There were also some issues with Google Wallet (google’s payment system that they were to showcase on this phone), which Verizon ended up blocking due to ‘security concerns’. Interestingly, Verizon have their own similar product coming out next year, in partnership with AT&T and T-Mobile.

Make of that what you will.

Anyhow, here are my first impressions of the phone, after playing with it for 24 hours.

The Good

• Verizon’s 4G is quick. And I mean really, really quick. Apps download in a flash and web pages load almost instantaneously. It’s a joy as an internet device, it really is. HUGE plus for me there given how much data I use.
• Ice Cream Sandwich (the new version of Android, only available on this device thus far) is really slick. Still not quite iPhone levels of slickness, but getting there for sure. Definitely a big step up from previous versions.
• Call quality is great: much, much better than my previous phone (HTC Incredible). People sound sharp and clear.
• The screen is absolutely stunning.  Incredibly clear and sharp. Love it.

The Bad

• Battery life is appalling. Really, really bad. I have the standard (non extended) battery in there, and I get about six or seven hours of very light use. Not good. Makes me scared to use features like GPS.
• It is a really big phone. Not heavy, just BIG. The footprint isn’t all that much smaller than my Kindle, and although it still manages to feel sleek and elegant, there’s a part of me that feels that it’s just too big as a phone. Hold an iPad to your face for an approximation of what it’s like to talk into.
• It takes an ages to find signal again when I come up from the subway. I assume it’s Verizon 4G network related rather than the phone, but it’s still really annoying.
• No hardware button for the camera. Why? I hate that bloody software button. May sound like a minor gripe, but I love to take pictures with my camera, and this really annoys me. Pressing the screen is just not the same as pressing a button. Despite the fact that the photos come out nicely (see below), this really bugs me.

Summary: it’s a really slick phone, but I’m definitely disappointed with the battery life and the software camera button. The camera itself takes nice pictures (not iPhone nice, but still decent), and the 4G speed is a joy, but so far I have to say I’m a little underwhelmed.

Early days though: I’ll re-evaluate again in a week’s time.

I arrived in Calgary on my way up to the Banff ski area with this huge surf board bag in tow. I’m dressed inappropriately (having just come from Central America), and am dragging this massive bag that anyone who surfs would recognize as having boards in it.

As I’m walking through the airport, a guy who looks like he could be a surfer looks me up and down somewhat incredulously, then without missing a beat, says in a super thick Aussie accent: “sorry mate,  afraid the surf’s not been too good here lately”, before winking and walking off.

Bear in mind this is December in Canada, the temperature is well below zero, and we’re not on the coast. There is definitely no surf in Calgary (which is inland) in December.

It would have really easy to make fun of me, or to say something mean or to mock me. After all, I was headed to a ski hill with a surf board… but instead, this guy took the time to think of something witty, and to deliver his line in a thoroughly charmingly way. I remember it, and him, as if it was yesterday.

I thought of that guy this week as I drove inland from the Costa Rican coastline, where i was surfing, to take a look at the volcano Arenal, a good way away from the coast. Not a lot of surf there either though, obviously, and when I looked at my rental car with my surf board stuffed into it, I saw an opportunity to pay homage to that guy who made me laugh a few years back.

So, random Australian guy in Calgary airport 10 years ago…. this one’s for you mate:

Yep, that’s me with my surfboard (leash attached), in front of one of the world’s most active volcanos, for no reason at all, really. And yes, I know it’s cloudy, but here’s a shot from the exact same spot 24 hours earlier, when you can actually see the thing:

Monster. It’s an actual working volcano. That black stuff is where the lava has been. Gnarly, huh?

So thanks for the laugh that day random Aussie guy. I’m still appreciating it, even all these years later. Pura vida

Given the arms race of a tech society we live in, it’s  unusual to hear somebody citing the lack of a feature or features as a positive. Now that I’ve had mine for a couple of weeks, I see exactly what he means, and he’s 100% right.

I read more because all my Kindle does is let me read. I don’t have the distractions of apps or videos or a million other things. Sure I had the Kindle app on my iPad (and loved having it there), but it was all too easy to switch to something else, to check my email or the score in the game. On the Kindle, it’s read or nothing. Sounds stupid, but it’s absolutely true.

So as Ian said, the Kindle’s killer app is that is that it doesn’t multi task. It’s just a reading device.  In an age where attention is at an absolute premium, the importance of that can’t be overstated. I love mine, and on this vacation I’ve used it every day. The iPad on the other hand, has come out once.

14 million? In one month?

That’s over 5% of the adult population… I just don’t buy it, sorry. I would raise an eyebrow if you told me that 5% of my (very tech focused) friends and colleagues had used a QR code in June, let alone the general population.

I tweeted my doubt this morning, and @comscore responded that the study includes bar codes. I’m not really sure what that means. Either way, it’s confusing: the headline very clearly says QR codes, and that’s certainly how it’s being reported.

Regardless… though I see lots of potential for QR codes, the fact of the matter is we’re using them them wrong: using a QR code to simply link to your site is dull, and a classic example of deploying technology for its own sake. QR codes on underground subway billboards? OK then…

I don’t believe that it’s a dead technology by any means, but I think that for them to succeed I would like to see more smart digital application and less people claiming extraordinary success. Or if you are going to claim that success, I want to see some evidence.

UPDATE 3.30pm, 8/15: so this is weird. The original release from Comscore used the language ‘QR and bar codes’, but Comscore dropped the ‘bar codes’ bit. Strange.

Check out the original: http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS371US371&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=14+Million+Americans+Scanned+QR+or+Bar+Codes+on+their+Mobile+Phones+in+June%C2%A02011

And here’s the release on Comscore’s site: http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/8/14_Million_Americans_Scanned_QR_or_Bar_Codes_on_their_Mobile_Phones_in_June_2011

Strange, no?

• Spacious = Not spacious
• Cozy = Tiny
• Converted 2 bed = 1 bed
• Small 1 bed = converted studio
• Quiet neighborhood = not noisy all the time
• Remodeled = recently gutted
• Special = I can’t shift this shithole
• Great deal = i can’t shift this shithole
• Won’t last= i can’t shift this shithole
• Fits Queen size bed = bedroom exactly the size of a queen size bed

The lying that goes on by realtors on craigs list is pretty shocking.

Also, it appears that the entirety of East Harlem is on the market right now.

Sigh.

She was one of my favorite artists ever: the voice of a generation and an incredible talent the likes of which I’ve never known. I adored her. The beautiful simplicity of her voice makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and she touched me in a way that no other artist has. She just moves me.  I still can’t listen to ‘Back to Black’, ‘Love is a Losing Game’ or ‘Tears Dry on Their Own’ without welling up a little. And the poetic beauty of ‘Valerie’ or ‘Stronger than me’? Oh my….

Of course, she was an addict, and the easy option is to say that as an addict she had it coming and she deserved it. I would ask that you looked beyond that though. Was she a fuckup? Sure. Did she have opportunities that others didn’t? Of course she did. But was she was a weak, vulnerable and addicted individual? No question she was. But was she also an incredible, one of kind talent ? Absolutely, and I’m  truly, truly gutted that she’s gone.

Her weakness as an addict doesn’t make her death any easier to deal with. The people around her took advantage and exploited her for every last dollar, and now she’s dead. Well done, I hope those people are proud. They have blood on your hands, the fuckers. But at least they made some money, I guess.

So RIP Amy. Your extraordinary talent extinguished at just 27. I’m devastated, but I’m also thankful you were able to put out two of the best records that have ever seen the light of day. I’m glad that your hauntingly beautiful voice will always be a part of my life.

Thanks for those two incredible records. I’m just sad that there won’t be any more.

This afternoon, after a hard bike ride and short run, I decided to head into Central Park to skate for an hour or so. About 20 minutes in, I stumbled upon this:

100 or so skaters and rollerbladers, skating around a massive sound system in the middle of Central Park. Totally unexpected, and absolutely awesome. Full on throwback action, complete with old school hip-hop and legit b-boys, it really was one of my most unexpected and surprising discoveries since I moved here. Young, old, male, female… every color and creed you could imagine all just getting down on skates. It felt like a scene out of a movie.

Rollergirl was there:

So was buff skating dude in big pants:

And don’t forget skater chick in jean shorts and cowboy hat, she was there too:

Anyhow, it turns out it’s a regular thing put on by these guys:

And they’ve been doing it for years.  It was such an unexpected and lovely outpouring of happiness…. really nice to see it in NYC, where it’s so easy to get totally caught up in your own little world.

So, the point of this post is, it’s possible to stumble on cool fun stuff.  Even if this skating thing isn’t your scene, you can bet your bottom dollar that somewhere there’s something you’d love going on, that you don’t even know exists.  So get to it… head out and find something cool

Those that remove the Keurig single serve thing after they’ve made their coffee, and whose that don’t.

Which are you?

I’m pretty impressed with that. Two big holes are the midwest and the south, but I have plenty of time to change that.

How many states are you at? If you set foot in the state (even for a layover), it counts. For the record, only one of mine is a layover

http://www.ammap.com/visited_states/index.php

I’ve also learned a lot about american sport. Baskeball was the first one I got into: super accessible and easy to enjoy when you don’t know the rules. Baseball was next: much more complex and subtle and a definite slow burner, but one that I appreciate more and more each year. The last one I got into was the NFL, Football as the Americans call it. The perfect mix of brains and brawn, once I understood it (which took a couple of years, to be fair), it quickly became my favorite.

One sport I never got into though was NASCAR. Living in California and New York I was barely even aware of it, certainly not in the way I was the other three. It was there, just wasn’t really a factor for me. What I didn’t realize at the time is quite how big it was. How big is big? It’s the 2nd biggest TV sport in the USA (after football), 17 of the top 20 attended single-day sporting events in the world are NASCAR events and it generates 3 billion dollars in annual product sales.

So yea, that’s pretty big.

Why am I telling you all this? Well, this weekend I go to my first race. I’m spending the weekend at Dover International Speedway in Delaware, at the The FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks. For work reasons I’ll be rooting for the #11 car Denny Hamlin (‘cos he’s driving the Autism Speaks car, and his sponsor FedEx will donate a further $100,000 to Autism Speaks if he wins), but for personal reasons I’ll be rooting for #29 Kevin Harvick, because he punched a car at last weekend’s race. That’s right, the dude punched a car. Look, here’s a picture:

Any sport that features car punching is awesome, therefore NASCAR is awesome.

I can’t wait.