THE BRILLIANCE!
HTTP://WWW.THEBRILLIANCE.COM/
We're chilling out for a little bit. But we'll be back real soon. Hit us up in the mean time if you'd like. See you soon.
|
MENU! > Entries! Interviews About THE BRILLIANCE Press! Join Our Mailing List! HELLO@THEBRILLIANCE.COM
|
CATEGORIES! >
Arts
Entertainment
Fashion
Gourmet
Homelife
Misc
Tech!!
Transportation
Travel
View All
|
|
Apple's "Magical" iPad. (Tech!!)
"Whoa, the new iPhone is huge!" I gotta get this post up/out of the way while its still fresh in my mind - and while I'm watching the replay of Steve presenting it. If you read our site you know I love Apple. Some friends say I do too much - but they truly are the best when it comes to products that capture our imagination, I'll argue anyone on that. Today Steve Jobs showed us the iPad for the first time. Hmmm. I guess I'll just go right in - its truly beautiful looking, does what it does very well it seems, the price point is almost unbelievable (in a good way), and it will set the tone in the market. But is it "magical"? The iPhone was like getting hit in the head with a basketball in gym class - stunning. It totally changed the way you thought about phones - it really was, as they said, 5 years ahead of its time. Magical. But this iPad, especially to existing Apple users, doesn't make you want to grab your card and immediately purchase it without thought like most of their products tend to do - they usually fill whatever need/gap PERFECTLY. So, with that said, its interesting to think that the iPad isn't filling an existing need - but maybe creating a new one? Also, I mentioned "existing Apple users" - there is a huge chance that this is not who they are concerned about. I see my grand mother and parents who either don't use Apple products, or are just getting into them, purchasing this device - and never seeing a reason to buy a MacBook. You know? It truly is nudging itself between the iPhone and the MacBook - and again, it will set the trend and it will be copied, period. But for us who'd seen all the patent stuff, rumors, speculation stuff - let's be honest - it was a bit underwhelming. No flash support? No camera? Isn't the bezel kind of big (I know its for holding)? No multi-tasking? Apps run in the middle of the huge screen at their native size??? Etc. But you know who doesn't care even a bit about those - a ton of people with $499 to spend. Like, a TON. And if you missed Apple's $15+B quarter announcement for the end of 2009 - let it remind you that not only do they make really, really amazing products - they make really, really amazing amounts of money and its certainly not on accident. "I have to say though, watching it is nothing like getting it in your hands." - Steve Jobs. I'm going to admit this is the probably case, and that while I'm on the fence about one now - I'll play with it and my heart will melt a bit. The price is unreal, this is just the first version - its only going to be approved upon. So Apple, yeah, I was hoping for something just insane - but I'm excited to watch you define a totally new category. ***Steve looks healthy too doesn't he? Good stuff.
> Link to more information
> Date Posted: January 27 2010
> Posted By: BENJAMIN
> PERMALINK!
> DIGG This Post!
|
|
|
I sometimes think Apple is confusing. (Tech!!)
So yeah, I'm a super huge Apple fan right? To a certain extent I evangelize their products a bit too much. I suppose I just really love their attention to detail. That being said, after just scrolling through Engagdet's live updates on the keynote today and chatting with my friend Adam about this new iPod Nano with a camera...I feel a little confused. I love simplicity, and not just in design, but in business models, etc. I feel like Apple is making some confusing moves by offering, while really cool, odd enhancements to their products. So we've got an iPod Nano that can take video now - great. But I kind of can't believe I just saw Steve Jobs show a picture of a Flip Camera and say "we want to get in this market".........and then announce it as a new feature on their mid-level music device. A music device that has nothing to do with capturing video. A device thats simplicity, see them brag about the click wheel, made it so attractive. A device that's whole purpose, music, reinvigorated the public's image of Apple. Does anyone remember Steve Jobs saying that even just playing video on an iPod wasn't something they were interested in? Now they're just cramming features into it - making it harder and harder for me to explain to, say my Grandmother, which iPod would be best for her. It used to be like, you know, small - medium - large. As in, Shuffle - Nano - iPod. It feels like each is its own product but none really fit into a line-up as Apple usually does. To be honest, it feels kind of like the presentation of product lines we'd see from Sony or something, you know? Or, ouch, Microsoft with their 20 different versions of windows. I had the same thoughts with the iPod Touch when that was launched too, like, I couldn't believe they would do that. Yeah, it sells well, but does it cannibalize other products, does it confuse, is it kind of corny? I always looked at the touch as the C-Class hatchback Benz did a while back with cloth seats. Yuck, what a bad look for Mercedes at the time. It's funny, when Steve Jobs came back the first time in the 90's he slashed Apple's product lines big time, made things simple, understandable and FOCUSED. Looks like they are creeping back to their old ways maybe? I guess it all feels just kind of un-Apple. ***All that said, its pretty awesome to see Steve back on the stage doing his thing, I hope this is the case for a long time to come.
> Link to more information
> Date Posted: September 9 2009
> Posted By: BENJAMIN
> PERMALINK!
> DIGG This Post!
|
|
|
What's important: Twitter's search!! Duh? (Tech!!)
This might be a 'duh' to everyone, but Twitter's search seems to matter to me more and more everyday. So first off, press/media and getting press/media attention is a funny thing. The first time you get it for a project you've done, business you own, etc, etc you're like 'whoa, I'm being talked about!' Or are you?? I remember my first time getting in the local business paper here in GR I was so stoked, front page, etc...and oddly it did very little for the traffic/awareness of my project. Maybe because of the reader demographic, etc, who knows. But I remember realizing, 'wait, these papers are in the business of having pages full of articles..thats pretty much it' and then I kind of grasped that papers, blogs, etc, will write about anything to simply get content. And 99% of the time the writer isn't some fabulous taste-maker - they're simply doing their job. So, the reality is, I was indeed being talked about...but by only one person, that writer. When I launched my last project, I pretty much stopped checking what blogs/press outlets where saying and strictly relied on Twitter's search function to see what 'the people' where saying. People were giving their opinions, thoughts, likes, dislikes, etc, and it was all happening in real-time and quickly. I then searched a competitors name and found very little - even though they had considerably more traditional press than I did. Was super validating - my product was getting more traction with the actual public - the consuming public. I'm still figuring out where I sit with Twitter personally...but I guess that doesn't matter does it? The public has already made their decision and that collective decision has made for some pretty awesome free market-research available to everyone who wants it.
> Link to more information
> Date Posted: May 4 2009
> Posted By: BENJAMIN
> PERMALINK!
> DIGG This Post!
|
|
|
Follow us on Twitter, come on, it will be fun. (Tech!!)
|
I kind of can't believe I'm using twitter. (Tech!!)
Maybe its just the name... 'Twitter.' If it was called like 'Update' or 'Quick' it'd feel a lot cooler...ha, I don't know. Anyway, I started using it cause I opened an account and a few people started following, then like 20 or so, and I just figured why waste the outlet, you know? So instead of using it like the face book 'is' thing, I'm just using it to post thoughts, links, even song lyrics from Rick Ross...I mean, why not. I try and update it like once a day, keep it fresh. It's a fun little outlet. I'd kind of ignored twitter so I was totally missing out on following people like Diplo and Lance Armstrong. Super entertaining. Diplo specifically. Virgil put me on to his. So yeah, totally get like, you know like, super web 2.0ed out and follow me on twitter dude! We can like totally tweet each other! Ha, jeez, maybe I shouldn't have started using twitter, ha. ** get at me too! username: VAALLC ** 3/3rds of THE BRILLIANCE!!! is up and running.
> Link to more information
> Date Posted: February 24 2009
> Posted By: BENJAMIN
> PERMALINK!
> DIGG This Post!
|
|
|
The problem with web services being free. (Tech!!)
Something I've been thinking about quite a bit lately... The problem with web services being free. Seems every service on the internet is free, right? Blogging services, facebook, google, email services, even the blogs themselves, etc, etc, etc, etc. I started thinking about it more after just recently switching my personal email to be hosted using Google Apps, and hosting my personal site using Tumblr...both services free. So for $8.95 a year, GoDaddy fee, I have the pretty much the best email solution possible and a fantastic blogging platform - both with rock solid performance and uptime. Minus the GoDaddy fee...I have everything for free. In fact, I left a previous host and I'm actually saving money and getting better service. I'm starting to feel like this isn't a good thing. In fact, apparently neither is Google, they have been lowering the number of free accounts you can have on your Google Apps service - its down to 50 form 200. And after that its $50 a year I believe. The web has long been about 'getting eye-balls' and then figuring out how to monetizing them. This has all been funded by massive venture cap that have made their money selling their hit products to some other, often established, company who thinks they'll be able to monetize those zillions of 'eye-balls'...see News Corp + MySpace. But at the end of the day, it always seems to come down advertising real physical things, that can be monetized the old fashioned way...by selling them. It's like the internet has been subsidized by venture cap for so long that the idea of creating something for the web that makes money because it offers a valuable service...doesn't even occur to 'entrepreneurs' anymore. Kind of scary, you know? There is that classic saying that if you give something to someone for free they'll never value it. And from that, people won't really evangelize the product because they don't really value it. Right? What if Google Apps wasn't free? What if facebook was $1 a month? What if twitter was $5 a year? What if really great blogs weren't free? I just wonder how much different things would be if there were 1,000s and 1,000s of great little internet business humming along that made money...without advertising. You know, like the real world. I guess this post was just me thinking out loud. There are companies, new and old on the web that charge...just not as many as it seems there should be, and not enough small ones in particular. ***Did this post suck? Was it too boring/long? Stating the obvious too much? Should I not think out loud on here anymore? Ha.
> Link to more information
> Date Posted: January 28 2009
> Posted By: BENJAMIN
> PERMALINK!
> DIGG This Post!
|
|
|
Obama + Blackberry BFF4LIFE (Tech!!)
You've got to love this...Not the kind of change talked about during election season, but nonetheless, instant, obvious, immediate change. Taking the White House out of the dark age and into the age of technology with a simple change in policy. Obama will in fact keep his Blackberry. Sure it's going to be secured and guarded like a tank, but he'll still have it and be able to use it when he needs to... Setting a totally new precedent for future Presidents, this will be the first time email has been used by a President since FDR. Remember how slow email was back in the 40's?! Anyways...I think this is a great move forward and a clear sign that this man understands that times have changed. A wired, connected President for a wired, connected generation. If his wife is anything like mine though, this Blackberry will cause more problems than it should...so, just keep the Crackberry addiction under control and don't use it in public too often, Mr. President, and you're good to go. What are the chances he's actually reading this right now on his 6230?
> Link to more information
> Date Posted: January 23 2009
> Posted By: CHUCK
> PERMALINK!
> DIGG This Post!
|
|
|
37Signals on the DRUDGEREPORT®'s design!! (Tech!!)
I've been a long-time fan of the Drudge Report. Even as an Obama supporter myself and with his obvious slant against him during the general election, I didn't care. I knew I could consistently depend on Matt Drudge to have the biggest and best headline of the moment front and center. And if it wasn't front and center, it would be later in the day, as most other news channels and sites would follow his lead.. Jason from 37Signals (who we apparently are very fond of as of late on here) has written a brilliantly accurate article on just why exactly, despite it's aesthetic ugliness (which is also debatable), the Drudge Report is one of the best designed sites on the web. Ben just sent this over to me and I was so glad someone had taken the time to put a spotlight on this. I've always felt like the Drudge Report worked so well because of how simple it was. Jason's first point is that it has staying power which, if you ask me, the entire article could focus on that alone. He says "It’s generic list of links, black and white monospaced font, and ALL CAPS headlines have survived every trend, every fad, every movement, every era, every design do or don’t. It doesn’t look old and it doesn’t look new — it looks Drudge. It hasn’t changed since at least 1997..." He is so right on with this...it is not old, it's not new. It's a true example of 'it is what it is'. When we were working on the design for the Brilliance, Ben and I went back and forth a lot even talking about Drudge and its effect on how we might approach this site. How it could just last throughout time, which is difficult to think about in terms of the internet considering what's cool now is not cool 10 minutes from now let alone years from now. Anyways, this is a really great writeup you should check out. Really helps to understand how something can be good design even if it's not "good design" at first glance...hence this statement from Jason that "A few thousand bucks a year in overhead that generates a few million a year in revenue. That’s good design."
> Link to more information
> Date Posted: November 19 2008
> Posted By: CHUCK
> PERMALINK!
> DIGG This Post!
|
|
|
Game changers: RED digital cinema cameras! (Tech!!)
Alright, I'm not going to pretend I know a lot about video editing, cameras, or anything to do with film-making. I do have some friends, Dot&Cross, here in town that are quite educated in it...and a while back they'd mentioned to me this company called 'RED' that makes unbelievably high quality digital video cameras for equally unbelievably low prices. Allowing film-making shops to literally own the digital equipment at prices they were paying to rent real-film equipment for a week. The prices were still far beyond what the average consumer could afford - so aspiring, and starving, film-makers weren't really effected by this...just the smaller/mid-sized shops. That was true until last week when RED, after taunting the public with teasers, finally announced their new Scarlet model which shoots big-screen, cinema quality, footage and will cost just $2,500. Literally, a true game changer. I think it was on TechCrunch where they mentioned the absolute fear this must have stricken in Sony and Cannon, etc. There is just simply nothing that competes with it. And their catch-phrase that they 'render obsolescence obsolete' in that every part of the camera is modular and works with any new products they might develop, etc. And similar to the iPhone, all firmware upgrades are free for owners. Pretty amazing. I really don't have any interest in owning one - I may purchase one to rent out to local hipsters (ha, for real though) - but I love, LOVE companies that just shake their industry and literally create a whole new playing field. Always inspirational. What iPods are to music players I imagine RED will be to digital video. They're branding and physical product design is well done too...very beautiful looking machines. Also, check this video shot using a RED. Awesome. ***Again, I'm not very educated in this stuff, so if I have anything wrong, shoot me an email!!
> Link to more information
> Date Posted: November 17 2008
> Posted By: BENJAMIN
> PERMALINK!
> DIGG This Post!
|
|
|
I, and so did Chuck, got the new MacBook..! (Tech!!)
Chuck got the Pro and I got the regular MacBook. I'm always evangelizing Apple, so I figured I'd throw a post up with my thoughts on the machine. First things, first, yes...the aluminum uni-body enclosure is simply beautiful. Almost doesn't look like metal its so precise. It looks just as amazing closed as it does open. Now, I'm coming from the MacBook Air, and I'll be totally honest in that the MacBook Air still wins in design contest, its pretty hard to beat. And the light weight mixed with the same uni-body enclosure makes the Air actually feel more sturdy for some reason. Anyway, that being said...the MacBook is on like a whole other planet compared with the plastic ones before it. I was talking with my friend Nicolai the other day about future design/build direction for Apple noptebooks...the question was, 'what else can they change??' They might make it thinner a bit, maybe lighter, obviously faster, etc. But from a pure design standpoint, what more can you really change? Its largely made from a single milled piece of aluminum. Can't get much cleaner/simpler than that, you know? Plus Apple has an iconic computer in the aluminum Pro of past, and even these new ones don't look too much different...so why change? These computers are almost becoming the Eames Lounge or Nelson Bench of computing. And I dig that. So I've swathed on the praises...but, my battery cover thing does rattle a bit, they should have made it over thicker material. ***Chuck, any thoughts on your Pro?? And Virgil, did you get yours??
Chuck: Loving mine so far...at first I was a little unsure of the super glossy screen, but it's proven to really be no big deal. Only problem? I didn't spend all that money on a new laptop to have a dead pixel right in the middle of the screen. So I'll be bringing it back in to the store to see what they can do about that. Maybe not a big deal for some people, but when you're doing design on it, it can be a real annoyance. Other than that, this thing is so perfectly designed, so quiet, so quick. I can't recommend it more.
Virgil: When they dropped I was traveling, no time to make it to the Apple store and was initially hoping for something a bit more "fashion" forward with the design...I was hoping it woulda come in black, something stunning. In any event its a slick machine, I have used one of my friends and its cool. I think that trackpad clicking thing would take some getting used to. It's an inevitable purchase, I am just stalling...that Canon G10 and that Blackberry Bold are calling my name in the technology department...
> Link to more information
> Date Posted: October 27 2008
> Posted By: BENJAMIN
> PERMALINK!
> DIGG This Post!
|
|
|
GOTO 'Tech' PAGE! >
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
|
