It’s Time

So it’s almost time for the big meeting. Yesterday I was more excited than nervous. Now I’m more nervous than excited. That’s expected though.

I’ve been thinking a lot about all the people that have supported me and helped me make it to this point. In my mind, it’s playing out like the Digital Mind Wave. My wheels are spinning with images of Noot, Rannie, Kit, Kenny, Justin, and Kate. My parents should be there too, but Zack’s parents weren’t in his DMV either, so I guess that’s okay.

Anyway, I have lunch with Semel before the meeting. This is good, as he has a calming presence about him. Just says he looks like the least harmful version of Tank Abbott. I have dubbed Semel “Frank Abbott”, Tank’s pacifist brother.

My Awesome Birthday Dinner

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Kit, Rannie, David, and Kenny for a delicious birthday dinner. It was fantastic!

My Scrumptious Steak

Missing the Point

I’ve read a ton of articles on the T-Mobile G1 this week. It looks like a good piece of hardware with some flaws, most of which are being exaggerated. People are complaing about the lack of a 3.5″ jack, but this is pretty common with HTC products and the G1 comes with an adapter. People are complaining about the lack of a video player, but Google left this up to software developers to avoid licensing fees; I’d be surprised if a good player wasn’t available by the end of the year. A lot of people are saying it’s an ugly device, but I really don’t see anything wrong with its looks; it’s not dazzling, but it’s hardly grotesque. All these complaints aside, people are missing the point — it’s not about the G1, it’s about Android.

I’ve no doubt that most of software shortcomings will be patched up by Android developers. I’ve no doubt that this will happen fairly quickly. This is part of why being an open platform is awesome.

After taking a video tour of the OS, my initial thought was that Android is already simpler and more elegant than Windows Mobile. With the help of developers, it’s potentially more powerful too. While most writers were too busy making reactionary this-sucks-compared-to-iPhone comments, this point passed them by. Like Apple did last year, Google has introduced a v1 mobile OS that’s already superior to Microsoft’s in many ways. It kind of makes you wonder about the WinMo dev-team management….

Digging

So the two “information gathering” calls I made over the weekend were pretty good. The first one was super long (almost two hours) and I got tons of details and excellent information. The second one was less than an hour. It wasn’t as detailed, but I still received good information and the offer of some recommendations. The insights I’ve gained should be very helpful for next week’s meetings. It’s always good to have more information. Hopefully I can formulate into a winning gameplan!

Dispenser? I Hardly Know Her!

In the last 24 hours, I was asked to dispense career advice to two people I really like and respect. It’s more than a bit funny considering I haven’t had a full-time job in years and my job hunt has been pretty…you know. Both people were seeking information and perspective. One person got a ton of 411 and was happy that I was able to help him see the situation better. The other person totally missed out on an aspect of his situation and was happy that I brought it to his attention. In the latter case, I was almost surprised that he didn’t see this obvious advantage, but I know that when you’re stuck in the middle of a mess that it can be hard to see clearly.

Anyway, I was happy to help out my two pals. Hopefully it’s just karmic prepayment, as there are two people I really want to talk to regarding my job possibility. With any luck, I’ll be getting some valuable advice this weekend!

Ring Ring

Had a good phone call today. I don’t want to get too excited…but I can’t help it. The possibilities are pretty exciting. Let’s see if things become more interesting before the end of the week.

Just in Case Your Were Wondering…

…those last two posts were for a job I’m applying for. The company uses WordPress, so I thought it would be better to submit the requested samples in WP form.

AT&T to Create iPhone/U-Verse Snyergy

In a surprisingly ingenious move for a phone company, AT&T has announced that it plans to offer connectivity between the Apple iPhone and its U-Verse Internet and television products. Reuters reports that AT&T CTO John Donavon as saying that, “We’re looking at the whole landscape, of what people use, and what’s out there in the home,” adding that some of the services may be launched by the end of the year.

According to the Reuters story, “Consumers will be able to listen to their voice mails on their screens, and download shows from their digital video recorders onto their iPhones,” and, “They also will be able to use their iPhones to navigate channels like a normal remote control, and for entertainment purposes like virtually hurling tomatoes at the TV screen using iPhone applications.”

Sony Joins the Netbook “Race to the Bottom”

The burgeoning “netbook” market has itself one more player: Sony. The company’s entry into the space is somewhat surprising considering its initial dismissal of the low-cost portable-computer market. Netbooks were initially made popular by Asus’ line of Eee PC products. Since the launch of the Eee PC in 2007, other notebook manufacturers have been aggressively trying to get their share of this new and rapidly-expanding space. Notable netbook makers include MSI, Acer, and Dell. Samsung and Averatec have announced that they will be entering the space later this year.

In an interview by Engadget in February 2008, Sony senior vice president Mike Abary felt that netbooks are harmful to the mobile computing market. Abary dubbed the cheap notebook craze as, “a race to the bottom”. At the time he believed that driving to get products down to the $300 to $500 range would stifle innovation. Products like the Eee PC have relatively slim profit margins compared to high-end notebooks with bleeding-edge features (not to mention the expensive R&D costs associated with top-of-the-line computers).