The app ecosystem for mobile devices has, for good reasons, been primarily oriented toward consumption of media content. This is particularly true of Apple’s touchscreen-only iPhones and iPads: these elegant portable computers make for a delightful way to peruse content, as evidenced by wildly popular apps like The Elements or Flipboard. Facile access to internet connectivity makes communication-oriented apps very effective, as witnessed by the number of mobile users of clients for social networks like Twitter and Facebook. Content creation, on the other hand, presents a significant challenge. Creating new data of any kind suffers from the inherent clumsiness of the finger-on-screen user interface paradigm, which makes something as simple as writing an email message somewhat of an inconvenience akin to learning how to touchtype all over again. Continue reading →