NOOKA MYOOZIK

i can't believe i'm being so consistent with my blog, but i guess it's thanks to google analytics -- seeing what pages are getting viewed after press items and other blog mentions is actually quite engrossing. i could write only about nooka stuff [unfortunately, a lot of the stuff is now on a PR calendar --im told when i can blog about product releases:)] but that would give you guys a very narrow view of the the matthew waldman nooka experience!

aside from fine design, i am actually a bit of a music geek. and much like nooka, my musical tastes are not mainstream. music is always playing in my design studio, and luckily, we all tend to have similar tastes. i also like to think that nooka is the watch of the alternative/electronic music scene as we do see them popping up in photos of musicians at festivals [jenny wilson, mika, kanye west and many others!]. if you are a musician who owns a nooka, please send us a little bio with a photo of you wearing the nooka and we can post it in our press section online or just here.

what music got heavy rotation at the nooka studio in 2007?
our ill wills by the shout out louds,
brooklyn's own: glass candy,
smoke by white williams,
FABRICLIVE.36 by James Murphy and Pat Mahoney,
Leave Them All Behind 2 by MODULAR records,
sarolta zalatnay's greatest hits,
BIG SCIENCE by Laurie Anderson.

i'm too lazy to post links for all of the above, but if you don't own them, you do need them right now!

noo years predictions

happy new year everybody! i spent new years throwing a party in my apartment for friends but strangely, no one took any photographs! here are some of my loose predictions for 2008.

google phone: february 24, 2008 the google phone will be announced, but not a "techno-marvel" like the iphone , but rather a return to an old business model like broadcast television and radio -- totally free cell phone service supported by their already robust ad sales machine. this will revitalize the technology hardware sector as consumers, free from monthly bills, spend more and more on fashion driven handsets. savvy phone makers will hire nooka to develop high end models and interface innovations.

michael bloomberg will enter the presidential race by the end of january putting an articulate focus on issues, not party politics. it's a long shot, but i predict the following tickets: bloomberg/obama on both democrat and independent tickets, and huckabee/clinton on republican.

nooka zircs finally arrive in stores in spring causing a social trend and renewed interest in science fiction fashion. this catapults designer matthew waldman onto the scene as both a talk show host and action hero movie star.

image: new york sky # 70. © 2007 matthew waldman, all rights reserved.

let's all complain about air travel 2

finally a post on the jetlagged blog that makes sense!
read it here.

let's all complain about air travel

I have always struggled with people's inability to discern the difference between senseless whining and complaining. A complaint is the voicing of a legitimate concern with the positive goal of improvement. Granted, a complaint should be voiced in a constructive manner to get the best response, but moreover than not, people simply take it as whining and ignore the intended message (i won't even begin to address the inability of even well-educated people to have a truly intellectual discussion on the subject of religion, politics or computer operating systems!)

To me, designers and inventors are great complainers. Many of us will start with a verbal gripe, but luckily, many also sit down and draft solutions to all sorts of vexations! I find designer stories very engaging, especially when they can identify their motivation, inspiration and influences in/of their work. One theme that comes up in my own process is air travel (which will bring me to the point of this blog entry).

By the time I was conscious of air travel, the boeing 747 was already flying for a few years. If I remember correctly, my first non-infant flying experience was on a National airlines flight to Miami on a DC-10. Concords were flying over my head from the beach club on Long Island giving out a short sonic boom we would wait to hear. It was also at this time that Start Trek was popular in reruns, Space 1999 was must-see-tv and overall, Sci-Fi was prime-time. From my childhood perspective, the 747 and DC-10 were not even the height of technology for travel at the time as we had the concord in the air and space shuttle on the way. Our sights were set for colonies on the moon by 1999 and trips to Tokyo in super sonic jets cutting the trip to 5 hours (not to mention hovercrafts!)!

This is where I must insert my amazement and awe in technological advancements in computers and mobile telecommunications as I like to keep things on a positive note, but my frustration with things like air travel is a major component of my motivation in creating Nooka – airplanes and wristwatches are 2 things that do not match the level of advancement that should be acceptable in a world that has room for the iphone!

Anyway, why am I writing this? Because the New York Times has a blog that never ceases to anger me on the subject of air travel [access it here]. The NYT is normally a consumer-first news source, but this particular blog seems to be a mouthpiece for the industry itself. Sometimes they do address some concerns like rediculous and pointless security measures, but moreover it is a rebuke to anyone who complains about the state of air travel in 2007 [and soon 2008].

My point? I am on an airplane a minimum of 10 flights a year since 1987. A flight to Tokyo in 1977 took 15 hours from NYC and guess what? It still takes that long in 2007! A computer in 1977 was pretty much 0 for me as home computers were a rarity then yet we have seen increases in speed and technology that only a mathematician could express for me. Why should we not have higher expectations for air travel? The Jetlagged blog sometimes refers to when people had to take boats and trains as a scolding to people complaining about airtravel, and I use the same argument to make my point: it is not 1907 anymore. Everything gets faster and safer...why not air travel?

As for service on the planes: let the people who made the decision to not serve food on short flights prepare for a trip to starting in a suburban household in central New Jersey with a vegetarian and a child with Celiac disease. Let them see how 2 hours flying time does not mean 2 hours travel time for even a family living near a major airport (or anyone for that matter with current security procedures). Let the city planners and politicians travel with a lower middle class family with 2 children and their luggage on a bus to a midwest airport or on the subway+airtrain here in NYC. Let them find a healthy meal in an airport.

I say it's time for EVERYBODY to complain and complain in an articulate and productive manner so blogs like jetlagged get with the program -- and please note, this is not an airline-only problem -- the airports and the government are equally responsible for creating infrastructure and systems that keep air travel a safe and efficient experience. And a note to all the aeronautic engineers out there: where the hell is my anti-gravity drive hovercraft?

american vogue

i got a call from my PR guy that a green AND red nooka are featured in the January Vogue with Kate Hudson on the cover! check it out.

kudos to the stylist and editor...great photo shoot!

Creatures of the Night [COTN™]

I am proud to leak the news of my new line of urban inspired camouflage to honor creatures of the night. The design was a happy accident [gosh i love design process!], a result of developing the “have a grey-t day” line of cool grey nookas exploring images of “grey/urban animals” – pigeons, rats, mice, bats and cats. The resulting camo pattern was to be produced only in shades of grey, but the custom pattern we created is just too good to limit to just one color!

We are proud to present COTN™ camo in:

Urban Jungle Grey
Balmy Army Green
and
Crooklyn Remix

The face is the Nooka Zen-H, stainless steel case back, PU band with butterfly closure, mineral crystal, 5ATM waterproof, and EL backlight. $250 US [but don't quote me on that] available in January 2008.

iphone: do not buy [yet]

what is a designer blog without the mandatory entry on the iphone? well here's mine, and i'll make it short: do not buy yet.

the iphone is an amazing leap in interface design, but there are some drawbacks no fault of apple: ATT super sucks. the edge network is painfully slow and their billing practices need to be investigated by the authorities. i read all the new york times articles about getting $1,000 iphone bills when traveling abroad so i called ATT BEFORE my trip to sign up for the international data AND voice roaming plans [i'm tech-savvy and turned off the international data roaming whenever i was in a wifi hotspot as well] -- i still got an $1,000 bill!! [no BS, will post a scan of the 2 bills here soon]. calls to ATT only confused the matter as they tried to explain that they bill present and next month in advance [is this legal?]. my sense is that they bill the data transfer even when on wifi as i was very careful not to use my fone much the month i was traveling.

only buy the iphone when the following things happen without unauthorized hacks:
VOIP is available,
IM [not just iChat] is standard,
available unlocked,
edge is upgraded to acceptable speeds,
or if you have shitloads of money or never plan to use your iphone overseas.