It seems, that despite syncing up with my iMac’s accounts, the iPod touch (and, presumably, the iPhone as well), treat the “Trash” mailbox specially. Specifically, whereas you can map the “Delete” button in Apple Mail.app to function as though it were the GMail “Archive” button (by following these simple steps), Mail on the iPod touch or iPhone won’t inherit the same behavior. “Delete” on the iPod touch really is an honest-to-goodness delete—forever.

Instead, to Archive GMail messages on an iPod touch or iPhone, you’ll need to tap the “Move” button (the folder icon with a downwards-facing arrow, second from the left on the bottom toolbar) and select the “All Mail” folder. I wonder why the difference in interface choices….

It occured to me while thinking about what this experience must be like for her, a smart but not technically experienced individual, that in fact a lot of what would be easy on the Mac would be the Web. Why? Because the Web is everywhere and, increasingly, every thing. The Web is the interface most people think about these days when they think about using computers.

Just take a look around. Almost everything you can do on a standard desktop application you can do on web pages these days. Instant Messaging was one of the first applications I can think of (off the top of my head) that was taken to the Web with AOL Instant Messenger’s AIM Express. Yahoo! quickly followed. I remember the days when hanging around in Yahoo Clubs Chat Rooms (now Yahoo Groups, and no longer involved with the Chat Rooms feature) used to be all the rage. I played a ton of Go and Battleship back then.

These days, more and more information is being put online and is becoming easier (and more consistent) to access. Twitter is all the rage, I do all my banking online (over verified HTTPS connections, of course), and Google has integrated GoogleTalk right into the GMail window. In fact, most of my friends never close their GMail window anymore. The browser is the new IM client.

Of course, there’s a fascinating paradox that’s worth examining in all of this. Simultaneously, the Web provides a consistent interface to my stuff (like email or banking information) and yet all of my information is consistently displayed differently. The Web is my computer—to go.

So if the Web is my computer on a take-out menu, the web browser is more and more like its own little computer inside the bigger one. Indeed, AJAX has proven itself in an ever increasing number of applications, and intelligent JavaScript is finally getting the attention it deserves. If you’ll forgive the exceptionally Mac-centric analogy, JavaScript is to the Web as AppleScript is to the Mac. Case in point, here’s a JavaScript bookmarklet that will give you a “full screen” button in any compliant Web browser:

javascript:self.moveTo(0,0);self.resizeTo(screen.availwidth,screen.availHeight);

This illustrates the point that the Web browser is becoming an ever more complex platform in its own right. People have already taken this concept further and more than a dozen Web Operating Systems are already in development. When these mature, computing, for many people, will have finally come full circle and returned to the days of dumb terminals.

By the way, my friend’s doing quite well with her Mac today. She’s even using Safari instead of Firefox these days.

I’ve just spent the past three and a half hours at the site watching the presentations and I’ll have to blame them for making me sleepy at work tomorrow. Nevertheless, they are some of the most compelling and fascinating presentations I have ever seen in my life. I highly, highly recommend that you spend a few moments to check them out.

For those interested in Human-Computer Interface design, you absolutely must view Jeff Han’s talk on an “interface-less” touch-screen-like display which will very likely obsolete the traditional mouse and keyboard.

For those interested in global health and economics, you absolutely must view Hans Rosling’s talk on the myths of the third world.

And for those who just want more proof how much Apple Computer rocks our socks, you must view David Pogue’s excellent presentation on the woes caused by software frustration (and it’s partially set to music).

My personal favorite (so far) was Sir Ken Robinson’s almost stand-up comedy approach to explaining to us why the current state of the world’d public education systems will not serve us for our future.