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Virgin America Rocks

I played Doom, watched 30 Rock, The Office and chatted with Gwen via the in-flight chat room while we watched the miles zip by on the addictive Google Map application. The staff was friendly, the planes were super-comfortable (seats by Recaro!) and we didn’t even notice a 30-minute delay due to software upgrades because we were so busy playing. Short of flying on a private jet I can’t imagine a better experience- wait, did I mention it was $44 each way? Thank you Richard Branson, Virgin America changes everything I knew about traveling through the country. Southwest, you’re dead to me.

As for the actual trip, I’m happy to report that I really like San Francisco. It’s a blur now, but SFMoMA, the Redroom bar at the Clift hotel, our crazy cabbies, tiny pancakes, John & Vinny detailing their trip to the Googleplex, good friends and an amazing city really made it more fun that should’ve been possible in three days. We’re going back soon, if only because we’ve got a serious jones for Asia de Cuba after wetting our appetites with some Tunapica on Saturday (yes, I’m aware that we could do this in L.A… but it’s an excuse to get the hell out of town).

Check out some photos here.

In case you missed it..

Yeah, it’s basically a really fancy cell-phone. No, it won’t make you immortal or get you laid (it couldn’t hurt though) but this day does mark the start of the mobile application race and is one of the few times I’ve A) been aware of a technology shift and B) been in a position to do something about it.

There’s a whole new realm of possibilities now, including mobile advertising (how exactly would one see a Google campaign on this screen? This needs to be revisited) or even social networking- I’m sure Myspace/Facebook will have a mobile edition but it’s definitely in someone’s interest to beat them to the punch by offering an application that is better tailored to the device rather than just offering a version that is viewable. Interestingly, I’ve only found one person thinking ahead in this respect (so far): http://www.iphonecolony.com/

For more brain candy on the above check out the following links:

http://lifehacker.com/software/lifehacker-top-10/top-10-iphone-applications-273407.php

http://iphoneapplicationlist.com/index.php

iphonelove.com

I’m on the fence about this domain. On one hand, it could be a pretty kick-ass community (designed to be browsed on your iphone as opposed to a normal PC/Mac) or something completely different (that my hungover imagination can’t conceive of yet).

The dilemma is probably further confused when I ask myself if I really want an iphone or if I should just wait for something else (V2.0?). I realize that it’s a ridiculous question because it’s not even out yet and here I am with a blank canvas that hinges on a product I may or may not buy, that may or may not work.

Why do I even care? A couple of reasons:

• I never bought a (real) iPod because I knew that something like this would eventually come along. Now it’s finally here and I’ve had an itchy trigger finger for the last two years.
• Looking forward, web design won’t be the same after this- we’re all going to be mobile soon enough and this is just a massive push towards that idea. Anyone in this industry is going to have to learn some new rules and it would suck to get left behind or completely ignore a good portion of the web population because you don’t have a platform to test on.
• My current phone sucks. If phones were supermodels, Apple’s latest would be Marisa Miller. Mine is closer to Rosie O’Donnell (and just as annoying).