For You

Noah’s five years old. She’s played with Apple touch devices almost as long as she could hold a spoon. Her favourite movie at the moment is the utterly enchanting Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore, from Moonbot Studios. Moonbot’s founder, William Joyce, worked at Pixar, among other places. Morris Lessmore is also a storybook app, which, may I just say, I have showed her exactly nothing about: its user-friendliness is spot on, and she discovered everything in it herself, and delights in showing her little sister.

So for you, William Joyce and everyone at Moonbot, my thanks.

She won’t watch Toy Story 1, 2, or 3 (“Too scary!”), but WALL•E has touched her like little else. She wanted to watch it one morning, and I said we only had time for part of it, so could we please agree that we would watch only to the point where they got into space, and then we had to go. Could we make an agreement. Yes. Let’s shake hands on it. She did, and then flapped her arms for the next 45 minutes, thinking as long as she kept shaking her hands, the movie would stay on.

So for you, Andrew Stanton and everyone at Pixar, my thanks.

I don’t know who thought of the “Slide to Unlock” feature on iPhones and iPads, but you know, it works. Maybe too well. To whoever did, my thanks.

I only got an iPhone in April of this year. (It was almost sad to retire my trusty iPod after three years of faithful service. Miss you, old pal…) Since then I’ve taken almost 5000 photos of the kids, spiders, and the occasional drink (with and without ice). Sasha herself has taken a few hundred, and is getting quite good at it. So for you, whoever designed the camera interface, my thanks.

The most frequently used apps on my phone include Safari, Mail, iPod, Camera, Twitterrific, and Dropbox. There are a few more storybooks and games on the iPad.

To everyone building an app, whether a utility to help me move files or a book to show something cool about dinosaurs, my thanks.

To everyone finding ways to imagine and realize good ideas through the web, through apps, through pictures, or music, or through words, you struggle to make it just that much better, that much more elegant, that much more beautiful and delightful and easy to use. You struggle, and stay up late, and worry and worry and worry over the details, and still you worry that maybe it’s not good enough. Maybe it can be better.

For you, I hope you’re having fun. Because we are.

Just wanted to say thanks.