Great user-interface design doesn't kill complexity, it clarifies it. But even so, there's a fine line between empowering users and infantilizing them. Last week, Bloom's president railed against "the urge to make everything into one giant likable button" -- an image of reptile-brain stimulus/response at its worst.

Henri Cartier-Bresson, god of street photography, would have loved the iPhone camera. But he might have been frustrated with its ergonomics -- how are you supposed to capture "the decisive moment" quickly, spontaneously, and artfully when you're pecking at a featureless screen with your index finger while fumbling to keep the camera steady?