Brain Blenders

One Month Later, the iPhone

I figured it was time to report on my take regarding the iPhone one month into the usage.

The Interface:
I simply love the ability to grab the screen and make it bigger or smaller. Whether it's pictures or Safari, using the screen as a device unto itself is just about the coolest way to interact with your data. The best way to show people just how badass the iPhone is only requires you to open up a web page and grab the screen and make it bigger. End of story everything else just feels like plastic in their pockets after that.

The Phone:
It's ok...the stereo headphones make it better, the speaker-phone is weak, sometimes my boss calls and the phone refuses to answer...I mean literally the screen won't allow me to answer the call. Kinda frustrating. Overall the phone experience is way better than my Sidekick was, and less dependable than any of my Blackberry's.

Email:
Freaking WEAK! Honestly, this is the worst of it. I have gotten used to reading my work email and replying with DotMac account though. The people who know me, and need me to respond immediately know to hit me up on the .mac account for a quicker response. But, after you have become accustomed to a dedicated server like with the Crackberry, then everything else is like going back in time.

Calendar:
OK, this is the weakest...syncing up my daily activities at night, then having them change half a dozen times during the day is pretty lame. Not having a real-time sync is a dupe...

iPod:
STRONG. Strong. Strong! Listening to my tunes when I want, with one device is great. And having the phone ring in the middle of Spoon singing The Underdog, just puts you in a great mood for any conversation. Like any iPod, sync is seamless and works like a champ. Can't wait until the next version comes out and they allow the phone to work with iTunes over WIFI...I'll be positively green, and spin the sucky outcome like I'm a purist who wants to hang onto the original because I'm old-school!

Everything else:
Screw everything else...30 days into this puppy and my only wish is that I could marry it. Hold any mobile next to your head, and then let me walk up next to you with this by mine, and people will assume that I am from the future, if I'm running it's because I have discovered that my calendar was wrong and I'm late for an appointment! Apparently, in the future we are less concerned about being up-to-date with out current information.

Caveat, if you don't have techno-lust and just want a cell to be a cell, then don't get one - you'll be wasting an iPhone. Look for me in the next 60 to see if we're still together?

Speed

"Everyone thinks they are moving fast until someone runs up their tailpipe."

Life is moving fast at the moment, could anyone participating in the modern marketplace argue that with me? At my job we spend quite a bit of time watching, listening, and interacting with people in order to determine what really drives them, and one thing I can tell you for sure about the current state of people's lives is...busy.

Giant Duh from the collective right? Well, when you stop to really think about your own life let's ask a few questions. Are you busier now than you were 3 years ago? Do you do more in one day than you did a year ago? Do you find more time to play in spite of all the work you are doing?

We are all very busy, maybe too busy for our own good. As a matter of fact I think we might have to force ourselves to just relax.

One of my favorite quotes about "busy":

"No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance."

widget mania

I seriously recommend discovering all you can about Widgets. Widgets are third party web
apps, depicted through graphical representation, that offer desktop or mobile users the opportunity to dial into a specific functionality right on your desktop or mobile device.

To be more direct, it's a piece of code represented via a graphic image, that takes up little space on your hard drive and gives the user a simple interface to retain the information the app delivers.

Macs have the Dashboard that allows the easy management of Widgets, and some of my favorite ones are the Sticky Note, AccuWeather, iPhone Apps, Top 25 iTunes, and of course the Calculator. Yahoo offers up it's own version of the Widget management system (it's where I got this pretty picture from), and it has some great little apps that you can sink your teeth into. Another great place to find Widgets that you can make work for you here at Widgetbox.com.

You'll notice BrainBlenders has a widget that is available to place on your desktop a little further down the page and on the right. Many people have already downloaded this little puppy, and I hope they are enjoying it fully.

The secret to the Widget world is to try a few safe ones first, before you download 20 of them only to determine that you never look at 'em. Get the weather one, the sticky notes one, and maybe a music program just see if you like, and then you can go on the search for a bunch that will simplify your interface.

iPost with my iPhone

I am officially on vacation this week, but that didn't stop me from acquiring the new iPhone just prior to my flight out of town. I mean, a geek has got to do what a geek has to do right? Anyway, I have coined a new term by which posting content on your blog from your iPhone will evermore be known as an "iPost"!

I am currently overlooking the white sands of the Gulf of Mexico with no wifi kicking out this article on my funky little keyboard. So please excuse the mispellings, typos, and let's throw in the gramatical errors I typically make due to the fact that I am still orienting myself to the device.

This little device makes my inner child very happy! Some people love a good book, wine, or car. For me, its the toy! And the iPhone has toy written all over it! I have utilized all the programs on the device so far and none have been found to be lacking. Give me two more weeks with it and we'll see how I feel about it.