We’ve been glued to this Health Care thing, sorry.  The new comic will be up tomorrow.

Even though I’m on board for all of the concept work, and even though I write the freaking words, there’s still surprises and things about our comics that make me laugh when I finally see them in the flesh.

Sometimes I wonder if posts like this are too self-conscious, but I can only say what I’m thinking and feeling.  Right now I’m really enjoying the process of making this comic, and I hope all you all are enjoying the output.

All mobile platforms tempt the makers of noise-making apps, and an electronic whoopee cushion has to be the funniest of them all, right?  (Wrong.)  Still, I really think Jason missed out by not making the word fart brown and gooey.  I’m not usually one for bathroom humor, but this comic is more a critique than an endorsement of such things.

So, laden with their supplies, Parker and Deacon are ready to face any obstacle that stands before them; particularly if it speaks Furbish.

By thickens, I mean the plot “exists“.  I’m pretty excited to be telling a story, a fun departure from our heretofore standard one-comic jokes.  Also, we have now learned the name of our heroes: Deacon and Parker.  For the (inevitable) haters: You try coming up with a name.  It’s hard.

So stay tuned in the coming weeks, and follow our heroes on their journey to meet the mysterious “Oracle”.  I know I will.

_Jake

Any niche that Google moves into should be cause for at least some concern for the incumbent companies.  Despite the logic underlying that statement, I don’t think Facebook or Twitter are in any danger of being overtaken any time soon by Google Buzz.

I expressed as much last week upon the initial release of the product, and little has changed to put me in Google’s camp on this one.  In fact, the really lame posts from my Buzz friends so far have probably further repelled me.  There was a time a few days in that it looked like the quality of posts from my Buzz friends would be superior to Facebook or Twitter.  No longer.  So far, the vast majority have been from people I’ve either blocked from showing up on my Facebook feed, or from people I don’t know and can’t figure out why I was automatically following in Buzz.

I will grant that photo and video sharing in Buzz are superior to either Facebook or Twitter.  Facebook is actually a pretty poor platform for sharing pictures of any great interest, due to size and speed limitations.  It’s mostly a nice way to get people to know the pictures exist, but if they want a closer look, the images will have to be available elsewhere.  This photo/video sharing aspect could actually help me find a use for Buzz.

However, in my brief encounters with my Buzz feed, I’m already feeling the itch to be able to shape and control what shows up there, and with just brief encounters with Buzz, I don’t see a way to filter it.  If I have to un-follow someone to block them from showing up in Buzz, that’s a total dealbreaker.

If Google doesn’t make it possible for me to easily set more granular filter settings in Buzz, they may as well change the “Buzz” label to “Spam”.

P.S. I really love Jason’s art in this.  The colors are amazing and the Twitter bird actually made me laugh out loud when I saw him/her (does the Twitter bird have a gender?)

_Jake

Google just announced, quite out of the blue – at least to me – its own foray into social networking: Buzz.

As I’ve mentioned on here before, I’ve long been a fan of Google products.  Gmail and Google Calendar are how I get things done and know where I’m supposed to be.  Most of my documents are written in Google Docs.  A lot of the collaboration for this comic is done over Google Docs & GTalk.  Android and Google Voice has changed the way I use text messaging, voicemail, and my phone in general.

Yet I can’t help a feeling of ambivalence towards Buzz.

I have my Google-using friends, and I have my non-Google-using friends and family.  I have been trying for years to get my family to start using Gmail and GCal.  No dice.  My wife obligingly has a Google account that she does use so we can have a shared calendar, but she still relies on her Hotmail account for email, and her use of her Google account is mostly to enter her work schedule for my benefit (thanks sweetheart!).  So even if Buzz turns out to rock our collective worlds, I have a feeling I still won’t get any new Google users in my circle of friends (the ‘friends’ of whom I speak are of the real world variety and are not to be confused with the fictitious Facebook and MySpace variety).

The people I would Buzz with are the same people I am already friends with on Facebook, following on Twitter, and communicating with on private web forums and blogs (not to mention a lot of them play World of Warcraft with me, where we also have text and voice chat).  I’m pretty sick of those people (note the sarcasm in my voice) without Buzz adding another layer of oversaturation.

In general, I am very much a supporter of openness, standards, and in giving people options.  One thing I actually like about Facebook, however, is the fact that it is a walled garden.  As I was learning the Facebook ropes, I didn’t post anything anywhere in Facebook that I wasn’t OK with the world seeing – and I knew, subsequently, that I was not over sharing or being intrusive upon someone else.  With Buzz, I now have a social network directly tied to my main form of communication, and I don’t yet know what data is public and what is not.  It leaves me with a bit of an exposed feeling, and I don’t like it.

Buzz also shares several features in common with Wave, which I have found I have no use for – although closely tying Buzz with Gmail has already provided more interesting posts from friends in one day than the months I have had a Wave account.  Those similarities with Wave (which I still think is a potentially fantastic product that has been poorly implemented for widespread use), or even just what I think are similarities end up reminding me of my disappointment with Wave.

The biggest reason I am wary about Buzz may end up being the reason for its success: its close integration to gmail and other Google accounts.  I wouldn’t put money on it overtaking Facebook any time soon, though.

I think the idea of “Calling in Awesome” is hilarious.  This is how my mind works.  I can’t help it.  “Calling in Awesome” is so much cooler than “calling in sick”, but I don’t think most bosses would take it as well as JC up there did.  I think the bacon has calming properties.

Oh yeah, meet JC: the only character we have named, but we’ve never put the face with the name within the context of the comic until now.  Who’s he talking to?  I like to think it’s Sideburns Guy.  Yes, he and I are on a first name basis now.

Speaking of sideburns, I have decided my new favorite TV show is Community, a fantastic ensemble show with hilarious bit characters, including the brilliantly ludicrous Starburns (also check out this Tumblr blog dedicated to Starburns).

So, I suppose that’s enough promoting of other people’s work for one day.  Look over there on the right –> you can click on those Facebook and Twitter links to weave us further into your life.

I really am getting sick of the iProducts (Apple’s naming convention, not the products themselves).  It’s just overplayed.

I heard it a million times before the official announcement: no actual product could live up to the hype over the iPad before its release.  Well, I hoped the iPad would suck, but I was still disappointed by how mediocre it is.  They’ve released a product somewhere between a smart phone and a netbook, but with fewer features than either.

As a Google kool-aid drinker, I have held my breath with the release of their latest products – particularly Google Wave and the various iterations of Android.  And with the release of both, was initially disappointed.  I was foaming at the mouth for a Wave account until I got one, and realized that I had no one to Wave with.  Even after I got some friends on there, I found I had no reason to use it.  Not to say that Wave is not a phenomenally promising product and will be very useful for some people – I’m just not one of them (much to my own dismay).

Android, when released on the G1 (a phone I still proudly own) was, in reality, just OK.  It was closely integrated with my Google account and all the Google products I already loved, which was actually the main selling point for me; but the OS was still missing a lot of polish and key functionality.  The hardware was sluggish and (OK!  OK!  I’ll admit it!) kind of unattractive.  Android, however, has a silver lining.  I can’t recall a product that has evolved and grown so quickly and so well.  With each update (each only months apart) the OS became more and more impressive.  Not just acceptable – actually impressive; From the Cupcake and Doughnut to HTC Hero’s Sense UI, to the Droid and now with the Nexus One, Android has grown up.

So, it was mostly as I suffered and grew with Android that I realized that Google’s style was to release everything in beta, and constantly improve it from there.  It worked for Gmail.  It worked for Google Docs.  It worked for Android (Google Voice has been pretty much amazing since day one and is still getting better).

So, I was surprised by how Google-ish the release of the iPad was.  I was used to Apple following the formula of impressive products with even better marketing; and salesman extraordinaire Steve Jobs as the cherry on top of the feeding frenzy frappé.  Apple failed on every point here (well, we’ll have to wait and see with the marketing), and frankly I’m trying to figure out who they think is going to use it.

I think highly of the ability to “enjoy the little things”, including reveling in thoughts and imaginings that might often be considered childish.  There’s great beauty in that.

I’m not the first, and I certainly won’t be the last to say this, but there’s no point in expecting some event or milestone in our lives to bring us happiness, in saying “I’ll be happy when I’m done with school” or “I’ll be happy when I can get married.”  Be happy now.  Be a happy person, bring your joy along with you, and let those milestones reflect your own personal growth along the way.

Thanks for joining us for another edition of “Jake’s Deeeeep Thoughts”.

_Jake