There was a time when you drew pictures.

With crayons and fat pencils you traced your world, oblivious to constraints that now stifle your creativity. There wasn’t a right or wrong way to draw, you just created. Your eyes savored everything they saw and you learned to explain this on paper with scribbles.

You drew things from all sides because that is how you saw them. Front, back, and inside-out. Proportion was something you felt rather than measured. Literal perspective didn’t interest you so you drew what something felt like, not how it appeared.

You drew the things you knew and loved. Your bike, mom and dad, and your pet. Love was expressed not by the accuracy of your lines but by the feelings inside you as you would drag your pencil across the paper. And for a while these treasures were posted on household monuments, held up by loose magnets and pushpins.

Then something terrible happened.

Criticism crept it. It no longer looked right. You become unsatisfied with the result. Maybe you came to this harsh realization on your own, or maybe someone corrected you. All of a sudden a new goal was imposed upon your drawings: realism.

And that was the day when your appreciation for abstraction died. Perfection became the goal and you never recovered.

From that day forward you held your drawing up and compared it against a more photographic representation of your world. Some of us gave up and never seriously drew a picture again. The fun was gone because we thought that drawing was really hard.

Some of us dug in and set out to perfect our drawings. We put down our crayons and started using both sides of the pencil. We burned through erasers as corrections were made. We learned to shade. We took measurements and traced photographs. Eventually our drawings started to look more like photographs. And that pleased us for a while.

A rare few became experts at drawing, refining the craft and creating stunning artifacts. Others embraced the camera and the literal renderings it delivers, pushing reality to reveal things that people have never seen before. Still others found other ways of expression leaving drawing behind in favor of music, writing, engineering, or some other profession where creativity is rewarded. We usually call these people artists. But most people never recover from the shock that they experienced when realism was imposed on their drawings as a child.

What if the oppression of realism was an artifact of adulthood that could be shed just as suddenly as your childhood realization that your drawings didn’t look right? Perhaps our understanding of the world is a constant revelation and not a two-stroke experience of pre/post adulthood. What is the next discovery of your life after you abandon your quest for perfection? Could it begin today?

For the last week or so I have been thinking about the term zugzwang. Have you ever heard that word before? Zugzwang is created when you put someone in a situation where they are forced to move even though any movement would weaken their position. Isn’t that a beautiful idea? In our hyper-competitive society it seems foreign to use a strategy like that, whether it is in sports, business, politics, or even our relationships. Instead of praising the silent winners, the people who get the attention are the ones who defeat their opponents as graphically as possible. It is refreshing to think of someone with so much skill that they win by simply forcing their opponent to make a move – any move.

The thing that appeals to me about zugzwang is the idea that you can be in a situation where doing nothing is better than doing something. How un-American is that? Could it be possible that we are in constant self-imposed zugzwang? How long could you sit at your desk in silent contemplation without actually producing something? Deep thought might be what we really need, but instead we surround ourselves with devices that ping us constantly. This puts us in a constant state of motion and it kind of feels like we are doing something meaningful. And we get used to that feeling. Silence makes us uncomfortable. Stopping seems like an unthinkable strategy for success. Are we our own worst enemy, always overfilling our schedules, always promising more than we can deliver, and never saying no? We feel forced to do things that actually hurt us. And don’t get me started about procrastination. That sounds an awful lot like zugzwang to me.

So what is the secret to escaping zugzwang? First you have to do is be aware that it is happening. Life isn’t a chess game where you are required to move your pieces. You rarely if ever are in a situation where you absolutely have to do something. Seriously. You can find the time to isolate yourself from distraction. You can tell your spouse/boss/friends no. You can reduce your work load. You can stop procrastinating. You can be decisive and stop relying on others to make decisions for you. Easier said than done, but it at least is something to think about. I better wrap this up – I have work to do…

As I made myself a cup of coffee this morning it struck me how loud the Keurig coffee maker is. It buzzes, rattles, and hisses louder than any coffee maker I have ever used. In my pre-coffee daze I told myself, “that machine really works hard to make me a perfect cup of coffee.” I wondered if the coffee maker was just really poorly designed. Basically, all this machine is doing is pushing hot water through a packet of coffee grounds. It could be as quiet as a Prius passing you on the highway. There is no need for the over-the-top spectacle every morning. As my cup slowly filled with liquid energy, I came to my senses…

The more I thought about it, the more apparent it became that all the noises and vibrations had been deliberately added to the Keurig machine. The big production was just a way to compensate for the amazing simplicity of the machine. Think about it. Coffee shops have trained people to associate loud coffee making sounds with high quality coffee. The average person would be lost with all the knobs, spouts and gizmos of that expensive equipment. We are led to believe that making great coffee is a complicated art that we should leave to the pros. We bring these expectations to the Keurig coffee machine. When you first try the machine you are skeptical that you can stick a little packet in, push a button and end up with a good cup of joe. “It just can’t be that simple,” you tell yourself.

If you were Keurig how would you overcome this obstacle? Answer: you create an illusion that really complex things are happening inside the machine. You make the machine as loud as you can and cycle through a symphony of “coffee house” sounds as your cup is brewing. When you start the Keurig up everyone in your office will know that it is working like champ to squeeze out a single cup of coffee – a not so subtle reminder to your co-workers that they should refill their own mugs.

When I shared this observation with my friend Aaron Brown he told me that Harley Davidson employs a team of sound engineers to perfect the distinct “chopper sound” that you associate with their bikes. There is no doubt that Harley could produce engines that sound smooth and quiet – but that would be a big mistake. You expect a Harley to sound that way and you would be disappointed if it didn’t.

This is a tough lesson in branding because it goes against our instincts. Logically, we try to hide our flaws and refine everything until it is a perfect polished product. We often dismiss (or are oblivious to) our customers biases and expectations. We tell ourselves that “once they see our product they will understand.”

As you think about your company and your products I challenge you to look for counterintuitive ways to add value. Could raising your prices actually improve sales? Could limiting the features of your product improve its performance? Is a low-tech approach better suited to your message? Could taking a controversial position in your industry improve your company’s image? Could you actually be more efficient if you correspond by phone instead of email? If you slow down your turnaround time, would your customers perceive your product as higher quality?

Hopefully this gives you some inspiration this morning. I don’t know about you but I am ready for another cup of coffee.

Forget religion and politics. I would venture that the Mac/PC debate has ended as many relationships as any other taboo topic. For most people with an opinion on the subject it is utterly incomprehensible that anyone could come to a conclusion opposite to what they believe. I happen to be an Apple fanboy and understanding the Apple hater is something I have been trying to do for years. I am finally starting to understand how people end up on the other side of the debate. Of all the Apple haters I have known and observed, I believe they fall into five basic categories. This isn’t a post to make those people look stupid, it is the opposite. The majority of Apple hating people are actually rational, competent, talented individuals. Allow me to outline these 5 types of people and you might start to understand how people end up passionately disliking the best products on the market. Put yourself in their shoes and you might get a little less defensive the next time someone insults your MacBook.

Apple Hater Profile 1: The Tech-Savvy Power User
Let’s close our eyes and pretend we are a super geek. Imagine if you have spent your life learning the intricacies of computers. This type of person shuns the mouse in favor of the command line. They prefer to browse the web with a text editor because reading raw HTML allows them to understand what the author really means without the distraction of images. Think of these people as living inside the Matrix. They see 1′s and 0′s where the rest of us are limited by seeing the world in hi-def. This person’s identity is connected directly to knowing more about computers than anyone else. They secretly enjoy the struggles that most people have with computers because it gives them the opportunity to show their expertise. What happens when the mortals stop asking for computer help?

Now, imagine you have all this knowledge and someone tells you that you don’t need it any more. A Mac is a computer that makes all your knowledge, the skills that have defined you your entire life, seem useless. You would take that as an incredible slap in the face. Applications that install with a single click? Rubbish. Programs that are customizable without reading the owner’s manual? What fun is that? Now you are starting to see why an Apple product is so scary to the super nerd. It is not only a threat to the core of their identity, it also takes the fun out of computers. “Easy to use” is not a benefit to this type of user.

So what do you do if one of these hardcore geeks tries to engage you in a debate of Apple’s merits? Here are some tips. First, don’t start insulting the PC or Windows. That’s the first reaction, but won’t work with the geek because you can rest assured he knows volumes more about the PC than you. Any insult you throw at the PC will be rebutted with a response that you can’t fight because you won’t be able to comprehend it. So a more effective response is to say, “I sure do love my Mac, but I can appreciate someone who is an expert on PC’s like you. Frankly, I am just not smart enough to use them as effectively as someone like you.” The point of a response like that is it gets the geek talking about themselves. This is really why they brought up the subject in the first place. Remember, this kind of person’s identity is connected to their PC knowledge so if you acknowledge this they will probably be less hateful towards you.

Apple Hater Profile 2: The Heavily Invested Professional
Our second character has less expertise than the super geek. This is a person who has a substantial investment in the PC. This investment might be money. Perhaps he has spent thousands of dollars on PC’s and upgrades. Maybe the investment is time. Perhaps he has spent hours on the phone with Microsoft’s support team. Or maybe they have gone to training classes. Or maybe they just spend their evenings removing viruses. Maybe the investment is patience. If you have spend hundreds of hours in PC maintenance you have made an investment. It is hard to come to terms with the fact that this time was wasted. In order for you to recover this loss you need to put that investment to good use. Now that you know how to remove a trojan virus from the deepest hidden corners of your computer you need to put that knowledge to good use. If nothing else, if it ever happens again you will be prepared.

When someone has a great deal of time and money invested in something they will be much more likely to defend their PC decision. So if you were to switch to a Mac, what happens to the hours you have spent customizing your machine? What about all the knowledge you have obtained? That investment is gone and you can see why this kind of person would be resistant to Apple.

So what do you do if one of these hardcore geeks tries to engage you in a debate of Apple’s merits? Here are some tips. First, don’t brag about how easy to use your Mac is. This will only remind your opponent about how much time he has wasted. Instead, say something like this, “You’re right, my Mac isn’t perfect. Don’t you wish there was a computer that didn’t require maintenance? If only there was a way to reclaim all the hours we spent on technical support phone calls.” The point is to switch the debate to a subject that you can agree on. Remember, this person’s hatred for Apple is connected to the fear of losing their investment. If you can identify with this person’s pain of time/money lost on computers you might be able to defuse the pending conflict.

Apple Hater Profile 3: A Person Who Struggles with Technology
The third type of person is the least savvy user in the list. They struggle with technology in general and don’t have much patience with computers. If you want to get an Apple hater worked up just tell them how easy it is to use a Mac. While there are things about a Mac that truly are easy, much of using a Mac is just as confusing as a PC. This is an extremely complex machine after all, and without a basic level of understanding about what that machine is doing you are going to get confused. You can only remove so many buttons and eliminate so many options. At some point you just have to know certain things. What is an application? What’s the difference between a folder and a file? What happens when you save something? What is going to happen when you click on that?

If you are the kind of person who struggles with technology a Mac can actually be more confusing and harder to use. This is especially true if you are switching from a PC to a Mac. What happens when the things that you barely understood to begin with change or disappear. Put yourself in those shoes and you can see how an Apple hater is born in this situation. “You said it was going to be easy! It took me three days just to figure out that I didn’t have to run an installer!” Rather than baptizing this person into the Apple cult you have instead created a PC user for life.

So what do you do if one of these techno challenged people tries to engage you in a debate of Apple’s merits? Here are some tips. First, don’t talk about how easy to use a Mac is. Instead say something like, “Isn’t it frustrating when something you just learned gets changed? I hate that. I guess that’s the problem with technology. It is always changing and it is hard to keep up with it all.” By switching the conversation onto something that addresses the person’s core fear (having to learn yet another technology) you shift the debate away from Mac vs. PC and onto the less volatile subject of technology in general.

Apple Hater Profile 4: The Budget Conscious Bargain Hunter
Not everyone can afford a PC. Even though the price of an Apple is cheaper than any comparable PC on the market, they are not cheap. Imagine if you can’t afford an Apple. Even if you are open to the idea of a Mac, it is hard to justify. It seems ridiculous. Thanks to the high resale value of a Mac, even the used models on Ebay go for more than the computers on sale at Best Buy. There are no sales for Apple products. If you are looking for a bargain on a Mac, they don’t seem to exist. If you are the type of person that loves a bargain, thrives on sales, or just needs to save money you will never ever be rewarded by an Apple product. Hence, many Apple haters are born based on price alone.

So what do you do if a bargain hunter tries to engage you in a debate of Apple’s merits? Here are some tips. First, don’t tell them that Mac’s are comparable in price to PC’s, that is just pouring gasoline on the flames. Instead, say something like this, “I am lucky I was able to buy a Mac. They sure are expensive and I wish they could drop the price so more people could afford them.” Since this person isn’t fundamentally opposed to owning a Mac, you might be able to turn this person into a Mac fan. By acknowledging the high price up front you can prove that you have the same concerns as this person. From there you can answer questions about why you own a Mac despite the cost.

Apple Hater Profile 5: The Non-conformist or Trend Averse
There is a perception that Mac users are just trying to be trendy. This is the type of person that hates fanboys of any kind dismissing devotion to a single brand as a serious character flaw. They typically don’t trust corporations. They might be the kind of person that believes huge companies like Wal-Mart, Apple, Microsoft, and McDonalds are seriously damaging to the world. If the person is tech savvy they will be deeply devoted to open source software and might be running Linux rather than Windows. They might be a hacker type that builds their computers from scratch. If they aren’t tech savvy then they probably are more opposed to the idea of the Apple brand than they are to any technical objections. They hate the Apple ads vehemently. They might own an iPod out of necessity, but you can rest assured that you wouldn’t recognize a single band in their playlists.

This might be the hardest Apple hater to debate. If someone hates you just because of the logo on your laptop, what do you do? If you know enough about Linux or open-source software to bring up that subject, you might start there. The only thing that this person enjoys more than ripping on Apple is bragging about what they use. They would love to convert you to their cause, so if you can show interest in what they are in to, you might be able to deflect the Apple hatred. The same could work with music. Rather than saying, “How can you hate Apple and still carry around an iPod,” you could show interest in their music and get them talking about what obscure band they discovered before anyone else.

Hopefully this look at the characteristics of the average Apple hater will help you avoid conflict in the future and might even save some relationships. As incomprehensible it may seem for someone to hate Apple products, these people are acting in a predictable an rational manner. Learn to identify what actually makes these people tick and you open a door that would otherwise be slammed in your face. As always, this is easier said than done, but I think it is worth the effort.

A few weeks ago my relationship with MediaTemple came to an end. I used to be a huge fan of MediaTemple. Huge. They were innovators. They appreciated and supported great design. Their customer service was great. I was more than happy paying a little more for their product because in my opinion it was much better than any other options available. Loved them. And then things turned bad. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that MediaTemple sucks, but I am happy to not have my sites hosted with them.

Here’s the short story:
My site got hacked. I started getting charged way too much for bandwidth overages. Customer service was bad and failed to find a solution for me. I signed up with Dreamhost and have been more than satisfied so far. It gets technical after this, but you can keep reading for the full story…

Long Story:

1. Media Temple Exploit #1026
First off, I was on a gridserver (GS), so I can’t vouch for any of their other hosting packages, so keep that in mind as you evaluate MediaTemple. Their other services might be better. This is what happened to me…

Last November my site was the victim of a major MediaTemple hack. A large number of WordPress powered sites were affected by the exploit which added code to .htaccess files as well as index files. Bad news. While nothing was permanently damaged and no data was lost, the fact that so many MediaTemple accounts could be compromised so easily really makes you question the security of their whole operation.

The other thing that was strange about the MediaTemple hack was how they handled their PR throughout the ordeal. MediaTemple has a “system status” section on their site so that anyone (customer or not) can see what issues they are working on at any given moment. This is brilliant. It says to people, “No, we aren’t perfect, but as you can see we fix things as soon as we can.” It builds trust and makes you wonder what is really happening at hosting companies that aren’t so transparent. But when the MediaTemple hack happened, the response was slow. The argument could be made that this was for security reasons. Maybe. But it really seemed like they were covering something up. I got emails informing me that they would be changing my passwords, but it took a long time to get things under control and you can see that issue #1026 has several long posts on their site outlining the whole thing.

But accidents happen, and I wasn’t going to let one incident kill a relationship that had up to this point been so stellar. So I stuck with them.

2. Slow Sites
My sites started getting sluggish and unresponsive in March. Font Burner was practically unusable taking a minute to load the homepage at times and sometimes being down completely. Then at times it would work just fine. I haven’t gotten any explanation for this, and never found anything wrong with my files that would cause such sluggishness. This may seem like an unmeasurable thing, so let me reassure you that this isn’t just a passing observation. I use tools like yslow and caching tools to make sure my sites are as fast as possible. I have worked on sites hosted through most of the major hosting companies, so I know the difference between a poorly optimized site and a slow server like GoDaddy (AKA slowdaddy). For whatever reason, MediaTemple was regularly slow. This is something that isn’t supposed to happen on a gridserver. That is the main benefit of being on the grid compared to other shared hosting options.

3. GPU Overages
It was about this same time that I started receiving my first notices of GPU overages from MediaTemple. At first it wan’t very expensive, but each month it slowly increased. Granted, my Font Burner website is a bandwidth hog that was built to support hotlinking to the fonts I host there. As more and more people use Font Burner, my bandwidth will obviously increase. I accept that. But as I researched GPU usage and optimized my site, I learned some interesting things about MediaTemple. Let me explain…

The GPU itself is a unique measurement invented by MediaTemple. Here’s a link to their GPU FAQ’s. Basically, this is a measurement of the amount of their server’s processor your site is using. Since the gridserver distributes the load of your website across a grid of machines, they chose processor usage as a way to identify the heavy users. That’s fair. If you are using more than your share of the grid, you should pay more. But the thing that is deceptive about MediaTemple’s marketing that this is strangely absent. You don’t see it mentioned in their description of the product. All you see is “100gb of storage, 1TB network traffic, 100 domains, etc.” The catch is that you will hit their GPU limits way before you ever get anywhere close to using that much storage, traffic, or total websites. So the $20/month cost is very misleading.

4. Expensive Excessive Charges
At $0.10 per GPU it doesn’t sound that expensive if you are going over your GPU limits. Trust me, it adds up. If you are 3 GPU’s per hour over your limit it will cost you $50 per week. That is what you would pay for their Dedicated Virtual server for the whole month.

So I prepared myself for the ever increasing GPU usage that I would be using by optimizing my sites. Again, I learned some interesting things about MediaTemple. The main cause of GPU usage comes from your error pages, specifically the 404 pages. These pages are hogs because they redirect you to an error page any time a url is typed wrong, of from clicks on links to pages on your site that don’t exist. The first thing MediaTemple recommends is to fix broken links or create files at the location where you get the most errors. Here is a link to their GPU tutorial.

So I went about fixing my broken links and creating files in places where I was getting excessive error pages. I had a uniques situation here because of how Font Burner is setup. If you are one of the 12,000 people who have downloaded the Font Burner WordPress plugin you had to manually enter the name of the font you want to use into a box in your WordPress admin. If you make a mistake (capitalizing the name for example) this will create a link on every page of your site to a file that doesn’t exist on my site. It’s inevitable, and there isn’t much I can do about it. It happened on a dozen fonts or so, so I simply created fonts at those locations and with those names. Problem solved. Actually, no. Not at all. Read on.

5. Disappointing Customer Service
I fixed many links and dramatically corrected the errors found in the GPU tool that MediaTemple provides. This had almost no impact on my total GPU usage. I was very surprised by this, so I called them. Up until this call I have only talked to competent helpful people at WordPress. This call was different. The guy reassured me that if I had fixed the 404 errors, I should be seeing a drop in GPU usage. I took his word for it and gave it some time to see if thing leveled off. They didn’t. So I called again and got the same answer. This person even told me that he saw a dip in my usage. It wasn’t until I got off the phone that I realized that he was looking at the current days usage. For the current day, their stats are about 12 hours behind. Since his reading was only a few hours into the new day, he thought I was below my limit. In fact I was almost at the limit just from the time in the middle of the night when my traffic is the lowest. Terrible analysis.

I commented on the support ticket. Silence. For days.

I tweeted about it and started asking people for an alternative to MediaTemple that they recommended. I was surprised to get a response from an MT worker through Twitter. They promised to look into it if I DM them my account number. So I did. Silence.

So I began the process of moving web hosts. I was looking at GatorHost, Bluehost, and Dreamhost. I decided on DreamHost because I liked how they let you move to a VPS if I needed to upgrade. I chatted with their support team on their site and was satisfied with their answers. I liked their control panel (almost as nicely designed as MT). The price was less than MT and they got lots of good praise from bloggers. Their customers are as loyal and vocal as the MediaTemple people. I found some negative reviews, too, and carefully measured the pros and cons.

I began moving my websites over and recreating databases. I was transferring files and setting things up pretty steadily for a few days. It isn’t an easy task, and not something I would have done if I could have stayed with MediaTemple. I had everything transferred over when I finally got a response on my open support ticket from MT. They said they would pass my issue over to someone else who could advise me about upgrading or something.

After my DNS switched over, I closed my account with MT once I was sure I had everything I needed from them backed up. I got a phone call from someone at MT while I was at work. I asked them to please call back because I really wanted to talk to them. The gal said, “sure,” but the phone call never came.

Happy With DreamHost
So now, I am done with MediaTemple and so far every thing is going will with DreamHost. One of the bonuses of DreamHost is that they make it really easy to host Google products like gmail, google calendar, etc. on your own domain. Loving that. I haven’t had to upgrade to a VPS yet, surprisingly. The speed of my site has been satisfactory, and I haven’t noticed any sluggishness. I hesitate to give them my full endorsement having only used them for about a month, but so far I am impressed. Perhaps, I was just a bad match for MediaTemple because of my unique Font Burner needs. If you are thinking about switching hosting companies, you can save $50 from Dreamhost if you use the promo code “adrian3″ when you sign up for a year. I will check in on this post again after I have been a DreamHost customer longer. Hope this was helpful to you!

Photos of the alleged next generation iPhone leaked recently and unlike the vast majority of people who don’t like the change, my first response is nothing but positive. Now, I proudly where my Apple fanboy status on my sleeve, so you have to trust me when I say that I think this new design is an improvement. If you permit me to geek out about the subtleties of design for a few minutes, I will explain one by one why the biggest criticisms of the new design are actually strengths.

Complaint 1: “What happened to the rounded corners?
I can appreciate a gratuitous rounded edge as much as the next designer, but let’s break this down. What happens when you eliminate all edges from a cube? Answer: you blur the boundaries between the edges. In other words, you start to lose the sides. The old design really just has a front side. The sides, top, bottom, and back are all a perfectly rounded curve. That would be fine if this object could exist completely without buttons, speakers, ports, or a headphone jack. These are all areas where flat objects are coming into contact with a rounded surface. This causes design flaws. For example…

Plug your headphones into your iPhone and run your finger across the area where the two meet. Your finger (and jeans, or shirt, or anything else that comes in contact with this point) will catch on the edge. Functionally, this is dangerous because it increases the likelihood that your headphones will get disconnected. Visually, it creates a hole that exposes the underside of the headphone cord.

The same can be said about the buttons. Have you felt the vibrate on/off switch? Feel it. Right now. It’s pretty rough. The same with the main power button on the top. Being placed on the highest point of the rounded edge only accentuates this because it puts itself out there just begging to get bumped or catch on something.

Connect your ipod to the usb cord. Just look at it. Does that connection look well designed to you? No, it looks clunky and awkward. Very unApple when you think about it.

Flat sides on the new design addresses these issues. Now things can connect to it snugly and firmly. It doesn’t have to apologize for having a top and bottom, they are right where they should be. It doesn’t have to apologize for having buttons now, either. Having curves for the sake of being round isn’t enough to make something well-designed. Things need to have purpose, and now they do.

Complaint 2: “Why two buttons for volume up/down? I thought Apple was anti-buttons.”
I would be surprised if anyone really loves the current unibutton. If you do, please explain it to me. Currently you have an awkward large button thing that to my touch doesn’t feel that great. Apple has alway been great about getting buttons to feel really great. They have the right amount of resistance, and the feedback is pleasing. I can’t say I get that from the current button. Obviously, I don’t know what the new buttons will feel like, but they look right. They are small, slightly raised, and I bet they feel more like a button than the current version.

Not sure about the vibrate on/off button. This seems like it should be a switch, not a button. The jpg looks like a button, so I am not sure how that will work. More than anything else, this is what makes me think that this might be a prototype that could change dramatically before it hits the shelves.

Complaint 3: “I see a seem, I see a seem!”
The reason I embrace this is because I have a major complaint about the iPhone that is purely functional. I would like to know that if I needed to, I could open it up and replace the battery. I have no idea how I would crack my iPhone open without damaging it. Seeing a seem makes me think that maybe this thing could open up without damage or special tools. I kind of doubt that Apple will make it that easy, though. Wouldn’t it be great if you could upgrade your memory, swap out the battery, and replace the SIM card easily with just a small screwdriver? I would gladly accept a small seem in exchange for that functionality.

Complaint 4: “The back is plastic!”
If you look side by side, the new iPhone actually has more metal showing. The current phone has a thin aluminum rim on the front that looks more like decoration than serving any practical use. Now that the steel is firmly on the sides it has purpose. It looks like this thing is reinforced. It says that despite having a plastic back, it is solid steel all the way through. The seem actually reinforces that feeling. It makes it look solid and substantial. Would I rather it had a solid aluminum back? Well, yeah, but that isn’t a fair criticism when the existing iPhone has more plastic than this one.

So count me as one of the few who really hopes this version makes it into the hands of consumers. It will be interesting to see how this plays out…

I just finished my WordPress plugin for Google Fonts and after a weekend of playing with Google’s new font service I thought I would share some thoughts on Google’s system as well as on the state of web fonts in general.

Since I have so much invested in Font Burner it may come as a surprise that I would embrace Google’s system, a direct competitor of Font Burner. Actually, I am thrilled that there is a new (and arguably better) solution to the dilemma of limited type options on the web. I believe that the font industry monopoly is at best selfish, and at worst damaging to the internet as a whole. Now that there is an open source option in which Google picks up the hosting tab, hopefully more and more font designers/foundries will loosen their grip on their typefaces.

When I created Font Burner two years ago I wanted to do anything I could to help expand the options for type on the web. While I am proud of the popularity of Font Burner, it has grown into a service that has stretched my resources significantly. The hosting move I made last week was a direct result of Font Burner and the hosting requirements it demands. Font Burner users generate over one million page views each month, and that bandwidth is steadily growing. With over 11,000 downloads of the Font Burner plugin for WordPress, the demand for alternative font options is obviously high. In attempt to meet this demand I also released an update to the Font Burner plugin that allows users to “self-host” their fonts. This should help keep my Font Burner servers fast (and affordable) along with reducing the risk of service outage for WordPress users. But enough about Font Burner…

Frankly, the Google Font service has several advantages over Font Burner (and the sIFR technology it uses.) First, it is easier to use. Just add a line of code to your web page, and then start using it in your stylesheet with standard css. You don’t have to convert fonts into swf files. You don’t have to mess with writing javascript. You can use it for body copy. You can style it with CSS. The fonts are hosted by Google. It loads quickly. And it is just going to get better.

The gorilla in the room is TypeKit. While some people have embraced this service, I haven’t. The reason is because this is a business venture. Unlike the free open source service of Google, Typekit uses commercial fonts with expensive monthly fees. While there are many commercial sites that may benefit from this service, it is not practical for the average website owner. Paying to use a font on your website (that you may even own already) is ridiculous. I can’t endorse a service that adds another middle man into an already overly complex and expensive system.

So, I really hope that Google Fonts takes off. I hope that the assortment of fonts grows steadily. Knowing Google, it will be the standard in no time.

In 1927, Richard was a suicidal drunk without a job. He was bankrupt and living in the slums of Chicago. He had been expelled from Harvard twice for bad behavior. The business he started with his father had failed. His daughter died after struggling with complications from polio and spinal meningitis. To say that things were tough is an understatement. It was at this low point in his life that he made a decision to turn his life around. He committed his life to changing the world to the benefit of all humanity. It sounds audacious doesn’t it? You bet it was. But that is exactly what he did.

Over the next 56 years R. Buckminster Fuller would live an extraordinary life that did change the world. If you are unfamiliar with Fuller’s life and his work, I would like to give you a brief introduction to the achievements of a truly fascinating man.

Buckminster Fuller is best known for designing the geodesic dome. Actually, Fuller only popularized the dome which was invented 30 years prior to Fuller’s work. Nevertheless, his contributions to the geodesic dome, including some patents, will probably be the most visible part of Buckminster’s legacy. You know the iconic sphere at Epcot Center? It is also know as Spaceship Earth and is probably the most prominent example of Bucky’s geodesic structures. The thousands of domes in existence are fascinating structures, but they aren’t the most interesting of Fuller’s ideas in my opinion.

There are three words that Buckminster Fuller invented that pretty much sum up his design philosophy. Those words are livingry, tensegrity, and dymaxion. The fact that all three of these words get flagged by spellcheck is by itself a testament to Fuller’s personality as the definition of a non-conformist. If you read his writing you will probably laugh at some of the sentences he concocts. Not only did he make up words, he would write the longest run-on sentences you have ever heard. My point isn’t to ridicule his writing, but to point out that Buckminster had no use for the conventional obstacles that humanity had built around society. When language was insufficient for his purposes he would invent new words. When traditional rules of English limited his ability to explain his ideas, he unapologetically broke the rules. But I digress. Let me get back to the the concepts of livingry, tensegrity, and dymaxion.

Livingry
Livingry is the opposite of weaponry. Fuller believed that the goal of all professions should be in the support of life. His term for the world is “Spaceship Earth,” a term meant to recognize that our planet has a limited amount of resources. We are hurdling through space without an instruction manual and we need to learn how to best manage life here. Indeed, Fuller was in fact an environmental activist long before that term was perverted into the modern day stereotype.

Tensegrity
The word tensegrity is a combination of the words tension and integrity. You may have seen sculptures made of only steel cables and long metal rods. Without any outside support, these structures seem to defy gravity as they rise into the air.

Dymaxion
While the word dymaxion comes from “dynamic maximum tension,” it really is just a brand name that Buckminster used for several of his projects including his dymaxion car and the dymaxion house. Buckminster’s ideas about housing and the car were decades ahead of their time. The dymaxion house was designed for energy efficiency. The plan was to make the house easy to ship and assemble on any terrain. The three wheeled dymaxion car was fuel efficient, fast, and seated 11 passengers. Unfortunately, the world wasn’t ready for these inventions and both the dymaxion car and house never went into production. Here’s a video of the dymaxion car in action. Note the amazing turning radius:

Perhaps the world wasn’t ready for many of Fuller’s ideas. He has a great quote that says, “This is the real news of our century. It is highly feasible to take care of all of humanity at a higher standard of living than anybody has ever experienced or dreamt of. To do so without having anybody profit at the expense of another so that everybody can enjoy the whole earth. And it can all be done by 1985.”

Buckminster Fuller died in 1983. His gravestone says “Call me trimtab.” This is a reference to an interview where Fuller observes how a tiny rudder (the trim tab) can change the course of a giant ship. Bucky said “The little individual can be a trim tab…If you’re doing dynamic things mentally, the fact is that you can just put your foot out like that and [change the direction of] the whole big ship…”

If you are interested in learning more about Buckminster Fuller, I encourage you to read his books, especially “Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth
.” The Buckmister Fuller Institute website is also worth a visit.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday my dad helped me with some electrical work in our basement where I work. I was able to recover 10 extension cords and a couple power strips that covered my walls and ceiling like spider webs. Safety benefits aside, it feels really good to have simplified my workspace so much. I love having a well planned space to work in and anything I can do to simplify my surroundings is really rewarding.

Shawn Blanc has an ongoing blog series about “Sweet Mac Setups” and I am honored to be featured this week. I have also posted the images used in the article on Flickr adding notes pointing out the highlights of the images. My home setup can be viewed here, and my setup at work can be viewed here.

I have the privilege of designing logos (among other things) for a living. This puts me in the company of a group of people commonly referred to as “graphic designers.” Unfortunately, there is a perception of people in my profession that isn’t very flattering. While the corporate world is beginning to notice design as a powerful business tool (I challenge you to open a business magazine and not find a discussion about design in some capacity) there is still a stereotype that paints designers as a group of complaining, ego-centric, hard-to-work-with snobs. That bothers me – because that assessment is often accurate. Look no further than this troubling (although really funny) rant called “Please design a logo for me. With pie charts. For free.”

This week I got an email from HOW Magazine (and Print Magazine) apologizing for an earlier email in which they seemingly endorsed the new service of iStockPhoto.com selling stock logos. You can click on the images to the right to read the emails in their entirety, but basically the “trusted design publications” offended nearly every serious designer on Earth by partnering with a company that promotes stock logos. Needless to say, this is Print and HOW’s core audience and they are now distancing themselves from this mailing as best they can. Like most other print publications, Print and HOW are scrambling to find a way to stay relevant in the age of the blog.

When I was writing regularly for Be A Design Group I would have posted this outrage immediately with a fiery rant against stock logos and proclaiming the virtues of custom logo design. But when I read the apology email from HOW it barely registered on my radar. IStockPhoto has all but killed the professional photography industry, and it isn’t a stretch to see designers as the next victim of the digital/DIY revolution.I wasn’t more offended by this email than I am by any of the other junk that HOW sends me.

In the midst of the “stock logo outrage” issue I think there is a sub-story that gets lost. That story is the disconnect between how designers and non-designers view logo design. If you are a designer, you understand the terrible implications that come with a stock logo service. But if you aren’t a designer you are probably wondering “what’s so wrong about saving money on something that is seemingly overpriced?” Rather than being offended by that question and writing letter’s to magazine editors, designers should use this as an opportunity to educate people about the real value that a designer can bring to an identity project. We should calmly point out that the purpose of a logo is to represent the unique qualities of a company. Explain how it is impossible to stand out in a crowd when you are using the same logo as 50+ other organizations. Talk about how importing branding is and the importance of differentiation. Whatever you do don’t pout about the threat of a new competitor in the logo design marketplace. All that will do is promote the negative designer stereotype and put a barrier between you and your potential customers.

So is the age of the designer ending as a result of all the cheap design options available today? No. Their will always be demand for creative people who can communicate clearly and decisively the value of design. I will do whatever I can to discourage people from buying stock logos, but I will never be offended when someone falls for the allure of cheap logo design. I know that eventually it will be obvious that the stock logo purchase was a mistake. At that point I hope they ask themselves, “Remember that articulate designer who tried to sell us an expensive logo? What was his name again? Adrian3 was it? I should give him a call…”