Apple

So there I was with my esteemed friend and colleague, Colleen Wheeler. We were on foot, en route to a wine bar along one of Ventura, California's lovely beaches, on the other side of the scenic interstate 101 from where I had parked my car. After passing a "No Pedestrians Allowed" sign---at which I thought, don't call me a pedestrian you racist!---we were unexpectedly confronted by a busy and treacherous highway exit ramp. (Hello, State of California, walking people and exit ramps don't go together!) There is no stop light, which means the rapidly exiting automobiles are permitted to slam into the dainty endoskeletons of unsuspecting bipeds at full speed. So we did the only thing sensible: We scurried across the exit ramp like daring road-kill squirrels.

As we enjoyed our wine (yes we survived), Colleen thought it would be fun to show me every photo she had ever taken on her iPhone. Which added up to about 700. And much as you love someone, reviewing that person's photo album makes you a bit catatonic. And so as my eyes fluttered, I had this ill-formed thought that I had photos on my iPhone, too, and I should, there was that one, right, which? So I felt my right-side pocket, and then the other one, and my jacket, and, hold the phone, no iPhone!

I explained my lack of phone to Colleen. She called my number and it went right to v-mail. We retraced our steps. I saw something that looked like a flat pack of cigarettes in the exit ramp. I watched it get run over once, then twice. I squirrel-scurried in, scooped it up, and sure enough, it was my iPhone.

The phone was face down, its back marred by multiple tire tracks. I turned it over and this was what I saw. (Click the graphic for a high-res image that you can use, free of charge, for any of your cracked glass compositions.)

The phone was, and is forever more, dead. Read more » 

This has been a bitter-sweet week for all of us.

What's interesting about this passing is: he wasn't a political leader, he wasn't a cultural leader, he wasn't a spiritual leader, and he wasn't a pop star. He was a thought leader. And an unmitigated capitalist. Read more » 

Call it the iMartini Hour. You know we like to sit around, shoes off, sipping cocktails with our our good friends Chris Breen and Ben Long, talking about things that start with with a lowercase i. In case you hadn't heard, there's this device called the iPhone. Some guy (Steve... something) unveiled something about a new one just this week. Well, turns out iChris and iBen specialize in the thing...Super-specialize, actually, in that they teach a super-session at Macworld Expo all about the iPhone. So we sync our brains to theirs this week, and learn a thing or two about how to enhance our iPhone experience.

From now until June 15, these are the hottest tips you need. Read more » 

This week on the iMartini Hour, the iDeke and I bring you a discussion of none other than the iPad. Neither Deke nor I have yet succumbed to the temptation of purchasing this tablet full of magic, (although not for lack of trying on my part). So we sit down with Chris Breen---Senior Editor at Macworld Magazine---and Ben Long---who you've met before, but has since written an infamous article on why the iPad isn't for him (Also available as a dramatic reading)---to figure out how badly, or not, we might need this device in our lives. And geek-gadget inspired hilarity ensues in the process.

So over a wee dram of whiskey, we basically perpetrate our first ever gadget-inspired show: Read more »