September 2005
7 posts
5 tags
LOL
I witnessed the clash of the old and new worlds while driving the other day. The cause: lol. To my 11-year old daughter, lol means “laughing out loud,” because of her use of instant messaging. I just have to wonder how many times (millions perhaps?) in the course of one day “lol” is used in instant messaging.
But to my 47-year old wife, lol means something altogether...
5 tags
Design Matters
Last night, during an IM conversation with Nate Mook (of Betanews fame), he broached the topic of smiles, saying Apple’s little iPod nano makes people smile. It’s just so damn cute. So are babies, for that matter, and they make people smile, too. Coocheecoo!
Shouldn’t good products bring a smile? When I think of my Apple purchases, I can say that just about every one brought a...
7 tags
Search as the New User Interface
In my next blog post, I plan to write about good design. As prelude, I offer my May 23, 2005, column for Betanews:
In 1984, Apple’s Macintosh introduced the world to the graphical user interface, eventually changing how people interact with computers. The GUI may not have been Apple’s idea — great credit there goes to the folks at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center—but the...
6 tags
iPod Shuffle: Apple Understated
Back in February, Betanews published a column from me about Apple’s iPod Shuffle. I’m working on another column, on iPod nano, and decided to post the earlier one here.
Published Feb. 11, 2005:
On Thursday, as I headed back to Washington from Washington (to D.C. from state), I spotted an iPod Shuffle; the guy seated directly in front of me had one, which noticeably hung around his...
6 tags
Jobs Does the Job
Today, I took some time to watch Steve Jobs’ iPod nano Webcast. I’ve got to tell you that he gives a better performance than most magicians. And the slight of hands are amazingly subtle. For example, he used iChat to video conference with Madonna in London.
Nice showcase of the videoconferencing capabilities, except Madonna wasn’t using iChat. She was sitting in a studio...
2 tags
9-11: The Day America Changed
Four years ago this morning, my wife remarked about the perfect fall day. Clear skies, low humidity and freshness in the air.
Around 9:20, I checked the headlines at Washington Post. I had been online for hours, but not looking at local news. Across the top of the page was a one liner about an airplane striking the World Trade Center. We naturally assumed a small plane had struck one of the...
6 tags
The Mother of Invention
This evening, my wife, daughter and I drove over to Bethesda, Md., for an open house at Imagination Stage; my daughter decided to take an acting class there. Afterwards, we took a stroll through downtown and stopped at the tiny little Apple Store on Bethesda Ave. There we saw Apple’s new iPod nano music player.
To say the device is small really doesn’t describe the size. Best is to...