The Sidekick Was First
Don't be distracted by the sparkle -- it's the user interface that makes the device shine.
During my 3L year in law school I worked as a legal intern at Danger, maker of the Sidekick. I knew of the Sidekick -- a friend at school had one, and I'd seen lots of celebrities with them in magazines. I thought of the Sidekick as the Blackberry for the club crowd. Still, I'd never actually played with one myself.
When I did finally get to fiddle with one, I was shocked. The UI was elegant and easy to use. The keyboard was smooth, the screen was gorgeous, and the Internet connection was snappy. All in all, a great device.
The iPhone was released, and the Sidekick was all but forgotten. Surprisingly, none of the reviews declaring the iPhone the greatest invention since sliced bread even mentioned the Sidekick -- only the Blackberry was discussed as competition.
I get it. The iPhone does feel like the Future. The simplicity of the iPhone -- hold the 2001-esque obelisk in the palm of your hand and the whole Internet is yours -- is the key physical innovation over from earlier devices. iTunes, the iTunes Store and Safari are perfectly integrated with the device. By contrast, the Sidekick, with it's flip-out screen, feels cool to use but looks infintely more complicated than the iPhone's power button.
Still, the complaints I've heard from friends, first about the EDGE and then regarding the 3G iPhone -- trouble typing, no cut-and-paste, impossible-to-use SMS -- are irrelevant when using the Sidekick; Danger eliminated those problems in 2006!
From the very first demo of the iPhone, it was obvious it was a knockoff of the Sidekick. The UI demo Steve Jobs did -- calling two people and then merging the calls -- is the exact same demo I'd given to all my friends to show off the incredible UI polish and attention to detail by the Sidekick developers. Sure, there were some differences -- most notably that Apple's artists had prettied up the iPhone UI as compared to the 8-bit basement wackos who drew up the Sidekick's -- but it was clear that this was an evolutionary change, not the revolutionary leap everyone made it out to be.
So what's holding the Sidekick back? One writer argues that The Man is to blame:
But it wasn't as if the Sidekick was unheard of. As soon as I wandered out of the land of white folks in suits-and-ties, black and latino kids would rush up to me and gab about the Sidekick. During one trip, a latina middle-schooler stopped me on the sidewalk and asked if I'd gotten the latest firmware update yet. "It has JavaScript support!" she enthused. Browsing the Sidekick user forums bore this out -- it was all black and latino schoolchildren.
...
But, of course, neither minorities nor schoolchildren rule the world, so the Sidekick has been written out of history. 2007 was the first time anyone had thought to give a smartphone a decent UI, or a web browser, or an over-the-air application store. Well, at least it was the first time anyone thought to tell white people.
Sounds like a case for Undercover Brother.
I now think of the Sidekick as the Scion to the Blackberry's Lexus -- similar machines aimed at very different crowds. True, the Sidekick is made by Danger and the Blackberry is made by RIM, (while both the Scion and the Lexus are made by Toyota), but otherwise the comparison holds.
Both offer a great screen, Internet connectivity, a keyboard and a well-designed interface.
Like the Lexus, the Blackberry has a mature, understated, sophistocated look and is aimed at the business professional. The Scion and Sidekick, on the other hand, are highly customizeable, flashy, and offer features aimed at the young -- sweet rims and a bangin' stereo in the Scion, and video games, MySpace and great IM options on the Sidekick.
The Sidekick is a great device and hasn't gotten the respect it deserves. Critics have been treating the Sidekick as a dead platform, but I say long live the Sidekick!
[Note: Article via Daring Fireball, image via Slashphone.]
North Korea's Gulags
An article in today's Washington Post tells the story of Shin Dong-hyuk, a man who was born in a North Korean prison camp but escaped at age 26 and now lives in South Korea.
Of all the places to be born in this world, North Korea is one of the worst.
The U.S. government and human rights groups estimate that 150,000 to 200,000 people are now being held in the North's prison camps. Many of the camps can be seen in satellite images, but North Korea denies their existence.
Shin is the author of a grimly extraordinary book, Escape to the Outside World.
It is illustrated with simple line drawings of his mother's hanging, the amputation of his finger, his torture by fire. There are black-and-white photographs of his scars, as well as drawings and a satellite photo of Camp No. 14. It is located in Kaechon, about 55 miles north of Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea.
The book grew out of a diary he kept in the Seoul hospital while he was recovering from the nightmares and screaming bouts that were part of his adjustment.
It begins with the story of his birth in Camp No. 14 to parents whose union was arranged by prison guards. As a reward for excellent work as a mechanic, his father was given the woman who became Shin's mother. Shin lived with her until he was 12, when he was taken away to work with other children.
In the book, Shin describes the "common and almost routine" savagery of the camp: the rape of his cousin by prison guards and the beating to death of a young girl found with five grains of unauthorized wheat in her pocket. He once found three kernels of corn in a pile of cow dung, he writes. He picked them out, cleaned them off on his sleeve and ate them. "As miserable as it may seem, that was my lucky day," he writes.
Reports by American news suggest that the DMZ is a key fascet of daily S. Korean life, much as The Bomb was part of American awareness in the sixties. Not so.
Shin also struggles to understand why prosperous Koreans in the South seem so uninterested in and unmoved by the suffering of tens of thousands of fellow Koreans living in torment in the North's prisons.
"I don't want to be critical of this country, but I would say that out of the total population of South Korea, only .001 percent has any real understanding of or interest in North Korea," Shin said. "Only a few decades ago, the South Koreans had their own human rights issues. But rapid growth and prosperity has made them forget."
Shin may overstate the South's lack of concern about human rights in the North, but he has a point.
When South Korean President Lee Myung-bak was elected last year, only 3 percent of voters named North Korea as a primary concern. They were overwhelmingly interested in economic growth and higher salaries.
South Koreans want reunification with the North, but not right away, polls show. They have seen the cost and messiness of German unification. They worry about political collapse in the impoverished North and are afraid that dealing with it would lower their living standards, according to government officials and independent analysts.
The reasoning for such lack of concern by the South makes sense, but that is little consolation for Shin.
He is unemployed and worries about how to pay his $300-a-month rent. His defector stipend of $800 a month, which he had received from the South Korean government since arriving in Seoul 2 1/2 years ago, ended in August.
Making money. Saving money. Dating. Loving another human being. These are all strange concepts that Shin has struggled -- and largely failed -- to understand.
"I never heard the word 'love' in the camp," he said. "I want to have a girlfriend, but I don't know how to get one. Two months ago, I found myself without any money. It suddenly occurred to me that I had to go out and support myself."
Unfortunately, the book has not been a success and no English translation is planned. To learn more about North Korea and its prison camps, I highly recommend reading Aquariums of Pyongyang and Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty. The former is the memoir of a man who lived for ten years in a gulag before escaping. The latter is a detailed, readable history of North Korea and the Kim Dynasty.
Hopefully the atrocities being committed in North Korea will begin to enter the awareness of the rest of the world. Until that happens, those of us unlucky enough to be born in North Korea will be born into slavery. Without outside aid, those people will never have a chance.
[Image by Shepard Fairey]
Wale: NPR's Song Of The Day
Wale
I love when quality rap and NPR collide. First was the most tremendous Fresh Air interview ever, a full hour with Terry Gross and The Rza. And now Wale's Nike Boots is featured as the Song of the Day.
Wale is one of the best around. I still can't thank sansserif enough for introducing me to the kid. Wale's 100 Miles and Runnin' is one of the best hip hop cds of the last couple of years, and I'd never have heard it if not for her suggestion. Via Elitaste:
After releasing a popular mix tape (100 Miles & Running) last year, D.C. rapper Wale signed a deal with Interscope; his major-label debut is due early next year. Known for rapping over beats from unlikely sources — including French electronic duo Justice and English singer Lily Allen — Wale is a blogger favorite, and the song responsible for much of the buzz is "Nike Boots."
Featuring a dramatic, Southern-tinged beat from producer Osinachi, the song pays tribute to the downtrodden people of the DMV — as in the District, Maryland, and Virginia.
Wale's latest mixtape, a tribute to Seinfeld, is called The Mixtape About Nothing. The Washington Post loves it (free download here).