TAKEAWAY: The iPad can’t sing or dance, but it is slowly making appearances in such television shows as Smash.
Katharine McPhee, Raza Jaffrey,and the iPad in a scene from Smash,
It’s beginning to happen: the iPad goes Hollywood, or at least it is starting out on TV shows like Smash, the NBC hit musical drama about the creating of a musical. I admit I am a devoted fan of the show and its talented cast, which includes Angelica Huston, Uma Thurman and Debra Messing.
Since I cannot watch past episodes of Smash while traveling abroad, the minute I come home I catch up on missed Smash moments. It was during one of those Smash marathons that I have realized how much the iPad plays a role in the show.
Of course, it is all Apple products on Smash, but what caught my attention about the iPad is that it replaced the printed newspaper in a scene where two actors discussed celebrity coverage, a typical scene where the usual prop would have been a New York City newspaper, since this show takes place there. Instead, the iPad is part of the scene (see photo).
Of semi-related interest:
How Star Trek imagined the iPad 23 years ago
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/08/how-star-trek-artists-imagined-the-ipad-23-years-ago.ars
Of interest today:
As news shifts toward mobile, will text alerts get left behind?
http://www.niemanlab.org/2012/04/as-news-shift-toward-mobile-will-text-alerts-get-left-behind/
First paragraph:
In a blast text message to subscribers on Tuesday afternoon, The Washington Post announced that it’s…ending blast text messages to subscribers, on April 30. So don’t expect to get SMS headlines like “Mitt Romney sweeps GOP primaries in five states” for much longer.
Where in the world is Mario?
I am at home in Tampa all of this week: enjoying all that nature I have right outside my back door, with the Hillsborough River as a backdrop; some of the trees in my backyard at 400 years old, and sit on an environmentally protected area of Florida, a swamp, where sometimes the most beautiful birds appear, plus huge turtles, the occasional snake, and, on occasion, sleepy alligators. But I have a deck that is 10” high so no danger of alligators approaching us! It is a peaceful and serene setting that I am always happy to come home to.
At home in Tampa, Florida until May 7.
The iPad Design Lab: Storytelling in the Age of the Tablet
