Dave Morin

One thing I have begun to learn about my generation over the last couple of years, is that we have a vastly different view on relationships, romantic, work, life, or otherwise. I think this comes, most obviously, from our use of communication technology to stay in touch with each other. But, at a more abstract level, we don’t look at time, or geographical distance as an inhibitor for close personal relationships.

Case in point, an email string from a co-worker and friend this weekend went something like this:

Friend: Greetings from Beijing, Dave. Thanks for taking care of that so quickly!

Me: No problem! What are you doing in Beijing? (I had just seen her in a meeting like two days before)

Friend: Vacation - weekend trip from Tokyo where I am visiting my boyfriend who is here for the summer. I’ll be back on Monday. (Clarification: Meaning, she went on “vacation” from Tokyo, where she was already visiting her boyfriend who is there for the summer. And, is going to be back in California on Monday)

It’s a different world for our generation. Again, we see things less in units of time and geographical distance, and more in simply what it takes to “be” there with that person. Maybe online, maybe a simple flight to somewhere (the coasts, maybe Europe, or even Beijing), maybe on the phone. Time is irrelevant in a way. Relationships aren’t confined to geographic space, and more to the strongest connections created between people. For our parents, their world was confined (most of the time) to their hometown. Our generation is seemingly more and more, only confined to the world.

Last week, I was simultaneously talking to two co-workers whom I regularly collaborate with. One was in China, the other in Sweden. To me, I wouldn’t have known the better. Save, the one in Sweden informing me that he jaunted over there for the week. The other, I knew, was in Beijing. He helped me upgrade to first class for a flight I was taking the next morning (because he had domestic frequent flyer miles he wasn’t using due to his move to Beijing). Sweden friend helped me on a project I was working on with some information and quick brainstorming. All via instant messaging. What time it was didn’t matter, nor did the geographical space or location that each of us was in.

My thoughts on all of this are still becoming clear, with more and more conversations about it every day. What does this mean for the future of communication and collaboration technologies? Job choices? Living choices? Will we live anywhere, work anywhere, be with who we want to be with, no matter where they are? Will technology enable this? Or, inhibit it?

What a cool time to be part of it all

Happy Sunday!

Written from The Grove - San Francisco, California

My friends over at Student Monitor (the leading college statistics shop) announced yesterday with worldwide fan-fare:

Apple Computer Inc.’s iconic iPod music player surpassed beer drinking as the most “in” thing among undergraduate college students

And, in at a close second: Facebook. What a year in the student market!

(Wonder who had a small hand in both of the top 2? *wink*)

Beer, you’re cool and all, maybe next year.

“Everyone should work at a place where they can wear sandals to work.”
- Dave Morin

So, a few weeks back I posted about the cool services out there on the web that will turn you into a sketch, icon, or otherwise insanely cool illustration. Here’s the latest from Paul Sahner over at IconizeMe.

What an incredible job from an incredibly talented individual. Worth every last penny of $40. And, he even gives you different icon sizes to use as parts of your operating system, as a part of your address book card, your iChat icon, or even a giant 2000 pixel wide one that you can squash down to just about any size for any of your web related icons.

Awesome work Paul. You rock!

Oh, and everyone. Go get one. Life animated is pretty sweet.

As my good friend Amit put it:

Sometimes the Internet is really cool

It’s funny, just a couple of days prior to Amit blogging about Sketch-it, I had submitted a picture to another fantastically talented illustrator, Paul Schaner, over at iconizeme.com.

Illustrators are finding ways to generate extra income from the thing that they are most passionate about. Creating incredible art.

Scott Moore is an amazing illustrator, and just started a new blog called Sketch-It. Pay him and his remote team a dollar, and they’ll make an incredible illustration for you, of anything you want. Check out the one they did for me of my blog header. You guys rock!!

Dave Morin: An interactive group project.

The internet is really cool. And, as more people harness it to do what they love, its only going to get cooler.

Written from North Beach - San Francisco, California