May 2012
4 posts
5 tags
6 tags
Apple responds to eBook case [PDF] →
Apple starts out strong:
The Government’s Complaint against Apple is fundamentally flawed as a matter of fact and law.
And they continue:
The Government sides with monopoly, rather than competition, in bringing this case. The Government starts from the false premise that an eBooks “market” was characterized by “robust price competition” prior to Apple’s entry. This ignores a simple and...
4 tags
The Apple developer cult's first public message →
Hi, I’m Marco, Apple-cult member and Instapaper author.
Hi Marco.
4 tags
No really, let me give you my money →
Jonas Wisser:
I want to be able to trust that the apps and services I use will be there tomorrow, pretty much in the same form they exist today. When I put my to-dos, my thoughts, my very life into a cloud service, I want to know that it will be there tomorrow—and that my data won’t have been sold to someone else to keep a roof over the head of that service’s creator.
April 2012
7 posts
3 tags
Want to know what's weird? →
Joe Peacock on “the weird ones”:
We all went to school and hated everyone because they didn’t understand us. We dealt with the bullying and the isolation and the feeling that we were the weird ones. You want to know what’s weird? Spending hundreds of dollars on clothes and shoes and purses that everyone else thinks is cool. Spending hours of your life doing things that...
3 tags
`Skill doesn't matter if you lack taste` →
Summed up nicely:
Most of having good taste is knowing what to leave out. Slow down. Remove content. Rewrite your script. Never use phrases like “4 easy steps.” Focus on the details. Keep it simple.
I couldn’t agree more. This is what makes great design really great.
3 tags
It's not too hard →
There is no similarly mechanical procedure that can be easily taught to a high school student in order to solve such a problem “mindlessly”
6 tags
`Don't work. Be hated. Love someone.` →
I love that term: life expectancy. We all understand the term to mean the average life span of a group of people. But I’m here to talk about a bigger idea, which is what you expect from your life.
An amazing speech. I wish I could have been there to hear it.
3 tags
“Human-beings are hardwired with the impulse to share our ideas, and the desire...”
– Touch - Season 1, Episode 4
6 tags
"Higher learning"
One friend of mine:
But it’s not my game so I have to play by its rules
I’ll give you 3 guesses as to what he’s talking about. Ready? Go.
How about the school system? The constant push for college and university. “Higher learning” they call it. I guess they haven’t heard of this amazing technology: The Internet.
Constantly teachers ask “Have you...
5 tags
Quick defaults to cheating →
If you want someone to be honest, then, do not press him too hard for an immediate decision.
Good luck telling this to the government.
March 2012
6 posts
3 tags
“Because we’re America, and we don’t like to change”
– John Gruber on The Talk Show
3 tags
A piece of Ikigai →
You could do a lot of things. None of those have any real risk, except for wasting your time. But I bet you waste a hell of a lot of time doing stuff you know is pointless and know won’t bring you any satisfaction and know won’t advance you closer to the things that are meaningful …
… and yet …
This seems to relate to my previous thoughts about content...
4 tags
iMovie and iPhoto running on the iPad 1 →
Daniel from AppleInsider:
Beyond lacking a camera, iPhoto and iMovie seem to work well enough on the original iPad, although it lacks the horsepower of the newer iPad 2, and the additional memory of the newest iPad. It also lacks a camera, so you obviously can’t use the recording features of the latest iMovie.
I could be wrong but I think the iPad 1 lacks a camera.
3 tags
The new iPad isn't so new →
Paul Taylor, disappointed:
The new iPad will simply be called “new iPad”, maybe because the name is strong enough to carry its legacy unto another flood of eager Apploids, or maybe because there really isn’t that much new to it.
This makes sense. Apple called it the new iPad because there isn’t much new to it. Except, oh wait, thats not true at all. Not a single device has a screen...
4 tags
Be a little objective →
Martin Lindstrom:
When I asked them about happiness, they waved their hands in the air and laughed. They dismissed happiness as a Western thing, and suggested we stop talking about it and just get on with the business of living.
Home is where the heart is – or something like that. The idea that when you see all that you could achieve, you want more. You’re always wanting, you put...
4 tags
Multiplication isn't free →
Peter Scott:
Gods behave in many ways. Some are jealous and quick to anger, and others are inhumanly patient. Some forbid alcohol to their followers, and others get drunk and beat up giants. Some descent to earth in the form of a bull to conduct illicit sexual liaisons with mortals, and others lack reproductive organs altogether. However, without exception, one thing they all have in common is...
February 2012
13 posts
2 tags
Living alone →
There’s a freedom to really let loose and be yourself when you live alone that a lot of other people may envy
No, there isn’t. The habits discussed in this article, for the most part, disgust me. Maybe it’s part of who I am. Every time someone does something I don’t like, something I say “I will never do that” to, I really mean it. I want my living environment...
3 tags
There is no Evolution Fairy →
From a post in 2007:
A human being, looking at the natural world, sees a thousand times purpose. […] But what you see is not exactly what is there…
In the days before Darwin, the cause of all this apparent purposefulness was a very great puzzle unto science. The Goddists said “God did it”, because you get 50 bonus points each time you use the word...
3 tags
Follow up: Oliver Tank →
Ronnie Evans:
When initially hearing Oliver Tank’s music it’s easy to picture him as a suave, posh gentleman who spends his days strolling the beaches of Sydney in a white tuxedo, flocks of ladies fighting to stand in his shadow. On the contrary, what you’ll discover is a young college student who divides his time partying, hanging with mates and making records in his...
8 tags
Over consumption
Right now I have 31 tabs open across 3 Safari windows. I have iTunes playing music, and I have Messages open with 5 conversations. I also have Mail running in the background, and Twitter hidden in my dock. On top of all that, I have a few books waiting for my attention. I think I’m stretched too thinly.
Okay, maybe not too thinly. But I’ve reached a point where I have so much content...
5 tags
`Forget self-improvement` →
The runner discovers tranquility on the road, forgetting the pain. The writer gives in to the joy of playing with words, moving past the aggravation. The entrepreneur finds purpose in making something, and stops noticing the long days.
You can spend your life fretting about how healthy, interesting, or successful you are. In fact, a whole industry depends upon this, and is eager to help...
5 tags
Follow up: iOS Address Book security →
John Gruber:
Maybe the answer to the iOS address book situation is to require the user to grant explicit permission through a dialog box, but it’s not a slam-dunk decision. Every dialog box has a cost.
That’s one answer, sure. But I think you’re solving the wrong problem. I think theres an inherit flaw in how all of the APIs come together and the assumptions developers are...
6 tags
iOS Address Book security →
Marco:
When implementing these features, I felt like iOS had given me far too much access to Address Book without forcing a user prompt. It felt a bit dirty. Even though I was only accessing the data when a customer explicitly asked me to, I wanted to look at only what I needed to and get out of there as quickly as possible. I never even considered storing the data server-side or looking at...
6 tags
“It’s like we said on the iPad, if you see a stylus, they blew it. In...”
– Steve Jobs
4 tags
`The Talk Show` →
John Gruber:
It’s always shocking when you actually run out of battery on the iPad.
He goes on to say that even when you get the 20% warning, it’s not as much a warning as a friendly heads up. Something like this might affect you in the future.
I couldn’t agree more. When I use my iPad it shocks me how long it can last before I need to plug it in. It’s really...
3 tags
`Automate Everything` →
Performing manual, repetitive tasks enrages me. I used to think this was a corollary of being a programmer, but I’ve come to suspect (or hope) that this behaviour is inherent in being human.
I couldn’t agree more. It’s human nature to do things as easy as possible. In the case of a developer, you have one more huge tool in your toolbox, and repetitive tasks on computers are the...
4 tags
Introducing new topics →
It already starts with the teaching of arithmetic. Instead of teaching 2 + 3 = 5 , the hideous arithmetic operator “plus” is carefully disguised by calling it “and”, and the little kids are given lots of familiar examples first, with clearly visible such as apples and pears, which are in, in contrast to equally countable objects such as percentages and electrons, which...
3 tags
`Subtle Changes to Apple Iconography` →
Amazes me that people will actually spot these subtle differences in the first place, assuming they didn’t get a special tip-off.
Well to be fair, they probably did get a tip-off. Either that or the person who mentions it designed it.
4 tags
`An honest question for the TSA` →
The only logical reason for you to take my knife from me is that you think I’m a terrorist. You’ll smile and shake your head at the dopey terrorist, and you’ll go tsk tsk, and then you’ll let me through to board my flight.
So, TSA, answer me this: why are you allowing suspected terrorists onto planes?
The problem with this is that you’ll never get your answer. I actually just...
January 2012
14 posts
4 tags
The problem with startups? →
Big problems are problems for a reason – they are problems that are hard to solve. If there was an easy solution, one of the thousands of ambitious, smart engineers out there would have solved them by now. So instead of solving big problems, the smartest, most creative brains in Silicon Valley are building apps to help us organize group lunches, share funny photos, or aggregate daily deals. I’m...
4 tags
`Why do I do what I do?` →
Philip Defranco:
I find myself asking this question every now and then. I think that’s normal. On a very raw/selfish level I think its because I want to matter. I want to be something to someone. It provides me with self worth. I used to feel bad about this, but it is a very human truth; If you don’t matter to at least one person what was the point of you taking up space in the first...
3 tags
Great Developers →
Sounds strange indeed:
The really great programmers often started programming when they were 10 years old. And while everyone else their age was running around playing “soccer” (this is a game that many kids who can’t program computers play that involves kicking a spherical object called a “ball” with their feet (I know, it sounds weird))
4 tags
“The best way to hide something is with misdirection and dead ends. It’s by...”
– ChrisNorstrom
6 tags
The iBookstore's policy →
John Gruber:
Why not run the iBookstore the way they’re running the Mac App Store? The fact that Mac apps can be sold directly doesn’t seem to be slowing the growth of the Mac App Store.
When it comes to Mac apps, Apple had no choice but to allow external sales. Mac apps have always had that exposure, and Apple knows most users would rather have all their apps under an account where they...
3 tags
`Nice guys finish first. Eventually.` →
Some friendly comments:
It’s a shame that people still think it’s impossible to be aggressive without being a jerk, both in business and social life. Sure, a lot of jerks are aggressive, but that’s only a correlation, not a causation.
4 tags
`Why are Android phones bigger than the iPhone?` →
John Gruber:
Android smartphones have grown enormously in order to accommodate LTE. Currently-available LTE chipsets are physically bigger […] and because they’re so power-hungry, they require bigger batteries. Thicker phones aren’t going to fly. Thus: wider and taller phones with displays expanding to fill the surface.
5 tags
`The next SOPA` →
Marco:
The MPAA studios hate us. They hate us with region locks and unskippable screens and encryption and criminalization of fair use. They see us as stupid eyeballs with wallets, and they are entitled to a constant stream of our money. They despise us, and they certainly don’t respect us.
Yet when we watch their movies, we support them.
Even if we don’t watch their movies in a...
5 tags
This is the new year
I just bought Lauren Ipsum on the iBooks Store:
No computers will be found in this book. If the idea of a computer science book without computers upsets you, please close your eyes until you’ve finished reading the rest of this page.
The truth is that computer science is not really about the computer. It is just a tool to help you see ideas more clearly.
Finding content:
I came across...
4 tags
Modern classical music: Spot on →
A post from CuriousJoe about Oliver Tank:
It’s a perfect example of how (to quote a friend) “simplicity is key”. Music isn’t about how fast you can pick a guitar or how many drums you can hit in the space of 30 seconds, it’s about creating something which makes you feel, makes you visualise something you never would’ve imagined before, and most importantly, which turns that everyday monotony...
3 tags
“I can’t wait to wake up in the morning… A lot of times I can’t...”
– Rodney Mullen
3 tags
"Good enough" code →
Alex Reid:
Good enough doesn’t imply half-arsed or lashed together. It should concisely meet the requirements at hand, not what you think the requirements might be next week. It doesn’t mean you are naive and haven’t considered the big picture, nor are you lazy or stupid.
5 tags
Infinite loops: users of technology →
Dave Winer:
It isn’t a reflection on the moral quality of the leaders of the companies, to want to control their users. But it’s a short-term proposition at best. Either the companies learn how to take the lead from their users, or they will be sidelined. Unless the laws of technology are repealed, and I don’t think laws like that can be repealed.
3 tags
`You don't live in the world you're born in` →
There is that 12 year old that is imagining what we can’t. Another that is combining elements into something new we should have seen, but did not. It reminds me of one of my favorite sayings. “If you are looking where everyone else is for the next big thing, you are looking in the wrong place”
The reality is, None of us are born in to the world we live in.
I better find a 12 year old.
3 tags
One more reason to miss Steve →
And this is why I will miss Steve Jobs: he was perhaps the greatest example of our time of the meaning of “ownership”.
December 2011
4 posts
4 tags
`The Internet has really changed everything` →
And thats when I realized the internet really has changed everything.
And then I stopped reading the reviews and just ordered the least expensive ladle.
Yes, you read that right. Checkout the whole article. After reading it, something hits you. A hint of nostalgia along with a smorgasbord of other senses.
5 tags
2012: Year of the _____ →
2012 is going to be the year that “mobile and local explodes”, “solomo” will be the most talked about buzzword, the year that “social businesses” come alive. In 2012, the economy will finally start recovering and we can go back to “our normal lives” (I wonder what the news will be filled with then?).
2012 is going to be the year of social curation, and the web 3.0.32069.04 will finally...
6 tags
A glimpse of S.O.P.A. →
Another amazing win for GoDaddy:
They had received a complaint about the content of a site, and that they were removing the DNS entries for weebly.com because of it. I asked him if they had contacted us previously — he responded that they hadn’t.
He goes on to say:
The very next day, we proceeded to transfer all of our domain names away from GoDaddy, to a registrar that...
November 2011
3 posts
4 tags
`Because it makes my life easier`
Marco:
I choose to fit myself into most of Apple’s intended-use constraints because their products tend to work better that way, which makes my life easier. But that requires trade-offs that many people can’t or won’t make.
I think over the past year I’ve done this as well. Two years ago I would have tried to use Android, and I was even looking at the OpenMoko phones. But now, I...
2 tags
“Live right now. Embrace infinite possibility. Don’t take yourself too...”
– Some comments describing “All The Go Inbetweens”