A metephor worth considering

Sundance film winner Ondi Timoner speaks briefly about her newest project "We Live in Public" centering around Josh Harris.

There is a good discussion of the movie with Ondi and Josh Harris on the TWiT Network's Net@Nite 117 which was where I first heard of it. Of particular interest are the parallels drawn between some of Josh's projects and current trends in social media.
Interesting...

Some nit-picking

I am generally more than satisfied with the iPhone 3GS. But there are a few things that can be annoying. Like that little bit of grit in your shoe.
The browsing experience on the iPhone/iPod Touch is the best you can get for a handheld device but the more closed nature of the system presents limitations. Some things on my list are...

1. Too many menus to go through just to turn wi-fi on and off
2. Even worse for bluetooth!
3. Can't "quick check" my calendar without having to enter my security code (can't it just appear on the splash page please!)
4. Mail application could do oh so much more (but it does GET the mail!)
5. Delicious bookmarking!! (the bookmarklet isn't working for me. Yet.)

But sometimes you have to live with these things. It's a tradeoff. (Leo Laporte has likened it to Mussolini's Italy) A colleague has jailbroken his phone and cited greater flexibility as a major upside. I smell a holiday job coming on! I don't want to try it while I'm hip deep in work.
"Fly by the seat of the pants days" where have you gone?

Twitter should cut a cheque

Despite Facebook's continued dominance Twitter has moved from the digerati to mainstream flavour of the month. Well in first world countries at least. I have Twitter accounts but I have struggled to use them consistently or really figure out what would require me to use them consistently. You have to be on the web most of the time to keep up really. But wait! You can Twitter on you phone! An this got me thinking...
 I wonder how effective Twitter would be if Apple hadn't brought the smartphone (and it's app store) to the masses at the time it did?

Smartphones in perspective

Sometimes I think you have to take a step back. Better still a "step out", as in "of your bubble". Now that all the hype of the last few weeks have died down we have three new and very spiffy smartphones on the market; Palm Pre (not Australia though), iPhone 3GS and HTC Magic thankyou very much.
There are numerous reviews of each handset (just type them into any reputable search engine) with breakdowns of available plans depending on your location. Some are big on the iPhone, others the Pre or Magic. And of course each has their fair share of "haters" as well. So what's my point?
If you purchased any of these devices with the accompanying plan you would have a device almost as powerful as the laptop you had 10 years ago with a level of connectivity you couldn't have dreamed of and that fits in your pocket. Celebrate them all they're all fantastic!

Well done to the iPhone for bringing the smartphone to the masses.
Well done to the Pre for forcing Apple's hand and challenging them to deliver more.
Well done to the Magic for providing solid hardware for an open source mobile platform.

Each have their strengths and weaknesses, more suitable to some things than others. If you want help figuring out which is more right for you drop me a line.

My other vice

I do like coffee. Very much. But (and this may come as a surprise to some) I am fairly fussy. I wouldn't say I am a connoisseur or someone with a "trained palate" but I know what I like, which usually means made from fresh beans from my fave local coffee place.
Now every workplace has instant (I can barely type the word!) but it's something else again to have your own little shot of espresso goodness to get you through the day
The "Twist" from MyPressi. It looks awesome. Heck, its' so cool even if you didn't like coffee you'd want to use it.

coffee, espresso, cool, gadget