Nickie and I were Wall E and Eve for Halloween. Here is our costume.

The Wall E costume took me about 2 hours to make. I made it from a cardboard moving box (thanks Nick!), spray paint, and duct tape. In this picture, I am holding up the head. Apparently, duct tape is not good as forming lasting joints.

I am not sure if I posted this before, but here is the logo for our basketball team: boom boom pau! The name for the team came from my Laker’s obsessed friend, Eric.  Also, “you’re welcome” for putting that song in your head for the rest of the day.

I was walking through b3 (apparently that is their nickname), and saw a print of what looked like the Mizzou/Nebraska game…

I walked closer to check out the piece, and to my surprise, I saw what looked like the back of one of my friends—Dan “the man” Bockhold.

I am talking about is the gentleman in the blue coat in the corner of the painting. I know what you are thinking—that could be just about anyone. But, I think it is him for three reasons: (1) the tense, arms crossed pose is a classic Bockhold gameday pose, (2) I remember watching that game from that vantage point (although, admittedly the memory is a bit blurry), and (3) the two guys next to him look a lot like the Wrangler and Eric (aka Thundercat).

What do you think?  Am I seeing things or is that Bockhold?

Preface. I have had an e71 for about 9 months now.  And, so far I have mixed feelings about the device.  On one hand, it has an awesome form factor, solid construction, a decent camera, a great twitter app (Gravity), and can handle just about anything I throw at it.  But on the other hand, the interface is pretty poor (even after applying some nice themes from Tehkseven).  As it stands today, I am definitely not going to be getting the E72 and will probably switch to a Blackberry if the next generation doesn’t feature a radically different interface.  Rather than wait around for the next generation to show its face, I figured I would put together some interface concepts of what I would like to see out of the device that follows the E72.

Assumptions. I made a number of assumptions when putting together this concept.  First, I assumed that the next generation E-series would, at the minimum, have the same screen size as the Blackberry Bold.  So, I created the concepts with a 480×320 resolution.  Second, I created the following concepts assuming the device would have a capacitive touch screen.  As a result, the icons are bigger and there are more contextual menu items.  I think the concepts would work without touch navigation, but that is too short sighted for my liking.

The concept. I broke the concept into 3 screens:  the home, the contacts page, and the contacts page with the new launcher.

The home screen is divided into 3 parts:  the top bar, the notifications widget, and the launcher (the bottom bar).  The top bar has the signal information, carrier information, and date/time.  This is pretty standard.  The second piece of the home screen is the notifications widget (the big white box).  This section provides a hub for all your notifications: twitter, gmail, facebook, text messages, IMs, calendar, etc.  It would be completely configurable. From any message, you could jump to the next message using the arrow button or go directly into the associated application by clicking “launch app”.  The final part of the home screen is the launcher at the bottom of the screen.  The launcher acts as both a toolbar (think Windows 7) and a application switcher.  Any apps that are active are highlighted with a subtle white background.  The launcher can hold an unlimited amount of applications and can be scrolled right-to-left with a flick of the finger.  The down arrow on the right of the launcher provides a hot spot to minimize the launcher to get a little more desktop or application space.

The next screen is an example of what the contacts screen would look like.  Nothing out of the ordinary.  You have a simple menu key on the left and a close (or hide) key on the right.  This is consistent with the current e-series.  Of course, screens like this would have kinetic scrolling with the flick of a finger.

What is unique about this concept is that you can pull up the launcher over an running app.  You could do this using the top key of the directional pad or by simply flicking up from the bottom of the screen.  This would allow you easy access to your applications.

Wrap Up. First a few qualifiers.  This is only a concept.  I am in no way affiliated with Nokia or Symbian.  This is a derivative work.  All icons are property of their respective owners.  A lot of these concepts are borrowed.  The home screen is definitely similar to what is currently being shown by Samsung’s Touch Wiz, Motorola’s Blur, Symbian’s s60, and Blackberry’s OS.  Being that is a concept, there are a lot of holes.  But, I definitely think it is a good point of conversation as to how future e-series devices should work in the future.

What do you think?

Now that I officially have my house up for sale, I thought it was a good time to conclude one of my biggest projects of the last 4 years—my house.  And, what better way to do that, then send it off with a blog post.  When I started this project, the house was a clean slate.  I bought it as an “inventory home” meaning that it essentially came as-is with little customization.  That was fine with me because being both a minimalist and tending to lean a bit modern, I hated just about everything builders in mid-America put into homes.

I started my customizations downstairs.  I painted the place to go with my sofa collection and wall-mounted a TV.  Over the years, I added some art and additional furniture.  I think the end result turned out nice…

As in my desk project, I went with a two tones on the wall. I think for open floor plans this is a must, because it helps to split up the space.

I never realized how much I liked white cabinets in a kitchen until I had them in my own house (although, I probably would think differently if I cooked all of the time).  One of my favorite parts of my kitchen is the wine rack.  It was made for me by my brother-in-law (and master craftsman), Jeremy.  He built it to go along with the spice rack in the corner.  Never underestimate the power of repetition in a space.

A tour of my kitchen wouldn’t be complete without showing off the Dude (another gift, this time from my wonderful fiancé)…

Definitely my favorite project I undertook while at my house was the desk project. My dad helped me on this one and it was a lot of fun. The final results were amazing.

Just like in cribs, this tour would not be complete without a look at the master bedroom.  My mom and Jeremy helped me put together the art above the bed.  We took some cool wallpaper from Naked & Angry and applied it to a frame that Jeremy constructed.

That is about it. There are a few more rooms on the flickr set, but these are definitely my favorite. As an aside, anyone looking for a cool townhouse in St. Charles (MO) send me an email at matt@matthewsmith.com.

This post is a long time in the making.  I began this project in November of last year.  At that point, the project was a success, but I had not finished painting it so I decided to hold off on the post until I finished.  Well, one month turned into two, two turned into nine, and the project stalled.  It took an engagement to my long-time girlfriend and a new need to get my house FSBO-ready to finally knock off this project.  Without further ado, here is the final results…

Looks great, right?  The project itself was pretty easy.  All you need is some 2×3’s, wood screws, paint, someone who knows what they are doing (in this case, my dad), and a couple hours.

I started with a desk in a cramped space….

… and a hand-drawn schematic.

We then created a basic frame and attached it to the studs in the wall. Did I mention you need a level for this project?

We then nailed two precision cut pieces of MDF to the frame. Fans of industrial design probably would have stopped here…

…but we decided to finish it. I sanded it, cut a hole for cords, pounded down the nails, filled in the gaps with wood putty and caulk, and applied a clean coat of paint.

To finish the project up, I painted the walls two shades of gray (yup, that is an accent wall—watch out Antonio), added a couple successories, put up a threadless print, and setup my massive computer.

Chrome OS—The big announcement this week is that Google is planning on shipping an OS dubbed Chrome OS targeted at netbooks.  Much of the speculation is that this is just a first step toward a full fledged competitor to Windows and OSX.  My guess is that it will be an “instant on” OS that is lightweight and will allow its users get to a browser quickly.  To do this, it will more than likely do away with a lot of the features of a traditional OS.  If you look at the Chrome browser, this is exactly what it is.  It lacks most of the features of IE and (especially) Firefox, but it gets to the web quick.  I use it on a daily basis just for this reason.  It opens faster and loads pages faster than any other browsers.

In theory, it sounds like a good play for Google.  But, I can see a number of potential pitfalls.  The first is that, for the most part, people do not restart their computers on a regular basis.  I have a Macbook that I only reboot to switch operating systems and a PC that before I had overheating issues I rebooted only a handful of times.  Restore on both OSX and Windows 7 is fast enough that any sort of quick booting feature seems unnecessary.  The second problem I see is that its aim is netbooks.  Right now they are underpowered and run best with older operating systems, but with how fast hardware prices fall, I am pretty confidant that they will soon have similar specs to our current laptops.  And, we are already seeing a lot of news around Windows 7 on netbooks and a possible future Apple netbook.  So, it is not like Google is entering an overlooked segment.  The final problem I see with Chrome OS is that it is entering an extremely competitive market where the two primary competitors have strong products.  It would be different if Google would have launched a competitor a couple years back when Vista was getting torn to shreds in the PR department.  But after using Windows 7 for the last couple months, I can tell you that MS is back with a great product.  And, Apple has the high end of the market locked down with OSX.

In the end, we will have to wait and see.  I do believe that in order to break into the OS market, Google will need more than just its name;  it will need one or more killer features.  And, I honestly do not have any guesses as to what those will be.

Nokia’s Future—Nokia has been blasted the last couple weeks in the blogosphere.  First, Gizmodo proclaimed Nokia is doomed in its N97 review and then Scoble followed up with a blog entry on how Europe (primarily Nokia) no longer matters in mobile.  After using my e71 for a couple months now, I think that both of these articles are right on point.  I wouldn’t go as far as to say that the company is doomed, but based on my experience, Nokia has a lot of problems.  The e71 itself is a pretty good device.  The hardware is amazing, but the Symbian OS leaves a lot to be desired.  The out-of-the-box experience (which unfortunately is what most reviewers rely on) is not good.  It took me months to find a theme that I thought was comparable to the Blackberry and iPhone themes (out-of-the box).  But even then, the app switching and general user experience of the device is not good.  Yes, Nokia devices can do everything that most of its competitors can do.  But, it is like putting a Cadillac engine in a Malibu.  Sure, it can compete on specs with its competitors, but overall you don’t get the same feel.

But that is not the only problem I have had with the e71.  Outside of the OS, the second most important thing in smart phones these days are apps.  I am not saying that Nokia’s app store (Ovi) has to have as many apps as the iPhone, but they do need to have their bases covered.  And, Nokia definitely has some big gaps.  First and foremost, Nokia still does not have a Facebook application for the e71.  To me, this is crazy.  Nokia Labs is off designing all these crazy apps like a Mobile Web Server, Diary, and Sports Tracker.  But, they still do not have a freakin’ Facebook app for all their devices.  Are you kidding me?

To wrap this up, my experience pretty much follows what the big tech blogs are saying.  Nokia needs to make some big changes and soon.  And a good start would be filling some gaps in their app lineup.

During the four day weekend, I think at some point I shut off my brain and am no longer able to make complete thoughts. As a result, this is going to be short. I started the long weekend by going to Grant’s Farm for the first time in my life (I know, I know) and going to see the Cardinals beat up on the Giants. And, I finished the weekend drinking beer, playing washers, and listening to country music (it doesn’t get much better than that) at my Graduation party.  Somewhere in between, I got to see a pretty good fireworks display and shot off a few of my own.  Overall, it was a fun weekend.

Apparently, without regard for our personal health and safety, Ryan has signed us (Rengel, the Hoff, Thundercat, and I) up for summer basketball.  So, we need a team name.  Here are the suggestions that have been thrown out there:

From Eric:
We Got Thabeet
Tips and Drills
Intentional Foulers (reference to Rengel)
Super Heroes in Training
Basketball Brawlers
Boom Boom Pao (updated)

From Matt (me):
Bricklayer’s Union
Rengel’s Glass Ankle
Three’s Company
Tropics
Spartans
Xerxes’s Hordes
Nihilists
Urban Achievers

If you have any ideas, add names in the comments below.

Man, it was a hot one this weekend. Every day the temperature was over 95 in St. Louis.  This made any activity outside unbearable.  I found myself running from one air conditioned spot to the next.  On Friday, I attended a wedding and had a late night (for me) at Talaynas.  I hadn’t been there in about 2 years.  But, it looks like they really made some improvements.  They added about 20 more disco balls then I remembered and a new bar.  If their goal was to be the tackiest bar in St. Louis, they are pretty close to achieving that.  On Saturday, I attended the post-wedding barbecue.  Despite the heat, I was able to get a few good cuts in with the Wiffleball bat.  Now that the wind is dying down, it is starting to feel more-and-more like Wiffleball season.  On Sunday, I spent the day hopping between Father’s day parties.  When, I got home that night I found my computer locked up.  Apparently, some time over the weekend my primary hard drive had a meltdown.  It looks like the root cause of the issue was two of my fans shutting down.  I spent part of Sunday and most of Monday night fixing it up.  After I installed a temporary fan (pictured above), I upgraded the system to Windows 7 RC.  I had been meaning to do this for a long time, but this was the motivation I needed.

Anyways, that was about it.  It was an extremely busy weekend.  I am putting some thoughts together on Windows 7 RC.  So, check back in a couple days if you are interested.