RIP Steve Jobs. 1955–2011

So I checked out the hipster messenger favorites, Chrome and Timbuk2. Chrome didn’t have many options and the ones I’ve seen looked bulky, so I tried out Timbuk2. They let users post product reviews (positive & negative) on the site, which was an awesome way to learn about the bag from people riding with it, not just a flowery description. Loved the custom bag maker. I chose a monochromatic look. 2 panels of lightweight black and 1 panel of reflective restaurant-booth-style vinyl. Like an Orca.

But the most impressive part of the purchase was the personal touch they put on everything I got from them. This snippet from the confirmation e-mail was so much more entertaining than the usual confirmation receipt:

We suggest that you actually read it and like it because this is what you are getting and the address below is where we are going to send it. If you must be That Person, we can TRY our best to make changes or cancel your order.  This is only if we have had enough coffee and our warehouse hasn’t… Remember, this is only if your order is NOT IN PRODUCTION. Once your order makes it to our production line, we can’t change it for you and if it’s custom, we can’t take it back. Not because we don’t love you; but because we already have really, really nice custom made Messenger bags from Timbuk2.  It’s part of the uniform.

It was refreshing to get something with some personality. Made me feel better about spending $200 on a backpack. When I actually got the bag in the mail there was another surprise. It didn’t come in a bloated box like everything from Amazon. It came in a plastic shipping bag with a map on it. Not just any map. It’s a bike route map of San Francisco with all the locations you can buy Timbuk2 bags tagged. They encourage you to cut it out and reuse it for something. But the writing is brilliant. Not your average Starbucks corporate eco-friendly statement.

Now every time I need a travel bag, I know exactly where I’ll look first. Next time I go to San Francisco, I want to go check out their office. I couldn’t care less about visiting the Jansport factory or the Nike factory. But because of the extra personality Timbuk2 gave me, I am now fascinated with their brand and want to support anything they do.

This is powerful branding. All about knowing your audience and taking every opportunity to be genuine and personal with them. Timbuk2 has a mission and it’s not to be the biggest messenger bag company on earth. But it is to be the best. And to not destroy the earth in the process.

I’m a fan. And the bag is awesome, too.

First thought was inspired by a tweet from @wblau:

This is what happens when one looks at a new world through the lens of his old world : the iPad-Kiosk. http://bit.ly/aCnPlW

The link is to this video. Take a look at what people are trying to do with Microsoft’s Surface tech, and see if you can figure out the problem.

What I, and @wblau, see is a product and software trying to force new technology to act like old people. Why on earth would I want to go to a table, wait in a line, pull a device out of my bag, put it down and go through all this work to buy a magazine? Seems ridiculously inefficient to me. With an iPad, the whole marketplace is in my control. I don’t need no stinking kiosk. I’m buying a digital copy of a magazine with an already-capable-and-connected device. This may be cool right now because it’s new and you can touch it, but I tried it in person and it’s pretty freaking lame. Felt like I was using a fancy ATM touch screen. Pardon the pun, but it didn’t have the “Apple touch.” It had Microsoft written all over it. Trying to play catch up with old ideas crammed into trendy crap.

I prefer this method of media consumption.

I got back today from the SXSW interactive conference in Austin, Texas. Aside from falling completely in love with the city of Austin again, we managed to get to a few sessions and do some networking with major tech players. We met some of the lead developers of WordPress and a few fellow themers and hung out with the super-cool author of WordPress For Dummies, Lisa Sabin-Wilson. We also met Darren Rowse of Pro Blogger.

SXSW is all about meeting people and taking advantage of the 100% geek saturation of Austin for 5 days. Matt Danner tweeted during the conference, “I’m looking for @adbrad. It’s like… Looking for a hipster at #sxsw.” It really was tech hipster overload, but in the coolest way possible. I’ll be going back again for sure.

So I have a lot of blogging to do about SXSW. I’ll be posting some video conversations with Matt over the next week or so on our thoughts about the conference, blogging, business and social media. They’ll be in a group of “Little Thoughts from a Big Event.”

Check out the quick blog Matt and I put up to document the trip. sxsw.ithemes.com. And look for more posts on here later this week.

They’re all original vector drawings. No stock stuff. I’m really enjoying working on these and developing my vector illustration skills. I have some more in the works for future plugins that I’m really excited about that I’ll post as soon as they launch.

I’ve come a long way in the last two years of building web sites. I made my first site spring semester of my sophomore year and I just finished my most recent one last week. It will be switched over soon, I promise. I’m switching hosting and it’s a mess right now.

Because I’m switching hosts (finally ditching GoDaddy for Hostgator) I’ve been going through all my old files to back everything up. It’s terrifying to see what I used to think was worth showing people. I think you should always be able to look back and realize how far you’ve come. If you’re not better now, you’re not pushing yourself. So, get ready to laugh. Here comes two years of rough AdBrad site screenshots. From hard-coded HTML to finally now all WordPress, it’s been quite a journey.

I was recently nominated in the Best Blog Design category of the 2009 Okie Blog Awards, so I guess I’m getting better at this (you should go vote for me if you’re an Oklahoma blogger!). And now that I’m working for WebDesign.com and iThemes Media, I’ll be doing a lot more web design in the future so maybe I’ll look back and hate this site too. We’ll see.

Some of these link to the originals, but most will break by next week when I clean off my storage, so get to them quickly or just enjoy the screenshots. There are a lot, so click the <more> tag to see them all. Be glad I only included the most developed ones. There were plenty more single pages that never got developed.

Those are the first two. Click for more if you can bear to look at the rest.

And here’s the current. Never the final, but the current. Here’s to constantly improving yourself.

If TextEdit is Times New Roman, Ommwriter is Helvetica Neue Ultralight.

Ommwriter is the first software I can remember using that almost made me cry. It’s like playing Flower for PS3. A beautiful experience. I bet Sigur Ros uses this software to write their songs. I almost subconsciously wrote a haiku when I first opened the application.

I realize I used a lot of hyperbole and metaphors in this post. Just watch the video and download the software to get the full experience for yourself. Mac only for now.

2. I’m thankful to finally have a car again via that same Dallas trip. 2006 Civic. 36mpg.

3. I’m thankful for Google Chrome. I finally tried it out. And it’s wonderful. Smoothest web experience I’ve ever had. However, I’m not a fan of Google’s color scheme, so I’m using the Chromium style icon I found here. I’m also thankful for the Google Wave invite I got from Orrey.

Obligatory, but true “I have so many things to be thankful for” post ending.

It took far too long to clone stamp out the letters to keep this jpg to myself. So, here’s a half-decent-sized jpg of the current Apple keyboard. Of course, because I’ve waited so long to do this, Apple will undoubtably launch a new keyboard design at WWDC 2009 in a few weeks, making this obsolete. So, enjoy while you can, before Steve (or maybe not Steve) wows us again.

Click for a larger version.

Just got back from the new Star Trek movie. In typical J.J. Abrams style, we have time warps, fanged monsters, sometimes confusingly placed comic relief, stunning special effects and of course my favorite part – well-treated typography in the opening credits and beginning scenes of the film. Beautiful in-motion 3D sans-serifs. I wish I had a pirated copy so I could show you the screenshots, but this was no Wolverine, so you’ll have to get to go see the film.

I’m still reeling from excitement. This week, before the movie, I had the chance to borrow a set of official prequel comics by IDW from my friend Cassie. Spectacular cover art, followed by a very confusing storyline for a Star Trek novice. Time warps confuse me.

This was my favorite cover of the 3 I was able to read. Hit the jump to see pics of the other 2 covers and some inside pics from [FilmEdge].