So the new iPhone 4 came out, and as you’ve probably read, it’s got a lot of signal issues; when you touch the outer rim, or even just hold the thing in your left hand, it drops from full bars to nothing just like that.

As a result, people have been writing angry letters to Steve Jobs, and there is even talk of a class action lawsuit.

But I don’t get it.  When I buy a product with a 30 day return policy and find out that it sucks, I return it.  The reason I return it is 1) so I can instead spend my money on a product that works how it’s supposed to, and 2) because I know that if enough people also return the same crappy product, it holds the company accountable in the future.

Instead, people are pounding the ground and weeping “Why, Steve Jobs?  Why?”

Don’t be an Apple zombie.  If you’re mad the iPhone 4 doesn’t work, stop complaining and just return it.  A million people returning their iPhones will send old Jobsie a message a lot louder than a million people sending angry e-mails.

So stop complaining and get your money back.  Nobody’s making you buy an iPhone.

Philip

I’m not much of a political guy.  Maybe I just think both sides have too many convincing points and too much over-the-top rhetoric.  Nevertheless, the idea of doing work for a political campaign has always been intriguing to me, since using text and visuals to appeal to people’s political sensibilities strikes me as a lot more challenging and difficult than appealing to people’s consumer needs/desires.  This challenge forces you to be very deliberate about everything—your choice of color, typeface, and layout are no longer simply about “looking good” to your target audience.  You have to put a lot more thought into things.

And this, of course, is how designing websites should always be.

So, long story (sort of) short, I recently had the opportunity to design/develop a website and do some identity work for U.S. Senate candidate Cam Cavasso, who is running as a Republican in Hawaii.  It’ll be a tough race, but they’re working hard to do it right, and I’m glad I could be a part of that.  Cam’s team was great to work with, and I hope all the best for them and their endeavors this November.

Check out the site here, and notice the fading rollovers, the popup previews of the social networking links, the dynamic cycling of “issues” without page refresh, and all of the other bells and whistles.  Also, know as you browse that this site is totally powered by WordPress on the back-end.  All content is editable by the Cam Cavasso for Senate team.  Handy!

More exciting stuff coming soon.

Philip

I have a few very exciting projects currently in the works, so be sure to check back soon.

Philip

Just a few days ago, Apple released its new iPad, a device described by Steve Jobs and the whole Apple marketing team as “magical” (presumably due to its amazing ability to make people want it without knowing why). It was positioned as a product which would fill the gap between the smartphone and the laptop. In order to fill this gap, Jobs said, it must do some things better than both the smartphone and the laptop.

But since the release of the iPad, the general excitement surrounding the magical device seems to have deflated, and I think this is due to the fact that Apple’s method of “filling the gap” between the smartphone and the laptop was simply to make the smartphone a whole lot bigger (thus the oft-echoed response to the iPad’s unveiling: “It’s just a bigger iPhone/iPod touch”). This seems too obvious for all of the hype which preceded the iPad.

I think most people will agree that the iPad is better at most things than the iPhone (e-mail, pictures, movies, internet, etc.). But the fact that the device has no camera (for e-conferencing), no multi-tasking (no switching between my e-mail, photos and internet – a basic capability of a laptop), and a smallish screen (compared to any MacBook or MacBook Pro) makes you wonder if they have not stumbled into the same no-gain situation as the netbook – sometimes less is simply less. Sure, the iPad is smaller than a laptop. But it is clearly so much less capable that I see no reason to use one.

Still I figure the iPad is a good thing. If I think back on the first iPods (which had crumby screens, minimal storage, lots of lousy, plastic moving parts, and poor sound quality), I think that first product releases (which are often pretty underwhelming) can often lead to pretty great technology. The iPod is now such a refined little gadget that it hardly changes from generation to generation anymore.

So I won’t be getting a first generation iPad. But I may someday get a fifth or sixth generation iPad. We’ll see.

Philip

For Christmas I took an old Schwinn (that looked almost exactly like this), and converted it to a single speed for Noelle.  I got a new saddle, new brake calipers and time trial levers, but the rest of the parts come from the old bike (+ a new paint job and a lot of elbow grease).

Now I just have to get to working on mine…

Philip

After much strenuous and overdressed interviewing, I was hired to work as the new lead web developer at Spectrum Design Group in Sandy Springs. They’re great people and they’ve got a lot of great projects in the works, so I am very excited to be there!

More soon,
Philip

Last Fall, Noelle’s parents made the very wise decision to move away from the torrid, dangerously volcanic islands of Hawaii, and move to the peaceful, quiet shores of the Potomac River.  One can only presume that they desired to escape the noise and bustle of island life, and find refuge in a metropolitan sanctuary, where the people are honest—as from an older time—and the pace of life is unhurried.

No, I know.  They’re crazy.  But we hope very, very good things for them in Washington, and as a gesture to express best wishes and familial holiday love, we drove to up to Washington over Christmas to visit them in their new home.

It was wonderful to see them and very good to see the monuments and memorials (which Noelle had never seen before).  The above is an artifact of our trip, a photo of the Lincoln Memorial, featuring sunny East Coast skies and Asian tourists.

There is much more recent news, and I will post a few new items very soon.

Philip

Yeah, I know. The NY Times, again. But this section is really worth checking out, since they have compiled many of the interesting (and perhaps significant) technological/ideological developments of the past year, and these are ideas that don’t usually make their way to the front page (let alone to CNN or Fox News or whatever is playing on your particular tube).

Like I said, some of these ideas may be very interesting and significant. Others may simply be curious. Like the fact that scientists have genetically engineered a glowing beagle. For real. Check it out.

Philip

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, and especially those family members who couldn’t be with us today. We love you and will be thinking of you (thankfully) throughout the day.

Philip

Saw this article on the New York Times website about a style of dance coming out of LA called “Jerking.” It’s a sort of cultural movement whose existence, I believe, accounts for the fact that most of Atlanta’s African-American high school kids are dressed much, much better than me.

So take some notes and update your moves.

If you don’t want to read the whole article, at least check out the audio slide show.