I enjoy reading The New York Times on the iPad much more than on any other device or browser. The NYT iPad application is very well designed and offer the much-touted ‘immersive’ experience many iPad users talk about.
‘Immersive’ applications are nothing new. This is what we may call full-screen apps without resorting to Gartner-like buzzwords. And full-screen applications have existed for a long time. However, the iPad takes them to the next level as Windows decoration, scroll bars, notifications coming from other applications like the dreaded “you have a new message” pop-up and everything else that may cross your focus line is taken away.
When I can’t use my iPad and instead sit in front of my ‘traditional’ workhorse of a laptop I’ve been struggling to find a way that would mimic as much as possible the NYT experience on the Apple tablet.
Let me step aside for a moment as I want you to note how the tables are being turned and how I use ‘traditional’ as an adjective when thinking about my almost last generation MacBook Pro laptop. Apple and, possibly, others are creating a whole new way of computing. Look at the upcoming Windows 8 operating system and you won’t fail to notice how serious Microsoft is about the tablet approach (let’s hope they get it right this time). As a result, I am growing unhappy lugging around 3.5 Kg worth of hardware, dealing with window placement, turning off as much notifications as possible and so on. I have to fight for my right to focus on the task at hand. Computing is a means to an end.
Anyway, back to the main track. I’ve been frequently using Google Chrome for more than a year now and I am satisfied with it. Performance is snappy, security is satisfactorily addressed and useful extensions are out there. Which brings me back to the main topic. The NYT have created a wonderful extension for Chrome that does mimic the iPad application as you can see.
Simple, streamlined and efficient. Isn’t that beautiful design? That’s computing at our service and not the other way around. And hopefully we’ll see more of it in the next years.
