International icebreaker
I am not even twelve hours into the Italy trip and it is clear that the iPhone may be the surprise social lubricant of the journey. People are unabashed about asking about it, wanting to hold it, play with it. And I am of course obliging.
The great thing is that being wowed by the iPhone has nothing to do with language. It is visual and tactile and immediate. An Italian at O’Hare and an Indian in Milan (where I am now) were flicking through my kids’ photos in no time flat. A great conversation-starter.
For what it’s worth, the phone works great over here and EDGE isn’t too bad either.
Hi, I’m John Tolva!
I'm a co-founder of Cityfi, a strategic urban consultancy.This is all my other stuff.
Here's a little bit about me and how to get in touch.
Views From The Tank
Clown at home
Speaking
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You wanna talk?
Marginalia
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This pushes all my buttons.
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“It’s a bit unlikely that the tree dies, and goes and knocks on the other trees’ doors and says, ‘Hey, can I get a little carbon off of you? I’m dead.’”
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"... travel times, not distance, are what matter in social and economic geography."
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Devious, clever, and crazy that this is what it has come to.
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This is the pizza I grew up loving -- not deep dish.
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Solar panels reflecting moonlight as bitmap art.
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"We should redirect some of that energy toward building excellent dumb cities — cities planned and built with best-in-class, durable approaches to infrastructure and the public realm."
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The architecture of strip clubs. Boxy, unadorned, and usually pink. Lots of parking.
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Excellent in-browser introduction to sound synthesis.
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I would have DJ battled for this role.