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Real Apple iPhone Pictures

I do believe it’s a first for Apple, Inc. but Steve Jobs just delivered a keynote where a new product was announced that had absolutely everything in it that people were rumoring about. The Apple iPhone. Does it have a nice, big screen? Yes. How about Wifi and Bluetooth? Yes. Plays video flawlessly? Yes. New interface running some variant on Mac OS X? Yes. Camera? Yes. The list goes on and on, I could go on all day about the amazing things this device is sporting but pictures of it do more justice than my words every could.

BTW: The pics of the giant hand holding the iPhone should not make you think this device is large at all. I just compared the size of my Blackberry 8700c to that of the iPhone and the Apple device is nearly twice as thin, only 0.2″ longer than my Blackberry, and 0.3″ less wide which in my book makes it a smaller form factor. The thin iPhone will be even easier to slip into a pocket so I see absolutely no negatives at all with the size of the device.

Lots of Applephone, iPhone, iMobile Pictures

By now you’ve probably read all the rumored specs on this mysterious Apple cellular device: Bluetooth, Wifi, high resolution screen, touchscreen, slide out keyboard, 14 years battery life, blah, blah, etc. The bottom line is that everyone wants this phone to everything that other phones don’t do, or at least don’t do well. The problem with such high expectations is that Steve Jobs could announce a very nice phone that does 80% of what people want and they’re still be a backlash…

But forget all of that, here’s a shitload of cool illustrations and mockups of what it could look like. (All these images are © their respective copyright holders.)

Digg and YouTube Powering Atheism 2.0

A few months ago, in October 2006, Wired News ran a story titled “The Crusade Against Religion” where the author investigated the re-emergence (or emergence?) of atheism powered by some very brilliant scientists and writers. Many people around the world have been involved with this New Atheism, but the most well-known and recognizable figure is Richard Dawkins who is a professor at Oxford University.

There is no “type” of person who might be an atheist, but if you look at Web 2.0 community sites like Digg and YouTube, you’ll see a growing number of users there who display anti-religion or pro-Atheism sentiments. I would go so far as to argue that without large tech-oriented sites like Digg and YouTube, the Atheism 2.0 movement would not have taken off as quickly as it has.

Earlier today, a story hit the Digg frontpage with the title “Murdered for being an atheist” and as of 3:15pm eastern it has over 1100 diggs and nearly 300 comments, easily eclipsing other stories that were made popular today. The first comment in the thread was made by the person who submitted the story:

“It seems like people who are deeply religious are prone to having hallucinations and delusions. This guy was completely insane and is probably better off in jail.”

That comment currently has +134 diggs, which for people who aren’t familiar with Digg comment threads, is a very large positive reaction to that comment. The second comment alludes to the killer liking God so much, that he should be executed so that he can meet his maker quicker while saving taxpayer dollars, and that comment has +127 diggs.

A few comments further down, Tekrat writes how any belief system can be dangerous if taken word-for-word by a radical, and how in his Christian beliefs he takes a particular view of the Bible as a whole and doesn’t just pick and choose. Tekrat is not excusing this person’s actions, rather he says “…this guy should never see the light of freedom again…he’s a picture of everything that has gone wrong with Christianity”, but his comment was immediately dugg down to an impressive -51 diggs. Tekrat also linked to a Christian Science Monitor article titled “Atheism, not religion, is the real force behind the mass murders of history”, which has a very inflammatory and anti-Atheistic title, probably one of the reasons Tekrat’s comment was dugg down.

In the last 2-3 months, seven different stories have made it to the front page of Digg that had to do with Richard Dawkins, with 10-12 more about atheism or atheist-related stories. Would many of these news articles become popular on their own if it hadn’t been for the Digg community’s promotion? I don’t think they would.

Recently Newsweek published an article about how the New Atheists are taking to YouTube with their message, denying the existence of a deity in front of thousands of viewers. A video search on “Dawkins” or “atheism” reveals hundreds of videos about atheism, many with over 100,000 views and thousands of ratings. Without Atheism-related videos on YouTube making it to the Digg frontpage, I don’t think many people would be as familiar with Richard Dawkins and Atheism as they are now.

Helium Report Beats Robb Report at Alexa and Other Observations

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! We ended up doing a lot of driving but that’s what happens when there are two families to visit! I haven’t written in awhile because so many things have been going on, but here’s a quick recap of some things I thought were interesting.

Web 2.0 Design Is Disposable Design

I love when people put together their “top designer” lists because no two are ever alike — they always represent the subjective views and opinions of the list creator since design (and art) are both open to subjectivity. Andy Denton and Jason Calacanis just put together theirs. One person’s masterpiece is another person’s 00.com, so when creating a list you’re not really making a Top 10 Designers list you’re making a My Favorite 10 Designers list and there’s a big difference.

I just read a good article about Jay-Z in the latest GQ magazine, and one of the interesting things he talked about was the concept of making music that’s not just a flash-in-the-pan but everlasting and continually solid. Lil’ Jon makes club music that has a big beat but no symbolism behind it, so in a few years we just won’t listen to it because he makes disposable music. Jay-Z said that his goal is to always make classic songs and albums, ones that we can listen to over and over and always retrieve deeper meaning. I still listen to Reasonable Doubt (his first album, dropped 1996) because the entire album is comprised of classic, solid music. All the pop songs, jewelry raps, and emo ballads will soon be forgotten just like the vast majority of albums made in the 60s and 70s were forgotten except for a handful that were timeless and great.

Great design isn’t about mashing the latest trends together and throwing against the wall and seeing what sticks. So much of the design work I see in the industry today is what Jay-Z called “disposable” — designs that only represent the trends being used currently but will look foolish and outdated in a year, or a few months. If you want to see what classic web design looks like, just hop over to Stopdesign andCuban Council. Those two sites have looked essentially the same for years and are still two of the most beautiful agency sites out there. Doug took some stock photography and brought them into Photoshop to add new colors and linework, then coupled that with a solid layout (who else does 1/3rd width per column so eloquently?) and perfect typography. The Fantastic Four from Cuban Council have worked on everything from the iPod Store to Suicide Girls so their site is a pixelized feast with useful Flash additions and only the most relevant information shown. They don’t talk about superfluous junk like the processes they use, they just show you who they are and what work they’ve done. Usable and timeless.

Unfortunately, timeless creations like Stopdesign and Cuban Council are few and far between because design like that just isn’t appreciated in this disposable industry. Ah! That’s what Web 2.0 really means, it means that applications, design, and companies are disposable, flash-in-the-pan creations with no individual redeeming values. A dozen social networks, a hundred bookmarking sites, a thousand Office-replacement web apps, all with designs that look like this, this, this, or this. Plain sites with no zest, no visual direction, no classic layouts or typography, nothing to separate them from all their competitors.

The best visual design stands the test of time like a solid album, where you can visit it now and a year from now and it still has the same allure. Disposable design is me-too design, throwing the trends everyone else is using into a blender and then churning it out into HTML with no overall sense of visual direction, flow or cohesiveness.

Create classic albums, not disposable songs.

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