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henriquedias: Definitely not a mac. But Zen minimalism is in...

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:21:57 -0700

Definitely not a mac.

But Zen minimalism is in you, not in your gadgets, and I do have some emotional connections with old IBM.

My wife used to work for IBM, and every night she brought home her ThinkPad. I always envied how she got to spend her days working with such a formal yet friendly design, while I was hacking away on a menagerie of third-tier craptops. This looks like a great carry-through on that original design tradition. Tip of the hat to Lenovo for keeping the faith. Word.

Ask a real musician: 5 classic male metal singers

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:36:36 -0700

Ask a real musician: 5 classic male metal singers

Transit

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:39:36 -0700

A few musings from the latest business trip:

My rental car was so small, I felt like I was driving a cartoon
Can a hotel be too green? What with their neo-hipster mood, wind energy, and carbon offsets, I think I’ll go get into a 187,700 pound airplane and go home
Every single man in the Admiral’s Club in Washington DC has on a suit. Except for me, the underdressed slob from California who doesn’t have the tie and jacket.
Flying all the way across the country both directions for a 180-minute meeting seems excessive, but sometimes face-to-face makes all the difference

Transparency

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 05:16:20 -0700

Transparency:

Soon, “transparency” as we know it will bifurcate into “honesty” and “transparency”. Honesty will, cosmos willing, continue to remain an important factor in our dealings with companies and people. Transparency, on the other hand, isn’t inherently good or bad - and soon may disappear, only to be replaced by obscurity, a sense of mystery, a sense of wonder.

Sort of like the Hollister stores in the mall, except for the Hollister part.

(As sparked by This Life of Leisure)

Mother blob talking to her son blob who just went off to...

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 21:07:16 -0700

Mother blob talking to her son blob who just went off to college, via her new waterproof iPad that she has hacked to work with an old iSight she bought along with her PowerBook 12 back when he was just a wee blob.

So close, but no Android SIM card

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:40:19 -0700

I was >this close< to having completely switched over to the Android phone from the iPhone - and had been living entirely out of the Nexus One for nearly a month - when all of a sudden my phone decides to no longer connect to my WiFi at home. Checking the settings didn’t do anything. Unfriending the WiFi and friending it again? Nothing. Burning a small effigy of the 802.11 working committee, complete with them holding detailed reproductions of the entire specification document painstakingly recreated by hand with grains of rice and a toothpick dipped in ram’s blood? Nothing.

*sigh*

So it’s back to the iPhone 3GS for me, and that pecky little keyboard, and no voice recognition, and no ‘back’ button to so elegantly (and confusingly, natch) temporally reverse my path through clicks and taps.

Let’s see how long it lasts.

The old GoPhone is looking better and better by the day.

(and yes, my sincerest apologies for the “So close but no cigar” rhyme up there)

Paper cuts - Rolls on the Behance Network Hella cool.

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 22:22:19 -0700

Paper cuts - Rolls on the Behance Network

Hella cool.

Just found a way to work “Nine Inch Nails” into a client presentation.

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:38:28 -0700

Just found a way to work “Nine Inch Nails” into a client presentation.

any ideas about journaling?
I have tried mac journal, specially for the video feature, but I still
just need some paper, looks so cold
by the way,
congrats fot the system, as I posted on Facebook, old school at its best,
I trying something just the same, but, inspired by you I'm keeping the master list on the mac, and everyday i just pick up a peace paper.
just the one I feel like.
best regards,
h.

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:24:56 -0700

Glad you like the GSD system! I don’t do much around journaling, although lately I’ve been keeping a few notes in the margins of my daily book. Regarding the master list, I found that when I put it on the Mac, I end up getting distracted whenever I look for it, so I’m back to paper for everything including the master.

As I find myself getting further from my 20s, it’s...

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:06:00 -0700

As I find myself getting further from my 20s, it’s important to me to not become one of those people that hangs on desperately (or obliviously) to things from their youth, but rather to be someone who stays connected to the swells and currents of the day, remaining fresh and engage and aware of the evolving world around me.

It requires proactive effort to stay with the trends, discarding old mores and likes and staying with the times, learning to like Kay Perry (California Gurls FTW) and Eminem and Rihanna instead of rehashing my collection of aging MP3s, traipsing to the store to refresh the wardrobe from time to time, refusing to move up to the iPhone 4 and instead shifting focus to the Android. And in the end, it’s quite enjoyable, as it brings new texture and interest into your life.

But people, what the hell is it with these new dork-fest plastic sunglasses? Do you people have no self-respect? Is this just some big self-deprecating joke (“Woo hoo! Next I wear a diaper! I’m so damn hip!”)?

Get some new sunglasses, hippies. And get off my lawn!

(Oh, and all due respect to random Flickr user and tagger Dani, who if I’m reading it right, kind of agrees but from a younger perspective. Or something.)

The Two Story, Climb Inside Bookshelf Tower | Apartment Therapy Chicago

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:15:46 -0700

The Two Story, Climb Inside Bookshelf Tower | Apartment Therapy Chicago

NYTimes: For Digital Artists, Apps Provide New Palette http://nyti.ms/bjVQuZ

Sat, 21 Aug 2010 09:22:41 -0700

NYTimes: For Digital Artists, Apps Provide New Palette
http://nyti.ms/bjVQuZ

Salvation Army thrift store gold

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 11:54:38 -0700

Salvation Army thrift store gold

Can’t wait until Android, iOS, and WebOS are all virtualized so I can just run any mobile app...

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 21:25:54 -0700

Can’t wait until Android, iOS, and WebOS are all virtualized so I can just run any mobile app on any phone. Oh, and Modern Warfare too.

Rule #3: Don’t highlight a feature that’s worse than...

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 14:44:00 -0700

Rule #3: Don’t highlight a feature that’s worse than the competition

If you’re releasing a new product that’s supposed to be (a) one of your flagship products, (b) the savior for your company, (c) a trendsetting example of your technical prowess, or (d) all of the above, don’t dedicate an entire section of your launch page to a feature that is - directly out of the box - already worse than the competition.

Nokia: “Not one but three live home screens – make one for work, use one for fun, and have one with your favorite picture as the wallpaper.”

Uh, gentlemen, you may want to refer to the Google Android for its out-of-the-box five home screens, and the iPhone for its (count ‘em) 11 home screens, before you expect your customers to get all excited about this.

(via Nokia USA - Nokia N8 - Features)

Get Groupon on your vintage mobile Man, this is fantastic! Love...

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 13:47:19 -0700

Get Groupon on your vintage mobile

Man, this is fantastic! Love the idea. (via Groupon Mobile)

Too Damn Tall, morning edition

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 12:12:26 -0700

Hit my forehead on the shower head this morning while washing soap out of my eyes.

Building a (tiny) race car with Basecamp The race car looks kind...

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 11:42:00 -0700

Building a (tiny) race car with Basecamp

The race car looks kind of tiny. Insert sarcastic blurb here about how one can only create small things with Basecamp, and if they had used something more robust they could have created a full Formula One racer, and a bunch of smiley faces and LOLs.

That said, we too use Basecamp to build big things and we’re happy with it.

Rule #2: Focus on what we can do with the device, not the guy in...

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 23:14:00 -0700

Rule #2: Focus on what we can do with the device, not the guy in a polo shirt

Somehow I got rickrolled into learning more about the Dell Streak. I was doing some research just now on basic versus smartphone penetration in Africa (really) and somehow ended up watching this video (really). But in keeping with the Streak theme today, I just had to comment.

Why is it that every technology company feels obliged to parade out an engineer or product manager to talk about their latest product? Just look at this grab from the video: during at least four minutes of the video, the Streak takes up roughly 6.7% of the video real estate, with the remaining 93.3% of the pixels paying homage to Benjamin Moore paint and Ralph Lauren shirts.

Dude, get out of the frame, set the Streak on the table, and point the camera at it. Talk about that giant display, or how you can use the phone while surfing on WiFi, or how you can stick it in one of the smaller pockets in your Scottevest Carry-On Coat, ok?

Rule #1: If it doesn’t compete with an Apple product,...

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:18:00 -0700

Rule #1: If it doesn’t compete with an Apple product, don’t say it does.

Geek.com: “Dell’s Android-powered Streak slate takes on the iPad tomorrow.” Are they just trolling for pageviews? Come on, just because it’s roughly rectangular, has a touch display, and does things online doesn’t mean it’s an iPad competitor.

The way to make this thing an iPad competitor is to focus on what you can do with it, not the features and functions under the hood:

1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon chip

Does it surf the web and do YouTube? Good enough. Speeds and feeds turn the average consumer off.

Five-inch capacitive multitouch 800×480 WVGA display

How about “Brilliant large display that still fits in your pocket or purse, but makes videos and family photos look fantastic”?

3G, UMTS/GPRS/EDGE class 12 GSM radio with link speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps, WiFi 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR

Right now, thousands of eyes are glazing over. Try ”Gives you both WiFi and 3G, so you can stay in touch with your friends and family whether you’re at home, in a coffee shop, or traveling the country on vacation.” Oh, right, and “And Bluetooth so you can make phone calls without looking like a dumbass with this thing pressed up against the side of your head.”

Five-megapixel autofocus camera with dual LED flash VGA camera for videoconferencing

“Videoconferencing” makes me think of putty-colored cubicle walls and bad lighting. Talk it up, make it personal, connect emotionally: ”Front-facing camera so you can stay in touch with people at home while you’re on the road!”

Android 1.6 (Froyo update is due later this year) with Android Market and Dell’s custom UI skin

Wait, you mean it’s coming out tomorrow, but it’s got an operating system from nearly a year ago? What’d you do, stick the developers in an air-tight room and tell them they wouldn’t get out until they ship? (Explains the front-facing camera for videoconferencing, natch).

Packaged with cushions made from 100 percent sustainable, compostable bamboo

Which, for some reason and in this context, just highlights how the rest of it looks like a block carved from petroleum.

(via Dell’s Android-powered Streak slate takes on the iPad tomorrow – Cell Phones & Mobile Device Technology News & Updates | Geek.com)