Dad version 2.0

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Or should that be Daughter v2.0?

Evelyn now has a wonderful baby sister, Emily. Emily was born, 7 lbs 11 oz on April 6th, 2010 at 1:06 pm. She was 49 cm long with a crown of 35.5 cm. She came in screaming and pooing, much like her older sister. Emily decided to psych us out and turn from being head down to breech position during her 40th week. Jen underwent a scheduled C-Section to deliver Emily at Women’s College Hospital.

We returned home after a 3-day stay this past Friday. Jen and baby are recovering well.

I guess I am cursed to be surrounded by beautiful women for the rest of my life.

As always, the quality of care at WCH was stupendous. Top notch.

[stag_intro]Trivia: Emily was born on our 11th anniversary as a couple. Mommy and Daddy are elated. Huzzah! Huzzah![/stag_intro]

Android N1 Thoughts

I am continuing to enjoy my use of the Nexus 1. It is not nearly as good as a work phone as my HTC Magic, but it feels so much more modern. When the HTC Desire ROMs get better and more stable, I will definitely update to it to get back the Sense UI and real Activsync support.

Gaming on the device has been a total let-down. The fact that HTC and Google cheaped out on a Synaptics 2000 series capacitance display panel means that it will never support full multi-touch and consequently never be a great gaming device. It just blows. However, given that the device is only $529 USD…I am not that heartbroken. That’s way better than a craptastic unlocked Nokia phone.

I purchased Zenonia from the Android store. It’s nice to see some higher quality games appear on the Android platform (even if they are only ports from the iPhone version). So far the gameplay is satisfying, but the control scheme really suffers because there is no multitouch.

Microsoft KIN Phones

Lots of press regarding Microsoft’s new entry into the Smartphone market targeted aggressively at the ultra-connected, hyper-social teen market. Kin is ultimately the successor to the SIDEKICK service and line of devices that T-Mobile introduced back in the early 2000s and is ultimately the IP that evolved from MS’s acquisition of Danger back in 2008.

It’s not Windows 7 Phone or Windows Mobile 6.5. It’s something different (but probably based on the Zune HD OS). Seems kind of fragmented if you ask me. The service looks interesting. One of the tag-lines that resonate with me is a “Magazine of your life.” Given the work invested in editorial layouts that the UX team at Kobo have been doing with the Kobo eReader, I can appreciate that sensibility. Is it usable? Probably not as usable as some other means of laying out data (widgets might make more sense on a phone), but will people love it? I am 100% positive people will . Besides, that is what we in the UX community do now—design products that people will use and love.