HTC's Jeff Gordon: the iPhone is "boring". Could he be right?

/

Despite Apple's record quarter, HTC's Jeff Gordon has deemed that the iphone is "terribly boring".   From his Twitter:

“iPhone is a boring, easy choice. I want a phone that’s more unique, more personal, more stunning when I take it out of my pocket.”
— https://twitter.com/urbanstrata

Regardless of whether or not he is right, Isn't it amazing how far we've come in just 8 years?   When it was first released in 2007, the iPhone was a total revolution of the cell phone industry.  Almost overnight, we went from hardware keyboards and crappy stylus based touch devices to a solution so perfectly realized that the second you laid your hand on it, it almost seemed obvious.  

I remember feeling that the Blackberry Pearl I owned prior to my first iPhone was probably the singular best device I may ever use.   Perfectly pocketable, a nearly perfect miniature hardware keyboard, and a small trackball for navigation.   Not to mention its absurdly long battery life, its surprisingly functional (for the time) web browser, and the insane usefulness of BBM.

Cut to January 9th, 2007, and the original iPhone keynote, and you can imagine how incredibly blown away I was.   Sure it didn't yet run apps like RSS readers and games like my blackberry did, nor did it have BBM, but it was immediately obvious to me that the writing was on the wall.  Hell, my iPhone 6 today still doesn't have the battery life of my Pearl,  but I wouldn't trade it for almost anything.

On some level though, Mr. Gordon is right.   It is starting to feel almost like we're in a holding pattern waiting for that next great revolution to come along.   Like the hardware keyboards and flip phones of 10 years ago, there are only so many ways you can arrange a glass rectangle to create a different product.   Only so many ways to skin an OS, to modify the concept of tapping an icon on a screen.   It feels like we are nearly at the verge of something revolutionary on the horizon.   Unfortunately for Mr. Gordon,  I highly doubt it will be one of his arrangements of a glass rectangle with icons on it.   

The future is out there,  and I can't wait to see it.

Relive your memories of travelling the Oregon Trail in computer class!→

/

If you are anything like me, having a computer class in elementary/high school in the early to mid 90s was less of an excuse to learn how to use computers, and more of an excuse to play video games at school.  

One such game that masqueraded as an "educational" experience was The Oregon Trail.  Now to be fair, The Oregon Trail is about as educational as today's Assassin's Creed series, but it was a lot of fun and a great way to waste an hour of a day.  

Now you can relive the memories of those disks spinning up and showing that MECC logo in a modern web browser!   The Internet Archive, the library of all things digital, has added in-browser support for emulated copies of many pieces of old software including a lot of your old favorite games.   Oregon Trail,  check.   Carmen Sandiego?  Check.   Prince of Persia?  Check.  Heck, they even have the original Sim City!    The library is actually surprisingly extensive.  You need to check it out!

One small bit of warning.   Don't let the kids roam around on here,  there is a bit of adult software in here as well.   Also, my apologies if I've just wasted a couple of weeks for you.   But hey, you had fun!.

Carnival's Super Bowl ad shows how sea travel is a magical experience

/

While this may not have been technically-speaking the best ad of this year's Super Bowl,  it was certainly one of the most effective.   This is the first bit of advertising from any cruise line that actually captures the majesty and awe-inspiring nature of ocean travel.   This is about as far as you can get from the average waterslide, massage, dance club, broadway show laden cruise ad that wants to try as hard as possible to make you forget that you're at sea.  Great, great ad.

Rewatching Star Wars Episode I: The Beginning

/

Found this blast from the past on Youtube earlier today.   Star Wars Episode I: The Beginning was a documentary that was bundled with the original DVD of Star Wars Episode I way back at it's original release.   Looking back at it with nearly 20 years of distance, it's interesting in almost the same way that it's interesting to watch a car crash in slow motion.

From the very beginning you can almost sense in the glances between people around George Lucas that people realized George had no idea what he was doing, and that they had no real power to say anything about it.   This was especially evident seeing John Knoll, the head of special effects on Episode 1, and one of the creators of Adobe Photoshop.   Throughout the documentary he looked like a man who was just trying desperately to keep the train he had boarded vaguely on the tracks.

Take an hour or so out of your day one day and check this out.    It's incredibly interesting to watch it to see how easily one can take a beloved property and completely mess it up.

A Hit Sundance Film was shot solely on an iPhone.→

/
Courtesy of The Verge

Courtesy of The Verge

Here is a great piece from The Verge on "Tangerine", a film getting rave reviews from this year's Sundance Film Festival that was shot entirely on an iPhone 5s.    Pretty interesting video about how/why it was done as well.   Can you imagine arriving on set to film a movie and finding out that they were about to film the entire thing on a PHONE?   Kudos to the actors and crew for seeing it through,  I'm sure there are many who wouldn't have been able to take it seriously.

Also, it never ceases to amaze what people are able to create with iPhones.  Super impressive.