I got a letter today. In an envelope. With three nice stamps (not all the same). Enclosing an article cut out of a newspaper. And a post-it note with a handwritten message.

When was the last time that happened to you? It made me feel good.

Some thoughts on Fashion and Mobile Phones…

A red iPhone sounds… good. That is, if it’s the red of the Product (Red) iPod; not that bloody fingernail color of the mockup at the rumor site. Odd how a color can do that.

So, it has struck me as rather odd to now want an iPhone.  The reason being (and I know how badly this comes across) is that it’s now available in (Red).

Rumours are apparently out in force that Apple is preparing a Product (Red) version of the iPhone in time for Thanks Giving [sic].

[via SMS Text News]

In the context of a discussion of the impact of fashion on mobile device purchasing, I recently realized that if — big IF — syncing were perfect and complete, I’d love to have multiple cell phones. Different colors, different styles, work, personal, whatever. One for entertainment content, one for email and/or browsing, one for heavy calling.

What do I mean by “perfect and complete”? I don’t want to think about what’s in a phone. So total synchronization of contacts, bookmarks, content (photos, videos, music), calendar, notes… EVERYTHING.

And I don’t want to move the SIM card. I just want all the phones to be paired to the lines I use as profiles (one personal, one work, one U.S.) that I can switch between (or even have all three lines coming in, toggling them off and on as desired). Let the device synchronize every couple of hours, and I’m ready to roll with whatever suits the mood.

Now we’re talking.

“Poised between the Scylla and the Charybdis”: Why anyone would choose to be poised there, I don’t know. But it must provide a gratifying feeling of importance to be able to express your lose-lose situation so dramatically.

Remember those warm, fuzzy “Reach Out and Touch Someone” ads on TV? They were sappy, soppy spots that made pregnant women weep, as distant relatives (usually gray-haired grannies) heard the voices of those they loved. Anticipating Skype video conferencing (if only they had known…), the ads used image-in-image to double the poignancy.

Those were the days when communication was about… well, interacting with other people. As opposed to, say, yourself.

Try these on for size:

• Create the illusion of communication. You maxed out your emergency credit card the first week of school. Your parents are looking for some answers. A text message isn’t going to cut it but a voicemail would mean that you tried calling them.

• Just tell your side of the story. You just partied hard last night and going to work is just not on your radar today. You dread having to call your boss and answering any awkward questions he may have. Instead just leave him a simple voicemail letting him know that you won’t be coming into work today.

• Have your cake and eat it too. You desperately need to call your girlfriend but she is a talker and you don’t want to spend an hour on the phone with her because you would much rather watch the game with your buddies. Leave her a sweet voicemail and get a reprieve for the night.

• Play the field more effectively. You are dating quite a few people at the same time. You don’t want to leave them all text messages because there is nothing romantic about that. But a nice voicemail to each would score you points.

Are you sick, yet? These are real examples of how Slydial can be helpful to you! (If you can stomach it, there are more here.)

Given that people are listening less and less to their voicemail messages, I wonder how “off the hook” you really are with Slydial. But if I needed any validation that messaging today is about Me Me Me, now I’ve got it.
[Thanks to the Bell System Memorial site for bringing back those touching memories of long-distance service.]

Serbin founded Duo Guo in Shanghai after observing the huge demand, if not pent-up desire, of people to buy content for their mobiles right inside the store.

Many customers who had just spent close to a month’s salary for a new mobile phone were then rearing to load it up with value-added content such as software, games and other multimedia entertainment.

But in most cases, they just didn’t know how.

[via CNN]

A gem of a site, dedicated to preserving the memories of Jewish-owned family grocery stores in the greater Washington, DC area. (Is that a specific niche, or what?!) Don’t miss it.

This week I was invited to join a Facebook group called Six Degrees of Separation. (I didn’t.) Presumably, the idea is to see how many people will join if the invitations spread “virally”, where the underlying premise is that every human being on the planet can connect to every other one through a maximum of six degrees of connection (a fallacy… but that’s another story).

The Jewish Daily Forward?

I don’t see why you need a Facebook group, though. In the last six days, I have received the names and email address of 200+ complete strangers. Also the email addresses of about 50 distant acquaintances. Oblivious friends and family forward on a joke or a news item to 20 (or 30 or 40…) of their dearly beloved, putting all the addresses in the CC field instead of the BCC field.

Most of these tidbits have been forwarded five or six times without being pruned, expanding their populations in proportion. It’s lucky for my friends (and their friends, and theirs…) that I’m not a direct marketer trolling for contact information. It’s creepy for me to think that all those people now have my name and number.

Six degrees of email separation from everyone on the planet? Can you imagine the spam?

Charlie Kalech just twittered the prayer news that the MacBook Touch — that mythical Apple-branded touchscreen notebook computer — will hit the market by October. He links to Apple Insider (although I don’t see an item there).

I hope he’s right. I’m glad I’ve held out on upgrading my PowerBook. Is mobile computing salvation at hand? (Sorry about that.)

UPDATE July 28, 2008: I found this rumor report on the D: All Things Digital blog. I have to keep reminding myself: It’s just a rumor. Don’t get too excited. It isn’t working.

Thanks to @CharlieKalech for the tweet tip.

Lacking radar detectors Iranian drivers have come up with a more communal, cooperative system of detecting cops. As we would approach a speed trap or hidden checkpoint oncoming drivers would flash their lights and then make an odd twirling motion with their fingers as the cars neared. Judging by how anxiously or quickly they spun their fingers you got an idea of how close the fuzz was, an action I observed in every section of the country I visited. This ‘us against the police’ mindset offers a more revealing insight into how people feel about the authorities than a stack of newspapers or months of research.

[From the oddly-inspired Axis of Evil World Tour]

Oh, yes! My next office decorating project! (After I get my pictures hung…)

[via Office Supplies Blog. Tip from Guy Kawasaki’s Twittercast.]