Disorderly Content

There's been a lot of talk lately about unlocking iPhones to use on T-Mobile, or just to install applications, and whether Apple will, either by design or accident, turn them into very expensive bricks with the next software update. As I wrote a while back, I had used a freeware app called iFuntastic to unlock my phone so I could install my own ringtones, only to have an Apple update undo my hard work a few days later. Then came iToner, a not-free-but-you-can-try-it app for installing ringtones that didn't require any software surgery. I tried it, only to -- yes, you guessed it -- have my ringtones unrung with another update. So I gave up for a while. Then I decided to try an updated version of iToner. And today Apple released an update to the iPhone with some cool new capabilities. So I updated, and wondered if I'd end up with a brick (unlikely), a wiped phone I'd have to reconfigure (pretty unlikely, although that's what happened after my iFuntastic Voyage) or an iPhone without my cool ringtones. So imagine my surprise when the update installed without incident, and even more when I discovered that my ringtones were still there. Huzzah! Apple didn't do a bad thing. At least to me, and who else matters?

Update 09/27: Oops; spoke too soon. The phone's fine, but my custom ringtones are gone. I was fooled by the fact that my chosen ring was still selected in Settings. Still, at least the phone works and all my other settings were preserved.

I speak not of Mos Eisley but of MySpace. Not my sentiment; it came up in a conversation about increasing the visibility of a nonprofessional project with which I'm involved. I suggested that MySpace might bring us more of an audience. I was told not only that we would never do something like that officially, but that (and I quote) "MySpace is a disgusting slum of the lowest of the Internet and those who aren't the lowest but know no better. It's way less classy that I think we are."

Which leaves me wondering: as a MySpacer myself does that make me scum, or just stupid? I await your verdict.

Leave it to What The Duck to say what we've all thought at one time or another. And you don't have to be a photographer to appreciate the sentiment.

I've been shooting and submitting photos for sale on microstock websites for more than two years, and I'd like to believe I've learned a few things along the way. One of the big lessons is that useful trumps pretty: a photo a designer can use as part of an ad or a website or whatever is far more important that one that makes you go "ooooohh!". Which is good for me, since it isn't often I produce that kind of shot. I'm becoming a better technical photographer. But art? Not often, and even less often by intent.

I mention all this to show you two data points that tell the story far better than I could. Two photographs, each exceptional in a different way. The first, which you can see here has been voted the best in my portfolio by my peers on iStockphoto. It has been reviewed thirteen times to date, and given a maximum rating by each reviewer. The photo has sold 44 times on this one site, which isn't too bad. But that's over the course of a year, so it's not exactly good either.

Now let's consider the second photo, which you can find here. It's never been reviewed; not a single person who saw it thought it was worthy of praise. And I don't blame them; it is a singularly uninspired image. But here's the thing: this second picture has sold 194 times. And not in a year; no, that's in just five months. Looked at another way, the second photo sells ten times for every sale of the first. Because it's useful, or at least that's what I assume. It sure ain't artistic.

Now all I have to do is figure out how to shoot a few dozen more uninspired images that'll sell as well. Which, come to think of it, is a pretty interesting creative challenge.

It's like two gifts in one. The first is that for some unknown reason, at least to me, the wonderful folks at Television Without Pity have done one of their inimitable recaps of an episode of How I Met Your Mother, the only comedy worthy of my Replay. (Well, the only one not on Comedy Central or Cartoon Network, anyway.) And not just any episode: the amazing Slap Bet episode. Which recap gave me the second gift: a link to CBS's Slap Bet Countdown clock. So now we know what Barney does not: the exact moment when we may experience The Slap Heard Round The World. (Number three.) I mean, isn't that legen... wait for it... dary?

I'll admit to being mildly upset when the price of the iPhone dropped by a third. The rational part of me, and yes, I do have one, acknowledged that I thought the phone was worth $600 when I bought it, and that I was sufficiently motivated to get rid of that POS Nokia I was using that I might not have waited two months to get it for $200 less. Still, the emotional side was bugged about it. And it would have been nice to have known what was coming, so I could make an informed decision. After all, it's hardly usual for a new and hot product to have its price drop so much so quickly.

Anyway, I was pleased when His Steveness announced a $100 store credit for those of us who got in early, a credit I've just received. I won't have trouble finding something in the Apple Store I just can't live without, especially once there are more iPhone accessories available. But I still believe the press got the story wrong on the early adopter reaction, at least in regard to this early adopter. Heck, I believe they manufactured a story where none (or at least not much of one) existed without their help. And I want to call out John Dvorak in particular for being the dick he is. What can you say about a guy who abuses iPhone purchasers as "idiot Mac fanboys" on a recent This Week in Tech podcast (they being more TWiTs than usual), and then complains about how Apple product owners overreact to his columns?

By the way, I was fascinated by the, again in my view, wrongheadedness of the TWiTs' comments on the new iPod Touch, and specifically the effect it would have on iPhone purchasers. Host Leo Laporte argued that the Touch has most of what an iPhone buyer would want, when for me it's exactly the opposite. I bought an iPhone as a phone and an email/web device; the fact that it's a good iPod, especially for video, is a bonus. But it's beside the point. In fact, I still carry my hard drive iPod with me. I'd hate to run my phone's battery down listening to the iPod and then not be able to make a call when I need to.

In fact, my reaction to the latest iPod announcement was mostly disinterest. I don't need a bigger disk-based iPod, as I haven't filled the 80GB model I have. I don't want the Touch, for reasons I've already stated. And the new Nano, which I got to play with yesterday and which is much neater in your hand than in photos, would be a nice workout device. If I, you know, worked out.