Episode 2-3 Pirate Postcards & USB Aquariums

I wanted to show off Scrapbook because it’s exactly the kind of approach that Research In Motion should have explored years ago. It’s easy to overlook the power of that which is playful and light, but it’s often the little things that can make a big difference and there’s something about how easy it is to create and share a friendly postcard with the app that’s infectious. The 3D effects are magical in their light use and it really does take seconds to use, which is quite a feat. Technology has to be more than function, it needs to take on an attractive form too.

USB Desktop Aquarium

As much as it may seem like a gag gift, the USB Aquarium is a proper, working miniature tank. I wouldn’t have put real fish and taken it on TV if it wasn’t. It’s made by Fascinations who also make the AntWorks kits that use space gel with ant colonies and it was my positive experience with those that made me comfortable testing out the USB aquarium. I can’t say I use the “Nature Sounds”, but the fish have taken well to it and say “hi”.

They gave me a scare at first. I had put seven neon tetras in the tank, but after taking them on TV found only four, and a day later just three, then two. The tank uses an under-gravel filtration system and the fish had pushed aside some of the pebbles to access the grills and disappear into the very base.

From experience I knew to just be patient. If they found their way in, they’d probably find their way out and sure enough they slipped back into the open one-by-one. Now they routinely use it as a kind of basement and at any time the number of visible fish changes as they move between the two levels.

Some nights if I listen carefully I can hear them playing a DJ mix, clinking champagne glasses, and giggling.