I just received this link from Nicolas Felton on the progress of the Annual Report I ordered.
I can’t wait.

I’ve been reading, thinking and talking a lot about the iPhone and iPad and their lack of Adobe Flash. My problem, as always, is that I see both sides of the argument.

The Argument Against Flash

First, I see Jobs’ point of view – Flash is processor hog, buggy and hasn’t been optimized for mobile devices. I also can’t think of one Flash site that would work well when viewed on my iPhone. Youtube helped Apple launch a ‘Flashless’ video application for the iPhone in 2007 so the most popular place for online video was covered from the start.
The other online content not viewable on the iPhone is Flash games, and there are a lot of them. But to that I say native iPhone games are far superior to Flash games. They take advantage of all the native hooks and hardware that Flash games can’t like accelerometers, multi-touch, and OpenGL.
For the past 2 years of owning an iPhone I’ve never had one instance of wishing I had Flash installed. The way I use my iPhone is much different that how I use my MacBook Pro. Obviously Apple has shaped what I view to be a ‘superior’ mobile web experience, but I would argue that even if Flash were installed in Safari from the start, I wouldn’t be trying to view rich, Flash film sites or FWA winners.
The plug-in, a group to which Flash and Java belong, is dead as far as mobile web browsers. Sure, Flash 10.1 is coming to Android, but it’s still not going to be included on the upcoming Windows Phone 7 Series. Flash is actually not on very many mobile units at all (If you want a good laugh, see the amazing non-smart phones that support Flash Lite on Adobe’s site).

What Mikey’s Missing

Now as much as I might not want Flash on my iPhone, I’m also an interactive designer and developer. For the last 11 years, Flash has let me create websites that combine time, sound and motion that ultimately result in an emotional reaction and connection with the viewer. You can’t achieve this with just HTML and CSS (even if you add in JavaScript).
So now that Apple has kneecapped me, making it impossible to create immersive experiences without learning how to use their SDK, what am I do to? The whole beauty of Flash was that it let inexperienced designers create interactive animations, interfaces and applications without having to get a PhD in computer science.

Enter the Adobe Phone

This is the logical next step for Adobe. Over the years, they’ve gradually been giving Flash more and more robust functionality, expanding out from the mere animation realm and into the world of 3-D environments and applications (through Flex and AIR)
Why would Apple ever in their right mind allow Adobe onto their iPhone and continue on this trajectory?
Adobe wants people to continue to make Flash applications and Flash games and be able to deliver them via the web to as many people as possible – and they should, but if they want to see this dream become a reality, they’re going to need to build their own phone.
Over 28 years later, The words of Alan Kay are ringing more true than ever:

Remember, it’s all software, it just depends on when you crystallize it …People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware.

—Alan Kay, Creative Think (computer industry seminar), 1982
We’re seeing this with all the major mobile players now – even Microsoft is cracking down on how customizable their new mobile OS is, and how particular the hardware requirements are.
I don’t know about you, but I can picture the Adobe Phone. It’s a phone that lets Flash have complete access to all levels of the unit, runs smooth, fast and doesn’t drain resources because it has no longer been relegated to a mere plug-in.
The Adobe Phone would also let interactive designers like me design, test and deploy our creations without application submissions and approval processes. I’ve been doing it for years on my own as a web designer with an FTP program and web browser. It shouldn’t be any different for mobile phones.
Apple has proven when you build a great platform, great things are possible from the community that adopts it. Adobe should know this first hand from the millions of people who create amazing games, applications and experiences with Flash – why not leverage that community on their own phone with their own platform?
The solution to the problem lies within the problem itself. Adobe, you don’t need the iPhone or the iPad to be a success. Make your own platform. Make your own phone. It could really be awesome.

I love it (via MacNN):

The GSM Association today unveiled an alliance for a common app store platform meant to challenge Apple. Known as the Wholesale Applications Community, the service will create an open, standard way of developing and selling apps across multiple phone operating systems and networks. The partnership will include phone builders LG, Samsung and Sony Ericsson, as well as 24 major carriers that include all four major US networks and major internationals like China Mobile, Orange and Telefonica.

First off, understand that this isn’t about making an amazing mobile application experience. This is what companies do when they face competition and don’t want to invest the time and energy to create something innovative.
Sure, on the surface is sounds great, but don’t be fooled.
Also:

GSMA explains the move as a bid to avoid “fragmentation” in the mobile app industry, where different operating systems have led to many apps only being available on some platforms and in some cases only for certain carriers.

What I see happening in the mobile phone industry reminds me very much of the events in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. Specifically the “Anti-dog-eat-dog” rule that the railroad companies make for the common good of the public.
It’s bullshit.

I don’t really care about being right, I just care about success.

—Steve Jobs (via)

Costa Rica.
I’m a fan.
Gina and I spent 6 days walking, sunning, swimming, eating, drinking, sunning, eating and drinking.
Oh, we also did some zip-lining through the jungles in Guanacaste province.

I didn’t see the iPad Keynote live yesterday, but I watched it last night via Apple’s site.
I’ve also been digesting all the feedback I’ve been reading across my favorite blogs and news sites:
frog design used the iPad launch to toot it’s own horn about the prototype tablet they designed in partnership with Apple back in 1983 (to their credit, it was ahead of it’s time).
Over at Subtraction.com, Khoi Vin doesn’t think it’s going to save publishing. I don’t think it’s go save publishing either, because it wasn’t invented for that purpose. Your product or service needs to be innovative in order to be profitable on an innovation device like the iPad.
I’m with Gruber on the name – it should have been called “Canvas“, not “IPad”.
Like me, DesignAday correctly notes that the iPad is evolutionary, not revolutionary. People expected revolutionary yesterday. We got evolutionary. This is a good thing.
Om Malik seems to dig it and raises an interesting thought:

So in many ways, today is a brand new day for content creators and owners alike. For if we’re smart, all of us — from large media giants such as Fox to upstarts like my little company — will figure out how to build a new magazine/news experience that leverages the iPad’s powerful processor, great graphics, stunning display and most importantly, Internet connection. In fact I’ll go out on a limb and say that today may be the day we start to rethink how we build web sites.

Gizmodo says no thanks due to no multitasking. I’m going to say it – I think multitasking within the mobile computing world is hugely overrated. There I said it. I’ll expound more on this point in a separate post.
Adobe announces the ability to develop iPad applications with Flash. We already knew iPhone app development was coming with Flash CS5, so this is obvious.
…more links to come.

Why is John Gruber anti-Flash?

Why? At the core, because Flash is the only de facto web standard based on a proprietary technology. There are numerous proprietary web content plugins — including Apple’s QuickTime — but Flash is the only one that’s so ubiquitous that it’s a de facto standard. Flash is the way video is delivered over the web, and Adobe completely controls Flash. No other aspect of the web works like this. HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are all open standards, with numerous implementations, including several that are open source.

And:

Apple, with the iPhone, is solving the chicken and egg problem. For the first time ever, there is a large and growing audience of demographically desirable users who don’t have Flash installed. If you want to show video to iPhone users, you need to use H.264. …Apple isn’t trying to replace Flash with its own proprietary thing. They’re replacing it with H.264 and HTML5. This is good for everyone but Adobe.

“What we’re about isn’t making boxes for people to get their jobs done, although we do that well.”

Apparently I’m 3 years late on this, but I was watching an old episode of Top Gear on my DVR the other night and I found out that the touchscreen display for the Nissan GT-R was designed by Polyphony Digital, otherwise known as the folks who do a lot of the design for the Gran Turismo video game franchise.

Here’s some shots of the display graphics (video here):

We’ve talked for years about the influence of video games across various industries. Well, that influence is here and it’s here and it’s not going away.

From army training ‘tools’ to automobile display graphics, video games and real life are working on common ground.

I concur with Ars:

We’re past the point where anyone can call the Nintendo Wii a “fad” with a straight face. Nintendo’s console outsold every other system combined, moving 3.81 million units. The Nintendo DS was close behind, with 3.31 million systems sold. The closest competitor? The PlayStation 3 with 1.36 million sold.

Rockstar Games just released Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for the iPhone and I started playing it last night. It’s fun, but I don’t see myself becoming addicted to it the way I did with GTA 3, Vice City and San Andreas.
A big issue I have is with the driving controls. To steer you have a left and a right button:

Why not have one continuous button with gradation from left to right?
I’ve comped up a revised version I think would work better:

Back in 2007, I imagined what it must feel like to build an amazing piece of electronics only to have it loaded with a shitty piece of Windows software to run it.
With a lack of options and expertise in software development, PC vendors have to use Windows.
Now lets switch focus to mobile phones. It’s 2010, and Microsoft is nowhere to be seen. Sure, there’s word that they’ll be releasing Windows Mobile 7 by Q4 of 2010, but their current offering (WinMo 6.5) is an embarrassment.
Luckily phone makers have an alternative – Google Android.
Now I’m not surprised that phone makers have adopted Android. What I’m surprised at is the degree they’ve embraced it. I love Om Malik’s term for it – the Androidification of Everything.
LG plans to use Android on more than half its smartphones. Motorola Plans 20-30 Android Phones for 2010. And it’s no secret how HTC feels about Android.
If Microsoft has proven anything, it’s that they eventually get up to speed with the rest of the market. After 8 years of XP and the duds since (notably Vista), they’ve launched a solid Windows 7 and the Zune HD is a big improvement over it’s brown ancestor. It’s very likely that Windows Mobile 7 will be ready to compete with the big boys by Q4 of this year.
But this time around phone makers will have a choice.

I visited my family this weekend and my parents and I got on to the topic of family history and artifacts. Then my father broke out the Envelope.
The envelope contains documents, certificates and other printed matter from his family. I’ve seen it before, but we decided to look at the contents again (with my prodding).
I explained to my father that these papers are important for reasons other than his designer son loves retro graphics and typography. It would be great to get these things framed and protected so we share them and have them last. To my father’s credit, aside from the old envelope they were kept in, he’s done a great of keeping everything safe, dry and away from sunlight.
Below is one of the more interesting documents that belonged to my great, great Uncle Michael, whom my father (Michael Mulvey) was named after.
It’s a Declaration of Intention, in which my great, great uncle renounces his allegiance to the King of Great Britain after leaving Ireland for the United States of America (click on the first image to see a bigger version):



Particular details I love:
– His color is white, but his complexion is dark
– He renounces his allegiance to any foreign leader particularly George V, King of Great Britain and Ireland (remember, Ireland used to be controlled by England)
– He is not an anarchist or a polygamist