Just a quick note to get back into the blogging groove (been somewhat preoccupied microblogging on Facebook and to an extent Twitter).

The next version of Thunderbird has the project name Lanikai which made me super happy because it’s one of my favorite beaches of all time. Some photos.

Lanikai beach is on the East side of Oahu, in Lanikai and near Kailua (which is where the Obamas like to stay when they visit Hawaii).  You can walk up to Kailua beach for more action where there’s windsurfing, kite surfing, and kayak rentals.  What’s interesting is that they’re not crowded at all, probably because the towns of Kailua and Lanikai are a bit far from Honolulu and they’re small sleepy towns, more local than tourist area.

The water is very clear, warm, and it’s a very swimmable beach.  The sand is white to light tan and soft.  The beaches are easy to access, and stores are near enough for some coffee, snow cones, or sun block.

I like to think that part of the reason we’re going with Lanikai and beach themes is that it’s aligned to how we’re thinking about the Thunderbird email client.  We want to make Thunderbird run so efficiently that people spend more time on the beach than in their email.  Sounds good to me.

A couple more links for Thunderbird 3.1/Lanikai:

• Thunderbird – Lanikai/Thunderbird 3.1 nightly builds now set up
• A public internet deserves great beaches
• Project page

Keep the feedback coming in, they’ve been extremely helpful and we’re doing our best to incorporate your suggestions.

Please click on the image to see the large file.  In this version we have the different sizes.  The majority of people will view Thunderbird on a daily basis with the smaller sized icons.  The larger icons will be displayed more on the web site, posters, and other promotional items like t-shirts.

Changes in this version:

• Uppermost right wing feathers are rounded to match the other side.
• Second row of feathers on the left wing slightly pointed.

Based on feedback, we’re choosing the white envelope with no seal.

Background Information

• Thunderbird 3 Icon Refresh – Creative Brief
• Refreshing the Thunderbird Icon
• New Firefox Icon

Please provide feedback via the comments section through these blog posts.

Keep the feedback coming in, they’ve been extremely helpful and we’re doing our best to incorporate your suggestions.

Iteration 6. 20090729

Changes in this version:

• A third row of small feathers.  Small feathers are less defined, less bright.  No seal.  Slightly whiter envelope.

Iteration 5. 20090729

Changes in this version:

• Fewer feathers.  No seal.  Slightly whiter envelope.

Iteration 4. 20090729

Changes in this version:

• Logo with seal and example of small version of logo w/ seal.
• Lots of feathers.

Background Information

• Thunderbird 3 Icon Refresh – Creative Brief
• Refreshing the Thunderbird Icon
• New Firefox Icon

Please provide feedback via the comments section through these blog posts.

Iteration 3. 20090715

The icon is being rendered by Anthony Piraino at the Iconfactory.

Changes in this iteration:

• removed seal from previous iterations;
• added detail to the envelope;
• feathers shaped to be slightly more accurate

Current Icon

Background Information

• Thunderbird 3 Icon Refresh – Creative Brief
• Refreshing the Thunderbird Icon
• New Firefox Icon

Please provide feedback via the comments section through these blog posts.

Iteration 2. 20090708

The icon is being rendered by Anthony Piraino at the Iconfactory.

Changes in this iteration:

• rounder/smoother shape for the circle;
• modified the seal/”@” but this detail will be removed in the next iteration;
• warmed up the envelope color, corrected the “v” shape on the envelope;
• added more detail to the feathers;
• updated bottom shadow

Current Icon

Background Information

• Thunderbird 3 Icon Refresh – Creative Brief
• Refreshing the Thunderbird Icon
• New Firefox Icon

Please provide feedback via the comments section through these blog posts.

Iteration 1. 20090706

The icon is being rendered by Anthony Piraino at the Iconfactory.

Current Icon

Background Information

• Thunderbird 3 Icon Refresh – Creative Brief
• Refreshing the Thunderbird Icon
• New Firefox Icon

Please provide feedback via the comments section through these blog posts.

Great job!  Lot of great changes to help move the web forward.

Check out http://hacks.mozilla.org to test drive our new toy.

But what about Thunderbird icon? Will it be updated too? Please!

Short answer, yes.  You didn’t even need to say “pretty please”.

We’re beginning the work to update the Thunderbird icon.  We really like how the Firefox icon turned out, and we’ll be working with the folks at Icon Factory so we can be consistent.

I’ve been impressed with how Alex Faaborg has led the charge with the Firefox Icon refresh, his vision, and his ability to communicate and work with everybody.  We’re working with Alex as well, he’s got a great eye, and we’re lucky.

The Process

As I understand, it’s going to be fast and furious in terms of the design and feedback loop the next couple weeks.  I’ll be posting a final creative brief before we get started, and happy to take feedback on it now.  I’ll be posting the iterations and calling for feedback as soon as I get them.

It would be great if all feedback can be done as comments to these blog posts as opposed to direct emails to me.

Palm Pre looks pretty good, probably will wait for the next version though.  Even with the iPhone 3GS, it’s probably the right upgrade path from a Treo.  A lower price/plan, better battery life would have knocked the Palm Pre out of the ballpark, but still good.  Walt Mossberg’s review

Other stuff I’ve been playing around with:

• an unlocked G1 phone (w/ Android 1.5, fun to play with)
• mobile wireless via Sprint (though heard AT&T’s was 3x faster)

I check out the Netbooks every once in a while and I like the Dell Minis but there’s so many out there now.  It’s an interesting (and confusing) product segmentation — second laptop, ultralight for business travelers, kids.

LED light bulbs like the one above are cool.  The one we got is 2.5W and it’s equivalent to a 45W incandescent light bulb.  There are 7 led lights inside that power the thing.  LED lights should be what we all move to but the investments made in cfls (contains mercury, higher wattage) has everyone buying cfls first.  LED lights are already showing up in street lights and will also get more popular in car head lights.  They’re also great in flashlights.

We’re using one of the LED bulbs for the porch light, one over a vanity as a night light, and one other for my end table– so high use areas that need just enough light.  The lights are a bit expensive and the brighter ones even moreso.  But the ones we got should last a long, long time.  And at 2.5W, can’t really complain there.

The rest of the house we’re using 7W to 13W compact fluorescent bulbs.

We also need (and on the lookout for) 3-way LED or CFL bulbs for lamps.  The 3-way CFLs that are out now are way too big to fit in a lamp.

We’re figuring, in lieu of solar panels, we can reduce the amount of electricity we use by having efficient appliances and lighting, turning off our electrical equipment when not in use, and insulating the house.  Google has several more good energy saving tips.

—-

* I’m in a bit of a writer’s funk.  Maybe the WordCamp this Saturday will get me out of it.  I’ve got a few more posts on products in general and then the rest of the year will be focused on work related stuff with hopefully some updates on a bathroom remodel once we get started at the end of June.

• still on track for a bathroom remodel this Summer, uncertain on the details
• no matter how we calculate solar panels, it makes no sense for us so evaluating led lights, attic insulation, solar attic fan
• Rikyu updated their menu — it’s our go to restaurant, *great* food
• When it’s out, will probably go with the Palm Pre to replace  a 2+ year old Treo for the boss lady (I still think *smart* phones are gadget overboard)
• Couple of interesting pop culture links: Susan Boyle and YouTube symphony

work

• Thunderbird 3 launch – going to be very fun
  
• SpreadThunderbird – slowly coming along
  
• GetSatisfaction/Thunderbird – customer support for software is certainly challenging
  

travel

• nothing planned yet for fun or for work, maybe a weekend side trip

volunteering

• landscaping project at Santa Fe elementary school

books

• struggling through The Intelligent Investor but already made some money just reading through the first 3 chapters
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

training/events

• finally starting marathon training for SF marathon in July
• planning to struggle through the Marin Century in August
• Berkeley pow wow May 2
• Stanford pow wow 8 – 10

I’m signed up for Ironman St. George (Utah) scheduled for 5/1/2010.  The rest of the Ironman Series can be found here.

• It will be the first year for Ironman St. George.
• I like it because it’s drivable (about 10 hours away).
• I was lucky to be able to get some friends to sign up too, about 4 others so far.
• Ironman St. George will be my sixth race and I’d like to sign up for Ironman France in June to get my seventh race out of the way since the timing is so close.  I still have to get permission from the big boss lady and be successful with the sign up first.

Yea, looking forward to it but won’t really start training for it until November.

Some good ideas for a vegetable garden (especially for people with a new empty backyard).

Square Foot Garding from Frugal Dad

Another cool photo.  Discovery launch — supposed to launch in two days if the weather cooperates.

The Last Great Race on Earth

Thought this was a neat photo set from The Big Picture blog.  There are some crazy races out there, the Badwater Ultramarathon is up there but the multiday endurance races in extremely cold or hot weather are the ones that are even crazier for me.

Some Highlights

• Most of Thunderbird 3 Beta’s Changes Are Under the Hood, PC World, Erik Larkin
• Thunderbird 3 Beta 2 has new features, plenty of bug fixes, MacWorld, Cyrus Farivar
• Thunderbird 3 Beta 2 Released, Lifehacker Australia - ‎Feb 28, 2009‎
• Second Thunderbird 3 beta holds off on Lightning, Daily Download - ‎Feb 27, 2009‎ by Seth Rosenblatt
• Several press articles from Germany

Blogs

• Beta Watch: Thunderbird 3 Email Client – TheAppleBlog4 Mar 2009 by Charles Moore
  

My parents got one of these whole home IQAir air purifiers installed in their house.  I like IQAir’s room air purifiers too, e.g. the HealthPro Plus — looks like it’s won some awards and both the whole house and in-room purifiers are probably worth a look if you’ve got health issues.  I guess these are what they’ve been installing in homes for the Extreme Makeover Home Edition shows.

I like radiant heating systems the best (which we don’t have and don’t plan on doing for our house) because they’re the most efficient and provide the best type of heat, but it doesn’t help when it’s hot and you need an air conditioner.  For most people, forced air heating and cooling system is best and might as well check out the IQAir purifier while you’re at it.

The new design at www.mozillamessaging.com

First, go ahead and download Thunderbird 3 Beta 2 and check it out.

The Redesign

We started the redesign process last year with the following goals:

• Make it easy for users to download Thunderbird
• Make it easy for users to learn about Thunderbird and Mozilla Messaging
• Provide Mozilla Messaging with it’s own visual identity while maintaining the “mozilla” feel

We worked with Steven at silverorange and the team at The Royal Order — absolutely great fun to work with them.

We hope users and contributors will have a sense of familiarity with the site and also enjoy some of the imagery and illustrations. One of my favorites is the “totem pole”.  Totem poles can be found in Vancouver (where we have an office) and we wanted to see a different design treatment for Thunderbird.  I think it worked out well (the rocket ship and the cruise boat are fun too).

What’s Next

We have localization, more content to add, and we’re always looking to make improvements to make it easier for users to download Thunderbird.  We’ll be gearing the site for the final Thunderbird 3 release so we have lots more coming.

Green collar jobs are blue collar jobs in green businesses – that is, manual labor jobs in businesses whose products and services directly improve environmental quality (Pinderhughes, 2006). Green collar jobs are located in large and small for-profit businesses, non-profit organizations, social enterprises, and public sector institutions. What unites these jobs is that all of them are associated with manual labor work that directly improves environmental quality.

Here’s more info:

• Green Collar Jobs Executive Summary [.pdf]
• Green Collar Jobs [.pdf]
• Oakland Green Job corp
• The Green Collar Economy by Van Jones
• Raquel River Pinderhughes

We’ve been hearing about Green Collar jobs in Oakland for quite some time — because of Van Jones and the Ella Baker Center which is on 40th Street, a little over a mile from where we live.  The rest of the country is going to hear more about it so might as well link to the source of the Green Collar job concepts.

There are a couple of cool energy check lists to look at:

• Energy Information – Energy Saving Tips (from Google)
• Green Home Checklist

We had a $1200 energy bill last year, about 50/50 electric to gas.  Unfortunately this was an increase of 20% over last year, we increased our usage by 20% :-(  However, the average energy bill for a household in the US is $1900 – $2000 a year.

Our usage was about 4500 kwh and 415 therms in 2008 and going to use this as baseline going forward.

For PG&E customers, all this information is available online.

The goal is to decrease usage and costs by 20 – 25% next year and 50% in 5 years.

—–

Infrastructure things we had already done:

• Energy star appliances (heater/air conditioner, dishwasher, refrigerator, washer/dryer) though our dryer is now electric versus gas
• CFLs with most of our lighting except three way lamps, led under cabinet lighting, and “candle” type lights in the living room
• Insulated floors
• Double pane windows

Things to do:

• Insulate attic and install attic fan
• Research insulation for exterior walls
• home energy audit
• Continue evaluating use of solar panels and tankless water heating

This is my Xbox avatar – rebron2000.  The hair, glasses, blue polo, cargo shorts, and Keen’s are about right; and sadly, this *still* may be my signature look.  I have upgraded my wardrobe in real life but thought this was fairly amusing.

In any case, if you happen to stumble on rebron2000 on Xbox live and he’s kicking your butt at Halo or whatever other games I have, it’s not me, it’s a 10 year old or one of several 10 year olds.  Ha!

To try eventually…

Three Stars
The French Laundry

Two Stars
Coi
Cyrus
Manresa
Meadowood

One Star
Acquerello
Ame
Aqua
Auberge du Soleil
Aziza
Bouchon
Boulevard
Chez Panisse
Chez TJ
Commis
Ritz Carlton Dining Room
étoile
Farmhouse Inn and Restaurant
Fifth Floor
Fleur de Lys
Gary Danko
La Folie
La Toque
Luce
Madrona Manor
Masa’s
Michael Mina
Murray Circle
One Market
Plumed Horse
Quince
Range
Redd
Santé
Solbar
Terra
Trevese
The Village Pub
Ubuntu

• We only got to snowboard twice this season but awesome snow both times.  Hopefully can get in 2 or 3 more visits.
• We’ve got a bathroom remodel that we’re trying to target for June/Summer.  After that, we’re about done as we can’t really do much else to the house.
• Here are those videos with George Carlin and kids 1, 2, 3, or Parenting 101

work

• With Mozilla Messaging since last Summer.  Been working on this cool new web site redesign, that we’ll be launching soon.  Check it out and send me email if you see any issues.
• Also, working on www.spreadthunderbird.com
• And, Thunderbird 3 betas.

travel

• nothing planned but considering a cruise or trip to Alaska sometime this Summer

volunteering

• none, looking for opportunities

books

• for Q1: The Intelligent Investor, Dreams from My Father, Truth about Money, (re-reading) The Joys of Motherhood

training/events

• SF Marathon (registered); Marin Century
• Pow wows: CAL in April, Stanford in May; others still tbd

Some notes:

• Barack Obama is a victim of awesomeness and so is his web site: WhiteHouse.gov.  Check out this first blog post and his agenda.
• This is the sign-up form to get email updates from the Office of The President, WhiteHouse.gov
• President Obama’s Official Portrait
• Working with the local government and our local communities seems to be one of the best ways for most of us to get involved in changing the way things are.