I Phone

I got an iPhone today. This is a big thing, because not only is it the sexy cool, but also because, up until today, I have managed to live my life without a cell phone at all. I've eschewed the little buggers all this time, watching other people get tied down and tripped up by them as friends call in the middle of conversations, classes, movies, etc. I've watched people merrily jabbering away on them at restaurants, completely ignoring the person across the table from them. I've watched people turning into complete fools when it rings, freaking out trying to find where it is. I've watched people start driving like drunk monkeys as soon as they hold the phone to their ears. And the one time I borrowed my wife's cell phone while going out on an errand, I got three calls (for me!), all of which added extra errands to my trip. I haven't seen a lot to advise for it beyond emergency situations.

I admit it. I'm an introvert at heart. I don't particularly enjoy being connected to someone every moment of the day. I like holing up in my office and pounding away on some code, or curling up on a weekend with a good book or other personal project. Cell phones, to me, do not appear to respect this human need for disconnectedness. And here I am, buying a cell phone today.

Why? Because it's an Apple product. It's not that I'm so fanboyish that I had to have it because of the brand. Actually, it's the other way around - I like Apple because they consistently meet my expectations with grace, simplicity, and an eye to integrating into my lifestyle. I spent some time with the demo model iPhone today and convinced myself that the iPhone is no exception, and down plunked the cash. I'd always suspected that if anyone could lure me into the world of worrying about roaming charges and checking my personal gadgets before movies start, Apple could. It looks like I was right. I knew it within minutes of picking it up - this is not my wife's clunky cell phone. It's art. It doesn't have everything I want (cough cough API cough), but it's a quantum leap beyond every other cell phone I've seen, and that's enough. And I know how to write web apps, so I'll be able to do plenty of stuff with it.

Still, I'm going to make a conscious effort not to let having a cell phone change my life. I'm going to stick it away and ignore it sometimes to keep my sanity. So, those of you who know me may be able to start ringing my cell. Just don't get annoyed if I don't pick up all the time - it's nothing personal. I could just be reading a book.

ImaginEERIEing.com opens its doors

Thanks to Apple's new domain name support, I can now host my haunt-related stuff on its own separate domain, and have the digital puppets not look like such a fly-by-night operation.

Introducing: imaginEERIEing.com.

As part of the launch celebration, our new digital puppet for 2007, Gordo is now available for download as a demo version.

It has not been extensively tested yet, and this is why it's not available for purchase yet. I hope to get some feedback and testing done on it over the next several days, after which point, Gordo will become available for purchase. If you try out Gordo, please drop me a line and let me know how it works for you. Gordo has a higher-resolution model than Yorick or Mirror, so it will probably demand higher system requirements than the other puppets did.

Speaking of our other puppets (Yorick and Mirror), they are still available and have their own pages on the new site.

Enjoy, and happy haunting!

Gordo, everyone. Everyone, Gordo.

Here's a preview of the next digital puppet we're brewing up at ImaginEERIEing for 2007...

His name is...Gordo.

(If you're interested in helping out on the beta test for Gordo, drop us a line.)

.Mac upgrade

Well, Apple just gave me a big gift today. Not only did they drastically bump up the bandwidth and file size limits for my web site hosted with .Mac, but they also added support for domain names, so I can finally start working on a more professional site for our haunt products.

Just in time for the haunting season, too - my peak bandwidth time. Thanks, Apple!