Last night, on my second night using the phone, I was able to take part in a phone meeting, review an email for details on last meeting’s minutes, scan thru a PDF doc, and take meeting notes in notepad and them email them out. All at once! I felt fairly empowered by that I gotta say.

I guess I should mention that I am writing this entry on my phone, via the Wordpress iPhone App. hmmm let’s see if I can take a photo to submit…

Of course being a techy there are things I notice that are kinda surprising:
1) no flash video in safari (firefox? you comin with a browser?)
2) no skype (yet) (and yes I partially blame Apple on this one)
3) still-only camera, and just 2mpx at that
4) no keychain support
5) no on/off for auto-suggest which is really messin with my slang!
6) WORST:: no horizontal keyboard for email, notepad, or calendar.. this is a major party foul.

Anyway, I am gonna enjoy the phone and remember that it is just that: a phone. (from the future. ha!)

Since the dawn of time, man has felt the need to compete. The Olympic games, currently taking place in Beijing, is a clear indicator of man’s desire to be the best. Today I bring you a new competition; one in which the winner will not receive anything as frivolous as a gold medal - but instead the ultimate bragging rights for being the best.

I bring you the battle of the iPhones: Black vs White.

Now you may be thinking that this post is a waste of time since they technically have the exact same options (provided they are both 16gb versions). 3G, GPS, Installable Apps from the store, beautiful and sleek features just to name a few. I assure you though, not all iPhones are created equal.

In the interest of fairness, us at 604media, choosing not to discriminate have opted for an equal number of white phones to black phones. (It actually just worked out that way and was not planned, though all the design guys got white phones and all the technical guys got black phones… hmmm).

So at this point, you may now be wondering what the difference is between the two phones - what is the big mystery?

Well, there are a number of differences - that may or may not be apparent to you, which I will attempt to point out.

If you think about the design of the phones (specifically based on color) you will notice that should you so happen to be in a dark room with lots of people (a concert perhaps?) and happen to drop your phone - the obvious choice would be that the white phone would stand out more and be easier to recognize on the floor for easy pickup before being trampled. This is actually not so, because any owner of a black iPhone would never drop their phone so recklessly. Point, black iPhone.

Now take both phones to a different arena, the car. Imagine yourself driving down the street, when all of a sudden you receive a phone call. Now if you had a black iPhone (which due to the color is conducive of being able to absorb light, you would have no problems). If you had a white iPhone on the other hand, which due to the color would reflect light, you would notice that you now pose a potential hazard to other drivers by reflecting light into their eyes. Shame on you! Point, black iPhone.

I could probably name reasons all day as to why the black iPhone is better than the white iPhone - but in the spirit of sportsmanship, I shall leave the score as is currently.

Though I will leave you with this last little bit of food for thought - If iPhones were Star Wars characters, the black one would be Darth Vader, and the white… a Storm Trooper? I rest my case.

]]> http://604media.com/blog/iphone-olympics/feed/ http://604media.com/blog/sun-is-nice/ http://604media.com/blog/sun-is-nice/#comments Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:10:47 +0000 steve http://604media.com/blog/?p=48

sounds about right. !!

so this is a pretty basic tip, but when I figured this one out I was pretty stoked. It makes life pretty easy, especially when you are on the internet as much as me.

In the “go” bar where you would normally type a website address, you can also type simple phrases or names of companies to pull up their website. For instance, I type in - Vancouver Weather - and I get the weather network website, already navigated to Vancouver’s weather forcast.

Say you don’t know the website address of a company but you know the business name, well, just type it in, and if there is an obvious choice, Firefox will take you directly to the website. I tried it with my friend’s over at - Fugu Phone - and sure enough got their website first time. If Firefox can’t figure it out, they will take you to a Google search with your phrase, so either way you can’t lose.

Small tip, yes, but a trick that streamlines my browsing experience everyday.

download firefox 3 now: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/

ps. If you are using any other browser you are A) deciding to browse the web in a less secure environment, and B) probably not seeing the website as the designer intended. C) crazy! (this one only includes Internet Explorer users.. Safari gets a pass, though just barely…ha ha )

peace & love

This week, we decided to get out of the city and let our creative vibes flow on the island. Monday was incredible weather, Tuesday.. not so great, but as I write, it is getting clear again and we anticipate another couple beautiful days comin up. Thanks to the wonderful world of VOIP phones, you can reach us usual on our office line, although we made a company rule that we don’t answer while in the hot tub! ha!

…and on the 8th Day, Apple created the iPhone, and they saw that it was good.

Now more than a few days after the first introduction of the iPhone, Apple is getting set to release their follow up in the form of the iPhone 3G. The world wide release date for this little marvel of technology has been set in stone as July 11th (Im sure I will be camping out July 10th… or 9th… possibly even 8th).

“but Brendan, why would you camp out for a mobile phone?”

Well, with a price tag of $199 for the 8GB version or $299 for the 16GB version, 3G, GPS, excellent battery life, iPhone 2.0 OS, mobileme and an SDK to build applications (or an App Store to buy applications - coming early July) , I believe it is worth it. It will come in both Black and White models. Above all of that, it is like an iPod with a phone!.

“wait, Brendan, how much does it cost? that cant be right!”

Seriously, the confirmed price is $199 for the 8GB version or $299 for the 16GB version… CONFIRMED, seriously…

“but Brendan, what is this 3G stuff you’re talking about?”

Good question, 3G allows a network provider to offer a wider range of advanced services while achieving greater network capacity (2.8x faster than EDGE) through improved spectral efficiency.

“huh?”

It goes faster…

“but Brendan, what is this built-in GPS?”

GPS stands for “Global Positioning System” and will allow for navigation. Imagine being able to see where you are on a map as you traverse the city in search of cool and exciting adventures.

“but Brendan, what is the battery life?”

10 hours 2G talk time
5 hours 3G talk time
5-6 hours of high speed browsing
24 hours of audio playback

“but Brendan, what is the iPhone 2.0 OS? why is it so good?”

Let me just list off some of the items and you will understand.

- Added Office Document compatibility
- Bulk delete and move
- Save images from email
- Notification services for applications like instant messaging
- Added contacts search (something sorely missing in the previous OS)
- iWork document support
- MS Office documents (word, excel, powerpoint)
- Scientific calculator (will kick in when in landscape mode - aka tilt your phone)
- Parental controls (for naughty boys and girls)

“but Brendan, what is mobileme?”

mobileme will work through me.com and will replace .Mac. It gives push email to regular users (who do not have enterprise servers) and will sync your data from mail, ical, idisk and address book.

“but Brendan, should I buy one?”

ok, you ask too many questions - Im not talking to you anymore.

• Replace plastic bags with reusable tote bags. I always carry a tote bag with me in my bag, on the off chance that I need to stop at the grocery store on the way home. You can buy reusable, recycled tote bags for $1 at most supermarkets, and they last months. They are also not only for groceries - take some with you to the mall, because the bags most clothing stores use much more plastic than grocery bags.
• Change your incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs. They cost a little more, but you will see the savings on your first hydro bill - they use a quarter of the energy and last ten times longer. Now if stores would only stop stocking incandescent bulbs…
• Stop driving. With the ever-rising cost of gas and all the other costs associated with owning a car, public transportation is becoming more and more the method of choice for the daily commute. At an affordable $75/month, a transit pass will take you anywhere in the city. Other options for getting around include biking, rollerblading, longboarding, walking and running. If you absolutely can’t live without your own vehicle, get a high-mileage hybrid or a scooter - modern scooters can go 200+ km on a $10 fill-up!
• Compost. Composting is easy, even if you live in an apartment with a balcony! Sixty percent of household waste is compostable, so imagine how much smaller our landfills would be if everyone composted just half their household waste!

Total Length
2367 songs, 6.4 days, 11.43 GB

First and Last Songs by Name
“2080″ by Yeasayer
“Zombie” by Fela Kuti

First and Last Songs by Artist
“We Need A Resolution” by Aaliyah
“Reggae Recipe” by Desmond Decker

Shortest and Longest Songs (these are obscure)
“Techno Kick #14″ Factory Sound Bank (drum samples for makin beats..)
“Hypnotic Om” by Eternal Om (Beta-to-Theta Follow-Response Technology & Inner-Harmony Music)

Top Five Most Played Songs
“Sunrise” by Yeasayer
“2080″ by Yeasayer
“Pablo Picasso” by Citizen Cope
“This Can’t Be Real” by Freeway
“The Corner” by Common

It has been a slow process, but we are really pleased with it, and feel it really reflects the unique skills and personalities that make us who we are. The reason I pulled the plug on the old site back in December ‘07, (knowing there wasn’t a chance in hell of getting a new site up anytime soon,) was that it really didn’t reflect who we were.

I think when Kelly and I first formed 604media, we felt as a young company we had to give a very technical, corporate look to our marketing materials and brand identity. We quickly realized it was our work that did the talking, and that we could be ourselves, and in fact it was an advantage being young, energetic, and easy going. Our clients love our no-nonsense approach, which from what we’ve heard, is a breath of fresh air in the industry.

Our new brand is a big departure from the last. Again, our original logo was really techy looking, and truthfully, even though I designed it, I’ve always thought it was crap.

One of the hardest tasks is designing for ourselves. There is no client to say “I love it!” or “I hate it!” so you never know where you are. One of our skills is learning about our clients, listening and getting a feel for them, which helps guide our creative process. ok, enough artist whining.

I hope you like the new site, and it makes you smile.

peace&love