I got an invitation to Yahoo’s new Fire Eagle location-sharing service this morning. While it’s still not fleshed out yet (the only function appears to be updating your location from the website directly). It’s somewhat hard to see what use the service will provide, but I don’t care about that. The polish on the Inferno Pigeon site is so well-executed, I want to use it regardless of what it does.

This screen is so human, so soft, so downright fucking cuddly, I just love it. Props should also be given to whomever on the Fuego Sparrow team came up with this privacy ping function. As the default is for the site to email you monthly to check that it’s still OK for them to share your location data, this is a great way to protect against irrate users. Nice work team Flame Heron; now just tell me what I’m supposed to use this Backdraft Canary thing to do.

PS - Yea, I think the name is funny, and I would’ve loved to be in the room bouncing those ideas off the walls.

Joshua Allen recently dug into the rumor that IdentityMine, one of Microsoft’s most valuable partners, uses Macs for their cross-platform interactive design work.

You can imagine my consternation when I visited the offices of such a great partner, and discovered a bunch of their developers and designers using Macintoshes! In this interview, I try to get to the bottom of things and find out why the heck they are using Macs.

Nathan Dunlap demos how he does his day-to-day work using Vista and Expression Blend on the Mac, talks about his favorite software packages, provides some tips and tricks, and more. Be sure to watch all the way through for a humorous anecdote about his Macintosh overheating and melting (I’m not kidding).

(Joshua Allen)

Of the thousands of Microsoft bloggers, few are more thoroughly entertaining than Steve Clayton: Geek In Disguise. While executing his day job as the CTO of Microsoft UK, Mr. Clayton produces a stream of thoughtful, entertaining, and refreshingly brief posts. A couple from today have been cunningly titled cool site #1 and cool site #2.

Just to be difficult, let’s start with site numero uno: http://startdoingmore.com, which has been designed to highlight the experiences that are possible with Windows Mobile 6 software. The site showcases hardware as well, but mostly focuses on the sort of things that can be accomplished with our mobile tools.

He also posted a link to http://zunejourney.net, which has been launched alongside the next wave of Zune devices (which are only ten days away). The art direction on the site is simply stunning, and you’ll spend more time than you thought possible flying around to explore every corner of the Zune universe.

The brilliant bit of coincidence here is that both of these sites were developed by a creative firm here in San Francisco, and a close friend of mine, whose birthday is today, has a hand in building both. How’s that for fondest wishes?

Do the current crop of personal computer designs make you yawn? Can you just never find that one machine that speaks to you and compels you to spend your hard-earned money?

If you want to do something about your sad state of affairs, look into the Next Generation PC Design Competition. Mock up a machine designed specifically for your own digital media compulsions, but don’t neglect the entry questions, such as concerns around actually building the thing and the customer experience from the moment they sit down with the box.

Your online submissions must be recieved by December 14th, and then come February 15th, the voting public will spend a month punching their radio-button ballots for which designs they really want. The five finalists will end up as special guests at WinHEC, with enough cash and cache to get your masterpiece bourne into the real world.

Remember all the sketches you did as a kid of your dream car? Well those wacky French have got a thing for people like us. I just posted on 10 about this Peugot Design contest, and how Xbox has partnered with them to include the winner of the annual design competition in an Xbox 360 game (in addition to the full concept vehicle that get’s produced for the Frankfurt show).

The more exciting thing though is what sort of critiques we’ll get from Monzel on the cars that have already been submitted. Go to the voting section of Peugeot’s site, click on ‘Start selecting’, and then throw your comments in below. Include their names so everyone can follow along ;)

Don’t concern yourself with how you could have missed the previous six steps, or how many more there will be before the redesign actually takes effect. Just know that I’ve got the new catch-phrase: “Over aggressive, under concerned.”

Here are the rest of the CS3 icons. They’re pretty, but will using letters confuse some people?

We’ll have to wait for Minnesota to chime in.

(via Daring Fireball)

I had a great conversation at work on Friday. Rory Blyth is a Channel 9 person, as he puts it, and he’s been at Microsoft for some time longer than I have. He’s also joyously verbose, which is just my brand of gin, and so our conversation was easily one of the best I’ve had since beginning this segment of my life.

We talked mostly about my frustrations with the Microsoft experience, in an attempt on my part to reconcile my Apple-fied cortex with my relatively earnest desire to appreciate Windows. I gave him some of my chief complaints in Windows Mobile (the complexity of the user experience and the apparent lack of simplicity as a design priority). I also drew out my Vista installation gripe, something I’ve pitched to just about anyone who will listen.

The brilliant thing Rory was able to do was to interpret my issues clearly and explain the thinking behind them. While I ultimately don’t agree with the motives behind why Windows Mobile or the Vista installer are built the way they are, what was more important was how Rory made me feel about it.

Previously the people I’ve spoken to at Microsoft about my issues have left me with the sense that I either didn’t ‘get it’ or that I was at the nonexistent mercy of Microsoft’s intertia. Instead, Rory explained the logic behind the design decisions and, in spite of my disagreement, I was able to see the logic for the first time.

Thanks Rory…air knuckles ;)

I love what the kids at Moo are doing. I got my 10 pack of Flickr cards last week and will be ordering a full boat shortly (once I’ve picked the photos truly worth the printing).

With the announcement of these Skype cards though an idea hit me like a swift kick: I need a Web2 card. Though it will certainly take more deals before it’s useful, imagine it: A mini card where I can select my web2 services (Flickr, Skype, Upcoming, Yelp, Del.icio.us, etc.) and have each of them beautifully represented in the physical world.

Sure I could hack the Flickr cards and put the rest of my URLs on them, but that doesn’t give me the shiny logos (which some might argue will be the only lasting effect of Web2). That and I’m sure the cool kids at Moo will think of more great ways to communicate my various personas.

Yea so I signed up for this Facebook malarky; sue me. This morning I find a friend request from Robin (who wins the trophy for quickest of Eli’s roommates to notice my Facebook existence), and this adorable infographic that is my Facebook feed.

I’m glad your product is here Mark to tell me that I am officially in a relationship as of 10:51pm. How would I ever function as a social being without this sort of shit?!