Webthoughts

At work (otherwise known as The Real World—not be confused with MTV), I had applied for a promotion to a higher-level management position. I've been at my current level now for about eight years and, although I've grown a lot in my skill-set and similar, I have not actually advanced in position. I figured it was about time.

The interview process started back in late April and involved a phone interview as well as putting together a detailed action plan for a certain aspect of the business. Neither aspect of the process was particularly enjoyable or easy, but such things rarely are.

I had it on good authority that I had made it to the final cut. I was one of three final candidates for the position, which I suppose is a good thing.

However, yesterday I got the official word that I had been passed over in favor of one of the other two final candidates. Honestly, I am fine with this. I know the candidate who got the position. This person is a fine individual who will do well in the new position and will be a boon for those they will work with.

Besides, I also happen to know there will be other positions coming available in the somewhat near future which I will most likely be applying for. So, it's not like this was any sort of end of the road.

I haven't really been caught up in the iPhone hysteria that has been building leading up to its June 29th introduction, but I have to say that this independent (read "Non-Apple") commercial for the iPhone is pretty darn cool.

I've already read a few places that this is the ad that Apple should have put out for the iPhone instead of the current crop. I find this attitude funny. Apple has come under fire many times for having advertising that doesn't actually show Mac OS X in action, instead providing more abstract ads that simply talk about what the Mac can do, rather than show it.

Yet, now that Apple has put out ads that actually show one of its products in action, it's still not good enough.

Funny.

At any rate, back to the original point of this post, this independent ad, which will probably never see TV airtime, mind you, is a great spot that celebrates, not just the ad, but the diversity that is New York City. Having never been to New York City, I can't speak too much about how accurate the ads portrayal of the city's denizens is, but it's still a very good "feel good" TV ad.

My only criticism of the ad is that some of the camera work is a bit too shaky for my tastes. I understand that they were trying to go for a feel that the viewer is simply standing by watching what is happening, but the camera work was too jerky. It's possible to still get a good handheld camera feel but tone down the jerkiness.

The best part of the ad though was the end where the name of the iPhone is spelled out in Sign Language. This part continues to point out diversity while at the same time literally spelling out the name of the product. Brilliant.

To the older couple in the gold Ford Taurus I cut off earlier today while I was turning left into my driveway, I apologize. I'm not sure where my mind was and I screwed up. Swinging wide into the driveway was not my intention.

I'll probably never see you again, but I have to apologize somehow, so this seemed as good a way as any. And yes, I do realize that you will probably never see this post.

I doesn't matter. I apologize anyway.

I downloaded the Safari 3 Beta for Windows today and took a look around. What struck me the most, interface-wise, is that Apple appears to have, at least in some form, ported the Aqua interface to Windows. Take a look at the following screenshots:

Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2

Interesting, no?

In the first screenshot, the default button (the "OK" button) even pulses like default buttons do on Mac OS X.

Now, there are a couple of different tracks you could take with this. The first is that Apple ported over the underlying code that generates the Aqua interface and all its widgets (the buttons, popup menus and the sort). But, that seems like an awful lot of work for very little benefit.

The second possibility is that Apple is faking the Aqua interface by simply drawing pictures of the widgets, similar to the way a website might draw a button, and then has custom code handling how the widget should look depending on the state of the mouse button. This even goes straight to recreating the pulsing look of the default button and the throbbing look of the progress bar in the downloads window. But again, that seems like an awful lot of work for very little benefit.

Why would Apple do this? If it is simply to try to show how "beautiful" Mac OS X's interface is, that doesn't seem to be a brilliant idea. Many Windows users don't like using Apple software on their computers (such as iTunes) because it doesn't look and feel like a Windows program. And iTunes, for example, uses mostly Windows-native widgets. Why would Apple depart even more from the way Windows behaves in Safari's case to the point of even recreating the Aqua widgets?

Don't get me wrong. I think the Mac OS X interface is a billion-times better designed and better looking than anything Windows could hope to muster. But still, this just seems like it might alienate people that Apple would rather reach.

Huh.

IT'S iPHONE DAY!

IT'S iPHONE DAY!

IT'S iPHONE DAY!

Are you lining up to wait all day for the chance of not being able to buy one because they're already sold out?

I find the hype hilarious. I'm sure it's an incredible hand-held device. I've already mentioned that I think Multi-Touch is groundbreaking.

But people, keep it in perspective. It's a phone. And, I'm pretty sure that even if Apple and AT&T run out today, Apple will make more.

Heh.

Actually I'm probably not the one to talk. I once stood in line for the better part of a day to get tickets to an opening day showing of Star Wars Special Edition.

Yes, that big L stamped in the middle of my forehead does stand for "loser". Why do you ask?