Pocket Revolutionary

Alex Payne (who I respect and read obsessively) wrote a critique of the iPad on his blog here that I recommend reading before I continue… I’ll wait.

Okay, now that you’ve read the article, I can say that I don’t really agree. I don’t see the iPad as a hit against creators or the death of tinkering. For me, personally, the iPad compares to the other “consumer” devices in my house: TV, DVD Player, Kindle, etc.; except, the iPad is more creative-friendly than any of those options. Let’s face it, I love my TV and DVD collection as a consumer, but they haven’t brought me any closer or further away from becoming a director. I consume tons of books on my Kindle, and the fact that I’m not a published author has never been a setback (although I can dream). I firmly believe that everybody is a creator in some ways (even my mechanic), and they end up being consumers in other places (like my and my TV). I think the iPad encourages creation on two levels that those never can, though; it encourages interaction, and it sets a mark that I, as a creator, can reach.

Most of the apps that that I use daily on my iPhone (Tweetie, Facebook, Wordpress, etc.) are actually built for interaction. They are not built for pure consumption. Of course, I understand that’s not really what Alex meant, but I still think it puts the iPad one step ahead of most consumer devices that it is really replacing.

More important than the apps, though, the iPad gives me a target that I can actually achieve as a creator: the web. I savor the idea that a website I build (without Flash, obviously) can be used more places than just a desk. With one deft move by Apple, all of my creations as a web developer have become mobile experiences without always having to squeeze onto a tiny screen. I understand the frustration by some developers, but I’m honestly still excited working in the most “open” development field available today: the web.

Like I said, I respect Alex Payne (and I recommend reading everything he writes), but I don’t see the iPad as a harbinger of a soul-less dystopia. Honestly, the moment that computers left the hobby clubs and entered the homes, they became consumer devices for 90% of their users. I see this as an impetus for the next generation of creatives to get out there and make something for all the single moms, non-techies, and baby boomer parents that might be using this “new class” more than traditional computers.

Finally, this has nothing to do with Alex, but I have no opinion on whether any single person can, could, or should get the iPad. Since I haven’t even seen it in person, this is obviously not a review. If the iPad doesn’t do everything you’ve ever dreamed, you don’t have to buy it. I really won’t be offended. Personally, I still dream of getting one for myself (to replace the Kindle and the practice of squeezing all my newsfeed and web reading onto the iPhone) and my wife (who has an iMac that, while powerful, has never been portable).

Write when inspired; rest when tired.

Jeffrey Zeldman talks about what I’ve talked about here and tried to live in my own life: Write When Inspired

I’m still recovering from my second major brush with burnout, and this last one (quietly) almost took me out completely. Scott Boms has put together a well-researched (and lived) article at A List Apart that I recommend for anyone working in “the industry”. Even if the phases outlined below don’t sound familiar, that just means you can read up on preventing burnout before it’s too late.

The identified phases [of burnout - not in a particular order], several of which I bet sound familiar, are:

• A compulsion to prove oneself
• Working harder
• Neglecting one’s own needs
• Displacement of conflict (the person does not realize the root cause of the distress)
• Revision of values (friends, family, hobbies, etc., are dismissed)
• Denial of emerging problems (cynicism, aggression, and frustration become apparent)
• Withdrawal from social contexts, potential for alcohol or drug abuse
• Behavioral changes become more visible to others
• Inner emptiness
• Depression
• Burnout syndrome (including suicidal thoughts and complete mental and physical collapse)

A List Apart – Burnout

Just a quick post to tell anyone who cares that I’ve finally picked a real method for managing my growing RSS feeds in NetNewsWire. My first advice is to get a real RSS reader, of course. Something that lets you categorize your feeds, either NetNewsWire (I paid for it, but now it’s free), NewsFire, Google Reader, etc. You have to break up your feeds at least a little bit.

Special Folders

First, I threw online comics and my daily deals like woot! into their own folders. When I want to read today’s Dilbert, I’m not in the mood to look through a lot of news feeds, and the same goes for my daily MacUpdate promos. I look at those early in the morning on my iPhone, normally. I need to be able to jump on those woot! deals first thing, you know?

The River

Next, I created a folder I just call “The River”. This has almost all of my feeds in it, and I look through it once or twice a day as a quick glance through everything going on in the world that I might care about. It’s basically a fire hose of information, and undoubtedly, I might miss something, but I’m okay with that. I scan through all the headlines spending about a second on each one. If something is remotely interesting, I’ll open it. If I accidentally miss something and it disappears, it will probably be duplicated on one of the other blogs in the river. This actually gives me the freedom to throw even more feeds into the river. Since I’m scanning everything, throwing more feeds in just allows me to have a bigger view of the world and spot more trends as they are repeated. I can easily have two or three-hundred items in this feed to glance through without feeling any stress at all.

Heavy Hitters

Finally, I’ve pulled a small handful of feeds into a special folder I call the “Heavy Hitters”. The heavy hitters are bloggers whose articles I will always read. I don’t want them lost in the river, because I know that I’ll read every word they write. This is only a half-dozen writers for me. I probably know them personally, and they aren’t just “aggregators” of other blogs. Because of this, I will probably only have five or six posts show up in this folder on most days.

My Secret Weapon

Of course, my not-so-secret weapon is the NewsGator service. Because I use NetNewsWire on my laptop, it syncs up automatically with NewsGator online. It just happens that NewsGator has my favorite iPhone interface for reading RSS feeds. So, I end up reading everything on my iPhone about 80% of the time and just “clipping” the few articles that are too long or use Flash video that I can’t watch on my iPhone.

37signals posted an article that echoes some of my own thoughts from this very blog:

Sleep deprivation is not a badge of honor

Forgoing sleep is like borrowing from a loan shark. Sure you get that extra hours right now to cover for your overly-optimistic estimation, but at what price? The shark will be back and if you can’t pay, he’ll break your creativity, morale, and good-mannered nature as virtue twigs.

[via Signal vs. Noise]