Because they are a cycle or two behind. While they are catching up with features and throwing in an extra bit or two (see 3G and GPS), companies like Nokia and Apple are already testing their next revisions for the next release that elegantly solves major issues and more.

So a whole bunch of news is trickling down the pipes with new phones coming out of every mobile handset carrier. The ones getting most attention are the ones with touch screen, 3G, television, music, fashion something, blah blah blah. However, a lot of these kinds of ambitious handsets came out post-iPhone (speaking more to the marketing than actual technology/implementation). What I’m trying to say is that without companies like Apple and Nokia taking a leap in design, consumers wouldn’t have these kinds of wonderful interaction models for another several product cycles. But ever since big names like Apple entered the market, the whole house goes crazy with finger flicking interfaces and tiled buttons. Yes, these are great products, and they are designed and developed by smart people, but the business side didn’t get it until someone else did it first. What does that say about the whole vertical (in America)? Do you believe you will get the same kind of awe inspiring experience daily from such a thing? I question that.

Japan is way ahead of us because of their bold steps to try something different or created a handset that was for a very specific niche. What’s nice is that they get to try out very interesting and immersive user experience models that could inspire new ways to do mobile for the regular joe. These companies are the same ones thinking about the future and are positioning themselves for success with multiple product/service deployments for the next several years. Game changing models. Not the, “well people want 3G so lets give it to them, or and a 10 megapixel camera too! too expensive? okay make that 5.” WTF would you do with 5 fucking mega pixels on a lens smaller than your IQ? Wonder why you couldn’t get that night shot of that Justin Timberlake picture with your phone? because you fell for the marketing. 3G? why do you think the Black Jack comes with two batteries?

My point is not to say my needs are your needs, because their not and you have every right to want certain things. However, you should think about the details: the interaction you have with your phone on a day to day basis. Is it fun to use all the time? Is it easy to get to where you want to do? Do you feel delighted to have such a product? How do you talk about it with your friends? What kinds of words do you use to describe it? Are you even excited about it when you talk about it?

Those “Wow” features are only Wow-tastic if it really does enable something greater, like saving me time and frustration by finally letting me listen to voicemails in any order I want and stop and play as I want. Or show me text in a way that acts like a conversation (IM) thread as opposed to an ugly list of text where I need to click in and out of screens to read the messages from the same person within the same conversation! Form and Features (should) follow Function.

What does your phone really enable you? Notice the commercials Apple used to show off the iPhone. They didn’t talk about features, they told stories about how those features affected your life beyond the phone. That’s a forward thinking product. That’s a design thinking company. That’s the kind of company I can trust in making sure I enjoy what I buy, even if it cost me $600.

Thank you Gizmodo for sharing yet another interesting entry on bad ass technology. You have to admit, the scenarios illustrated in a elegantly stitched storytelling of vignettes is pretty frikkin’ cool. I’ve heard Intel is doing a lot of different kinds of work - yes they do more than just micro chips that make your laptop go vroom - and this is evidence of that quality. While I could probably go off on how sweet it would be to just reply to emails with simple voice commands (not the robot sounding kind either), tell your computer to query the web for news reports and updates, automated cruise control and ambient displays that offer just enough attention to tell you your best friend calling about clubbing tonight, I couldn’t help but wonder if this is actually what people want?

There are a lot of instances where we want to do all these cool things with wicked awesome technology. But then, we find ourselves going back to what we were so comfortable with like paper, the pencil, simple calculators and printing reports instead of reading them online. Then again, a lot of the interactions modeled in the video do not necessarily involve low fidelity technology, infact, they require incredible sophisticated technology that has no replacement. It’s still fun to think about though. Enjoy!

Intel’s Video [YouTube]

Billy and many others are realizing that their voices can to be heard and that coming together and sharing important insights to inspire and educate are the ultimate goals. This goes far beyond just going green, but also on topics including education and lifestyles.

So why Start Good? It works on with my mission on so many levels. I want this place to be a blog that people can start their day in a good way. A blog that inspires people to create something good or to share some good with another. A place to learn, to lift and make life a little better and more important.

How do I plan to do that? Well I plan to do that with a lot of help. Everyone has something valuable to share. Friends, parents, professors, mentors and others. I have a story, you have a story, we all have a story. How many people know yours and whose do you know? Each person is a bottle, constantly being shaken by life and ready to explode with knowledge and experience. The people around me are an untapped resource that I hope will aid me to fill this site.

These are genuine motives and I believe that a collective intellegence and an appreciation towards alternative perspectives is an enlightening experience.

Everyone has something to contribute and we hope that you will also be interested in sharing your story. What’s also great about this is that this is an opportunity to connect with others locally and learn more about those in your close network. The Web is a big open place and we need more places like this to share what’s important to ourselves and our friends.

Go check it out, and keep in touch.

Start Good

It never occurred to me that I would be back at Odegaard Undergraduate Library for hours on end. It’s finals season and the sleepy faces starring into the computer screens with Facebook and MySpace flickring flickering surround me. This will be a memory I will actually miss. In any case, Tuesday will be the last of school work for me until the next quarter. Tuesday also marks my 22nd birthday! WoHoo! I’m not sure how I will be celebrating it, but I want to reserve some of that excitement when I land on the sunny streets of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Not much else has been going on unfortunately. My camera has been lying dormant for some time and it screams at me to take pictures every now and then. Sorry pal. A couple of the guys and I went to Vancouver for a Sigma Chi workshop where we talked about values and shared stories of success. I actually led a workshop on Scholarship and best practices. It’s too bad my attendance never went into the double digits range. Damn.

Some projects on deck are a redesign for the CEV’s new homepage and a volunteer project on the first ever, Greek Basketball League that my roommate is starting this Spring. Should be cool. Here are some screens of the Photoshop mocks.

[Edit] Yes I made up some of the content, especially the fraternity names. I didn’t have the sheet with me. Sue me.

At the end of her talk, Sara Ulius-Sabel asked all of us, “How do we sustainably get to WOW?” Her point being, we can get to developing products that deliver a delightful, transcendent experience occasionally, but often unpredictably. So how can we get there consistently?

Well, I tried to answer it by synthesizing the main themes I heard over the course of the event, and turning it into a couple of sentences. (Main themes are in ALL CAPS):

By achieving EMPATHY we realize an EXPERIENCE STRATEGY that gets us to DESIGN BEYOND PRODUCTS (and maintain focus when MAKING MISTAKES).

This requires SYSTEMS THINKING (which in return requires TEARING DOWN WALLS), that produces TRANSFORMATION for your MATRIXED(?) ADAPTIVE organization.

Peter Merholz [via Adaptive Path Blog]

Diagrams and themes provided.

MX 2007 @ SF [via Vi]

People ask me, “Ted, what’s the difference between ‘word processing’ and ‘desktop publishing’?” How the hell should I know? These are marketing terms, referring to packages set up for reasons that have nothing to do with conceptual sense or the user’s good.

One Liners

So you let the stack of “things to read” pile up, then eventually when the pile gets to high you end up tossing half of it–or worse, moving it to a deeper “stuff to read someday stack. We have selective amnesia about what we’ll ever get to, but mainly because most of us keep feeling like we have to keep up! Keep up with what?

You can’t keep up. There is no way. And trying to keep up will probably just make you dumber.You can never be current on everything you think you should be.

I will admit that I am a victim of trying to “keep up.” Then again, I’m also trying to learn to cut back only to what is really important.

Keeping Up [Passionate]

43folders has a wiki that shows all the variants of “Hipster PDAs” from extra diner tabs to sophistocatedly photoshopped print outs. If you have one, tell me about your experience. I would love to see how it worked out for your lifestyle.

I was about to make a binder ring version with the hard protective cover, but opted for a moleskin journal instead from Barnes and Noble. It is still a great thing to do and it is extremely affordable.

Read [via wiki43folders]