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A little Taliesin Associates-esque mid-century modern, in the middle of the Utah desert.

Part of CEO John Chamber’s speech here at the annual Cisco Convention was a surprise product announcement — a new business-focused tablet computer based on Google’s Android operating system. You can read more coverage of the intro from Engadget and Gizmodo, but on the show floor itself the new device was imprisoned behind glass:

Despite the business focus of the product itself, the devices’s unveiling during the keynote used primary education as the context. Actors portraying students, parents and teachers put the tablet to work pitching the video-conferencing and e-textbook capabilities. (The latency of a satellite hookup to research vessel scotched the dream of seamless telepresence during the demo, unfortunately.)

But whether Cisco chooses to focus on the classroom or the boardroom (or both), several questions remain about its entry into a crowded tabloid market. Non-phone devices based on Android have had a rocky road to travel getting the key differentiator of that operating system — the open Android market — to work. Companies that have brought Android-based tablets to market, such as Archos, have found themselves both stuck with older versions of the OS, as well as locked out of the vibrant Marketplace — a software distribution system much more open and less controlled Apple’s App Store, but paradoxically unavailable for any device Google refuses to authorize.

Put another way: take away the apps that Google requires co-branding for (Gmail) and won’t allow tablets to use (Marketplace), and you end up with a much less compelling story for a competitor to the current market leader, Apple’s iPad. Though Cisco’s expertise in enterprise features such as IP telephony and video telepresence can make the Cius a well-fitting cog in a corporation’s existing IT infrastructure, users may wonder why they’re kept out of the dynamic and ever-growing Android software marketplace for seemingly arbitrary reasons.

Returning to Cisco’s annual convention this summer (after a one-year absence) finds me in Las Vegas during 109° weather and reminds me that Nevada-based tech conferences are much more enjoyable in March than in the beginning of July. Luckily the hotel (Luxor) connects indoor to the convention center (Mandalay Bay) through indoor passages, through which one can walk and pass by oversized styrofoam logos such as these:

Who knew there was a website dedicated to small train stations in rural Michigan? In this case, the page on Carsonvile, Sanilac County offers a few different views of the same station that my great-great grandfather sent as a postcard in 1912, above.

Some pictures from the Mad Cow String Band’s set at El Corazon:

Finishing up the March trip to Tucson, here’s what is the northernmost of a string of missions that stretches down into Mexico.

People go to Bisbee, Arizona for a lot of reasons — to retire and buy house a house high on a hill with no road access, or just to enjoy coffee at the Bisbee Coffee Company. But I think the most interesting thing in Bisbee is the architecture. Here’s the beautiful Bisbee Mercantile, moderne in the middle of the desert:

Inside, you’ll find the original light fixtures, made out of streamlined copper:

There’s no shortage of other interesting buildings either, such as this stucco arts-and-crafts theater that wouldn’t look out of place in Berkeley:

Of course we should remember where all the wealth came from that built Bisbee — both the copper itself, as well as the capital that arose from it:

Some shots from the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum:

Let’s hope this net holds:

Can’t miss the Ocotillo Cafe: