"written with a quill" Engadget Podcast 120

Finnish Army Visits Engadget Editor-in-chief Somewhere in New York and Removes Dog, at Behest of Nokia - details here

episode 120 of the Engadget podcast is thick with the good stuff.  the guys come back after a Thanksgiving break to discuss Nokia, widgets, the Peek, and streaming content.

when the discussion turns to widgets, I'm pulled in several different directions.  I too, have often been befuddled by the lack of active widgets on the iphone home screen.  just like Josh, the one I've been known to pick on is the weather icon.  it would be so cool if it could reflect the actual weather, rather than remain static (although it probably does a good job with the weather in parts of California).  I understand when everyone talks about how great it would be to have more "data" on the home screen, and when Josh mentions the fact that icons could take up the space of more than just one square on the grid.  I really do get it, but when I compare the look of the Android home screen to the iphone's (and I knowingly write this with the luxury of hindsight; the same comparison couldn't have been made at the time of the podcast), I see why the iphone icons are the way they are. it is an aesthetic thing. it is form beats out function. there's a clean simplicity to the iphone that Android phones somehow cannot achieve. and you know, I don't really need to have a widget provide me with up to the second weather reports, because I'm usually not about to emerge from an underground cave.  most of the time, when I wake my phone up, I do need to know what time it is, and sadly, what the date is. my informational requirements are dread low, so I'm sure I speak only for myself, but I say, if providing me with an active weather icon and more information on my iphone home screen cannot be done without preserving its spartan stylings, then I can do without.

every time data was mentioned, I kept thinking about Swingers, and how it brought the adjective, money, into the popular vernacular.  I'd like to introduce the word, data, to be used as an adjective meaning: knowledgable, in the know, hip to the scene, impressive in terms of intelligence, and generally great. there would be a little bit of an overlap in meaning between "data" and "money," but mostly because the meaning of such adjectives should be plastic, affording users the opportunity to provide meaning with context (personalization is an important property for such things).  take this scenario:  you and a teammate are embroiled in a head to head Trivial Pursuit match. the stakes are high. you and the other team are neck in neck. you land on the final hub. if you don't answer the question correctly, you will likely lose the game. the question is read to you and you have no idea what the answer is, but your teammate busts it out practically instantaneously.  you are so happy, you shout, "dude, you are so DATA!"  I might begin throwing the term around. be on the lookout.

I find the Peek section of the podcast to be pure hilarity. Josh kills me with his nerd monologue.  "what is that? what does it do? never mind, I don't care, I want it." but the really funny part is when they get to Paul's mom.  yup, Paul's mom.  the Peek is a device that handles email and sms. it was marketed to "moms on the go."  Josh gave a demo unit to his mom, and she loved it. Paul tried to sell the idea to his mother, and she wasn't having it. As Paul began explaining why his mother didn't want a Peek, saying something to the effect that she's old fashioned about writing emails, Josh piped in saying, "she writes them with a quill." he had me laughing there, but once Paul was finished with his explanation, Josh said, "So what you're telling me is that you're mom doesn't understand what email is."  Paul, of course, leapt to defend his mother, prompting Josh to say that he wasn't trying to insult Paul's mother, and then some banter ensues.  I don't know exactly why I was laughing so hard, but I was.  it's funny.  you should listen to it.

Peek, nerd lust-worthy? image from itechnews.com

I can't even begin to wrap my head around a device that only handled email, and was meant for on the go people. text functionality was added, but still.  was 2008 that long ago? I suppose it really was.

Nilay watched Singles over Netflix streaming. I tried to watch it last night, but it's no longer available as an instant watch (and now I'm paying for the stand-alone service). both Josh and Nilay agree that the selection is fairly dismal. Paul disagrees with them in a way that makes me realize that maybe Paul is one of those backwards thinkers that are so rare and lovely.  Paul likes the fact that Netflix has so many obscure titles because he would never have found them, had Netflix not presented them to him, and because it means that the makers of such obscure titles have not labored in vain, since they now have an audience. as most other users think, "yeah, the streaming better be free because I would never pay for this stuff and can barely find anything I want to stream from it as it is," Paul is thinking, "this is so cool, I'd pay for the streaming as a separate service - right now, with this selection!" he said so out loud during this podcast and there you have it - that is why Netflix now charges for its streaming service.  thank you, Paul Miller, you and your sweet sensibilities.

Josh identified a few missing Miami Vice episodes on the Netflix streaming service...

little by little, I'm beginning to think of Paul as being raised by the type of kind, gentle people characterized best by aging grandparents who knit doilies and bake casseroles (women) and mow lawns and build model trains (men).  I just can't help it.  that image is there.