Live Earth and Incipio

Today is the day the biggest names in music reached out to the rest of us in an attempt to bring light to what I think may be the most important issue we face as a population, Global Warming. The climate crisis we all face and how we can do simple things in our everyday lives to better our chances of survival.  That’s right – I didn’t say “guarantee our chances” or “maybe prevent global warming”  I said to better our chances for survival – I’m convinced that we as a species, are on our way out and the only thing we can blame are ourselves.

Fun stuff huh?  Not really – It makes me angry to see what we – yours truly included, have done to everything around us.  From the products we buy to the way we make those purchases, from the homes we live in to the vehicles we drive and to the way we care for and dispose of these items.

See, we are in the business of producing accessories for devices that we as a population feel are “indispensable” – many of the accessories we make are designed to prolong these gadgets life by protecting them from the elements.  Most people purchase accessories because they made an investment in a device and they don’t want to see that investment go to waste prematurely .  I would say very few people purchase our cases because by prolonging the life of their mobile phone or MP3 player it’s going to keep the landfills that much emptier.  But it would be nice if that’s how it worked and that was the way people viewed the devices they owned.  Now, I speak mostly for the people in the US.  This job, what I do, has afforded me the luxury throughout the years to travel extensively.  With that said, I’ve seen how people in Europe, the UK, Asia, South America (basically everywhere) make purchases and live their lives.  We, in the US and A like to buy multiple this and multiple that and dump our perfectly fine stuff in the trash as soon as a new one comes out. I’m as guilty of this as anyone else.  

People in other countries own one   “1”   device - Not and MP3 player, a phone, a digital camera, a video camera, a PDA and an alarm clock.  It’s weird to see people in other countries make purchases of mobile devices – They take time, ask questions, read and get help from an in store expert and use their devices till they are basically dead and then get them serviced.  We in the USA run through Best Buy and grab whatever is on ad or the newest thing on the shelf and if it gets a scratch or begins to act funny, we toss them in the trash.

I don’t want to preach at you or anyone for that matter, but I do want people to know that it’s something we should think about and consider as we make purchases and decisions.  Throughout the years I’ve done very little to lessen the impact of my ways. Like I said before, I’m just as guilty as anyone that’s ever walked the face of the earth.  However, reducing my “Carbon Footprint” from this day forward is something that is going to be a priority for me and Incipio.  We will work towards less packaging, reusable bags, more “earth first” products like our eco|CASE for iPhone and hopefully a few products aimed directly at the issue of global warming. If this, or the day has had any affect on you, I commend you and hope we keep in mind what’s really happening around us.

A few days with the iPhone

Its been a couple days and I’ve been using the iPhone as my secondary device.  I have to say that it hasn’t been an incredible experience.  Its been nice – but not incredible.  I hate to admit it but Ti is right about the keyboard or lack there of. My dad liked it  - Its funny seeing an old dude that isn't great with computers pick it up and in a few seconds checked out every feature and gotten a hang of the basics.  One thing that he doesn’t do and wont is text so, he didn’t care about the keys – he pointed out something though – Which I thought was pretty interesting – Once you set everything up – you get all your info in one place – He wont input into the device at all – For him its just a portal, and reference, much like a TV.  Which may be how many people use the iPhone.

Now, I think I’ve gotten the hang of the keyboard  - Speed isn’t bad – probably about the same as the Pearl and just about as accurate so I would say on par with anything else out there without real QWERTY keys.  What’s a bit annoying is that I make mistakes tapping on icons and things of that nature that never happen with a device that has keys and a few buttons. What I think happened here is that its too clean, to beautiful and way to minimal.  I really think that 2-3 more buttons on the thing wouldn’t kill it aesthetically and I think would have really enhanced basic functionality.  

Also.....It gets hot – Really hot!  I’m used to phones warming up a bit and my laptop doesn’t run cool either – But for a phone that I’m supposed to hold up to my skull?  That’s a bit freaky!

I’ve heard some comments comparing the Wi-Fi to the Dash or other devices, but the way the iPhone hands off data is really nice – Makes you wonder why others cant get it right. Every time you access any type of data feature, whether its Google Maps, Mail or Safari it looks for an access point,  In fact, the antenna on the thing is pretty impressive  - I was picking up networks that I hadn't seen before on my laptop.

Now for the work stuff – What I’m really happy about is that all of our cases fit and work great!  All the sensors are open and work fine – The volume and vibrate/ringer button work great and the sleep button is easy to get to as well.  I spent some time this weekend looking through some eBay and Amazon listings – I wanted to see what the all hacks out there had to offer and I was really disappointed.  There are so, so many people that are going to get there  $5 case from the garage operated eBay business and be ticked off cause the iPhone’s screen doesn’t want to come on or that you cant get to the buttons or that they just bought the pimpiest phone in the world and put hubcaps on the thing – Come peeps – what’s the deal?  Spend a few extra dollars and buy from a reputable company that has done some testing and makes accessories as their primary business.  More on this later....

I love this! - ʇxǝʇ uʍop-ǝpısdn ǝʇıɹʍ

Source: http://www.revfad.com/flip.html