saulrosenbaum.com / 2007 / September

but does he get any chicks? I’m thinking… No.

Watch Megatar [you-tube]

I haven’t been illustrating much, that makes me a bit blue (not quite cobalt, more cerulean). I’m so envious of guys who have crossed over into a commercial success while maintaining their style and edge - two excellent examples IMHO is Gary Baseman and Tim Biskup - two tremendously prolific illustrators with mass success in multiple venues.

Pictured above is a Biskup piece from of my vinyl collection.

I bought this weird spikey-orange fruit at the market yesterday, It had a small sticker on it that read ‘unique banana-cucumber taste’. 40 seconds after taking this picture I threw it out, it tasted like soap. Maybe it was the sticker that had the unique taste.

So I’ve had my iPhone for about 48 hours - I’m a bit torn about it, it’s a great ipod, it’s a tremendous mobile browser, it’s a darn nice 2 MegaPixel camera - but honestly it’s just an okay phone - 70% of my issues revolve around the form factor - it’s thin, slippery and awkward, it’s got zero tactility (is that a word?) the top feels pretty much like the bottom, so it’s more than a little awkward to fiddle with in the car unless you actually stop to look at it… I don’t want to write a long form review, it’s been done to death - I’ll just mention a few things that jump out at me.

• Mobile Safari - excellent, especially if a site is designed to accommodate it (FYI - this column width - kicks ass on the iPhone).
• Ipod - clean & elegant, Apple continues to impress me with their ability to restrain themselves feature-wise.
• Keyboard - I was concerned, I have somewhat ‘sausage’esqe’ fingers but I seem to have no issues whatsoever - for the most part error free.
• Calendar - the little dots to signify events is just weak - ‘Steve’ get the ipod UI team to look at the calendar UI… NO TASKS!, um 2007!
• Maps - Not hugely impressed YET, but as soon as some smart programmer hacks some GPS software to triangulate your position based on overlapping wifi coverage - the map integration could get very nice, very fast.
• Clock - (seriously) very nice UI, Timer has the single most gratuitous UI on the whole iPhone.
• Notes - Did we really need the legal pad metaphor? I’m a tad insulted.
• YouTube - the video looks amazing..simply amazing.
• Edge - Not fast, not slow - when I’m in the middle of nowhere I don’t care that it’s slow.

Like I said it’s a great little toy gadget - am I glad I bought it? Sure, I’m a UI designer and a web developer, and a 19+ year mac user - and buying myself an iphone was a no-brainer, am I going to miss my old cell phone? probably, but only when I’m on the phone.

Tagged: iphone

I know I’m going to get serious flack from my buddy Larry on this… I switched to Apple mail tonight - from Thunderbird, I think that’s officially my 4th email client in 6 years, eat time moving several 100,000 emails each time - it’s been VERY painful, and time consuming, and stressful.

So the question I’m sure your asking is why?, well the answer is pretty simple - Thunderbird is a pig, a slow, quirky and not very enjoyable to use pig - but those aren’t the real reason - more and more of the apps that I use and depend on are natively integrating with mail and ical (and the like) and I finally decided to take the plunge - and really it wasn’t much of a plunge really - on my 24”MacIntel Imac - mail.app screams - smart folders behave just like real folders, last time I tried mail.app those smart folders where anything but snappy. Spotlight support in my email is an interesting experience..not FAST FAST, but easily Thunderbird Fast.
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I’ll reuse last years pirate day art, like it! or I’ll make ye walk the plank!

Panmaites?, Panmatarians? Anyhow… last night was the first Panma F2F is a REALLY long time, it was great to see all my old friends, and meet some very nice people - the event itself was held at National Mechanics - the best real bar in Olde City Philadelphia and graciously hosted by Jason Hill and the great gang at Weblinc.

So I finally got to meet the IndyHall co-working crowd - really nice, upbeat guys, who I totally wish nothing but the best - I find the whole concept fascinating… will probably check it out in the next few months, if for no other reason than to school them in Wii Tennis.

Overall it was an excellent night, and hopefully the first of many events this year (hint…hint..)

I don’t often read copy this good… generally (american) advertising caters to the lowest common consumer, this is a nice example of excellent copy, good design and a clever (if not quirky) concept.

wow, ‘T’ and I have been married 6,940 days today… that’s just amazing, I won’t lie and say it’s always easy, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.