Tragedy on the final holiday

That man, who's world was falling apart and he flipped, threw his son and daughter and himself off the balcony. He was just a man. Its
frightening what people can do. How isolated we can feel, and that
there is no-one to turn to. What an awful fact to live with. For the
mother and for him. Its awful.
But its also a tragedy that there will be little attempt to understand
the pressures that lead to something like this happening, how
alienated we are. Such fear of reflecting.

Rossellini's Green porno

My good friend Isabella Rossellini (that's a lie for starters, I heard her speak at the BFI, and spoke to her briefly when she signed a copy of her book for me) is bringing out eight short films for Mobile phones, called "Green Porno". Wired spoke to the director, Jody Shapiro, who says that the name Green Porno is designed to get more traffic. The Wired article is interesting, but if you want to see a bit of what it looks like, der Spiegel has a few stills from the film. She has some interesting insights into the intimacy of mobile devices, and film-making in the BBC clip above.

There will be more artists making work for this small canvas, and I think this is a very exciting landmark!

So a beautiful crazy sexy fly played by Isabella? . . .

In each episode, Rossellini assumes the role of the male insect. "Seeing Isabella Rossellini mount a housefly from behind while smiling at the camera," Shapiro remarked, "I can't imagine many people would have ever thought they’d see that."

From Wired

Is Woz welcoming Microsoft into Danger?

It looks like Danger - which I'm sure I remember being associated with the other Apple founder called Steve: Wozniak - is being snapped up by Microsoft. It would have a touch of irony if Microsoft were to bring out a phone to compete with Apples iPhone, and if a company which his old pal helped get going played a key role in it's development.
Danger developed the phone / pda called the Sidekick, which TMobile sells here in the UK.
It is a very small world this silicon alley

What's in the air from Apple?

Macworld 2008 starts tomorrow today, and Tuesday Steve Jobs will present his keynote speech. It has been reported that banners proclaiming There's something In the air have been unfurled at the conference centre, and there's been much speculation that the something is a thin laptop . . and we know who knows - he'll tell us on Tuesday.

But it just struck me, I read a piece on I, Cringely some time ago, claiming that apple would get into the business of streamed films, and then there was a court case with Burst.com about this technology. Apple settled with Burst recently, so is the something in the air . . to do with Apple TV, and maybe streamed rental films? And perhaps another thing too, a lightweight fantastic laptop (sans dvd drive) to watch them on when you're not in front of your big TV?

Whatever there is, I'm also looking forward to more iphone goodness, an update to the OS, and more software to come. Bring it on!

Living with a video nano

When video first made an appearance on the ipod I could see how some might want to watch videos on them, but not me.
So when Steve jobs launched the video nano a few weeks ago, saying "It's amazing, we have packed in as many pixels as on a larger ipod, but into a smaller screen". I thought: So what, It's is still a small screen. I'm sure many people will love it, but still mainly for listening to music. And this was pretty much the attitude I had when I opened the box on my black, 8GB iPod nano.

It is very small, and feels like a skimming stone. It has enough weight to not feel like a toy, and to remind you of the solid materials it is made from. It exhudes quality. There is something very satisfying about the meeting of two very different materials where the glass and aluminium run flush to each other. Jonathan Ive and his team have once again made a device which feels right and natural, as if it has arrived at that shape effortlessly.

Turning it on
Turning it on you get a hint of how great the screen is. Everything has a sharpness and smoothness which is difficult to describe (but more of that later). I am not wholly converted to the new interface. Text is sharp and clear, and in the familiar iPod style of sliding menus. The screen is vertically split in two, which gives the sense of a desktop with a floating window. However I have never been a great fan of images slowly floating by - and that is what you see next to the menu window: a random image from your music, videos or podcasts.

The interface works well, though I have not had a chance to use coverflow (where you scroll through your album covers to make your selection). When I've tried it in the Apple store it has seemed a little sluggish, but here has just been an update posted for the ipod nano, so I am sure that will iron it out.

Now showing on the little screen
I was dying to try some video so I bought an episode of Lost and a couple of tv shows for my 3 year old, Luca. The iTunes store does not sell full lenth features for the UK yet, but I'm sure there will be changes and more TV content available before Christmas.

The first video I watched turned out to be a pop video by one of my favourite artists Kanye West. I was amazed! Steves comments about the amount of pixels was dead right - there is so much detail packed into that small space that it is a pleasure to watch. Milions of people happily watch fairly low resolution video on YouTube every day, because it is the content they are interested in and that is compensation enough. With this ipod the small size, great content and great resolution combine so you can watch video on a small screen without sacrifice. In fact colleagues and friends I have shown it too have been so impressed (and most of these are technology skeptics) that they asked the price and stared mulling over a pre-christmas purchase right away!

This little 2.5 inch screen is full of subtlety, minute detail, and the delivery of motion is smooth and has no blurring. It is great for animation, as well as for live action. It turns out the epidsode of Lost I bought was a pivotal episode which i missed when it was on Channel 4, where two characters discover a video tape which shows them that they are in a old psychological experiment - so I watched it with a critical eye and genuine viewer interest.

And there is one more thing... I am writing this review in Northern Ireland where we are visiting family. We flew, and have done a fair bit of driving since getting here. Luca has sat in his child seat in the back totally absorbed in watching Dora the Explorer or American Dragon - occasionally calling me to help get the earbuds (not really made for little ears) back in. The size and weight and limited controls are perfect for him, he can see it clearly and loves it. it's more convenient than a back seat DVD which are farly commonly seen now, and the battery life is excellent, so it can be used in various ways for days without a charge being required.

A few weeks before the new nano hit the market, there were photos leaked on the web - and screams of pain from some about the proportions, how it was badly designed etc. There is an old saying: seeing is believing, and I think that from every detail of materials, design decisions about space shape and size, and finally the screen and software this device proves that truism.

Drop shadow boxing

What is a designer with Retro-Modernist sensibilities to do at a time when much interface design leans towards rich, drop shadowed, 3D styling? Khoi Vinh posts a very interesting meditation on the subject.

it also brings to mind the abuse of photoshop by illustrators who start using it to scan their images. I have in mind a favorite of mine, who does woodcuts - but has taken to adding drop shadow to parts of his illustrations post scanning. Leave it!

On the issue of icons, I think I have had my head somewhat turned by the OSX icons, which work very well in turns of rapid recognition. But use of colour on rollover, so well done by Khoi is one clean and simmple device. Right now I have sections to get to press, so i will muse on it, add some more and perhaps comment directly. Keep up the good thoughts Khoi!

This nano is a tardis

A picture is worth a thousand words, and the camera never lies, but sometimes what you see on paper or the screen does not prepare you the real thing.
The new iPod nano has this effect. It is more beautiful than it looks in photos, the proportions make more sense, but the major thing is the screen. Until you turn it on and play video it all looks a bit tiddly, but the richness of the picture, on the high resolution screen is very very watchable . . I could easily imagine using it to catchup with tv progrmas, ofr watch a film on a long plane journey.
Like the Tardis in Doctor Who it is bigger inside than it appears to be from the outside