The next step in virtual work - part Robot, part Segway, part iPad

I am a little late to the party on this, (apparently this launched back in August), but since we are getting pretty deep into the holiday season and there is the slight chance that you, dear reader, have not yet determined what type of gift to bestow upon your favorite blogger, (that's me, by the way), I had to call your attention to the Double, probably one of the coolest, awesome, and most potential-filled workplace tools I have seen this year.

The Double is a kind of 'teleprescence on a budget' tool - part robot, part Segway, and part iPad - the clever device allows a remote colleague to 'drive' an iPad topped wheeled robot around the office, 'see' and be seen via a video conferencing application running on the iPad, and participate virtually in meetings, snack breaks, and probably even hallway chair races.

Check out the embedded video below to see the Double in action, (email and RSS subscribers will need to click through)

I told you that was awesome.

Some details on how the Double manages to be so cool: It uses a dual-wheel base, enabling the robot to navigate corners and make its way around rooms and other workplace facilities. It is controlled via any other iOS device, or through a web interface, which lets you travel throughout the environment, decide which height at which to place its iPad 'head', and of course, to converse with anyone (I suppose including other people's Doubles) in the room.

So while you probably want to drop what you are doing and order one of these beauties for me straight away, sadly the initial run of Doubles is sold out, according to their website. But fear not, the next batch will be shipping in early 2013 at a price of $1,999.

Don't worry, I will let you slide with the gift being late, it is really the thought that counts anyway!

PowerPoint for the iPad? Well that's no fun.

Lots of chatter in the tech news and blogosphere this week about the possible launch of an iPad version of Microsoft Office.  First the news of the Office for iPad was broken by The Daily, denied, (kind of), by Microsoft, examined in more detail by ZDNet, then reconfirmed on Twitter by a staff member at The Daily. And I am sure there were lots of other takes on the potential release of Office for the iPad, most of which making it seem like it is not a question of if Microsoft will release the iPad version of Office, but rather when the apps will be released.Source - The Daily

So based on the evidence, and the sort of non-denial denial from Microsoft, let's assume that indeed in the 'coming weeks' there will be a release of MS Office for the iPad. Most of the accounts about this possible new Office version herald this development as a positive one, both for Microsoft, essentially absent to this point in the rapid rise of the tablet ecosystem, and also for the millions of iPad users that now can become 'more productive' now that the ubiquitous Office suite will have a native iPad version.

But for me, I have to admit I don't feel all that excited about having Excel, Word, or PowerPoint on the iPad. Even assuming that the iPad versions of these workplace stalwarts manage to leverage the best capabilities and usability features that the iPad offers, you are still crunching spreadsheets, writing (boring) documents, and futzing around with another PowerPoint. You know, working. And work, sadly, is often not much fun. And perhaps through no fault of their own, Excel and PowerPoint take a lot of reflected shrapnel for that if you get my meaning.

People love their iPads because they are fun, (assuming you can mentally set aside how they are actually manufactured, but that is another story), they provide an amazing user experience, and mostly what you do with them either isn't work, or doesn't feel like work. It just seems cool, hip, easy. Not words we often associate with work. Especially when work takes the form of spreadsheets and slide decks.

So when MS Office for the iPad comes out will I rush to load it up? Probably not. But I imagine I will eventually succumb, as the allure and utility of being able to tweak that presentation file on the iPad when sitting in the airport will prove too tempting and seem too necessary. It's work right? Need to get 'er done whenever and wherever.

I just hope I won't have to drop Angry Birds to make room for Excel. Because that would really stink.