Just back from a trip to Germany, while over there I ended up in several serendipitous conversations about our increasing embrace of technology to help organize and memorize our everyday lives.

From the many appointments and conversations to ad-hoc thought streams, new log-ins, phone numbers or email addresses, we increasingly love to tether ourselves to nearby hardware and software managing our lifes’ personal and professional data streams – preferably instantly and on the go.

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Just back from a trip to Rome, Italy, I was floored by the unparalleled wealth of artistic talent and expression the city harnessed across two and a half thousand years.

Touring the Vatican St. Peter’s Basilica and its Sistine Chapel was an especially mind-blowing experience.

I kept thinking what back then were the unique circumstances that enabled this tremendously beautiful body of work? Did they see it for what it is to us today? And would we be able to create similar genius if we tried?

Clearly, Michelangelo painting his Sistine Chapel frescos today would have a decidedly different outcome compared to the genius beauty he created back in 1508 to 1512.  (Oh, if Michelangelo is too dated for you, who among us doesn’t wonder how Paul McCartney’s 60′s Beatles era genius squares with his 9/11 Freedom song out in 2001. But let me not digress ; -). Conversely, today’s great industrial design – let’s say of Apple’s Jonathan Ive genius – would have been impossible to conceive in 16th century Rome.

In other words, yes, universal artistic genius is subject to its unique time, place and circumstances.

Which brings me to our own now, here, our current environment.

For instances, do any of today’s *early 21st century* consumer digital devices and their designs count as art? If so, will any of them be considered of timeless artistic appeal in, let’s say, another two and a half thousand years from now?

To be sure, back in Michelangelo’s 16th century most art was commissioned by a few to elevate a few and typically tied to a single theme (i.e. religion). Today art is largely created by anyone for anyone, no longer limited to a canvas or church walls, instead feeding off of constant reinvention – one marketing-driven consumer *revolution* at a time.

Over the past weeks, much has been written about the late Steve Jobs and his impact on popular culture. If anything, we seem generally certain, the work that Steve accomplished jointly with Jonathan was pretty darn genius.

Whether in 4511 it will pass Michelangelo-level muster, let’s see.

For now to us anyway it is – well – insanely genius art!

The announcements today (October 4th) coming from Cupertino’s giant didn’t make everyone smile -most did not get what they expected.  It was a tough first presentation for the new Apple CEO – the first in the era after Steve Jobs – and he really might have wondered if he had raised the bar high enough.

But why should he?  Apple continues to sell the current iPhone 4 briskly and is moving strongly into new markets like China.  So the company is focusing on more efficient and stable production conditions and the optimization of international sales.  And what could be more needed than a “World Phone”, a phone running all international mobile network standards and providing ultimate flexibility?  Not only for customers, but also for their retail chain.  Simply put, one model to be sold worldwide.  A producer’s dream coming true…

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Yup! It’s that time of the year again. I am headed for Las Vegas, to scan the halls of the #1 annual electronics bonanza – CES – short for Consumer Electronics Show.

Probably the key highlight for this year’s show – more electronics OEMs find religion in portable mobility. As far as exhibitors’ new devices announcements go, the excitement is virtually palpable.

Especially with 4G connectivity helping to better connect them all.

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Not sure yet what you would want for Christmas?

How about an Apple-designed car?

Yup! A vehicle created by the same company that managed to single-handedly re-invent your PC, your Walkman, your cell phone, laptop and VOD player.

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After a whole (vacation) week worth of back-issue reading through stacks of geek magazines and industry reports, here’s a couple of consumer digital connectivity statistics I thought worth sharing.

Each item individually may not be much news. But in aggregate, these developments provide pretty impressive guidance we are well on our way to moving from an already not-too-shabby megabit society to one a thousand fold faster.

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Forget it. Nope! It can’t be done. I for one am unable to fully shake the Interweb.

Mentally prepared to ditch all calls, emails, texts, and social network pings, I was convinced I would be able to enjoy my nine day beach vacation in good old fashioned peace and quiet, exactly for the courage to disconnect myself from constant digital connectivity.

I know, probably no small feat for someone otherwise “always on” (I work in New York, on Wall Street, and for a telco. Oy!), the idea was, just once, no Blackberry voice or office email, no laptop, no iPod or iPad, or whatever else would get me to the Web.

Yet, come Monday (day three), I was back “on the wagon”, scouring for IP access as if I had money riding on it.

Turns out, according to The Economist I do!

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Ground control to Major Tom – it’s now official, Planet Earth has found a new religion.

First the iPod. Then the iPod Touch. Next, the iPhone. And now, voila, in comes the iPad! At least throughout the Western hemisphere, the iGospel seems to have taken solid hold.

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…maybe not.   But we’re going to write one anyway – because we feel there are still at least two interesting things left to say about the new Apple device unveiled last Wednesday:

Point #1. Technically, the new Apple new iPad device was disappointing on several levels (still no Flash support, still no multitasking, still no video partnerships, still no AT&T alternative).  But while the storm of negative Twitter reaction had already begun while while Steve Jobs was still on the stage, it was not until the next day that the negative reaction was reflected in the stock price.  Take a look at the chart to your left – the iPad event started at 2:00 Eastern Standard Time and was accompanied by a clear immediate spike in Apple’s share price, due as much to the sheer momentum of pre-event buzz as to superficial (“isn’t Apple the coolest?”) mainstream media coverage of the event itself.  Despite an army of bloggers and tweeters continuing to bash the iPad for its disappointing feature set throughout the day, the price remained elevated – in fact, it was not until the market open on the next day (Thursday January 28th) that the stock suddenly pulled back, ending up lower than it was pre-announcement (armed with knowledge of the twitter traffic, shorting Apple at about 4:00 that afternoon would have been a good move for for short-term traders).

To me, this lag time between the (misguided) initial spike and the next day’s eventual retreat represents the disconnect that still exists between the technorati and investor classes.  That there was such a disconnect even in this case was surprising, though – because Twitter coverage of the event was fueled by an unprecedented number of tech websites serving live video streams of the event (surely a record for a product launch).   When it comes to high profile corporate events and/or panel discussions, the immediacy and global reach of live streaming internet video combined with social media platforms such as Twitter form a powerful and mutually-reinforcing mechanism to amplify and increase the penetration of any breaking news – yet still, it took a day for the initial widespread disappointment in the iPad’s feature set to register in Apple’s share price.

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“What we are seeing in the U.S. today in terms of smartphone penetration, 3G data, nobody else is seeing in the rest of the planet,” said Ralph de la Vega of AT&T during a conference call the other day.

“The amount of growth and data that we are seeing in wireless data is unprecedented,” he added.

As the long-standing negative buzz on AT&T’s network has peaked over the past few weeks (due in part to a recent Consumer Reports article and an aggressive advertising campaign from Verizon), AT&T has shifted from the somewhat defiant and dismissive stance taken earlier this year (when such reports were characterized as “anecdotal feedback” and “sweeping generalizations”) to a more plaintive tone – as demonstrated above.

Whether or not it’s good long-term policy for any company to publicly complain about how difficult it is for them to provide the service they’re being paid to provide is open for discussion – particularly when that company’s current windfall success is almost entirely dependent upon a soon-to-expire exclusive partnership with another company (i.e. Apple).

In any event, while the technical challenges AT&T faces may be very real, I would be more receptive to the recent “data networks are hard” excuses coming out of the company if it were able to a better job of getting even voice coverage up to par in the NYC area – above is a screen shot from my iPhone, taken from my home office.  My apartment (the blue dot) is located within 2 miles of downtown Manhattan – not exactly the middle of nowhere.  Yet, I get almost zero bars – and an unusable voice connection.

In AT&T’s defense, the company has recently launched an iPhone app to allow users to send the company location-specific reports of poor service (of course, in cases of no coverage you’d have to put the iPhone on an available wireless network for the app to function).

So that’s what I’ve done – I’ve installed the app, sent in my report, and am waiting  to see if my voice (let alone data) service improves.

In the meantime, while at my desk at home, it would appear I own an expensive  iTouch.