You have probably seen the video below of Thomas Suarez, a 12 year old student from the South Bay of Los Angeles, who recently spoke at TedxManhattanBeach.

In his presentation Thomas speaks about how he loves computers, how he has been fascinated with them from an early age, how Apple's SDK resources helped him get going to create his first app and even how Apple staff at the App store have encouraged him.

Steve-like

Perhaps his greatest inspiration though can be seen in Thomas' on-stage mannerisms. Take a look at the video and see if you are reminded of anyone (recently departed and sorely missed at Apple) in the way he speaks, poses questions, and even the way he shrugs when the audience is laughing at his comment about students knowing more than their teachers.

Inspiration and Aspiration

Although we have to be honest and say that we probably wouldn't buy any of Thomas' apps (we're not really the target audience), we do think Thomas' approach and attitude is an inspiration, both to other students who are thinking of giving App development a go and to adults who have been dabbling or are doubting that they can do it.

Thomas is obviously a very bright and talented young man, with his own company CarrotCorp and big plans for the future. His example though shows that with a bit of creativity and a passion for developing, age is no barrier to what can be achieved.

Teachers / Educators also have another example to help support investment in subjects such as Computer Studies, App development and including IT in the Curriculum.

What do you think about Thomas' speech?

When we saw the videos following Adobe's iPad app announcement last week we were excited. It is obviously not just about the iPad, but what other tablet is currently out there in the hands of millions of users?

Three New Apps

Adobe Eazel looks nice with some innovative multi-touch UI design, including using all 5 digits at once, but what got us most excited is the use of the iPad as an extension to your Desktop working space with Adobe's Color Lava and Nav apps. None of these apps are released yet but pre-release copies have been reviewed already and you can see them in action in the video above.

A New SDK

The new apps use the Adobe Photoshop Touch SDK to enable direct interaction with Photoshop CS5 (newest update required). This SDK is already available to Developers so we can hope to see a whole little industry open up around tablet integration with Photoshop and we will be keeping an eye on this area in future.

What Do You Think?

We will no doubt have more to say about each of these apps as they are released, but for now we want to know what you think? Are you a Photoshop user? Can you see these apps fitting into your creative workflow? Or is it all a fuss about nothing? Let us know in the comments.