Recently in Tech Category

I don't drool over Macs like some but this is hot.

You need only watch the first part of this video to understand what Trent Reznor thinks about pirated music. I think he speaks for everyone who realizes how over charged we are for music / media.

The reaction to Apple's announcements regarding their new iProducts today varied based on who you talked and what time you talked to them. A lot of people were super excited when the first products were being announced (screen on the Nano? Brilliant!) By the time the hoopla saw the release of the iPod Touch (does it smell like Burberry?) the fanboys were in a frenzy. Then, as these things often do, reality set back and once the wrapping paper was cleaned up all the shiny new toys sort bathed in their true colors and the excitement gave way to questions. Not a single product in the iLine comes without some criticism. Essentially, there is still no one gadget to rule them all. These surely has something to do with the substantial drop in Apple's stock today (and with Clancy's panicked text message "What the FUCK happened to Apple?"

I guess at this point all we can really do as consumers is to carefully weigh our options and head into the Apple stores, see what is cooking and get the device that best serves our needs until there is a that one Jesus Phone that I have heard so much about, yet never seen. Maybe we should start calling it the Loch Ness Phone.

Or maybe we should call Google (whose stocked finished up nicely today).

Take a walk with me, won't you... alittle trip down memory lane... back to a younger Kyle, in 7th grade (1993) when I logged onto the internet for the first time. In those days of wonder I had been blessed to have a teacher who was quite the geek. Dr. Samuel Perry was a computer science professor at Washington U in St. Louis but over the summers he would come down to the boon docks and teach the SINGS kids (Serving the Individual Needs of Gifted Students) about computers. From the third grade I was writing programs in BASIC and hammering out functions on a Commodore 64 and a Tandy. I made it a point not to miss any of Dr.Perry's classes. Then in the 7th grade I logged on for the first time to check my e-mail. These were heady times for computer users, operating systems were a joke and everything was text. No graphics, no GIFs or JPGs, just text. I really thought I was something, being on the internet.

Fast forward to today and the generation that is now exiting their teens having grown up with the ubiquitous world wide web. They know it as the great source of information and entertainment but they also know that it is a great equalizer too. It doesn't matter if you are 40 or 14, if you can program, you can program. As food for thought, I provide these two entrees.

The first is a 17 year old programmer in New Jersey who unlocked the iPhone and used it on a T-Mobile network. He has been making the rounds on all the media channels and Apple has responded with a weak rebutle at best. Actually it didn't even come from Apple but a contractor that works with Apple to develop programs for iPhone. Their quote from the article was "Hackers are going to have to stay one step ahead."  Right. Done. Next. It seems like Apple would be happy about this. Regardless of the network you run it on, you have to buy an iPhone first. So who cares if they run it on T-Mobile.

So after I digested that iPhone bit, I read a story about a 16 year old who circumvented the pornography blocking system of Australia? Naturally I had some questions: why would the government be involved in such a thing in the first place? And why was junior so focused on getting around it? And then I realized, if he is such an uber geek that he could bypass this system, he probably isn't getting any, and thus the pr0n would come in "handy."

Either way, kids these days feel no limitations from their age in terms of being a competent programmer (read hacker) and it is anyone's guess what the future implications will hold for these bright and gifted people as they learn to market their natural abilities.  Luckily there are still kids like my little brother who would rather skateboard than take over the world.  At least today anyway.

Kid Learning Adobe InDesign: I don't know what I'm doing. I wish I had a teacher that I could ask any question and he would show me how to do it.

Me: Try Jesus.

Here is some amazing linkage.

Check out The Turning Gate for some wonderful examples of the automerge feature in PS CS3. I have a pretty legit one myself of the Hollywood Hills that I should post. But until then, check this out!

I ran across a blog for Brent Simon, a freelance designer who does some of the amazing work over at Go Media. Go See His Work.

Last but certainly least is my new facebook friend, graphic designer Nik Ainley and his site Shinybinary. Get over there and get awed.