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Tim Gunn, superhero

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In case you missed it (or just totally forgot like I did,) I would like to take a moment to remind you that Tim Gunn will be wearing the Iron Man suit instead of his own in an upcoming comic series called Models, Inc.

It seems that Tim is going to be taking on the role of Charlie-figure for a band of models from across the Marvel universe. His first stop will be saving the day in Tony Stark’s suit when the bad guys crash a costume exhibition.

Most superheroes are fighting the same thing – good vs. evil – but who’s taking on crimes against fashion? Me!

Talk about making it work…

Yeah, really?!

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TechCrunch asks “Why Doesn’t Facebook Look Like This?”

For reference, “this” looks like this:

Designed by a firm called iA, the concept is brilliant in my humble opinion.  All aspects of the interface finally have a point and a coherent design theme (the mail/communications idea.)  Additionally, look at how much more touch friendly something like this promises to be!

So, for all of you who find Facebook to be more and more confounding with each passing revision, you aren’t losing your minds.  And we can take heart in knowing that the same cavalier attitude towards user experience presents a chance to do something radically better.  To quote TechCrunch:

But Facebook, perhaps more than any other web company, is good at knowing when to [..] ignore user complaints and push forward, to improve the product.

Mind officially blown

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This gorgeous short film is apparently well on its way to becoming a full length movie. I have no idea what the budget was or how long it took to put together, but the five minutes of action were more enthralling than most blockbusters I’ve seen of late. I really want to see more ASAP.

(Thanks, Flicksided)

Australian mum writes again

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I’ve never heard a peep from my Australian counterpart, but I did receive yet another email from his mum, again asking for computer assistance:

Darling Nick,

The computer situation makes me feel quite ill, since in our era we were brought up to do what we said we would do or else be besieged with guilt.

Could you PLEASE find time today (half an hour at the most), to get it out of Chrissie’s (9810-3066, ring first) & back here for you to work on. I have left 2 flash drives in the dining room so that you may possibly get the photos & music out of it. I have left a laundry basket in Dad’s office so you can consolidate the bits & pieces. Unfortunately I can no longer lift it otherwise I would do it myself.

We shall be back after the 9th, & perhaps you can help me sort a new-old one then. No doubt you will have work on or be looking for a car & will still be impossible to pin down!!

lol,

MUM

As I’ve told “MUM,” there is absolutely nothing I can do for her other than recommending that she removes my email address from her address book so that it won’t accidentally complete when she means to reach her actual son.

This has to be the most unique form of spam to date.

Update: We have contact – and a ceasefire.

Sincere apologies, I shall remove your address at once.
Regards,
Judy

Perhaps my last message was too harsh, but I do truly feel bad that her son is not getting this important-seeming messages.  Of course, the other day I received a message from “ugamom” sharing a photo of her and Aunt Ann, so I’m sure I’m only about to embark on yet another journey.

Computing changes now

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From the introductory post on my new blog about tablet computing, Case for the iPad:

The desktop computing paradigm is stale – yesterday’s bread. If you are a computer geek, you know this to be true and I can pinpoint a great example of why: I haven’t been excited about a new OS in years. New operating systems are the holiest of holies in PC terms and the last time I actually, truly cared that one was about to be released was April 29, 2005. I preordered Tiger from Apple and was beside myself with glee at the promise of much geeking out to come. And you know what? It was essentially the same thing as Panther in 2003. By the time I guardedly, I installed Leopard in 2007, hoping to be amazed, I discovered…meh.

The same can be said for all software. Adobe Creative Suite 5 is trundling down the pike and, I hate to say it, it stopped being compelling back around Creative Suite 2. Or maybe when it became a suite. Even hardware is less intoxicating, especially since Apple has said they have more or less perfected the shape of products and are committed to a long future of aluminum and glass. There’s a cynical commodification mentality that has set in and, in so doing, destroyed the sense of amazement that once surrounded computing.

(This is going somewhere, I promise.)

The most telling symptom of a stagnating paradigm, though, is my ever-growing fascination with mobile technology. An early 2003 love affair with Nokia’s European products morphed into a complete infatuation with the iPhone at its announcement in 2007. This was computing’s future, I just knew it. The power of information truly and easily being wherever we are – whether it takes the form of maps, music, the latest prices for tomatoes, a message from your mother telling you her flight is taking off late, what have you – is immense. It makes all knowledge and connectivity accessible in ways that it just can’t be with the computer. Biggest hurdle? The tiny (though, mercifully, improved on by iPhone and its touchy ilk) screen.

Enter the tablet. Most notably, the iPad. All the power of mobile, laid back, pervasive information with a screen worthy of the two-way, media-rich flow of the modern web. This is something important. I can feel it. And I want to make sure I document the birth of this truly new way of interfacing with the digital world that is going to reshape everything in…oh…three to five years. At least as far as it touches my immediate environment in higher education, that is.

(See, I told you we’d get there.)

To quote Fake Steve Jobs’ contribution to the Wired article, “How the Tablet Will Change the World,” that got me to finally put all of this into a single blog (an article that made me think “yes, that’s exactly what I’ve been thinking” more than once):

An ebook reader that also plays movies and music? And browses the Web? No way. Can’t be done. Well, we did it. And you can fly three times around the globe and watch movies the whole time on a single battery charge. It’s amazing. Phenomenal. Exciting. Magical. Amazing. Beautiful. Stunning. Gorgeous.

I was put on earth to restore a sense of childlike wonder to people’s empty, pathetic lives, and I must say that so far I’m doing a pretty outstanding job.

And that’s really the crux of what I’m on about here. The iPad – the tablet – makes me feel giddy and uneasy and like a million things are possible and like there aren’t enough hours in a day to explore each to the level it deserves. In short, how computing made me feel when I was a tremendously nerdy teenager tinkering into the early morning with a PowerBook 5300ce that I had bought with my lawn-mowing money, just for the fun of doing it. Just because it was new and uncharted and exciting.

To get the conversation started, I’ve collected the blog posts that I’ve been posting on my work blog and my personal blog since November 2009. I’ll be back with much, much more in the days to come.

Onward into the future,

Nick

How did I not know about this sooner?

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The Museum of Modern Tweets is one of the most entertaining websites I’ve ever stumbled across. This is entirely because I make the same absurd pictures in my mind every time I read someone’s beige tweets.  I wish I’d have found it sooner.

According to the artist/author, the site is updated every Tuesday “unless my hands fall off and my computer explodes.” Good work habits are hard to find.

My Australian email mystery

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It started out with a notification that my snowboard was on its way this past summer.  But I didn’t order one as I’d be more likely to die on a snowboard than actually enjoy myself.  Oh, and I’m not a woman in central California, where the winter gear was set to be delivered.  Once I had confirmed that my email address was the only piece of personal information on the order, I decided that it must have been an innocent error and forgot about the incident.

Then I started receiving a series of forwards from a man in Utah with a .mil email address.  After two or three, I investigated and found out that he  had been unintentionally emailing me when he meant to reach his son.  Unfortunately, I never heard back from this government employee when I asked him to clarify what his son’s email address was – and I’ll never know if it was at all similar to my emailnick@gmail.com from Gmail’s invite-only days.

The unintended messages stopped for a time.  And then I started noticing that I was receiving real estate listings from Maitland, New South Wales, Australia.  At first I assumed these messages were spam, but they just kept coming and they honestly looked like a legitimate newsletter from Tony Cant Real Estate:

Seeing as I’m kinda hooked on House Hunters International and wouldn’t necessarily mind moving out of the country, I started actually enjoying these unrequested updates on the Maitland property market.

The Australian connection of the summer strengthened as the months headed Fall-ward, though.  I was next invited to a house warming party by someone named Helen Burfield-Mills on August 4:

No dogs bigger than Turbo please. Otherwise he shouts a lot.Look forward to seeing you.

Helen

And then informed that I should check on my dad by a woman named Judy Fogarty – who refered to herself as “Mum” on August 19:

I shall be out all day, so could you check on Dad from time to time to see if there is anything he needs. Also if it does not disturb him you might see if there is a camera I could use, & also my ipod with the recording device. LOL, Mum

The first message provided no clues, really, especially since the email address in the To: field was mine and the name associated was Nick Smerker.  However, the second message provided my first clue of a real family name: Fogarty.  And a first name: another Nick!  It also seemed like a relatively important message for this Australian counterpart, so I responded:

Judy,

I’m rather certain that you have the wrong email address for your Nick as I’m in the US and my last name is not Fogarty.  Sorry!

Nick

Intrigued now, I was disappointed to receive no reply from Ms. Fogarty.  I was sure the story had reached its end.  Until November 23:

Darling Boys,

I know you have probably organized your excuses, but there is dinner here next Sunday night with the Rawsons, Natasha Rawson & Adam Watson (her intended!) at 5.30-6pm.. & it would be wonderful if you can come. Nick, Adele as well of course. Veg & Non-veg being served. Let me know by Sat..

Rich, Adam has been managing a photographic studio (advertising industry standard) but at this crucial time the studio is closing. So, as he is now freelancing, if you know of any work leads for him it would be greatly appreciated. Robbie Rawson’s new site is timemangement.com (free at present).
Hope all is going well with book & launch details.

Nick, all the best for Saturday & have a good chill today. (except for the garbage!)
We are off to Orange for the Country Classic & should be home late Friday,
All my love,
MUM

Now,  I love a good dinner party and this one sounded great!  The Rawsons sound fascinating and I apparently have a brother with photographic interests.  And who is this Adele?  But, alas, I still know that this is not actually an email intended for me – and one that is probably of some true import for this illusive Nick Fogarty.  To make light of a potentially embarrassing situation, I wrote back:

Judy,

I think you’ve still got the wrong Nick. While dinner sounds lovely, it might be a bit hard for me to make it from Maryland in time!  I’m not sure what your Nick’s email address may be but I’ve received a couple emails from you in Australia (?) and a few from a military man in Utah (also looking for his son) so there must be some common variations on emailnick@gmail.com.

Hope you are able to find the right address (and feel free to air mail some leftovers from Sunday.) 🙂

Nick

Again, no response from Mum.  *hrmph*  Convinced it was pointless to look up Nick Fogarty, I just let the matter drop.  Until this past week, that is, when I received this:

Hi Nick,

this is Monika Estrugo. I’m registered for your web design course that will be starting in the expat learning centre on Tuesday. Actually i was there already last tuesday, since nobody informed me that the course has been postponed by a week.

Am looking forward to the class next week. Would be great if you could inform me if anything changes (time/date etc). Thanks!

cu tuesday!
best regards
Monika Pandey Estrugo

“Okay, now I must know who this is!” I announced.  I told Kate about it, and we were both convinced – for at least most of the morning ready-getting – that I had a doppelgänger in Australia and that this was science fiction novella-worthy stuff.  What would happen should we meet?  Was I to never know that this other tech savvy Nick existed?

My investigation began in earnest the other morning and turned up some interesting findings.  I will lay them out for you now:

  1. There are two Nick Fogartys in Australia.  I think.
  2. Nick Fogarty #1 lives in Sydney and seems to be a filmmaker and photographer.  He has a portfolio website and a Vimeo account (pretty great stuff in both cases.) This one seems more promising.
  3. Nick Fogarty #2 was found on Facebook.  He is in the Apple network and is connected to an Adele via his friends.  I cannot tell if he lives in Australia or not.
  4. Judith Fogarty is a real person, and I think she works in Canberra doing governmental planning.
  5. Following the email address for “my brother,” I found that Rich Fogarty does indeed exist, is Australian and founded a media company called Concrete Playground.  It looks quite cool (does he need any employees?)

I am rather certain that I’m going to write to at least Nick #1.  I mean, I feel like I have to at this point, if for nothing else than to let him know that his emails are not reaching him.  I also want to find out if Google is perhaps sending mail intended for some permutation of my address (the Monika Estrugo message was addressed to “email.nick”) to me instead – and why.  But now I’m mostly curious to know who this person is.  Let’s hope he responds and doesn’t just think I’m crazy.

Sochi 2014 crystal explosion video

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Was anyone else so hooked on the Vancouver 2010 Olympics that they actually watched the closing ceremonies “starring” Avril Lavigne? We were.

(Are you also getting a surprise Olympic Quatchi mascot in the mail soon? Maybe that’s just me.)

Well, if you found yourself tuned into NBC’s coverage last night, you may have noticed the incredible spangly awesomeness that was the “Welcome to Sochi” animation. This thing was a bitch to find on the interweb today, but since I was off sick, I had plenty of time to dig around without mercy.

Success:

And, if you are absolutely smitten with it and would like to see it in much higher resolution, go here and jump to the 4:56 mark (apologies for SilverLight.)  To quote one blogger:

Just to make Canada’s sloppiness look bad, we got treated to Glorious Mother Russia coming out to annihilate all of our brains with a precise, choreographed, sensory-overloading preview of Sochi 2014.

Yes.  Yes, we did.  And I want to be treated again and again.  Bring on Sochi!

(Thank you to Mahalo & NBC Olympics)

If you’re curious, the winning search string was “ice cosmonaut ballerina snowboard.” Always a good sign.

Comics (and print media) on the iPad

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You may have noticed that I’ve been entirely mum on the topic of the iPad over the last few days.  Well, the truth is, I desperately want one and will probably early-adopt a brand spanking new iPad into the house as soon as I can.  However, I haven’t really said much on the topic because I’ve been disappointed with a) the number of iPad hate posts that have been flooding my favorite blogs and news sources and b) the creativity of demonstrated apps from the Apple keynote presenters to developers in general.  The iPad has the potential to be THE electronic reading device and I was promised truly revolutionary, mind-rattling content that was just not delivered

However, digital comic book publisher, PanelFly seems to have its head in the game in a big way.  I’ve enjoyed their iPhone app thoroughly and I think the business model of comic sales in-app on a mobile device is brilliant.  I mean, it’s the perfect thing to sell someone who is probably looking for something to tide them over on the train, in the car (not driving) or in queue for the next cashier.  (I’ve talked about this in relation to iVerse, a similar idea, at my work blog, too.)

What makes PanelFly’s move to the iPad so delicious (and logical) will not only be the same things that make the iPhone app great: backlighting, control of reading experience, flexibility of reading experience, animation and a beautiful display for art.  Instead, it will be the innovations only possible with a large screen, fast processor and slant towards sexed-up traditional media consumption (vs. its sidebar position on the iPhone.)

If Gizmodo’s preview of the technology – and the collection of screenshots from PanelFly – are any indication, this will be huge.  And hopefully a preview of what the rest of a race of dying dead-tree publications will look like as they rise from the ashes.  I’ll own the iPad anyway…