The icy bush in front of my house

Say hello to my three little friends
London, Ontario, February 2008 [Click to embiggen]

My wife and I were heading out of the house this weekend to run some errands. As I walked out the door, I noticed our bushes had been coated with ice courtesy of some freezing rain that had blanketed the region.

It had been a few days since I had taken a picture, and I was feeling a little antsy. If writers write and photographers photograph, then it's easy to conclude that they might begin to lose their edge if they keep their pens and cameras on the shelf.

So as I stared intently at this little mini-world of ice balanced gingerly on the spindly leaves, I got the urge to capture it before the gradually warming temperatures rendered the scene a mere memory. I quickly went inside, scooped the camera up and took a few really fast photos while my patient and understanding wife waited inside.

By the time we got home, the ice was almost completely melted, the scene now existed only as bits on my memory card. Precious bits indeed.

Your turn: Why do we feel the need to capture?

One more thing: Quick peek at some neat media coverage today:

• Agence France-Presse. Microsoft opens door to open-source community. Byline Amandine Ambregni and Glenn Chapman. Coolness factor: This French wire service story has been picked up globally, including Australia's The Age, and Sydney Morning Herald, India's Economic Times, and the Inquirer.net in the Philippines. My quote is also kinda fun:

"These announcements are like McDonald's releasing the recipe for its secret sauce," said AR Communications strategic consultant Carmi Levy.

"This announcement signals that Microsoft is finally ready to commit to an entirely new business model. This is a radical shift from Microsoft's traditional bull-in-a-china-shop strategy."

• BetaNews. Dialog: The final format war. Byline Scott Fulton. Coolness factor: We discuss at length the implications of Blu-ray's DVD format war victory.

• InternetNews. RIM, Moto Take Patent Fight to Court: Experts question legal action by the handset vendors. Byline Judy Mottl.

"Going to court is expensive, and both these companies are facing their own challenges in the market and need to keep their eye on the ball if they want to stay competitive," Carmi Levy, senior vice president of strategic consulting at AR Communications, told InternetNews.com.

RIM, Levy explained, has faced increasing competition from large players capable of "swamping the company" if the vendor loses focus.

Motorola, he notes, is already battling to stay in a leadership spot amid rumors of selling its handset unit. The company "needs to focus on regaining traction," amid recent significant losses, he adds.

[Snip]

One thing both Levy and Hughes believe is that neither company can afford a long legal battle like the one RIM fought with patent holding firm NTP. That lawsuit, which RIM lost, awarded $612.5 million to NTP.

[Snip]

For his part, Levy described the legal action as "little more than a tempest in a teacup," noting that neither vendor has the "luxury of fritting away precious resources" on legal action.

While Motorola claims that the patent dispute is not tied to its recent announcement that it was "exploring the structural and strategic realignment of its businesses to better equip Mobile Devices to recapture global market leadership and to enhance shareholder value," Levy acknowledged that patent hurdles could thwart any potential sale.

"A potential buyer would discover this kind of issue in due diligence, and the legal action also sets a tone that Motorola likely doesn't want in play if it's looking to sell," he says.

• InformationWeek. Clear Winners Unlikely in Motorola-RIM Patent Fight. Byline Richard Martin.

"Motorola is by far the biggest loser in all of this," says Carmi Levy, senior VP for strategic consulting at AR Communications, "because at a time when its leaders need to be focused on turning the company around, they instead choose to divert their attention to a lawsuit that promises to sap precious resources away from more important activities."

[Snip]

"A drawn-out intellectual property-based lawsuit will take years to resolve if Motorola doesn't politely resolve its differences with RIM," adds Levy, "by which point the mobile landscape will look very different than it does today."