The iPhone has proven itself as more than a luxury item. All cellphones that can’t browse the Internet quickly became dinosaurs the second the iPhone was released. Sure, I pay more per month for service (just under $70 on my grandfathered plan), but it’s worth it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve used the GPS with Google Maps to figure out where I am, or I learned something important with the ability to check my email/twitter/Facebook/etc.

A lot of people I know live without cable television. Considering you can save over $600/year by going unplugged, it’s not a bad idea. Cable TV is a lot of money, especially if you tack on the HD DVR and extra channels. You can watch a number of TV shows online now, but there isn’t one clean solution to put them on your big, shiny LCD.

In September, that will change.

Get ready to spend $99 on the iTV from Apple. Kevin Rose (founder of Digg) says the device “will change everything”. If you look at his reasoning, he’s absolutely right. Of course, the Boxee box will be released right alongside the rumored iTV. Unfortunately, not many people outside the tech community have heard of Boxee (and everyone has heard of Apple). Google TV will join the party a little later, providing iTV with the same competition that the iPhone faces from Android devices.

Forrester says 14% of Americans are considering buying a tablet next year. Companies are rushing to get their tablet out the door. Instead, they should be rushing to come up with their Internet set-top box.

Anyone want to buy a 40GB Apple TV?

There’s a larger version of the map at Flowtown.

Famed web form guru Luke Wroblewski posted on his blog about an alternative from They Make Apps. All you do is slide to submit a form. I can’t believe this would actually work. It’s pretty simple, but Luke notes that we still need an accessible alternative for those that can’t use a mouse. Anyway, this technique already has a theme song:

Do you wake up on your own/and wonder where you are? You live with all your faults/../So why don’t you slide? (Goo Goo Dolls – “Slide”)

This blog post by a game designer was intended to poke fun at contemporary trends in games. But, I think it also applies to a trend in usability. In usability, it’s cliché now to joke about putting something in the manual. Everyone in the field pretends that manuals don’t exist when they’re designing products (unless, of course, said product is the manual). But, I’ve never heard anyone discuss providing too much help or guidance. Sometimes when you don’t provide any guidance, the end user has the most fun and they learn more quickly how do things (like in Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros.).

My suggestion: Provide visual cues when appropriate. Allow for some exploration if it’s not a one-time-only or walk-up-and-use interface (like an ATM or grocery self-checkout). Users are smart and will figure some things out on their own. Don’t interrupt them frequently with tips–put all the help you want in a sub-menu.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Chatroulette is a very simple site that sets you up in a webcam chat with a random stranger. The site was created by a high school student in Russia and was launched in November 2009. It only took off recently, and on March 11th the first piano improv video was posted by Merton. The video has since gotten over 3 million views on YouTube and Ben Folds took notice, probably because a lot of people thought Merton was Ben Folds. Here’s the original video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Chatroulette brings me back to the early days of the Internet when a lot of simple sites existed. You could have your own web page on Geocities and live virtually in a community with neighbors. AOL and Yahoo Chat were both pretty big, and it was fun to talk to people around the world. It’s nice to have a website that makes the Internet personal again. I feel like so often I’m using the Internet, not signed on to chat, and not talking (or twittering) to anyone in particular.

• Billy Goat Tavern – Ah, the history. My colleague kept calling this place “The Stinky Goat”, which was pretty accurate. We went to the original location, which is hidden in the depths of Chicago below Michigan Ave. It was pretty cool trying to track it down, but it wasn’t too hard because of all the signs. According to history, a goat fell off a truck and wandered in the tavern. The owner, Billy Sianis, adopted the goat and then brought it to Game 4 of the 1945 World Series at Wrigley Field. Because of the goat’s odor, Sianis was kicked out of the park and supposedly placed a curse on the Cubs.I didn’t make it to Wrigley Field (which is nowhere near the Billy Goat Tavern by foot) on this trip, but I hope to someday.

• Ed Debevic’s – When I was on vacation in the Florida Keys, I watched a little bit of the Food Network and saw a special on Chicago. They mentioned Ed Debevic’s and showed how the waiters and waitresses would be rude to you. I thought it was hilarious and wrote down the name of the restaurant.My colleague and I didn’t get picked on that much… I got called a “nerd” when I called a waitresses buttons “flare” (as made famous by Office Space). The group of guys behind us weren’t so lucky. One got called four eyes and the other was called “an old Tom Seller” due to his mustache and curly hair. When they brought out a pitcher of water, the cups were face down in the pitcher! Pretty clever.

  It’s a 50s style restaurant and the waitstaff will take turns singing songs… sometimes they will dedicate songs to their table. On our night, one of the waiters dedicated a song to his table and then sang “The Lady is a Tramp”.

• Cloud Gate aka “The Bean” – Just finished in 2006, “The Bean” has quickly become one of the top symbols of Chicago. It is the centerpiece of Millennium Park, which has many impressive features including an ice rink and the very intriguing Crown Fountain. The Crown Fountain is a video sculpture of two different faces. There is a hole near the mouth of both faces that will spot water out in the summer.

  I find it hard to believe that “The Bean” is made of stainless steel welded together and highly polished on the outside. I now understand that it took a couple years to build. It’s very cool to walk around and underneath.

  Across the road, we wandered in the Chicago Cultural Center, which is home to two impressive domes. One is the largest TIffany Dome in the world and the other is a yellow-toned stained-glass dome.

We did try to go to the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower), but it was cloudy so we decided against going up. Check out my full set of Chicago photos on Flickr.

For the past two years, I’ve enjoyed watching Bill Gates. His keynote talks for Microsoft were always pretty boring, but his TED talks are informative and inspiring. Last year, he famously released mosquitoes into the audience. This year, he released fireflies (they didn’t quite leave the jar though). His speech was on why it’s important for us to innovate in energy production, whether you believe in climate change or not.

“If you gave me only one wish for the next 50 years… I can pick who’s president, I can pick a vaccine–which is something I love, or I could pick that this thing that’s half the cost with no CO2 gets invented, this is the wish I would pick. This is the one with the greatest impact.” – Bill Gates

Click here to view the embedded video.

[via TED.com]

The Krispy Kreme Challenge is perhaps one of the most unique things in Raleigh, and I plan on participating again next year. It was my first road race since I started running last summer (with the help of Couch-to-5k). I ran at a nice, casual pace (finishing at 1:01:28 according to the official results) and paused while looking for friends at the halfway point. Next year, I’m not going to look… and maybe I’ll eat more donuts at the halfway point. I just don’t know if it’s physically possible.

Check out my full set of photos from the KKC.

The Haiti Earthquake and this article on Make got me thinking again about emergency survival kits. Thankfully, I don’t have to worry much about earthquakes and hurricanes in Raleigh. But we do have the threat of tornadoes, and there was a touchdown in 1988 not far from where I live. It turns out that 72 hours is the magic number for being rescued after an impact.  Here’s a handy guide if you want to build your own kit (it’s very comprehensive).

There’s also a nice 72-hour kit you can buy from 4 Survival To Go for $99 (pictured). They’re donating 20% of online sales before February 5th for the entire months of January and February to Haiti. If you buy it, make sure to rotate out the Aqua Blox every five years and check the food.  4 Survival recommends you have one in the home, office, and car ($300 per person!). This does look like a very handy kit for the car though, since there’s no way I could carefully fit everything in a compact bag.

By the way. Slideshare doesn’t give you valid XHTML for embedding, but I found this tutorial that shows you how to embed valid slidecasts.