by Rick Alembik
Richard S. Alembik P.C.
www.alembik.com
Consider the “app.”
Short for “application,” it represents the most recent evolutionary stage of computer technology. The iPhone/iPad app is a software program that performs a limited function on an iPod, smart phone, or similar portable device. Like the iPad‚ it’s a device that is not a traditional computer with keyboard and peripherals, but more of a miniaturized and handier version of such “old school” technology. More conventional apps are used to browse online newspapers, check email, stock values, or the weather, to engage one’s preferred social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), to jot down hand-written notes, and of course, to play games.
The app’s utility is a function of its ease of use, its dedicated functionality, its portability, and its ability to be used on the user’s selected device in “quick-draw” style: deployed from a phone, whipped out of a pocket, or snatched from a briefcase or backpack. The app’s easy accessibility gives it a substantial advantage over computer-based programs that can be launched only after the computer is turned on, booted up, and put in service. Given the size of the device on which the app is typically deployed it can usually be operated with just an index finger or two. Thus the homonymous phenomenon of folks “digitally” pecking away at their “digital” devices.