Oh, Nexus One, you had such promise! What happened? On Friday, Google put the final nail (ok, maybe next-to-final) in the coffin of their grand experiment in the direct-to-consumer mobile phone design and sales business, namely the Google Nexus One.

As those of you who follow the mobile device industry know, the Nexus One debuted earlier this year as Google's self-designed epitome of what an Android phone should be. The phone introduced then was sleek, fast, open and out to give Android's competitors a run for their money. The phone was well receivedby the tech industry pundits and is still loved by their die-hard fanboys.

Sales of the Nexus One to the masses, however, didn't quite take off. Not even six months after the launch of the Nexus One, Google announced it would be pulling the plug on the Web store. Now, the Nexus One will only be available to the masses until Google runs out. Luckily for Android developers, they will still be able to purchase handsets in order to have a solid development platform. Without mass production, though, who knows how long they will be available, what carriers they will work on or how expensive they will be.

Now, if you've read this far, you may be assuming this is going to be an anti-Android/Google post, because I have been accused of being an Apple fanboy many times in the past. More...

Now that July is more than half-way over, I thought it would be a great opportunity to share fireworks photos from our recent Seattle vacation with you. Why is now the perfect time, you ask? Well, I planned it that way! You see, everyone else shares their fireworks photos on the fifth, maybe the sixth, and so on. Those of you who are truly hardcore do so on the Fourth, and for that, I commend you. I do none of these. Why? Because on those days following the Fourth, you've seen so many fireworks photos you really don't care any longer. Now that time has passed, your dis-interest in fireworks photography has officially reset for the year, making this the perfect time to present you with fireworks photographs that look just like the ones you've seen recently. This time, however, you'll eagerly look and be amazed. I love it when a plan comes together!

About the Photos

These were shot on July 4 at the southern harbor area at Lake Union, Seattle, while we were on vacation. My fiancee and I set up our cameras in a grassy area here. We brought along our own tripod and rented another from Glazer's Camera. Both of us had cable releases ready to go, too. We must have really looked like we knew what we were doing, because several people passing by asked us if this would be a good spot to view the action. We admitted we were out-of-towners and thusly had no idea, but it turned out our instincts were right. Personally, I thought the fireworks lighting up the boats in the harbor was pretty cool. Because of Seattle's cold nature, this was also our first Fourth of July we spent wearing jackets!