A couple weeks ago, when I published my iPhone review, I claimed that it could easily replace the primary uses of a computer for most people. With the motherboard dying in my MacBook Pro this weekend, and a major propane explosion in Toronto forcing the evacuation of the nearest Apple Store, I spent the weekend computerless and was forced to eat my words, making the iPhone my primary computer for 48 hours.

I’ll admit, I’m still in the ‘wow’ period with my iPhone—even after receiving the first monthly bill. But there is a different type of interaction with the phone when you are sitting at home writing a review, or using it out in the ‘real world’.

Sure, it’s great be able to surf the internet from your phone, but it’s much more essential when you are on the go and need to lookup a phone number or address online.

I expected that because I am a power user, the iPhone could not possibly replace my need for a computer (most people don’t have 1200 RAW photos from Africa left to edit). However, I found that editing work aside, the iPhone was able to handle 80% of my day-to-day uses of a computer.

But it functioned better than a computer, because I did not need to designate certain hours of my day to a screen. Instead, in the moments that I was waiting for a meeting to start, waiting for the subway in the middle of the night, or waiting for Swiss Chalet to bring my large order of fries, I can get things done that I would normally need a computer to do. Organizing and responding to emails, surfing the web, and catching up on RSS feeds.

It gets to the point where when I’ve been out all day, I can come home, and not feel the need to do anything. It feels as if I haven’t missed a thing. So while I still hold to the belief that the iPhone acts as computer in your pocket, it isn’t the kind of computer that you would sit down at home and use to work on. Instead, it’s a device that supplements the primary uses of a computer while on the go.

And when using it with that mindset, it’s flawless.

After 8 months, I’ve decided to do a slight refresh of MichaelMistretta.com. It’s hard to notice slight changes on other people’s sites, so I thought I’d point out a couple noticeable improvements. If you’re viewing this in RSS, be sure to click through to view the refreshed design.

Refreshed Design

While I had planned to have a complete redesign of the site finished by now, I’ve been caught up in other projects—most notably, The Plank—which have been taking a huge chunk of my time as of late. Better than rush to get too many things done, I’ve decided to postpone the redesign, but still felt it necessary to refresh some things that were bugging me (to say the least).

The background has been darkened, and the font has been changed (thank God, I know). Hopefully, everything is much more legible, and easier to read for long periods of time.

If you want to see just how drastic of a change this makes to the overall feel of the site, check out the before/after shot of the designs.

Colophon

I also decided to completely re-write my Colophon page, as lots has changed over the past 8 months. It’s not easy for me to write about myself, but I think I’ve finally reached something I’m happy with. So if you can’t get enough of me, check it out.

Linked List

I’ve encountered many blog posts that I want to share on my site, but do not warrant a full post. In order to manage these links, I have created a new category of post—Linked List. Similar to what many other bloggers have done, there will be two different types of posts on MichaelMistretta.com.

A linked list post will not display a title when viewed on the home page. You can view all of the linked list posts here.

Having both linked list-style posts and full articles will allow me to update the blog on a much more frequent basis, and I think it will help to mirror more of my interests into the RSS feed as well.

-Michael

I couldn’t help but notice all the new faces from Shawn Blanc’s blog around the site today.
Thank you all for visiting, and feel free to subscribe or browse the archives if you’re interested.

If your up for it, shoot me an email—I’d love to chat.

Cheers,
Michael

After a long writing hiatus, I’m finally back. I spent the last month in Zambia—the cradle of the AIDS orphan crisis in Africa. There are things that I saw, places that I went, and tears that I shed that I will never forget. Loving children that have been abused, alone, and destitute. Loving orphans that have never been loved.

I took over 4000 RAW photos on the trip, taking up a mammoth 33GB of space—all thanks to my little friend. I am working on a website that will attempt to give you a glimpse into the hearts and minds of the orphans in Zambia. Seeing the things I saw and that broke my heart. More on that later.

Coming home, I opened up NetNewsWire for the first time, and was greeted with 2600 RSS items. A lot of these stories may be “old news”, but there are a few that jumped out at me, and that I wanted to share a couple thoughts on:

• The highly anticipated 3G iPhone has been announced. Really, the big news wasn’t the actual hardware of the new phone, as much as it was the deals that were made. Having a $199 entry price point and launching it in 22 different countries will definitely drive sales through the roof.
• Along with the announcement of the 3G iPhone, came the news that the iPhone is finally coming to Canada—with Rogers. I freaked out a bit when I saw the expensive data prices Rogers wanted to charge, but after the introduction of limited-time offer of 6GB of data for $30/month—more than the 5GB soft-cap on AT&T’s “unlimited” data plan in the US—the iPhone is finally affordable in Canada. And now, I’ll be picking up a black 16-gigger of my own come Friday.
• As I wrote about previously, the biggest news out of WWDC this year was Apple’s new initiative into MobileMe. Apple has covered most of my concerns with Living in the Cloud, by allowing you to access your data via native applications on an iPhone, iPod Touch, Mac, or PC, as well as providing an elegant web interface to use when necessary. While it’s not free, it’s definitely worth the $99 a year.
• Kyle Baxter from TightWind published a very thought-provoking post on Apple’s shift in focus with the introduction of MobileMe. Definitely worth a read.
• The AppStore is set to launch on Friday with thousands of applications ranging from twitter clients to games to excel editors. Gruber nails it when he writes that the AppStore is what makes the iPhone into a platform, and that’s the bigger story than the 3G iPhone.
• Apple sold their 5 Billionth song on iTunes in June. Great. Now, when can we get iTunes Plus standardized across the whole store?
• Any camera-lovers out there have to be drooling over the Nikon D700. For $3000 you are getting the photo-quality of a D3, in the size of a D300. This is the first full-frame DSLR in it’s price range. Canon better react quick; they are falling behind fast.
• Data Robotics unveiled the second-generation FireWire 800 Drobo. Faster, quieter, and FireWire 800. Exactly what I’ve been waiting for. I’m getting one.

I’m laying on the floor, typing on the backlit keys of my MacBook Pro, waiting. In less than four hours, I will be on my way to Pearson International Airport—the beginning on my month-long journey to Africa.

I should be sleeping; but my eyes won’t shut. All I can see, all I can smell, all I can taste, is Africa. There is something that draws me to Africa. Am I nervous? Yes. But that nervousness is outweighed by a child-like excitement. A sense of wonder.

Yes, I will be missing what I believe to be one of the biggest WWDCs in the past five years. Yes, I won’t find about the 3G iPhone or the iPhone in Canada (pretty please) until July. But I don’t mind that at all. There is something inexplicably captivating about Africa; the people, the children, the faces, the smiles.

Music, typing, and waiting—completely enveloped by darkness. I feel like I see the world differently than before. Sure technology is exciting and captivating, but it can’t compare to a orphan’s smile or a AIDS victim’s laugh.

This may sound incredibly cliche, but there are things in life more important than technology. And that is why I am excited—not disappointed—to have the privilege of being completely disconnected for a month. No computer. No Internet. Sure I’ll have my camera(s), but only to capture the life-long memories that I hope to keep alive even after I return home.

The past five months have flown by for me. I started this website. I taught myself photography. And I’ve launched my own podcast—of which I still have lots to learn. I look at where I am today compared to 5 months ago, and see a totally different person with a totally different outlook on life. It may not be evident to my readers, or even my own parents, but I recognize it.

I see the change. I see the shift in focus. And I like where I’m headed. By no means am I perfect, but I feel that I am going in the right direction. And that path leads directly across the Atlantic.

I’m off to Africa; be back July 5th.

School’s out, and henceforth, my three-month summer begins. School—even with marks in the high nineties—ceases to give me any satisfaction. And so I’ve decided to live a summer full of purpose and productivity. I couldn’t be more excited.

I have a couple of projects that I am looking forward to working on throughout the course of the summer break. While I want to relax during my one major break from school, I also want to be creative and accomplish something (or a couple of somethings) this summer.

• As many of you know by now, one of the things very close to my heart is missions. I will be going to Lusaka, Zambia for a month this June to help first-hand with the troubles facing AIDS victims and orphans. It’s different than just dropping some money in a bucket and letting someone else worry about their problems.

  I get to actually first-hand and walk with them, talk to them, and love on them. Sure we will be helping out with the essentials—food, water, medicine, AIDS education in schools, etc. But there is something even more powerful: I am able to go and bring them the love and hope and happiness that they have never had the chance to know. I count it a privilege to go and live in tents in the middle of the jungle in order to bring love to their remote tribe. That, in my opinion, is the greatest project for any summer.

  But being the geek that I am, I don’t want it to end there. Part two of this Zambia Missions project is to bring what I saw, heard, and felt home. I want to share exactly how the people of Zambia have changed my life as much as I have changed theirs. I will be coming home with thousands of photos, video clips, and stories that I will be just aching to share. And share them I will—as soon as I catch up on my sleep.

• The next major project that I will be working on is a major redesign of MichaelMistretta.com. While the current design has served me well, it’s grown a little long in the tooth. And truthfully, I’m a bit tired of it myself. I don’t have any mockup designs in place as of yet, although I do have a pretty good idea of what the next step is in the MichaelMistretta.com design evolution.

  I want MM.com to be a central hub into all of the things I’m involved in on the Net. That said, I’m going against the decision to make it look like a “hub” and lose it’s journal-like experience. I’ve got a couple designs floating around in my head that I’m not ready to reveal yet. But if you are a designer that is looking for a project of you’re own for this summer, and feel up to the task, please give me a shout. I’d be more than happy to discuss plans in more detail one-on-one.

• On another site related note, I will finally be switching all of my many sites over to (mt). I’ve been using free Site5 hosting from my friend Ben Feldman ever since the launch in January, and I’m not going to lie—it’s been pretty bad. MM.com itself has only had about 85% uptime in the last couple of months, and I’ve had my IP banned from my sites for multiple days. After reading Shawn Blanc’s extensive post on his experiences with Media Temple over the past year, I knew that they were the host for me.

  I’m opting for Media Temple’s (gs) hosting plan which seems to strike the perfect balance between storage, reliability, price, and seems to handle a medium traffic site with occasional traffic bursts seamlessly. Sounds ideal for my needs.

• Finally, my biggest project this summer is the one that I can reveal the least amount of information about. The inspiration for the idea struck while in the middle of a game of Mario Kart Wii—which has absolutely nothing to do with the idea whatsoever. It is a joint project between Chris Thomson and myself, and is slated for a public release on August 30th. That is, of course, depending on how fast we can code PHP/speak with some people. While I can’t reveal the idea yet—although I will hint at it, as I love secrets—I will hint at the code-name for the project. It’s known as The Plank.

There are, of course, other side projects that I hope to participate in this summer, as well as some secret plans that I have yet to reveal. So far though, it seems that this summer is going to be action-packed. I’m looking forward to working on some things that I’m passionate about after a long year of school.

As a writer, there always comes a time where you ask yourself why you are doing what you’re doing. Why do I sit here - or in my case, lie on my bed - and type words to publish on the Internet? Some think it’s crazy; others, a waste of time.

I came across a paragraph from John that expresses my feelings perfectly:

I wanted to write a site for someone it’s meant for. That reader I write for is a second version of me. I’m writing for him. He’s interested in the exact same things I’m interested in; he reads the exact same websites I read. I want him to like this website so much that he reads it from the top to the bottom, and he reads everything. Every single word. The copyright statement, what software I use, he’s read it all.

This long weekend - big happy birthday wishes go out to Queen Victoria by the way - I decided to do just that. I read a blog. No, not a blog post. An entire blog. From start to finish. From post number one to post two hundred sixty eight. I poured over the pages and pages of my favourite blog for hours on end.

And you know what? I really enjoyed it.

Enjoyed it more than spending the night watching TV. Enjoyed it more than coding and tweaking my website. Heck, I even enjoyed it more than tweeting.

Why did I enjoy it so much? Because Shawn wrote for an audience of one; he wrote his blog for himself above everyone else “When I write something for shawnblanc.net and hit publish, I want to then open up my homepage and read my own article. And I want to really, really enjoy it.” He wanted to enjoy his own content. And that made me love his posts even more.

Words of life

I hate to rave on and on about Shawn’s blog as I know I would be embarrassed if someone did the same for me, but I believe there is something to learn from the way Shawn writes. When I read over the pages of his blog, his words come alive. In all honesty, I have no words to describe it (no pun intended).

Words have power. And words, real words, are the ones that speak to me and come alive in my life. It’s addictive - in a good way. When I finished reading every word on Shawn’s entire blog, I started googling for more articles from him (and I did end up finding some). It didn’t have to be about anything in particular. It wasn’t the topic. It was the passion and the realism behind the words that allowed me to see into his life. It could have been about quantum physics, and I would have been glued to my seat.

It’s the exact reason that John wanted to write. He wanted to write for someone that would “like this website so much that he reads it from the top to the bottom, and he reads everything. Every single word.”

Fear of words

The problem with writing words of life is that it requires you to be vulnerable. You have to open yourself up, and allow your readers to glimpse into your life. You have to be yourself, and write with passion.

Shawn Blanc:

The problem is the fear of man. That fear to be ourselves, to speak truthfully and honestly, to stand up for what we know to be right and true and beautiful and wonderful.

That is why I’m sitting here on a Sunday night - Victoria Day’s Eve - in front of my laptop immersed and typing away in Writeroom with fireworks exploding all around. Because I want a voice of my own. I want to write for myself. I want to enjoy every word that I write, and savour them over again and again.

I’ve read through all the secret sauce recipes of blogging. How to write the killer headlines, and how to attract the crowds. Keywords and SEO and stats and traffic. But I’m tired of all that. I just want to write.

Yup, I’ve taken the leap and started a podcast.

It’s called Discovr. Let me explain:

Discovr is the brainchild of my own pursuit for information. I wanted to know about photography and graphic design and video editing and coding - every creative thing you could imagine. And when trying to learn about them, I found myself resorting to countless hours Googling. Reading and dissecting every bit of information I could find.

After a while, I realized that this was not the way to learn things. I wanted to go to one place where I could learn about a certain topic from top to bottom. It was then that the seed for Discovr was planted. Over the next few months, I worked on developing this minuscule idea into a full-fledged podcast.

The idea was simple - cover one tech topic in depth each week. Invite guests on that actually know what they’re talking about. Sit down, hit the record button, and have a conversation: just like a couple of people sitting around a table and talking tech. No limits. No restraints. No geekiness boundaries. Just raw technology.

We’ve already gotten two episodes up. Check ‘em out, and subscribe in iTunes if you feel so inclined. Also, if you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. Ideas, tips, critisim, requests, complaints, whatever. Just give us a shout up at the blog and we’ll be sure to get back to you.

If you’ve been tuned in to my twitter stream over the last week or so, no doubt you’ve heard about the video I’ve been making for my youth group’s video contest. This has been the first project that I used Final Cut Express for, and now, I can easily say that Final Cut has changed the way I edit.

It isn’t one of those apps, like Aperture, that just feels right. In fact, when you begin to use it, it feels awkward. Adding clips, creating keyframes, and preforming edits are all confusing at first. However, after spending a couple hours experimenting and clicking buttons, everything comes together in a quirky sort of way. Almost like Photoshop or Illustrator’s interfaces. Far from seamless, but they work once you become accustomed to them.

After much filming, thinking, editing, and (waiting while) rendering, the video is finished, and has been submitted for the contest. I will find out the winners on April 27th. So without further ado, the feature presentation:

Now that I’ve used it, I can’t help but dream about a complete redesign of Final Cut from the ground up. Written in Cocoa, and sporting a fresh Aperture-like interface. I’m excited just thinking about it.

It’s funny how we learn sometimes. Strangely, I find that I don’t learn when I do things flawlessly. I learn when things go wrong. I learn when I see something that disgusts me, and I say to myself, “I never want to be like that”. In a way, I am a product of mistakes and bad experiences that have repelled me into who I am.

The more I think of it, the truer it is. Sure there are people in my life that I admire and look up to, and strive to be like. However, there are far more people that have disgusted me and turned me off to their way of thinking. It is those people who have been far more “influential” in defining who I am and who I will become.

I have begun to ask myself which method is more effective. To be influenced by great leaders and role models, or to be driven away by hypocrites, and forced to create my own path for my life? In order to succeed, I believe that you must strike the perfect balance. To have the influential people in your life that help you lock your mind onto your goals, while not imitating or obsessing over them (which is something I’ve done many times). While at the same time being driven from all the world’s evil paths, and forced to create for yourself a new path; a new journey to tread. Something that you must create for yourself in order to reach that goal - that dream that you’ve envisioned.

If there are too many people you look up to if your life, you will waste your whole life trying to be an exact replica of them. On the contrary, if you are around too many people that pull you down, you will fall short of your purpose, and live your life to the world’s standards.

Sometimes it’s hard to pinpoint one personality trait or flaw in a person that you want to learn from, but you know that you would dread to have the same trait linked to your name. Experiences like that keep me on the path. Keep my eyes on the goal.

Don’t settle for an ordinary life. Tread your own path.

After a crazy weekend at Podcamp Toronto, I’m sitting here at my desk, and I can’t sleep. Thoughts just keep twirling though my head. All the people I met and relationships I made. All the people that inspired me, and all the plans and dreams they put into my mind.

It is in quiet moments like these that inspiration strikes. I can’t resist it. I can’t hide from it. I just exist in it.

I wish I could feel like this all the time. But I can’t. I can only continue to pass in an out of the realization that there is something much bigger than me in this world. Something much bigger than any social network. Something much bigger than my friends. Something much bigger than my life.

Thoughts of my future keep passing through my head. Goals, dreams, and aspirations. I look at where I am, and where I hope to be. There are so many things that I want to do this year, and in moments like these, I rise above all the obstacles. Suddenly, there is nothing between me and my dreams. I can see them clearly. I can feel them. I can reach them. And I will reach them.

This inspiration, has continued to set my life on a course that I could not have chosen myself. And as I pass beyond the known into the unknown, I feel a sense of nervous excitement. I have no idea what lays in store for me a year or ten years from now, but I know one thing.

I can’t wait.

As some of you may have heard, this summer I am going on my third missionary trip to Zambia, Africa.

Africa is one of those places that you never forget. And I’m proud to have the opportunity to go back. I wanted to build a small website that would serve as an archive for my trips, and a single place where people could see photos, videos, and stories, as well as sponsor me.

The result of my efforts is Michael Missions. This is the first site that I hand-coded from scratch, with the help of web master extraordinaire, Leo Mancini. And after many hours of banging my head against the wall, I am proud (and terrified) to say that this site works in all major browsers including IE7.

If you are an iPod user, there is a small easter egg on the donate page. Also, if you would like to subscribe to updates on my trip, you can do so on the updates page.

To all my twitter followers that put up with my IE rants and dumb CSS questions - you really helped me. Thank you.

Scaling Yourself - Chris Brogan:

“This one is hard for me. I love participating. I love being part of things. But I have found that I have to say no to things a lot more often, so that I don’t accidentally set myself up to let others down. This still happens, because sometimes, I misjudge the project’s impact. But more often than not, I’m sending people polite no’s, and redirecting them to people who might be just as good at fulfilling a request. The more I can say no to projects that I can’t possibly keep up with, the more likely I am to do well at the ones I’ve already taken on.”

Saying no is probably the hardest - yet most important - thing to do when you are scaling yourself. At least for me. I love to take on new projects and endeavors, but in order for me to succeed at what I’m currently doing, I need to say no to other things.

The other day I was sitting in my bed just surfing the web. You know when you get to that place where you’ve done all that you’ve had to do, and you just surf? You just go wherever the tide takes you? I love that feeling. Because it is in those moments that I see things.

When I began this year, I started fresh. New blog. New Camera. New Flickr account. Everything was new. And I didn’t want to fall into the trap that so many people fall into. I didn’t want to get to a place where I dreaded blogging and taking photos. I didn’t want to forget my blog, and leave it, like countless other abandoned blogs in the blogosphere. I wanted to have a presence on the Internet. An online home.

So what did I do? I made a commitment to blog and upload a photo each day. I thought that taking part in Blog365, and writing something each day would do just that. At first it worked. But slowly, I started to become a slave to it. I felt that a blog post every day was my duty, and it quickly began to lose its appeal.

While I was sitting in my bed that one morning, I pointed my browser to ShawnBlanc.net. I’d been there before, and I’d subscribed, but I saw it differently this time. This was not just a blog. This was a window into Shawn’s life. And then it hit me. That was what I wanted. That is what I was trying to achieve. I looked at my own blog, and saw the pointless, passionless words I was writing. I realized that I would not even want to read content like this. I knew I needed a change.
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I want to learn to code.

That’s right. I want to learn how to code things. Websites. Applications. Scripts. There are many different languages that I would like to code. I want to learn PHP, Ruby on Rails, AppleScript, and Objective-C. At the moment, I only know a limited amount of HTML. That is the extent of my coding knowledge. The problem is, I don’t know where to start. That is why I am asking your help. Where does one go to begin to learn coding?

Are there books or tutorials or walkthroughs that can take a beginner through the paces? Is there a certain method that you recommend? What language is the best to begin with? I really am clueless. I look at people all around me that are able to do so much through coding, and I want to learn. Where do I start?