my cell phone is my life... no really.

at dinner the other night I was checking my phone and my dad goes "do you know how rude that is?" and I thought and replied "No, not really". At this specific setting, eating dinner (in front of the tv mind you) with my dad- I did not feel it rude to check my messages. The eight hour work day simply does not exist to most people in the  modern work force. most meetings occur out of the work day and the key to success is communication. therefore it seems completely appropriate that my cell phone be with me at this casual dinner. 
Peter Gruber explains in the intimacy of the cell phone, "This instrument, a mobile phone, was kept close to my heart, viewed inches my eyes, and pressed next to my ear. Name something more intimate! It transmitted my aspirations, hopes and dreams. It fed back to me my wins and losses. It captured my most powerful moments"
"This isn't the end of that process. Change will come faster bringing more intimacy. All of your medical information will be on your mobile phone including monitoring your physical health. The Benjamins are going to disappear from your wallet and appear on your phone making it look increasingly like an electronic MBNA card. So it's now an instrument of success and survival - two primal pulls and pushes of our lives. Name something in your life that interests you more than your success and your survival?"


...both of these quotations are magnificent explanations for the next person that rolls their eyes at you when you check your bbm.

bathroom stall secrets.

saw this written on the bathroom wall of a bar a few weeks ago. inspiration can be found in the oddest of places. beautiful.

falling.

who am I sleeping with?

my phone.
and I am not alone...
two thirds of american adults sleep with their cellphones in or right beside their bed.
90% are those ages 18 - 29.
read more from this study here.

retro sound.

While all kinds of new technology is bombarding us day in and day out - it is nice to know the comforts of the originals are still in demand. Nostalgia in sound equipment is more common than one would think. Many old technologies are being re-released with updates more suited to our technological advancements, but still with the feel good old style of the past. AIAIAI and Kilo have done just this is the headphone department. “Audio fashion wear” as they call it. They display the retro funky style of the classic headphones, minus the profuse sweat from the mounds of foam padding. WeSC is another brilliant company, launching updated versions of the classic headphone.
Remember Boom Boxes? Well thanks to Nokia, you can plug your iPod in to this marvelous technology and bring your boom blaster with you anywhere.
Even further back, the record player! Brionvega has released a super technology that resembles a futuristic record player. Its do-all capabilities include everything from playing 45s to DVDs.
The nostalgia of simply sitting in your family kitchen with the phone cradled between your neck and your ear, weaving the long spiraled cord between your fingers is in demand. YOUBZ has created that exact phone only with a USB attachment to plug into your wireless device. I love re inventing the old and making it applicable to today. I truly believe the saying “If it isn’t broken don’t fix it” does not apply here. Sound technology will keep moving forward, so can its original pieces.
Image Source: http://www.yubz.com/

mobile uploads.

There has been a recent surge in social photography in the amount of ‘Mobile Uploads’ on social networking sites. Individuals use their personal mobile handhelds to capture ‘of the moment snapshots’ to immediately upload to their social network of choice. This instantaneous documentation leaves fantastic, raw, unedited footage for your network to view and comment. No touch ups, no glamorized vignette embosses, just the facts. This makes companies skeptical because of how instantaneous (bad) news can travel. I personally especially like this on Facebook, the real deal, no photo shopped images. Individuals tend to take this personal documentation and live through as a sort of “day in the life”, adding pictures of everything from the weather to what they ate to who they saw that day. All captioned with a personalized comment.
The recent popularity has been linked to the technological developments in handheld mobile devices such as the iPhone 3G. News stations encourage viewers to submit their own 'newsworthy' uploads. In Toronto all the latest buzz has been about a mobile upload of a TTC driver asleep on the job. There is constantly battling between Toronto Transit employees regarding fare and wages, and this mobile upload fueled the debate.

right here. right now.

This video is the most powerful combination of facts and delivery I have seen to date. The author of Socialnomics, Erik Qualman produces the video about the growing use of social networking. The video is mostly shared on social networking sites such as YouTube, which makes it very ironic. My favorite part of information is that we live in a generation of consumers that do not tend to listen to advertisements. Trust is within the testimonials of real people who have experienced the advertised services and products. It makes complete sense; consumers in this social media savvy world are very smart. We watch commercials and then ask “Yah, but does that really work?”… followed by a bit of online research before we make a purchase.

photo credit: galessa's plastics, flickr.