from a product development gadget guy who’s worked for dell, avnera, and ihome. this blog is an outlet of mine. say hi at micahtc at gmail or at linkedin or @micahtcTumblr (3.0; @micahtcollins)http://micahtcollins.com/“<p>The question, “If I were President I’d…” implies that if you swap out one leader, put in another, then all will be well with America—as though our leaders are the cause of all ailments.</p> <p>That must be why we’ve created a tradition of rampant attacks on our politicians. Are they too conservative for you? Too liberal? Too religious? Too atheist? Too gay? Too anti-gay? Too rich? Too dumb? Too smart? Too ethnic? Too philanderous? Curious behavior, given that we elect 88% of Congress every two years.</p> <p>A second tradition-in-progress is the expectation that everyone else in our culturally pluralistic land should hold exactly your own outlook, on all issues.</p> <p>When you’re scientifically literate, the world looks different to you. It’s a particular way of questioning what you see and hear. When empowered by this state of mind, objective realities matter. These are the truths of the world that exist outside of whatever your belief system tells you.</p> <p>One objective reality is that our government doesn’t work, not because we have dysfunctional politicians, but because we have dysfunctional voters. As a scientist and educator, my goal, then, is not to become President and lead a dysfunctional electorate, but to enlighten the electorate so they might choose the right leaders in the first place.</p>”<br/><br/> - <em><p>Neil deGrasse Tyson<br/>New York, August 21, 2011</p> <p>(quote from <a href="http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/tyson/read/2011/08/21/if-i-were-president" title="Hayden Planetarium" target="_blank">Hayden Planetarium Blog</a>, the unedited version of a quote given to the New York Times as part of a series they did called, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/08/21/opinion/sunday/20110821_Kornbluth_President.html" title="NYT If I Were President, I'd..." target="_blank">“If I Were President, I’d…”</a>)</p> <p>Smartest man in the room.</p> <p>(via <a class="tumblr_blog" href="http://helms-deep.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">helms-deep</a>)</p></em>http://micahtcollins.com/post/17151118825http://micahtcollins.com/post/17151118825Mon, 06 Feb 2012 07:36:17 -0500<img src="http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyw9jnqHBv1qzn6ito1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Jess, V, and Vivi for Jessica’s birthday. (Taken with <a href="http://instagr.am" target="_blank">Instagram</a> at Rayuela)</p>http://micahtcollins.com/post/17060896805http://micahtcollins.com/post/17060896805Sat, 04 Feb 2012 19:33:23 -0500<img src="http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxtiajf0Uo1rnrtl0o1_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxtiajf0Uo1rnrtl0o2_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxtiajf0Uo1rnrtl0o3_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxtiajf0Uo1rnrtl0o4_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxtiajf0Uo1rnrtl0o5_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxtiajf0Uo1rnrtl0o6_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxtiajf0Uo1rnrtl0o7_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxtiajf0Uo1rnrtl0o8_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxtiajf0Uo1rnrtl0o9_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxtiajf0Uo1rnrtl0o10_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><p><a class="tumblr_blog" href="http://givedesignachance.tumblr.com/post/15860972206/10-principles-of-good-design-dieter-rams" target="_blank">givedesignachance</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>10 Principles of Good Design – Dieter Rams</p> </blockquote>http://micahtcollins.com/post/16624244008http://micahtcollins.com/post/16624244008Sat, 28 Jan 2012 01:37:03 -0500<img src="http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lydcjdHVKz1qzryoao1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>:-)</p>http://micahtcollins.com/post/16520263077http://micahtcollins.com/post/16520263077Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:00:43 -0500<img src="http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ly6djctVHJ1qzn6ito1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Taken with <a href="http://instagr.am" target="_blank">Instagram</a> at Rose Theater, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center:</p>http://micahtcollins.com/post/16259090231http://micahtcollins.com/post/16259090231Sat, 21 Jan 2012 20:01:59 -0500<img src="http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxwz77CZHD1qzn6ito1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Taken with <a href="http://instagr.am" target="_blank">Instagram</a> at NJ Transit Rail - Rahway Station</p>http://micahtcollins.com/post/15973968693http://micahtcollins.com/post/15973968693Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:13:55 -0500<img src="http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxwz2a2Ud01qzn6ito1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Taken with <a href="http://instagr.am" target="_blank">Instagram</a> at NJ Transit Rail - Rahway Station</p>http://micahtcollins.com/post/15973785098http://micahtcollins.com/post/15973785098Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:10:57 -0500<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxwyy5D0OL1qzn6ito1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Taken with <a href="http://instagr.am" target="_blank">Instagram</a> at NJ Transit Rail - Rahway Station</p>http://micahtcollins.com/post/15973634342http://micahtcollins.com/post/15973634342Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:08:29 -0500<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxjyjvA7lS1qzn6ito1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Taken with <a href="http://instagr.am" target="_blank">instagram</a></p>http://micahtcollins.com/post/15584968482http://micahtcollins.com/post/15584968482Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:31:07 -0500<img src="http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxjwa9FmEy1qzn6ito1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Taken with <a href="http://instagr.am" target="_blank">Instagram</a> at McCarran International Airport (LAS)</p>http://micahtcollins.com/post/15582256424http://micahtcollins.com/post/15582256424Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:42:09 -0500<img src="http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxgjpqsjWl1qz6f9yo1_r1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><a href="http://thisisnthappiness.com/post/15484473513/peanuts" class="tumblr_blog" target="_blank">nevver</a>:</p> <blockquote><p><a href="http://knuckle331.exblog.jp/15454182/" target="_blank">Peanuts</a></p></blockquote>http://micahtcollins.com/post/15548702014http://micahtcollins.com/post/15548702014Sun, 08 Jan 2012 22:27:56 -0500<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://assets.tumblr.com/swf/audio_player_black.swf?audio_file=http://www.tumblr.com/audio_file/15488079727/tumblr_lxgmxdGowu1qzn6it&color=FFFFFF&logo=soundcloud" height="27" width="207" quality="best" wmode="opaque"></embed><br/><br/><p>El Camino is a f#*king great album…</p>http://micahtcollins.com/post/15488079727http://micahtcollins.com/post/15488079727Sat, 07 Jan 2012 22:27:13 -0500<img src="http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxg5w2BHJ81qz4j35o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><a class="tumblr_blog" href="http://bijansabet.com/post/15469172302/beautiful-alarm-clock-found-on-svpply" target="_blank">bijan</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>Beautiful alarm clock. Found on <a href="http://svp.ly/vkrq" target="_blank">Svpply</a>.  </p> </blockquote> <p>In person, the main issue with this design is apparent. The iPhone’s volume-down button interferes with the metal base. Notice even in this picture that the iPhone is canted slightly upwards from perfect-horizontal (noticeable along top edge). This is why. Kind of an unfortunate oversight on an otherwise elegant concept, but details do matter.</p>http://micahtcollins.com/post/15482160589http://micahtcollins.com/post/15482160589Sat, 07 Jan 2012 20:32:50 -0500burstbubble<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxdnfb2j8z1qzn6ito1_r1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><a href="http://store.apple.com/us/product/H4696VC/A/sdi-ihome-iw1-airplay-wireless-speaker?fnode=MTY1NDA5Mg&p=1" target="_blank">iHome iW1</a></p> <p>On a professional note, 2011 was all about getting this guy up the beach, and readying reinforcements to the product range for 2012. Buttoning up rough edges of new technology, and managing the organizational changes required to meet the new suite of development challenges that come when a company must step up to new tech/architectures was the inside-baseball bulk of the effort. </p>http://micahtcollins.com/post/15396227546http://micahtcollins.com/post/15396227546Fri, 06 Jan 2012 07:45:00 -0500<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxcuoisxIJ1qzn6ito1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Taken with <a href="http://instagr.am" target="_blank">Instagram</a> at Shake Shack - Downtown Brooklyn</p>http://micahtcollins.com/post/15377104669http://micahtcollins.com/post/15377104669Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:24:18 -0500<img src="http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxcm8eIi5J1qzn6ito1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>iHome iW4 - <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ihome-gives-clock-dock-category-a-wake-up-call-at-ces-2012-2012-01-05" target="_blank">Arriving in 2012</a>… so, maybe this was the obvious one.</p>http://micahtcollins.com/post/15366811536http://micahtcollins.com/post/15366811536Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:21:49 -0500<a href="http://micahtcollins.com/post/12008675710/pineapple-man-taken-with-instagram-at-pineapple">Pineapple, man.</a>: <p>My most popular blog/tweet/instagram/anything of 2011. Who’d have thought…</p>http://micahtcollins.com/post/15292907885http://micahtcollins.com/post/15292907885Wed, 04 Jan 2012 07:49:11 -0500pineapplehawaiiinstagram<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lx3t08Xrdq1qzn6ito1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Taken with <a href="http://instagr.am" target="_blank">instagram</a></p>http://micahtcollins.com/post/15114058250http://micahtcollins.com/post/15114058250Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:09:44 -0500<img src="http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lx3o3b41Il1qzn6ito1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Ending my year with the woman who made it, @veetc (Taken with <a href="http://instagr.am" target="_blank">Instagram</a> at Cadaqués Tapas Bar)</p>http://micahtcollins.com/post/15110922310http://micahtcollins.com/post/15110922310Sat, 31 Dec 2011 22:23:34 -0500<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lwtwgfyoZl1qzn6ito1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Taken with <a href="http://instagr.am" target="_blank">Instagram</a> at Smithsonian - Sackler Gallery of Art</p>http://micahtcollins.com/post/14824284623http://micahtcollins.com/post/14824284623Mon, 26 Dec 2011 15:48:15 -0500