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People pitch me on new apps all the time, but Al Gore doesn't use it often. In fact, only once – last week.
I took the bait. I met him and his co-workers on "Our Choice," a $ 5 app version (iPhone/iPad,/iPod Touch) by Mr. Gore 2009 best seller of the same name.
Now, I'll be honest with you: I must be sent every other week on some "revolutionary" e-book app that claims to reinvent the book. That usually means a couple of videos in the.
"Our choice," but can actually live up to boast.
A page from Al Gores new book app, "our choice".As Mr. Gore put it, was his 2006 book "an inconvenient truth" 90% if the crisis climate problem and only 10% of responses. "Our choice" replace this number.
It is about how he thinks we need to take right now to avoid the worst of climate disaster. It examines all factors: solar, wind, nuclear, politics, population, deforestation. It's vintage Gore: compelling, accurate, justified and filled with laymen-I recaps of the latest scientific research. If you did not know if black carbon, albedo and solves, you will after reading "our choice".
Mr. Gore acknowledges skeptics, even summarize their arguments, before trying to tear them. his message still that we must act quickly to avoid really devastating climate problems. "The United States still borrow money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn in a manner that destroys the planet. Each bit of the change, "he writes.
The book was published in 2009, but the software version has been updated. It includes discussions of "birther" sceptics, tsunami in Japan and last year's Climategate.
But enough about the book. The bigger news is the app.
It is structured like a book, with 400 photos, illustrations and diagrams. It works best on the iPad, of course, but miniature versions on the iPhone/Touch work surprisingly well, too. In both cases, you can zoom out to see the scroll page thumbnails at the bottom of the window for easy jumping around.
In both apps is the real magic of all Visual elements. You can expand each photo and graphic to fill the entire screen; they look spectacular. Now you can interact with them, you can tap on the corner of each photo, such as looking at the planet was taken there. You can press your finger on a bar in the chart to "explode" in smaller bars, display component data behind the primary bar. (For example, a column chart shows the six gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect. Hold your finger on a bar to see it broken down into smaller bars, where such gas is coming from that show: transport, buildings and so on.)
Some of the images is narrated animations. Some turn out to be movies (there are a total of one hour of video), best narrated by Mr. Gore.
Interactivity, zoom in graphical elements and videos is not a gimmick. They actually give a different experience. The book feels more Web-like. at your leisure, you can walk from the main river in the text to one of these deeper Dives. There is not yet afraid to fall outside the primary idea.
Thanks to all the smoothly integrated multimedia engaging book more parts of your brain than just reading the prose. Consequently, Mr. Gore goes much further in their mission – persuasion – than what he could on the printed page alone.
Another result is that you can spend many hours with this "book," subscript and explore. For once, is this an e-book that truly redefine the net effect of an e-book. It really take advantage of the touch screen, speakers and storage of your gadget to the fullest.
Best of all, "said the small company who created the app (called PushPop Press) that during the past 18 months, not to create just" our choice ". At the same time created a platform, a technology that will allow them and others to publish subsequent rich book apps much faster and easier.
There is room for improvement. You cannot search in the text, or comment on, or copy or select it and Links on the Internet may have been an obvious inclusion. Mr. Gore narration is not ahem…i've spent, the liveliest you have ever heard.
You should also know that it is a great app, over 50 megabytes. When you buy it from the app store, all you get is the introductory video; you are prompted to download the rest of the book in a WiFi hotspot. It could be a rude surprise if you download the book just before heading out on a road trip, for example.
But over all, this is one of the most elegant, fluid, rich apps you have ever seen. It is a showpiece for the new world, touch-screen gadgets.
I told Mr. Gore that, frankly, I was relieved that "Our Choice" is such a great app. ' I was afraid that it would be Lame ", I said. "I would have had to Show at this meeting and pretend I liked it."
Mr. Gore do not miss a beat. -I know, "he said. "I felt the same way about your Nova miniseries."
Funny guy. Also a convincing, thorough writer. He has overseen the creation of a really cool app-book, as an app store reviewer put it, "makes reading an interactive performance and, above all, emotional experience."
Well done, Mr Vice-President.
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