Cameron Moll Colosseo iPad Martian Giveaway

Well, now that I have your attention… 😉

Just wanted to let you all know about the Cameron Moll Colosseo iPad Martian Giveaway.

Salt Lake Temple - In TypeCameron Moll is one of my favorite designers, creating the prominent typeset edition of LDS Temple that I am proud to hang in my home. In addition to hanging this in my home, it has also made the rounds at Stevens-Henager college to all of my classes, all the while sharing the video of the creation at the same time. (embedded below)

I first met Cameron two years ago at a dinner for speakers and sponsors of the WordCamp Utah. I had been following the blog NorthTemple.com for a while and new some of the names of the authors. After doing a little bit of digging around, I stumbled on to Cameron’s site, Authentic Boredom and became an active reader. It was exciting to get the chance to have dinner with him that night.

I didn’t think that our paths would cross again, but I was excited to see that he needed some help done a WordPress site last October. I jumped at the chance to help. I was chosen, and as a result, I can claim that I did the WordPress theme for AuthenticJobs.com/blog/. It was a fun project, one of the coolest designs that I have ever done.

So, now that the pitch is over, I wanted to mention colosseotype.com. This is the new letterpress poster of the Roman Coliseum. It was modeled from a photograph that was taken while on a trip there with his wife. I don’t own this yet, bet already have a spot reserved above my desk for it.

On a slightly nerdy note, I love the design of colosseotype.com. It is built using HTML5 and some kewl things using CSS3.

Love it…

So, if you looking for a smashing gift that will really leave an impression, check out Cameron’s fantastic letterpress posters. You will be amazed at the craftsmanship.

Why Video Won’t Happen On The iPhone

Lots of discussion about Qik and the iPhone today. As a preface, I don’t want you to think that everything is glowy and that I have drank some form of apple flavored Kool-Aid. I like Apple stuff, I have bought a ton of it. I use their stuff, I have broken it, hacked it, forced it, and on an on.  

Now, on to the big picture.

Apple does a lot of things very well. They are known best perhaps for having one of the best vertical integration systems in the world. They build the hardware, then write the operating systems, and follow up with world class software that resides on their machines so that the consumer, you and me, are never let down. There aren’t device drivers, there isn’t phantom hardware that doesn’t work, it all does, because they can control the environment where it resides. Because of this, the consumers stay happy, knowing that if it is supposed to work, it does.

iPhone Portrait iPhone Landscape

Now, enter the iPhone. Pictures are taken in two different varieties, portrait and landscape. Portrait are taken in the conventional manner of holding an iPhone, with the home button at the bottom. Landscape is taken with the phone rotated 90 degrees so that the home button is on the left or the right. Due the accelerometer in the phone, the shutter button rotates with you. The phone  knows that it is ok to rotate, and the interface changes with that. In my mind, this is the perfect solution. You should let your users know when the interaction is going to change. Hats off to the interaction designers at Apple. 

Now with video, there is are a few formats, but in essesnce, everything is shot landscape. You may shoot 16×9, 4×3, or even in a cinema format like 2.35:1. 

iPhone Video Mode
Ugly video icon, I know...

So, imagine this situation, you are at an event, and want to capture a moment of video, what do you do? Pull out your iPhone and shooting some video. You are shooting in a portrait landscape, because that is where the button is, and you can do it with only one hand. What happens when you get back to the house though? You kick start iMovie, and go to start editing, and here is your video, turned 90 degrees the wrong way.


iPhone Video Demonstration from Jake Spurlock on Vimeo.

Not that this was shot with the iPhone, but to illustrate what video would end up looking like if done with it.

So, here is my rationale, Apple has a decision to make. They have to reformat the screen for video, making it so that you are stuck shooting one way as part of the video application. The problem with this is that people want to take pictures and video at the same time. So, jumping from one framse size to another would be jarring. If they keep it like the camera app, they would get people who when they get home see that there video is all turned 90 degrees. When they load it into iMovie, it would come out that they have to rearrage all of their clips. My take, is that this isn’t going to happen. 

Now, what about Qik and other streaming applications? Do they take the video at portrait, and they rotate it? Do they make an interface that forces the user to turn the phone on the side? I don’t know, I haven’t pwned my phone yet to see the results. (Tried, but it didn’t work. If you have a suggestion, let me know.)

So, what do you think? Will we see video on the iPhone? Are we doomed to let the peeps with Nokias hog the streaming space on Qik and other sites?

Sound off in the comments.

American Stories, American Solutions

For a long time now, I have been supporting Barack Obama. I think that he is a great leader that supports people like me. That he has the best interests of normal people in mind. He supports industry, entrepreneurship, and technology. Yesterday, October 29th, Barack ran a 30 minute infomercial on seven major networks. I thought it was awesome. Aside from the exceptional production value, the real message hit home to me. Barack offers more then a change in leadership in the White House, he offers change that we all can believe in. Change in how we live as Americans. 

For young people like me, we all need to take the time to vote. Even in one of the reddest states in the Union, Utah, we still need to hit the polls, and vote. If you missed the video last night, I have posted it below.

Obama – Biden: Change we can believe in

Me, on Couchcast

In an effort to get the seizure inducing photo a little further down the page, I offer a new post. Yours truly was interviewed during WordCamp Utah offering a some dorky, nerdy, lame, geeky insight into what I did for the streaming.

You can check out the post over at the CouchCast page, or you can check it out below.

As a side note, I am after Lance Willet, and before Matt Mullenweg. That’s right, I am before more important then the founding member/CEO/President/Bomb.com of WordPress.

Jake Spurlock, interviewed on Couchcast.org

David Fincher’s New Film…

Nope, not Benjamin Button. David Fincher is one of my favorite directors. He is the guy that brought us Zodiac, Fight Club, and Se7en. He has now directed an awesome Nike commercial. “Fate” tells the life-long journey of pro football players LaDainian Tomlinson and Troy Polamalu as their destinies collide in an NFL football game.

[flv width=”460″ height=”250″]http://jakespurlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/fincherfate.flv[/flv]

Based on a concept by Wieden & Kennedy, the portland-based advertising agency behind some of Nike’s best campaigns (including Bo Knows, Spike Lee’s Mars Blackmon Air Jordan ads, Charles Barkley’s I Am Not a Role Model ad), the Bruce CVampbell Old Spice “Experience is Everything” ads, and Coke’s The Coke Side of Life campaign. Filmed by cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (Sleepy Hallow, Ali, Great Expectations, Children of Men), edited by Angus Wall (Benjamin Button, Zodiac, Thumbsucker, Panic Room, and the creator iof the title sequences for Carnivale, Rome, and Big Love), and scored to a remix of Ennio Morricone’s “The Ecstasy of Gold” from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

A fantastic but unexpected commercial. The spot feels more like the work of Michael Mann or Peter Berg. When I think Fincher, I think smooth yet edgy, but as far as I can remember, Fincher rarely makes use of handheld camerawork (maybe in Se7en).