App on the iPhone.

I opened up the "Popular Science" App and pinched, then spread apart, my finger and thumb - trying to zoom in and out on the picture of a wind generator. Nothing happened. It seems that this could be one of those initial Apps that Jakob Nielsen cites in his critique of the usability failings of the device and initial Apps.

This is where my familiarity with (and, I must say, love of) the iPhone interface proved to be a bit of a handicap. I expected more than the iPad and the handful of Apps I tried on it were capable of delivering. I think that Apple need to review how they've implemented the interface on this device and also should look at how developers are producing apps for it - better guidelines and more time and effort in development are needed. It's not the same as the iPhone and will be used differently. They (neither Apple or some developers) haven't figured this out, IMHO.

Generally, and taking into account that horrible shiny mirror-like display, the device is a thing of beauty. Google maps looked lovely on it, video seemed a little dark (remember the same issue with the first iPod Touch?). It's simple. It's sleek and shiny, feels solid if a little too heavy but has that "Apple feeling". It's also the first multitouch tablet device of this type. This is no doubt why many people have bought them - and why I would be tempted to buy one if it did what I need.

Another down side is the audio volume - although I was in a busy Apple Store. Let's assume that it's fine when at home on the sofa.

Even putting aside the usability and interface failings, this is still not a device that I'd rush to buy now. I say "now" because I don't believe that it does anything I can find a use for in it's current incarnation, at the price that comes with it. To illustrate this, here are a couple of usage scenarios:

- I get up in the morning and check the weather, pollen count, my calendar and even twitter and facebook on my iPhone. Even if the iPad has a bigger display, why would I pay £599 (64GB wi-fi model) for one when I have an iPhone already? My iPhone is also significantly more portable and also makes and takes phone calls (and photos)...

- A friend of mine has small kids and we were talking about use cases. Here's one: It's Sunday afternoon and the kids are restless. It's raining, miserable outside. Instead of booting up a laptop just reach for the iPad lying on the coffee table! The kids can surf around their favourite sites, such as the Disney site or BBC's CBeeBies - no,wait. The iPad doesn't support Flash! Try telling kids they have to wait for the BBC to roll out an HTML5 version of the entire site before they can play "Animal ABC".

So. Stumbling block again. Steve Jobs has, in my opinion (and I'm only one voice among many...), failed due to his fanatical anti-Adobe anti-Flash complex and managed to exclude a massive portion of the internet from users of the iPad. AND IT MAKES NO SENSE!!!!

OK, breathe.

The iPad is not an iPhone. It's bigger, it offers a nice web-browsing experience (display permitting) and would be a great device for sofa web-browsing with no boot-up time. I can accept not having Flash on the iPhone and don't really miss it. I have developed an iPhone-optimised version of turrall.ch which takes advantage of accelerometer-driven navigation and doesn't even need the Flash-based menu on the normal site.

It does, however, seem more than daft having to create an iPad-optimised version of a website without Flash just because Steve Jobs doesn't like it and is badly-informed as to what Flash is actually used for. It's not just for video Steve!

Steve Jobs and other Apple employees involved in bringing products like the iPad to market should not be in the job of dictating to us what we can do with a device - especially when it's massively overpriced. The device should stand on it's merits and not form another cog in a money-generating machine.

As Jakob Nielsen says:

When a customer has bought a device, it's theirs; they should be able to see the information they want, and run the applications they want.

If the iPad is going to be of any use for it's £599 then it has to support a full web browsing experience, including Flash, and not just give us a bigger display than I have on my iPhone - that's all it's doing and it ain't worth the money.

The iPad is not magic. It's not a netbook challenger and it's not really revolutionary. It's just a step on the way and one that should have stayed in the labs until they'd added a front-facing webcam (even if it will give me a double chin), support for a full operating system and not a mobile one(including flash player and Adobe AIR support), external interfaces (USB, anyone?), less weight and probably other things that I haven't even thought of but they surely would have been able to - had they taken the time.

Let's see what version 2.0 looks like - or wait for the best Windows 7 or Android tablet that comes along instead. My money's more on Windows 7 or something like it here than on Android, but we'll see...

Now. Must go and wash my hands...

PS: As a side note: Have you also wondered at how many accessoires there seem to be to make the iPad into a desktop monitor (stands) or even terminal-like device by adding a keyboard? Doesn't this miss a point?

Now here's something very cool: Scratch Input using any available surface to control devices via scratched gestures - even in different rooms!

From Chris Harrison and Scott Hudson:

This certainly looks like an interesting approach for device control and it'll be worth watching this!

More information on the project website...

Some disturbing news hit the wire this week: Violet SA, the French company who produce Nabaztag and maintain the servers required to enable communication to the device, have filed for bankruptcy and are seeking a buyer.

It seems that maybe their thrust towards RFID-enabled products may not have caught the imagination of consumers as well as expected, or well enough to keep the company afloat. According to the information I found on this site, their earnings have certainly dropped instead of climbing in the last year, despite the new products launched.

It's a sad time for talking Rabbits all over the World - and may be followed by a somewhat sadder time in September if a buyer or recovery plan of some sort cannot be secured.

Due to the fact that I have neither won the Lotto or been extremely careful with money all of my life to date, I am not able to raise the funds required to step in and help to rescue Nabaztag.

If anybody reading this is interested in backing the plans of a 100% convinced geek who knows he has an approach that may just work, then let me know! You'll need probably at least 2,000,000 € if estimates are anything to go by.

Otherwise, those wishing to help but only able to pledge smaller amounts can either contact me or go here and pledge your money. Anybody pledging funds will, of course, receive a share of the new business, should a bid be successful.

Also, check out and feel free to join the Facebook group here...

Let's save those bunnies from a fate of silence!