Can I Get an iPhone, Hold the Phone?

Jun 12, 2009

I’ve been lusting for the iPhone for quite some time, but being a Verizon user and it not making sense to change to AT&T, I have been forced to resist. Since there’s currently no guarantee on how long it will be before Verizon gets the iPhone, I recently purchased the iPod Touch (2nd Generation) to see if that would work as a compromise.

I’m not done experimenting with it, but so far the iPod Touch is really slick and gives you a lot of the iPhone experience - until you don’t have wifi available. There are still a lot of great things about it though. Even when you don’t have the wifi you are still left with a fairly useful device that has an MP3 player, movie player, game player, photo viewer, e-reader and more. It’s sort of like a PDA, but with loads of extra capabilities. While you will miss being connected when you don’t have wifi, many of the Apps like NY Times, Twitter apps, Facebook etc., will cache the most recently downloaded information for viewing offline. I have found this to be very, very useful. The sometimes Internet connection may be more or less substantial depending on how often you are in wifi enabled areas.

When you do have a wifi, it’s very much like you have a an iPhone. You can take full advantage of the App Store, which is like a reinvention of the Internet for a mobile phone. You can use all of your Apps, surf the web and access your email from Microsoft Exchange, Gmail and most IMAP and POP mail.

The iPod Touch is missing some other significant things the iPhone has besides the 3G internet. It does not have the camera, GPS, compass, microphone and obviously, the ability to make phone calls. A microphone can be purchased separately though and would be useful if you want to do things like use the popular Shazam app or make Skype calls. The iPod Touch does haves the accelerometer (tilt sensor) and light sensor that the iPhone has.

This article also highlights more ways to use the iPod Touch as an alternative to the iPhone: Forget the iPhone—The iPod Touch is Good Enough.

The verdict on the iPod Touch is that it’s fun, useful and a good iPhone compromise, but instead of quelling my iPhone desire, it actually is making made me want it even more. For now it will work though since personally there are too many benefits for staying with Verizon. It’s not as nice as having the connection all the time, but then again I have the consolation of not being locked into a contract for expensive monthly payments with AT&T.

Citi Field Photos

May 10, 2009

I posted some pics from my recent visit to Citi Field, the NY Mets new ballpark. The new park is impressive, although many of the new parks including Citi Field are starting to look a lot like each other. Some of the more prominent features of Citi Field include the exterior facade which was modelled after Brooklyn’s old Ebbets Field, the retro Pepsi Cola sign which is reminiscent of the one in Long Island City and Pepsi Porch, the large walkable area in the outfield. The Porch reminded me of the outfield at Safeco Field in Seattle.

Citi Field has a 42,000 seats which is 15,000 fewer seats than Shea Stadium. I think this is a good move as almost every seat provides a good view and the Mets often wouldn’t fill up the bigger stadium anyway. Citi Field also has greatly improved food offerings, including a Shake Shack. I think the line there is going to be worse than the original at Madison Square Park if that’s possible.

It was weird to be in the area where Citi Field is and be in a different ballpark, because I’ve been going to Shea Stadium since I was a little kid. I’ll miss Shea mostly for sentimental reasons, but it is about time the Mets got a modern stadium.

Citi Field pictures

Links: 3-28-09

Mar 28, 2009

• Tesla Motors Model S Backed by Google Founders Brin, Page
  This all-electric car sounds like it has some promise, especially if increased production brings the cost down. Some of the specs include up to 300 mile range per charge, 0-60 in 5.6 seconds and speeds up to 120 miles per hour.
• Firefox May Already Be Dead
  A soon as some plugins start to come out for Google Chrome, it will most likely become my regular browser. It’s so much faster than the disappointing Firefox 3 not to mention there are some things in FF3 seem like a step backwards from FF2.
• Lance Armstrong on Twitter
  If you haven’t already discovered he’s on there, check it out and live vicariously through his frequently updated Twitter posts. The man leads a good life.
• A Public Food Market for Boston
  “After a decade of false starts, Boston officials are moving to open the city’s first daily public food market since the 1950s in a building along the Rose Kennedy Greenway, hoping to provide a permanent indoor showcase for the state’s farm products and local cuisine.”

Summer Solstice Links

Jun 21, 2008

• Bicycle Friendly Communities
  I would consider making this list being a stong indicator that a city is a pretty good place to live. I recently was in Portland, OR, the first large city in the US to reach platinum status. When I was there the amount of bike commuters, bike lanes and “share the road” type signs was amazing. They are probably even happier about their investment in the bicycle infrastucture with gas prices the way they are now.
• New Hampshire Railroad Revitalization Association (NHRRA)
  To me a part of short term answer to skyrocketing fuel costs is to look at Europe. When I have been in Europe, whose gasoline costs have been much higher than ours for a long time, 2 things really stood out: small cars dominate the roads and the fact that the trains that seem to go everywhere. Bringing back rail will be more dificult in states with smaller populations like New Hampshire, but it also makes sense as everthing is further apart and therefore a longer drive. Right now the only rail in NH is the Amtrak Downeaster which briefly passes through towns a few towns out towards the coast. There has been some talk of a “Capitol Corridor” line which would connect Nashua and Manchester to Boston.
• 31 Places to go this summer
  The White Mountains of NH, where I spend a lot of time, are number 2 on this list. Ok so it’s not in order of rank, but it’s still cool to see it included on this excellent list.
• 5 Places not to go this summer
  A list of the interesting tourist spots that Americans can’t visit.

The Good Ol’ Days

Jun 14, 2008

I took this picture because as high as gas prices are now, I have a feeling we’re going to be looking back before long wishing for the good ol’ days of $3.99 gas. Hope I’m wrong.

Googley Design Principles

Jun 8, 2008

I came across these Google design principles the other day while working on a user experience document, and I thought it would be worth posting here. If more developers/designers used philosophies like this we would gain a lot more milliseconds (ahem, Yahoo!)

1. Focus on people—their lives, their work, their dreams.
2. Every millisecond counts.
3. Simplicity is powerful.
4. Engage beginners and attract experts.
5. Dare to innovate.
6. Design for the world.
7. Plan for today’s and tomorrow’s business.
8. Delight the eye without distracting the mind.
9. Be worthy of people’s trust.
10. Add a human touch.