Snowpocalypse Snow Job

There is a huge thing going on in cable news right now. And it’s pissing me off.

First, let’s all agree that 20" of snow is not the end of humanity. Quit calling it “Snowpocalypse.” What are we going to call it when we get 22" of snow? Let’s save the apocalypse references for when the shit really hits the fan.

People on Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN are all praising Newark, NJ mayor Cory Booker for taking care of business during the blizzard over the weekend, and decrying New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg as a “plutocrat” who doesn’t care about the little people.

Bloomberg has a history of fighting labor unions, lobbying for less control and lower taxes for the Wall Street elite, and even changing the rules of term limits so he can remain mayor. I’m not here to defend him on any of those shenanigans, but let’s look at the plain old numbers about this storm.

According to NOAA, New York and Newark both got about 20" of snow. That’s a lot of snow. Especially on overcrowded urban streets where buildings and cars line every block. There’s just nowhere to push the snow. Then there are the facts. I got all these numbers from a Wolfram-Alpha comparison.

New YorkNewark
Area303 sq. mi.23 sq. mi.
Population8,300,000279,000
Population Density27k ppl/mi^211.7k ppl/mi^2
Counties51

Now, I’d like just one cable news talking-head to explain to me how Bloomberg is supposed to deal with the situation the way Cory Booker did when Bloomberg has 14 times the area, 32 times the population, and 5 counties separated by dozens of bridges and tunnels? Add on top of that the nation’s busiest city bus system, the country’s largest subway system, two major airports, and the fact that we’re on an island.

Again, I’m not defending Bloomberg, or trying to say that Mayor Booker is not doing well. I happen to think Cory Booker is one of the best mayors in the country right now. I’m just trying to figure out how people who consider themselves “the news” can be so irresponsible with the ACTUAL facts. It’s easy to go out on the streets and get 10 seconds of video of Booker pushing a car out of the snow, and 10 seconds of video of a pissed-off New Yorker. Try going out there and actually doing a story. You know, with facts and stuff.

Turn Off The Turn Off The Dark Trainwreck?

As many of you know, I have my TV life and my Broadway life. My Broadway life has always been as a stagehand, and the last few years, I have done nothing in that realm but fly people. When I say “fly people,” sure I mean actual flying, like Peter Pan. But a lot of what I do is simple safety. Tethers, fall arrests, safety belts, wrist loops, and the like. It’s not glamorous, but it keeps actors, stagehands, and audience members safe.

The Broadway musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark” has had it’s share of problems. I’m not going to rehash all the stories here, but there have been concussions, broken ankles and wrists, and bruised ribs.

Actor Adam Pascal, known for “Rent” and “Aida”, has posted (then retracted) on his Facebook page saying director Julie Taymor should be arrested for assault. Other actors have spoken about the problems on conditions of anonymity. Which is smart. You don’t want to piss off the biggest director on Broadway if you’re a working actor.

As a working flyguy, I can appreciate what they are trying to do. Pushing the envelope of what people expect on stage is what we do. Spider-Man is doing the right thing by having several stunt doubles behind the mask for more intricate stunts. I have worked with Fisher Automation before. They are the company that built all the flying rigs for the show. They have a good reputation. It seems that Spider-Man is doing everything right.

So why all the injuries? I can only guess, because I am not in any way involved in the production. I know two actors have been injured on the move where Spidey springs from the rear of the stage to the front. One guy broke an ankle, and the other fell and broke both wrists. On Peter Pan, we do this move two times every show, and have never had a problem. Is it because their system is automated and ours is human powered? Maybe. I don’t know. But such a simple move should not injure an actor, especially a stunt man. On the other hand, many of the injuries are human error. The latest victim, Chris Tierney, fell from a platform over the stage into the orchestra pit because his tether was not properly clipped in. Again, I don’t have any first-hand knowledge of the accident, but there is one thing I know: Tethers don’t break, as reported in a few articles. These things have 10,000 pound and higher ratings, a 180 pound guy is not going to snap it. He just wasn’t clipped in.

Some people are saying pull the plug, eat the loss and close the show. Even if the show opens, it has to sell out every seat in every show for a decade before it breaks even. That’s not going to happen, I don’t care how good the show is. Even the NY Department of Labor and OSHA have threatened to shut it down.

I say keep at it. To paraphrase Peter Parker’s uncle, with great budgets come great responsibilities. Broadway shows are almost always a money losing proposition. Maybe not a $65 million money pit of delays and injuries, but still not a profitable thing. If a move is not working, change it or cut it. Don’t just keep doing it, hoping for the best. That’s how people get hurt. Or worse. If you can’t keep enough stunts in the show to make the story interesting, then it’s time to consider shutting it down. Until then, just cut the moves that are sending people to the hospital and make the show happen. Every week you postpone is another million you will never get back.

Oh, the whole reason I started this little rant is so I could post this video of Taiwan’s Apple News giving Spider-Man the animated news treatment.

Lego Rock Center

Lego Rock Center

Tired dog

Tired dog…

The way football used to be

The way football used to be…

Android Marketplace Scam – Tweetdeck

You can argue both sides of the Apple/Android fence. Apple is closed and insists on individual approval of each app. This creates a “walled garden” feel and some people think it should be more open. Cut to the Android Marketplace. Open to the world. Anyone with an app and a developer account can toss up an app. This has caused an SMS Trojan, an app that tries to steal bank logins, and now we’re into counterfeit apps.

To be fair, the iPhone App store has it’s share of problems. There was the developer who got 400 passwords through a brute force attack and bought thousands of copies of his own apps on those accounts. Apple had to refund all of that money. There are also piggy-back apps that try to repackage Facebook, Google Docs, or other websites into unofficial paid “apps” that are nothing more than a Webkit browser with an icon.

Back to the Wild West of the Android Marketplace, a new app popped up today. Tweetdeck is an Adobe Air cross platform desktop app, an iPhone and iPad app, and they’ve been teasing an Android app. Some were excited to see it pop up today. The problem is, Tweetdeck was charging $1 for the app. All the other Tweetdecks are free.

Sir, I know Tweetdeck, and you are no Tweetdeck.

This is an app that uses the name (including the ™ symbol!) and the icon. The app has nothing to do with Tweetdeck, and should be removed immediately and the developer banned for copyright infringement and fraud.

Walled Garden or Wild West? Which do you prefer? Personally, I’ll take manicured hedges over tumbleweeds.

My Youngest Flight

Paul and I flew Paul’s 20 month old daughter, Juliette, today. It’s officially the youngest person I’ve ever flown, and she really had a good time.

The White iPhone Conspiracy

OK, it may be a little out there, but here’s my take on the situation…

First, Apple says the phone will be available in white or black, just like the 3G and 3GS. Then, when pre-ordering, everyone sees the “not available” caption under the white phone (pictured).

I have always been a fan of the white iPhone, because I think it shows fewer fingerprints and is more Appleish. (Yes, I believe Appleish is a word.) The new square, flat iPhone 4 even looks a little like the original iPod. But I won’t be getting the white one.

Not because it’s not available, but because I work in places that are not clean. I am a carpenter, a stagehand, and an animal lover. None of those three things are particularly sanitary occupations or hobbies. My iPhone 3GS shows signs of wear and discoloration on the back from the abuse it takes. The glass back and front of iPhone 4 will eliminate a lot of the discoloring, but the white home button on the front scares me. I don’t want a pristine white glass phone with a dirty button. I know what my Apple keyboard looks like, and it ain’t pretty. That button is still plastic and can discolor. I’ll go black this time.

Oh, about that conspiracy? Try this on for size: What if the white iPhone 4 is not going to be on AT&T?

There have been rumors of an iPhone on T-Mobile for a while, and now it’s not as far fetched. Did you know the iPhone 4 has a penta-band cell radio? That’s right PENTA. It’s one of two 5-band cell antennas available (Nokia N8 is also penta-band). That means it works on 850, 900, 1700, 1900, and 2100 mHz. T-Mobile uses 1900. T-Mobile also has a love of white

Apple also has a couple dates reserved at Moscone Center days after the iPhone 4

Here’s my crazy theory:

Apple releases the black iPhone 4 tomorrow, lets it sell a couple million to AT&T subscribers, then announces that the white iPhone is a T-Mobile exclusive a few days later. T-Mobile would move from the #4 carrier to #3, surpassing Sprint. AT&T would have all those customers already locked in to a 2 year contract, which would mean they effectively get their 2012 exclusivity promise, and Apple can sell more phones to a totally new market. And Apple gets 2 carrier competition in the U.S. without manufacturing a CDMA phone.

A few (thousand) customers may get pissed that they were hoodwinked into buying into AT&T AGAIN, but that will pass. Given the choice, I’d stay with AT&T anyway. T-Mobile doesn’t have the coverage I need. And the lack of color choice? Who cares… 5 years ago, every phone was dark grey. My iPhone lives in a case anyway.

Thanks For Nine Great Seasons!

First, let me say that DSI has been a great experience. Despite working four 20 hour days and three 12 hour days every week, and getting little sleep and even less of a social life, it has been a blast!

I just want to take a second to thank the entire crew of this monster we call Don’t Sweat It. I have made not only great professional contacts in my time here, but a few close friends as well. From the early days when tightening a banister or installing a peep hole were the projects, to the last few seasons where we did incredible multi-room makeovers in just two days, the crew has always been the reason this show gets done.

Back in the day, I had my carpentry crew, lovingly dubbed The Wood Carnival. The original crew of me, Shaun, Kyle, and Mitch got this show running smoothly in the first couple of seasons. Many have come and gone over the years, but one thing is for sure: I have the best damn carpenters in television helping me out behind the scenes. I’m sure I’m missing someone, but I’d like to thank Shaun, Kyle, Mitch, Eamonn, Casey, Brad Z, Chris D, Brad S, Bryce, Keith, and everyone else who has helped out on my crew. You made it happen.

Speaking of making it happen, the Production Assistants on this show are by far the hardest working in television. They are the first to arrive, they lay plywood and paper to protect the house, set up catering, set up tents and tables, then they unload construction materials, carry trash, paint, sweep, vacuum, clean, and even help build. Then they do it all in reverse to wrap out at the end of two very long days. No PAs work harder, and if you think they do, you are just plain wrong.

I’d also like to mention the production team. Our producers and directors are the best at what they do, and somehow make a comprehensive story out of the chaos that Steve and I cause daily. I don’t know how you do it, but you do it so damn well. Not to mention the fact that the associate producers also schedule homeowners, facilitate deliveries, and sweet talk companies into giving us discounts and free stuff for very little exposure on the show. It’s a tough job, and you guys ROCK at it. Thank you Josh, Jess, Arielle, Eduardo, Brian, Other Jess, Jen, Brad, and the OG Todd and Dylan.

Making TV is not easy. Construction is a tough job. Doing both at the same time, in two days, is damn near impossible. But we did it. We did it 117 times over 4 years. And I am proud of that. And I thank you.

OmniFocus for iPad, Sort Of...

Are you a GTDer? I am. Big time. I don’t follow all the procedures, because i don’t like the SYSTEM to get in the way of the ACTIONS. But i really find the Project/Context thing to be invaluable to my workflow.

I have been using my iPad religiously since the day it was born. I’m writing this post in the Ft. Lauderdale airport, on a layover from a trip to Puerto Rico for a wedding. I was gone 5 days, took hundreds of photos with my DSLR, and didn’t miss my MacBook Pro once. More on that in a future post.

Here’s the issue: I noticed that I’m using OmniFocus for the iPhone on my iPad. It looks terrible. It’s all blown up and pixelated. There has to be a way, right? Stand by, dear reader. There is!

After a little Googling, I found there’s a switch in the iPhone OS code that tells the app what it’s running on. To put it most simply, a 1 is an iPhone or iPod touch, and a 2 is an iPad. By simply editing a .plist file, you can enable the app (even certified App Store iPhone apps) to re-jigger the interface to fit the iPad and lose that whole pixel-doubling thing. As an added bonus, you jettison the blown up iPhone keyboard and get a real life iPad keyboard.

The iPhone OS that runs the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch has certain interface elements. The toolbars, icons, and forward/back arrows are all OS level things, not built into the app. So, by telling the app that it’s running on an iPad, it will use a larger interface, native navigation elements, and actual size text with more rows per screen. It doesn’t always work, but it does work on OmniFocus. For the record, it also works on PasteBot, Facebook, Bump, Boxcar, iTrans NYC, and Trip It. It does not work with MobileMe Gallery, Apple’s own picture viewing app, which inexplicably has not been updated for the iPad.

Now, to the good stuff. Here’s what OF looks like on an iPad in pixel doubled mode:

And after typing in exactly one line of code, you can make it look like this:

You can now see all the info at once, and you have a much prettier UI. All for typing one line of code.

The new OmniFocus should be out in a month or so, so this is a temporary fix to get you through. You don’t get all the fancy iPad interface elements, like popovers and split views, but it certainly is worth the effort.

First thing you need to do is jailbreak the iPad. Just do it. It’s easy and reversible. Use the Spirit jailbreak, and enjoy all the extras you get, like backgrounding and tethering. Jailbreak your iPhone while you’re at it. Spirit will take care of it all. I’m not going to link to Spirit from here, but you can Google it. Or Bing it. Or Yahoo it. I could go on for hours. I’ll just Cuil it. (That’s search engine humor, don’t actually use Cuil, it is terrible.)

You download Spirit, plug in your iPad, and hit the one and only button. 15 seconds later, your iPad reboots and you’re done.

Now, run to the Cydia app store and install iFile. It’s nagware, so if you use it a lot, pay for it. Otherwise you’ll keep getting pop-ups. You should pay for it anyway. It’s only $10. iFile will allow you to browse all the files on your iPad, including the hidden files. It will also allow you to copy any file off an SD card to the iPad using the camera connection kit. More on that in the future. For now, let’s get into OF.

Open iFile and tap settings (the little gear). Make sure the “Application Names” switch is on, otherwise the app folders will just be a string of gibberish. Navigate to the Applications>OmniFocus>OmniFocus.app folder. Then, open the info.plist file. The beauty of iFile is it has a built in plist editor. Scroll down towards the bottom and find:

<key>UIDeviceFamily</key>
	<array>
    	<integer>1</integer>
	</array>

Then, tap the EDIT button, and add one line of code so it says this:

<key>UIDeviceFamily</key>
	<array>    
		<integer>1</integer>    
		<integer>2</integer>   
	</array>

While you’re in there, get your landscape on! Find the line that says:

<key>EnableLandscapeMode</key>
	<false/>

And change it to

	<true/>

Save the file, press the home button (this writes all changes in iFile to memory) and restart. (You should install SB Settings from Cydia as well. It makes restarting, brightness control, and wireless connection switches available from the status bar.). Next time you open OmniFocus, it should look more iPad-ish and not all pixely. As an added bonus, you get landscape support and a real iPad keyboard.

If you have other apps you’d like to try this with, just do it. Some apps don’t have a control scheme that works. MobileMe Gallery, for example, looks good with this hack, but you can’t actually tap or scroll, so it’s useless. But, if it doesn’t work, it’s as simple as re-editing the plist file and removing one line of code.

Im sure the OmniGroup is doing a bang up job on the iPad version of OmniFocus, with the steering wheel interface, popover lists for contexts and dates, and all the iPad bells and whistles. Until then, this should hold you over.

Why C-SPAN Does It Soooo Right

C-SPAN, or the Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network has always been cool by me. I like loosely following politics, and admittedly get most of my politics from MSNBC and Fox News. I watch them both because both MSNBC and Fox News are entirely biased in their prime time lineups. But they are entertaining.

But C-SPAN does it right. It's just a camera in the House and Senate chambers. No opinion, and barely any anchors at all. Just plain old Mr.-Jones-Goes-To-Washington politics. And it's fun to watch.

Today, I had to drive to work during this whole health care debate, which was an incredible piece of American history to witness. I didn't want to miss a thing, so I went to my trusty iPhone. Searching the There's-An-App-For-That store for CSPAN, I come across the C-Span app [iTunes Link]. It's a simple thing, just streams the audio from C-SPAN.

But there's a little button on the bottom that caught my eye. It says "Background Play". "Wait!" you say… "The iPhone doesn't allow background processes at all, except a few Apple apps!"

Those apps include Clock, Phone, iPod, Safari, the iTunes and App stores, and Messages. This is where C-Span beats Pandora, LastFM, and all the other streaming apps.

C-SPAN spits out a proprietary audio stream to the app, but has a concurrent stream in simple unencrypted MP3 that Safari (and all mobile browsers) can stream. If you click "Background Play", it'll switch to Safari and continue playing the audio. You can then move on and do other things with your phone because Safari is an approved background app.

Since the iPhone and the upcoming Windows Mobile 7 Phone Series software both prevent backgrounding of third party apps, more streaming sites should take notice of C-SPAN, and offer a web-based stream for phones that don't entirely multi-task.

Building a Case for the iPad

No, not this kind of case, although it's pretty cool, and I will happily accept one as a gift or promotional opportunity.

I mean a use case. A real-world practical here's-why-I'm-buying-this-thing kind of case. Do you need one? Probably not. But I'm a special case, and that's why this case needs to make a use case for that iPad thing. Since posting a quick "replacing my Kindle when the iPad comes" tweet, I got a ton (well, 6) e-mails telling me I shouldn't spend this much money on a locked down device I haven't touched yet. And most people shouldn’t. But I should. Why? Because A. I don't think it's an untested device, It uses the same OS as 40 million iPhones and iPod touches out there. It's just got a bigger screen, and some interface tweaks to take advantage of that screen acreage. And B. I already have a use for it. I'm not buying it because it's pretty and cool, I'm buying it because I will use the living hell out of this machine.

First, who needs this, and why?

Who should pre-order the iPad? Tech journalists and bloggers who review new gadgets for a living. Other than that, there are very few people who NEED an iPad on Day 1. The iPad, and other tablets like it, will be a boon for vertical markets that are currently using Windows-based PC tablets. Those are heavy, clunky battery hogs. There is no need for a full-on convertible laptop/tablet Voltron wannabe when all you're doing is some data entry. Doctors, students, warehouse workers, and mobile entertainment professionals like me need this. Eventually, once the sofware is there. Sure, Apple will sell millions of these things and they will sit on the coffee table, waiting for sofa-surfing while watching the game, or Twittering your thoughts on American Idol. But the real value for this machine will be for mobile data entry and media consumption.

My Use Case:

I'm a FileMaker whore. I love FileMaker Pro, and use it for things I probably shouldn't. It's seriously overkill for a simple mailing list or movie collection, but I have it, so I use it. My main use is for Don't Sweat It, where I not only co-host the show, but do all the behind-the-scenes making-the-sausage project planning. I have to keep project files that consist of family info, a list of tools, a list of materials, and a step-by-step breakdown of everything. I include pictures and maps and all the bells and whistles. This would be a nightmare in a word processor. Now, I have a table of tools that I can choose from by clicking in a form. I also keep a materials table of often-used materials with updated prices. I can just type the first couple letters and the material, description, price, and department are all filled in automatically. FMP also just makes a Google Map of whatever address is in the address field. It's kind of amazing what it does, with very little help from me.

After all that input, I can output nicely formatted reports to the production team, the network, and I can even create a shopping list that covers several projects, all in one list separated by department. It really is the only way to go.

Then came FM Touch. (iTunes link) FM touch is FileMaker for the iPhone/iPod Touch. Instead of creating a form that fits your screen, you create a form that fits the iPhone screen, and FMTouch's website even has a nice little style guide to give you all the info you need. If you follow the guide and spend a couple hours tweaking your design, your FMTouch screen looks like a native iPhone App. Except this App syncs to your FileMaker database! It really is incredible, and saves me tons of repeat-data entry. I used to write it all down during the site visit, then type it into FileMaker at night. Now, it goes into the database on site, before I forget what my scribbles mean.

Why the long, boring exposition into my workflow? Because that's the whole point.

Imagine FMTouch on a 10″ screen instead of a 3″ screen. It's like switching from an index card to a sheet of paper. I can design multiple columns of information, just like the desktop version. FM Touch allows related records and calculated fields! It's like Heaven on a Stick. I haven't contacted FM Touch personally, but a quick Google search tells me they're working on an iPad version, with more interface tweaks and the like. Once my related tables are in pop-up lists, and I can export PDF's (please, please, please) directly to e-mail, it will be a complete solution.

But even if none of that happens, and I'm just using a blown-up version of the iPhone App, typing on it will (presumably) be much faster and more comfy than the iPhone, and I can tweak my form designs easily to fit an iPad resolution.

Long story short (I know, too late.) if you don't need an iPad, just wait. They're making 4-5 million of these things this year, so I don't see them running out. I'll be there in line on Day 1 to pick up my (already reserved) 32 GB WiFi iPad so I can get my stuff on it and working before we get into Season 9 too heavily. If I didn't need it working on Monday, I'd just get it shipped, or wait a couple weeks.

I think the iPad (and Android devices like it) are the future. You don't always need everything with you all the time. I'll post about that later…

The End of Publishing?

Many people (including me, sometimes) think that dead-tree books are on their way out. I haven’t bought a paper book in two years, and have been completely media-free (other than Netflix and downloads) since Christmas of ‘09. The Kindle and iPhone have changed the way I consume media, and the iPad will continue that trend.

In my life.

Other people have a different take. And that’s great. If you want to fill up a library room with floor to ceiling books lining the shelves like that room where the cop used the phone in the movie “Clue”, then go for it. If you like having rows of CD’s or DVD’s lining the shelves of your media closet, enjoy. I don’t have the space for all that.

But print is not dead. It never will be. And this super-interesting and well written internal clip from Penguin Publishing proves it. Watch the whole thing, and don’t skip around or you’ll ruin the surprise twist…

The Travel Twenty

Many people ask how I spend most of my year on the road, and what I bring along. The how is a different story. It’s tough, leaving friends in New York for long periods, and leaving my home that I love. But, work is work, and you gotta go where the work takes you!

As far as the “What do you bring” question, the picture above is of my current setup in my standard corporate apartment in beautiful Burbank, CA. I’m currently working on Don’t Sweat It for HGTV, for which I am the co-host on camera and the construction supervisor off-camera. That means I do most of the project planning, a lot of the shopping, and write the basic instructions that get posted on HGTV.com. Let’s go through the rundown…; (full disclosure: many of the links below are Amazon Affiliate links. If you buy anything from these links, I’ll get a kickback, er… commission.)

  1. iPhone Dock. Never leave home without at least 3 chargers for the non-replaceable-battery iPhone. And it sync’s. Have a charger for the desk, the car, and the bedside. (Not pictured is my Logitech Pure-Fi alarm clock)
  2. Construction Master 5. This handy little calculator does pesky things like fraction math and figures the angle of ascent on a 4.5-12 roof pitch and how many 7-3/4″ steps it takes to go up 11′-4″.
  3. Seagate Hard Drives. I travel with at least two. The current setup is an 880 GB Time Machine Drive, a 500GB clone (Carbon Copy Cloner has saved my ass more than once), a 500 GB drive full of movies, and a 250 GB drive hooked up as an EyeTV archive. For the record, I also use Carbonite as an offsite backup. I have a little paranoia about losing data…
  4. NeatWorks Scanner. I try to do away with a lot of clutter, and receipts are clutter. I scan them weekly, and the amazing NeatWorks software OCR’s them, and lets me categorize them. I have categories set up for all my tax categories, electronics, pet, and more. It’s like iTunes for boring stuff.
  5. 13″ MacBook Pro. I have a few Macs, but this one is the workhorse. My 20″ iMac sits at home alone most of the time, since I’m on the road a bunch. My MacBook Pro 15″ has a bad battery and a bum SuperDrive, so it sits under my TV as an EyeTV and Plex / Boxee machine. But this little monster can keep up with everything I throw at it. And it’s super-portable.
  6. Hannspree 23″ monitor. I usually don’t carry around a big extra monitor, but I knew I was going to be in LA for 3 months, so I thought it was worth it. My workflow involves 50+ emails a day, OmniFocus, iCal, OmniPlan, iWork, VectorWorks, DropBox, MobileMe, and a custom Filemaker 10 application that I built. Fitting all that on a 13″ screen is tough. The small expense of an external monitor makes me more productive and much happier.
  7. Apple Keyboard. I love that it feels like my MacBook. I hate that it requires a USB connection. When will Apple come out with a wireless keyboard with a number pad? I need my number pad!!
  8. Apple Magic Mouse. Some hate this thing, but I love it. I have huge hands that never sit on a mouse, so the low profile doesn’t bother me. I love the feel, and the multi-touch top is genius. It’s made even better with Magic Prefs.
  9. NetFlix. To be honest, I go through very few actual discs a year. I use the hell out of the streaming, though. It’s brilliant, and there are few other ways to watch season one of The A Team.
  10. Standing Desk. I’m a stander. I like moving about when I work, so no chair for me. If the hotel or apartment doesn’t offer a standing desk, I’ll run the the hardware store and make one. In this case, the dining room table has some old deck handrail pickets zip-tied on to the legs. This makes the desk a perfect height for me. It may be a little ghetto, but it works.
  11. Accordion File. I try to be as paperless as possible, but making TV and planning construction projects both require a lot of paperwork. This little file gives me plenty of slots for all the episodes, plus administrative stuff. And no wasted paper on manila folders! Plus, it has a convenient carry handle.
  12. Pencil Cup. This one is made from a disposable coffee cup I rinsed out. I’ll feel less bad about throwing it away when I leave LA. 13. Mophie JuicePack Air. Long days on set can kill an iPhone. This brings it back to life.
  13. Amazon Kindle. Just plain rocks. I have about 40 books, The Economist, and the New York Times delivered daily to my Kindle. I will love it unconditionally. Until my iPad is delivered.
  14. Landline Phone. This came with the apartment. It becomes infinitely more useful in conjunction with Google Voice.
  15. Fuji WP-Z. This little camera is great. It’s an easy to use 10 MP waterproof (and, therefore, dustproof) point-and-shoot. The dustproof part is really handy when you build stuff for a living.
  16. Motorola Rockr S9-HD. These headphones sound great, work with my iPhone as headphones and headset, and recharge over mini-USB. They are fantastic when hiking, working out, or just cleaning house. They get used daily.
  17. CallPod. This thing is easily the best thing that’s happened to traveling gadget nerds in a long time. It’s a 6-way charger that has hundreds of adapters to choose from. My CallPod charges my iPhone, JuicePack, Kindle, MotoRockrs, Jabra headset, Kodak Zi8, and still has an extra opening for any standard USB charger. And the Pod itself gets power from either a wall wart or mini-USB. This thing saves me carrying 11 different chargers.
    19. Kodak Zi8. I lost my Flip Mino HD, so I decided to try something else. The Kodak has comparable picture quality, but adds an external mic input, a removable SD card, and an option to charge over USB or through the adapter (which I have for the CallPod). It’s a little bigger than the Mino, but it’s so much more useful.
  18. Just a small folding table. I like to spread out when I work.

I hope this answers some questions about how I work on the road. I know it seems like overkill to some, but I’ve built a pretty efficient workflow and travel scheme using these tools, and it works for me. How do you travel for work? Feel free to comment below!

Apple's Latest Creation

Apple has announced another event. And, it will CHANGE YOUR WORLD FOREVER.

OK, OK… that may be a little hyperbolic. But there are a few things of note about this particular event.

First, there is the timing. Last year, Apple announced that they would no longer be attending MacWorld Expo, the traditional late-January trade show where Apple would provide the Keynote Speech, usually introducing an amazingly awesome product in the process. Apple said they didn’t like having to rush products through the holidays, struggling to get a demo and a working piece of hardware by January. Fast forward a year. Macworld Expo moves to February, and Apple is staging an event in… late January.

Now, why would Apple back out of the largest Mac-related trade show on Earth? Because they don’t need Macworld. It’s sad, but true. Those Stevenotes are live-blogged, bootleg-streamed, speculated on, and written about. It doesn’t matter when or where those Stevenotes are, bloggers and journalists (and yes, I believe these are 2 different jobs. Sue me.) will follow. PR and hype follow Apple, not the other way around.

While the timing of the event is of note (“Hey, Macworld! Eat this! I’m having my event anyway, and ahead of your schedule!! Pbtpbptptpbptbpt!), what everyone has been talking about is the new Apple slate/tablet/pad/flat thingy. There’s a lot of speculation about it, so I may as well jump into the fray. And for the record, I’m pretty bad at this. You can check out my predictions for the September 2009 event here.

The Name

This will not be named iPad. Or iSlate, iTablet, iTouch, or iJesus. I think there will be no “i”. The “i” is for phones and pods. Tiny things. This thing will be much bigger and more expensive. My guesses are, in order of probability: Canvas, Slate, or Mac Touch. I like the “Canvas” best, and fits with the invite, which is either paint splatters on a canvas or a flyover of seagulls that just ate some really colorful berries. The “Slate” came from a domain filing by Apple a few weeks ago, but I think that was a red herring. Did you notice everything at C.E.S. last week that runs “Windows 7 Tablet Edition” was called a slate? That’s because all those companies that make much bigger, heavier, and clunkier tablets read that Apple registered “slate” and tried to get in on it.

The Mac Touch also makes sense. One way Apple could justify a $800+ device is by putting it in the Mac family, not in the “i” family. I say: Canvas. But, to be honest, there’s a little bit of me that wants Apple to drop the “i” and the “mac” all together. Just make it an Apple. And call it a Newton. Pretty Please??

The OS Question

iPhone OS or OS X? The answer is yes, and no. The beauty of the iPhone OS is that there is one screen that all iPhones use. This makes developing much easier when you know what screen your App will play on. The big problem with Blackberry, Windows Mobile, and Android is that there are a ton of different screen sizes, resolutions, and form factors to deal with. This means all graphics and UI elements need to either be: designed to the lowest common denominator, or be flexible and flowable. That second one’s hard without some SDK (software development kit) help.

The iPhone OS is great on a 3.5” screen. It has a great UI, the best software keyboard available, and is easy to use with one hand or two thumbs. The problem is blowing it up. All roads lead to a 10″ screen on this new tablet, and your thumbs can’t reach all the way across the screen when holding it in both hands. So, a “blown up” iPhone OS won’t work. Also, we need to re-read the previous paragraph about fixed resolution on Apple App store applications.

My take: An iPhone OS based operating system (which is already based on OSX), with some additional features. I’m betting they’ll announce the iPhone 4.0 Software Development Kit, which will supply the tools to make iPhone and tablet apps. They may even change the name to “iDeviceOS”, or even just “iOS”. Developers can choose to go for iPhone apps, tablet apps, or develop a scalable app that works on both. Anyone who thinks the tablet won’t run the 120,000 iPhone apps that are out there is delusional. I’m guessing standard iPhone apps will run in windowed mode at native resolution on the bigger screen. Kinda like those dashboard widgets. Of course, Apple will come up with a nifty way for the tablet keyboard to work with an iPhone app floating in the middle of the screen, but how they do that is a mystery to me. And everyone else. But that leads to a new problem…

Multitasking

The tablet will multitask, but not like you’re thinking. The problem with multitasking on a mobile device is battery life. If you’re running, say, a Twitter client in the background, it wants to keep you updated. It does this by pinging the server every so often to pull in new information. The problem comes when you go to do something else, and forget that Twitter app is running in the background. Then it pings and pings and pings until your battery is dead. That’s the big reason Apple won’t allow it on the phone.

But, there’s more screen on a tablet, so this may be where a little desktop OSX makes it’s way to the forefront in iPhone OS. If I were designing this thing, I’d put a dock on it. Maybe not the traditional Leopard-style dock, but a dock that sits on one edge of the screen that holds all your running apps. If you swap away from Twitter, for instance, it would just swoop into the dock, and let you know it’s still working. And it will still support all those App store push notification goodies. Just a thought…

I’m running a GPS App, say Navigon Turn by Turn, and I want my passenger wants to find a restaurant. So said passenger opens Yelp and starts searching. Does this steal the GPS signal from Navigon? On a normal computer, it would. But because Apple came up with Core Services in OSX, and transferred them to the iPhone (and this tablet, which, by the way, still does not exist), it just works. Why? Because Core Services are at the OS level, not at the App level. Several different apps can know where you are in the world because the GPS chip reports to Core Location, and your location data is injected right into the operating system. Core Services are cool. They take a lot of the work out of developers hands, and make for a unified user experience by standardizing things like Location, Audio controls, Video playback, and tons more. Google it. Oh, and that fixed resolution thing? That’s pretty easy to overcome with Core Animation and Core Graphics.

Apple has been heading towards mobile multitasking for a while, and I think the tablet announcement and iPhone 4.0 SDK will unlock it.

So, multitasking? Yes.

The User Interface

It’s been said that the UI is “like nothing you’ve ever seen”, and I believe it. What you can guarantee, is that it will not be OSX with some touch slapped on it. I’m looking at you, Microsoft… A desktop OS is not a touch OS. Never will be. A mouse is a single-pixel pointer with a tiny onscreen arrow showing you where that pixel is. You can’t just move that paradigm to touch, where my ham hock of a hand with kielbasa fingers smush down dozens of pixels with each tap while simultaneously blocking 25% of the screen with my palm. That’s why all those Windows tablets suck. They don’t account for the anatomy of the pointer.

Remember way back in ‘07 before the iPhone was announced? Everyone put up fan art predicting what it would look like. An iPod with a phone! A phone with a click-wheel! The only thing everyone had in common was they were all wrong. Apple came up with something out of left field, and despite doubts, it worked. It still works. It’s getting a little long in the tooth and could use a visual update, but the interface still beats everything else out there. If you read the Apple User Interface guide for the iPhone, you see how much effort they put into user interface. They figure out how large a button or toolbar has to be to be hit with a finger. They know how many pixels one has to traverse in order for the OS to register it as a “swipe” and not a “tap”. Now, scale this up to 4 times the screen real estate and add in a bunch more gestures. That’s why it works so damn well.

The issue will arise with input while multitasking. I’ve been super-interested in user interfaces lately, and could write a whole post on this, but here’s the short of it: On a “real” computer, the window that has focus gets all the attention from the input device. Usually a keyboard and mouse. But what happens when you add things like accelerometers, compasses, and GPS or cellular devices that also can provide input. Back to the GPS example. I know Core Location will take care of sharing location data, but the turn-by-turn apps also use the accelerometer and compass. What if my passenger wants to play Super Monkey Ball while I drive? If SMB takes over the accelerometer, will my GPS go all crazy and drive me into a lake Michael-Scott-style? These are things smarter people than I will figure out.

The tablet is going to be iPhone-ish, more than likely. A set of icons in a home screen, swipe, pinch, zoom… All that will be there. And then a bunch of stuff that will blow your mind.

For keyboard input, I’m guessing proximity sensors everywhere to see how you are holding it. If you’re holding it 2 handed (think iPhone thumb typing) and get to a text input area, a split keyboard will pop up, half under each thumb. If you’re holding it in your arm, clipboard style, a keyboard will float near the input area ready for one-finger tapping. If it senses it is flat on a desk, a nearly-full-size laptop style keyboard will appear.

I’m also betting a lot of the MacBook-style MultiTouch gestures will make it in there, like Expose, two finger scrolling, and the twisty-move.

What you can guarantee, though is that this tablet will be versatile, and the UI will change fluidly between e-booking, movie-watching, picture-viewing, app-running, and maybe waffle-making. Mmmm. Waffles…

Content

Make no mistake. Whatever this is, it will be made to suck money out of your iTunes-shaped wallet. Rumors are flying, but it’s pretty credible that the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Condé Nast magazines have been in talks with Apple. I’d bet the Disney properties including Pixar, ABC and ESPN will be a part of this thing, too. It will play video like a champ, but also give you a new way to read magazines (watch out Zinio), newspapers (you’re welcome, Rupert Murdoch), and e-books (Kindle, we hardly knew ye…)

There are some (I’m looking at you, Leo Laporte) who think that it will have a Kindle-like WhisperNet service that will add a few hundred dollars to the price of the device, but then give you free access to content. I disagree. First, the Kindle WhisperNet delivers books. Just plain old text, at about 500kb per book. That’s a half a megabyte being shot through the air over a cell phone data network and landing on your Kindle as a $10 book. It’s just not feasible to do that with media. Imagine the back-end costs of shooting that version of Pippi Longstockings you just bought in HD over a cell network. First, it would take forever. Second, it’s over a gigabyte. That’s a number any cell carrier would balk at. This device will sync over WiFi and dock using a standard 30-pin iPod connector. That’s not saying cellular won’t be an option, but it wont be included, and will have the same limitations as the iPhone. OK, one caveat. Maybe there’d be a WhisperNet-type thing for book and newspaper content, but I still doubt it.

Sports Illustrated put up a nice demo of what they want to do for slate devices. See it at Vimeo.

The Hardware, and the Price

It’s pretty much confirmed (as much as you can confirm a mythical product no one has ever seen) that it will have a 10″ screen. The rest is up for debate.

I’m betting on a device that looks like the first generation iPhone. The front will be all screen, with the familiar home button, and that’s all you will see. The back will be mostly aluminum with the black plastic stripe that holds the radio. The sides will house the traditional mic and speaker holes, an 1/8″ audio input/output jack, a 30-pin dock connector hole, and an SD slot. Yeah, I said it. SD slot.

Inside, there will be WiFi, GPS, and Bluetooth, with the compass and accelerometer and whatnot that every smartphone has these days. Some are speculating a SIM slot, for a bring-your-own data plan, but I think that will be optional. (Almost) no one wants another damn cell phone plan. They will offer low-cost ($10/month) tethering to iPhone customers. The rest of you are S.O.L. You should already have an iPhone anyway. The good news will be an expanded Bluetooth profile, allowing for keyboards to be paired with the tablet. Steve won’t mention that keyboard part, though. Touch is the future, so why would any luddite want a clicky-keyboard?

The Price? More than you want to pay, but low enough that you still will. I guess 2 models: A $699 model with an LED backlit LCD screen and 32 GB of flash memory. Then, there will be a $999 version with an OLED screen and 64 GB of flash. Otherwise, all specs will be the same. And I’ll buy the OLED version.

All this is rampant speculation, as happens in the weeks leading up to any Apple event. Whatever happens, we’ll be hanging on every word and Keynote slide. You can bet the presentation will begin with numbers (a billion iPods sold!, A trillion Apps downloaded! iTunes is the number one music seller in the universe!) and will progress to uneventful updates to existing product lines. Then Steve will do the “one more thing” thing and pull something magical out of his hat. And I’ll be pre-ordering whatever gets revealed.