Craig Moffett from Bernstein Research on the iPhone-AT&T relationship (via ZDNet):

Apple has radically tilted the strategic playing field away from the network operator in favor of the device manufacturer …Remarkably, Apple has so thoroughly stolen the customer relationship – who would argue that Apple iPhone customers’ first affinity is to the device rather than to the network – that the network is not only irrelevant, it is rather a source of derision.

and:

Apple’s direct-to-consumer end run around the wireless industry is in many ways simply a repeat of its brilliant negotiation with the music industry at the dawn of iTunes back in 2001. Less than a decade later, Apple has managed to capture considerable value from the music industry as it sells ever more iPods.

This isn’t a new discovery, but I love how long it takes big business to see the error in their ways.
I also hate the irony in the fact that the ‘phone’ part of the iPhone is the weakest link in my owning an iPhone.

1a space via the media arc

Media Arc via brendandawes

So Google has a browser called Chrome, and they’ve decided to call their new operating system Chrome as well.
Hmmm.
Gizmodo responsed to this today, ‘Android, Chrome OS Relationship Confusing Everyone, Including Google‘.
John Gruber responds more specifically to the wack-ass nomenclature:

A web browser is very different from an OS, even if the OS only runs the browser. Google themselves recently conducted a survey that suggests that most regular people do not understand at all what a “web browser” is. If regular people are confused about what a browser is, it’s a good bet they’re even more confused about what an “OS” is. Calling them both “Chrome” isn’t going to help clarify the matter.

This reminds me of Amazon’s recent ‘Kindle’ iPhone app.
Wait, I thought that white, e-ink device on my desk was a Kindle? Now, if I don’t have a Kindle, I can still have a Kindle (on my iPhone)?

Last week Michael Surtees wrote a post on how he organizes his iPhone home screen.
It wasn’t long after I bought my iPhone that I too started to organize my home screen based on my usage patterns. Over the last year and half my usage patterns have shifted slightly as new applications have become available but overall I’ve remained fairly consistent (see my original post from July 2008 for reference).
One of the biggest changes I made was getting rid of most of the webpage links from my home screen(s) and putting them in my bookmarks list within Safari. It used to be a novelty to have all these sparkly little webpage icons on my screen, but as I’ve acquired more and more apps, I’ve become more utilitarian and conservative with what I deem worthy of a spot on my home screen.
So In response to Surtees, I’ve mapped my iPhone space. Unlike Surtees, I organize icons in orbits, with the bottom left-hand corner being the nucleus and where my ‘clicking thumb’ sits (I write right-handed but I do a lot of things with my left hand). Similar to him though, I’m less strict with my second and third home screens.

At some point, yes, there will be an iPhone app for everything.
Add Exit Strategy to the list of ‘Things People Used to Do With Their Own Brains’.

Makes me think about all the things I use to rely on myself for – remembering peoples’ phone numbers, knowing the order of songs on CDs (and playing CDs through), and soon, where to best position myself on subway cars.
I can’t say my life is simpler or more complex with technology. Nor can I say it’s better or worse.
Just thinking out loud.
Exit Strategy via kottke

Art tends not only to discover the truth but to exaggerate and finally distort it. And, maybe in this distortion lies the essence of art.

• Matthew Nowicki
  via NOTCOT

Pano is one of my new favorite iPhone apps. It’s super-easy to use and does a great job of stitching together all your shots, although a steady hand and far away subject matter definitely help.
As great as the app is, it still has room for improvement on the user interface. Like when you want to switch from portrait mode to landscape, you need to hit ‘Cancel’. Huh? The ‘Cancel’ button is actually the default button through the application experience.
After you’ve taken your photo series and need Pano to stitch them together, you hit ‘Cancel’ to bring up the options to: ‘Start Over’, ‘Make my panorama now!’, or ‘Resume shooting’. It makes no sense. There’s other options for button labeling to make the process less confusing, as well as plenty of real estate on the bottom nav bar if additional buttons were necessary (but I don’t think they are). Hell, even changing the button to read ‘Options’ would help out.
Here’s some shots I took up at the reservoir at Central Park today:



Pano for iPhone

My Suunto Lumi watch (Suunto calls them ‘wrist computers’) arrived this past week. It’s the first watch I’ve worn in around 8 years. I saw it posted on a gadget blog and fell in love with it. I mean, look at it, how could you not?

The only issue I have with the watch is the fluorescent orange band. I’m going to try and get a custom leather band made for it.

I wacked most of my information on my Facebook account and then deactivated it today.
I don’t find Facebook that useful anymore.
Ok, I never found it useful, but now I find it just plain annoying. It might be that I’m all growns up and have evolved my digital self. Or I could just be turning into a grumpy old man. Probably a little bit of both.
The status updates from my friends and my “friends” have been driving me postal lately. Most are updates in their lives. I guess this is good and appropriate, but I’ve been hitting the “See Less” link on my friends more and more, so my homepage feed is a tiny subset of all my friends.
My brother Mark published a great book a few years ago on the art of the away message, ‘Where There’s a Will, There’s Away… Messages: A 21st Century Guide to the Art of Absence‘. He wrote it in reference to his instant messaging methodology (back when we posted our status on AIM), but it’s just as relevent to the world of Twitter and Facebook.
Mark’s thoughts on posted his actual life status:

…Now there are two reasons I chose NOT to post Away Messages like those. Ever. The first is out of consideration to any onlookers; it’s boring. And the fact is, no one really cares where I am at any given time, they just want something to do while they’re bored or distracted. So I thought, “Why not give people something to read? Entertain them!” So I got into the habit of creating a new Away Message every day. I never repeated a Message. And each one had to be interesting in some way, so that there was a payoff for checking it. Clever, witty, funny, curious, ironic, familiar… as long as it was a nice diversion for all of 10 seconds, it was fair game.

Take some notes people, this isn’t just a plug, it’s good advice.

via loudpop

The details are not the details.
They make the design.

• Charles Eames
  via DesignAday

Roger Ebert’s review of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen:

“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” is a horrible experience of unbearable length, briefly punctuated by three or four amusing moments. One of these involves a dog-like robot humping the leg of the heroine. Such are the meager joys. If you want to save yourself the ticket price, go into the kitchen, cue up a male choir singing the music of hell, and get a kid to start banging pots and pans together. Then close your eyes and use your imagination.

Seems I won’t be seeing this flick after all.
…although, my reaction to this review is the same as driving by a car accident.
I have to look, if only for a second.