Designers (like me) love to talk about how successful Apple is in context of Design—software, operating system, hardware—but Apple's popularity and profitability are due to much more than the big "D".

This email exchange between Steve Jobs and News Corp./HarperCollins sheds light on how important negotiating (or for Jobs, not negotiating) has been to Apple (Tim Cook's supply chain mastery is a whole other story).

Let's face it, without content (music/movies/books) and simple content delivery mechanisms on iPads, iPhones and iPods, they'd just be beautiful hardware devices with nothing to do.

Reading Jobs' emails reminds me of poker. When you watch a true master playing, you understand it's more than just the cards they're holding that determines if they win. It's intelligence, Jedi mind tricks, attitude and confidence all combined into one.

So Achates Power, in San Diego, is working on a diesel engine that uses 1/3 less fuel than conventional engines:

The basic Junkers design has an unusual arrangement of pistons. In a conventional engine, a piston moves inside a cylinder, compressing fuel and air against a cylinder head. A significant amount of energy in fuel ends up heating the cylinder head rather than driving a piston. The Junkers design puts two pistons in the same cylinder and eliminates the cylinder head. Instead, the two pistons compress fuel and air between them and then fly in opposite directions when the fuel is combusted.

I love that the name of the German company that's the source of Achates design is named "Junkers."

(This article is from January, but I'm posting it anyway. I'm way behind in links)

(overheard at the coffee shop)

Underground classics is what they used to say before,
Now we break the surface quiet like an alligator nose.

—Talib Kweli, Soul Rebels

image via Head Like An Orange

via Co.Design

Looks like my project is Kickstarter of the Week in Dwell Magazine. Neato.

Pointed out to me by my friend Promila.

I think many people feel this way about their own cities, but after living in Los Angeles for a year, I feel more truth to Updike's quote.

My wife and I have had a great year living in LA, but it is a seriously flawed city, but one with great potential. If you happen to live in a part of LA that doesn't require extensive use of your car or commuting, you've got a great deal. Don't let it go.

There's tons of great neighborhoods and culture and food and music here. And the weather. Jesus.

If they could drop in a transit system, this place would be more golden than the sun that shines down every single day.

I lived in NYC for 12 years. I'm a walkabout type of guy. I expect to be able to get around town by foot and subway/bus. Maybe these are unreasonable expectations for Los Angeles. Doesn't mean it's not possible.

This is all moot anyway as my wife and I are moving to San Francisco in 2 days.

San Francisco isn't New York, but I know it well. It is a great city.

So Samsung is releasing a mini version of it's S4 phone even though the everyone in the tech press seems convinced Apple has to release an enormous version of the iPhone.

If things are going so well for the regular S4, why the need for a mini version?

I refuse to use the godawful word phablet. Shit, I just did.

At io9, Robert T. Gonzalez tells us why wine tasting is bullshit (via John Gruber):

There are no two ways about it: the bullshit is strong with wine. Wine tasting. Wine rating. Wine reviews. Wine descriptions. They're all related. And they're all egregious offenders, from a bullshit standpoint.

I know wine tasting is bullshit because I have $240 to prove it.

A few years ago my friend had a wine tasting party at his upper east side apartment in Manhattan. Every person/couple was instructed to bring $20 and a bottle of red wine. When we arrived at his place, he took our coats, our $20 and our bottle of wine. He then wrapped our wine bottles in silver wrapping paper and set it on the table with all the other wine bottles.

Wait, let's rewind a bit.

On our way to the party my wife and I stopped at a wine shop in our upper east side neighborhood (owned by our next-door neighbor in our apartment complex) Vinyl Wine. It's still on Lexington Ave.

When I walked into the shop, I told the girl working where I was going and what I needed. I told her what I was looking for wasn't the best wine in their shop, but the one that everyone would like.

She pointed me to two different bottles she said were very popular. Since I'm a graphic designer, I made the executive decision to pick the one with the best looking label design.

The bottle I chose was $13.

I paid and my wife and I jumped into a cab an cut through Central Park to my friend's apartment.

Now let's fast forward a bit.

So my friend made the wine tasting special. He had first prize (the pot of money), second & third places even got some gift certificates and bottle openers. He gave out score sheets to rate each bottle on, based on the Robert Parker rating system. He had a spittoon. The whole thing was awesome.

My wife and all my friends and I took the wine tasting as seriously as you can take a wine tasting. Under everyday circumstances I can't tell a Cab from a Pinot Noir, but during a wine tasting, it was easier for me to detect the nuances between different wines.

My friend, the host, donned in his apron, collected our score papers and went through every bottle's score. There were 12 bottles and my wife and I kept expecting our shitty $13 bottle to be named. Bottle after bottle going down, but not ours. How is this possible?!

Finally our bottle was named. The last one.

We had taken the Pepsi challenge against 11 other bottles,ranging from $15 to $45 bottles. Ours won, the cheapest bottle.

So yeah, wine tasting is bullshit.

The taste of the wine you're drinking should be what matters to you. Or the artwork on the label. Or the story behind the winery and how they came into being. Just don't let anyone tell you the wine you like isn't a good wine.

If you like it, then it's a good wine.