Sonic Youth have been melting faces with mind-bending riffs since 1981, but perhaps never as literally as they did last evening at the Roseland in Portland.

As temperatures soared to 106 degrees Fahrenheit, Mallory and I were pleased to find the interior of the Roseland (while far from chilly) surprisingly comfortable. Diet Cokes in hand (we are such party animals), we took our comfortable post in the balcony to enjoy the show.

Amazing Color opened to a fidgety but respectful crowd. They passionately played a series of heavily Detroit-entrenched power guitar songs. The performance was ultimately forgettable for lack of an audible focal point, but the set was entertaining and by no means boring to sit through.

Unfortunately for Sonic Youth, the air conditioning gave out just prior to their arrival as dozens more warm bodies began to pant and sweat their way into an already stuffy theater. Thurston Moore was quick to impress, performing with a level of mastery, confidence and exuberance that was a joy to witness. The rest of the band (including the stunning Kim Gordon and bassist Mark Ibold, formerly of Pavement), while unable to exactly mimic Moore’s enthusiasm, played with a level of experience and fervor that matched the mystique of this now-legendary band.

In spite of Thurston’s wisecracks (including how good a “tall, warm glass of buttermilk” would sound), the unbearable heat coupled with punishing stage lights was clearly taking a toll on the band. Thurston’s leaps quickly turned to hops, then to rolling on the balls of his feet, then to a vertical, almost immovable stance.

Mal and I rarely leave a concert, much less a good one. But as we watched the lead guitarist’s gear cease to function 45 minutes into the set, saw the roadie try desperately to fix it as sweat dripped down our faces, we couldn’t help but become overwhelmingly aware of our thriving levels of discomfort.

Tapping into our most primal survival instincts, we did what any creature seeking refuge from the elements would do. We left, and picked up milkshakes from Burgerville. Mm, mm!

With events featuring the vocal cast of Spongebob Squarepants, spotlights on John Kricfalusi and Brian Lee O’Malley and a conversation between Henry Selick and Neil Gaiman, it’s an understatement to say I feel like a total idiot for missing this year’s San Diego Comicon. Thank goodness for the Internet, which allows gems like this trailer for Tron Legacy to escape from the sold-out convention center’s clutches.

The original Tron is as visually arresting as it is flawed. The look of the film pioneered computer-generated effects and captured the imagination of a young John Lasseter, thusly influencing the course of animation history forever. It occupies a space in the geek lexicon somewhere in proximity to Hackers, The Matrix and the original Star Wars trilogy, yet fails spectacularly in communicating the human element of all those films. Despite a wonderful cast (with Jeff Bridges and David Warner predictably stealing the show), the abundant computer metaphors are too abstract to lend nuance to a script filled with awkward dialog and methodical exposition.

We forgive it because it looks so darn cool.

If this footage is indicative of what Tron Legacy holds for viewers, I think we’re in for a treat. They’ve progressed the look of the first film without needlessly polishing all the edges. They’ve retained Jeff Bridges as the principal human character. Most importantly, they appear to have injected the plot with a greater sense of intrigue and acceleration.

I can’t wait!

Opportunities often reveal themselves when you least expect it. If you would have asked me six months ago to predict what I’m announcing today, I would have failed spectacularly. In some ways this bares a resemblance to the web design industry as a whole; fast-paced, and full of surprises.

It is with great excitement that I announce I’ll soon be joining the dynamic group of experience designers and storytellers at Studio D, the interaction design division of Waggener Edstrom Worldwide. WE is one of the largest independent PR companies in the world, engaging audiences in collaboration with Microsoft, T-Mobile, Toshiba and many more.

The lessons I’ve learned from my colleagues at the McAfee Design Studio have been truly invaluable. The creative synapses sparked by Ryan, Chris, Ben, Colleen and Brad will continue to impress and inspire me as I apply their knowledge, skills and values to new challenges. Words cannot adequately describe how thankful I am for the experience.

AT&T could very well be one of the worst mobile phone carriers on Earth. The problems of delayed voice mail and lost messages detailed in a recent Techcrunch diatribe are not unique to that journalist or to any of the millions of American iPhone users otherwise happy with Apple’s innovative device.

Mind you, Apple isn’t completely in the clear. While the App Store has changed the face of mobile computer in exciting and versatile ways, the device is woefully locked down in nearly every respect. I understand the need to corral the user in order to maintain a streamlined and comprehensive user experience (arguably the best in the industry), but the leash Apple users are on is shockingly short in comparison to Android, Blackberry and Palm devices.

With those shortcomings in mind, my reasons for jailbreaking the iPhone are abundantly clear.

Vanity

As a designer, I love and hate the iPhone. I love it for how gorgeous it is; I hate it for preventing me from imparting my own tastes and aesthetics into the experience.

I partially understand Apple’s distrust of theming capabilities. The fact is, most available themes are horrible. But if you can dig for the gems (like Wood Shelves, AnnMe, Teneo or Illumine) it can really offset the monotony of that cheese-grater-like dock on black.

I know it’s silly to hack your phone to manipulate simple aesthetics. But the again, it’s just as silly to write Greasemonkey scripts replacing favicons you don’t like (here, here and here). Why start denying my nature now?

Control

For a company that continually denies the usefulness and viability of true background applications, Apple sure does allow a lot of their own to eat up precious battery life and memory. If you find yourself using the iPhone to actually get things done, SBSettings is essential. With the swipe of a finger along the header bar, this app will let you kill processes, free memory, adjust brightness and toggle radios anywhere in the OS.

Other restrictions placed on the device are easily bested with a few simple applications. In short order, seemingly impossible tasks like making a Skype call over 3G or playing your favorite NES and Genesis games are easily conquered.

Jailbreaking gives you what Apple and AT&T can’t; unabashed control of your iPhone experience. I just hope some hacker out there is working on a FixAT&TNetwork app…

Update (7/26): As of today, I am un-jailbreaking my phone. In the last month I’ve experienced a greater number of inexplicably missed calls, overheating and loss of battery life than most other iPhone users I talk to. Since this device is my primary phone, I’ve decided to put my foot in my mouth for the sake of potentially more seamless communication.

Boy, is my face red.

Back in March I wrote a post about developing for IE6 without much compromise, citing its 20% market share as reason enough to maintain support.

I’m happy to report that, as of today, that article’s importance has plummeted dramatically.

Last week, the folks behind news aggregation site Digg revealed that nearly 70% of IE6 visitors had no choice as to what browser they were using, and that IE6 usage was most prevalent from work rather than home. Although Digg’s audience is admittedly more tech-savvy than that of the entire web, it validates a broader report by CNET stating that 60% of the enterprise market still maintains support for this out-of-date (and insecure) browser. The article further states that, according to Forrester analyst Sheri McLeish, “IT control trumps technology populism.”

The struggle has remained the same since the 2006 release of Internet Explorer 7, with developers and companies eager to escape the IE6 productivity vacuum but stuck doing so for a sizable market segment frozen in time by corporate-mandated bureaucracy. Where reason and persistent whining have failed, only two solutions seem possible:

1. Microsoft must introduce a new version of Windows with features essential to the enterprise (trojan horsing the latest Internet Explorer in the process)
2. Large and influential web presences must phase out support, forcing IT managers to upgrade or risk an influx of costly support requests

With poor performance (and a healthy dollop of FUD) plaguing Vista from the outset, my hopes for Windows 7 making the first scenario a reality are understandably modest. Lucky for us, the second option yields far less pessimism.

You see, YouTube is phasing out support for the eight-year-old browser. Let me repeat that: YouTube. You may have heard of it. Alexa says it’s the third most popular site on the entire freaking Internet. It’s owned by the most popular site on the Internet. You can’t get much larger (and more influential) than that; few online properties have more visitors to lose from such a decision.

We knew the demise of IE6 was only a matter of time, but when a content behemoth like YouTube announces they’re going to run (slow motion) into the wide open arms of today’s web, it’s an understatement to say the pace has picked up significantly.

It’s about damn time.