May 2012
2 posts
5 tags
Why Android Isn't Winning Anything
Many will boast Android’s marketshare. But how many smartphone users you know are trading in their iPhones for Android devices? No. I’ll wait…
April 2012
12 posts
3 tags
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“Regardless if the rest of the world is ready to move on or not, if there are...”
– Infinity Ward’s creative strategist Robert Bowling (of Call of Duty fame) / Article
First Impressions on Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
It’s an FPS in third person. More accurately it’s like Gears of War mixed with Splinter Cell: Conviction in terms of overall game mechanics and feel. The gun play took some getting use to as aim down sights borrows it’s mechanics from Splinter Cell: Conviction where click the right or left sticks bring up your scope or iron sights. I found it somewhat difficult to get use to.
...
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HBO Decides It Still Isn't Difficult Enough To... →
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“I’d rather wrestle lady Bengal tigers in heat with meat strapped to my genitals...”
– Mike Monteiro in “Design is a Job”
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This Daily Basketball
A couple weeks ago I started playing basketball again with a bunch of guys. It had been years since I stepped foot on a court and it showed. All the breath support I’d grown accustom to during middle school and high school had effectively disappeared. I couldn’t play for more than 20 minutes before feeling completely exhausted.
But I kept playing every week and eventually the...
1 tag
Questions of Design
The problem with asking the right questions is that there can be so many of them. All of them can play an equally crucial part in the evolution of a design. So there needs to be elimination or curation.
One example of elimination is the problem of getting from A to B. In most people’s minds the obvious question is how. Asking how will likely get you to think about a vehicle of sorts. But...
Why game consoles can't be better than PCs
Lot of awesome points made in this article. I especially enjoyed the following excerpt.
With a 1080p60 graphical upper limit and recognition of the complexities of multithreaded programming, there isn’t a compelling case for building hardware that’s streets ahead of what we have today. “The x86 PlayStation 4 could signal a sea-change in the console industry”
March 2012
12 posts
10 tags
Why Android is the one you date and iOS is the one...
I’m a recent iPhone convert, after a couple of years with Android phones. I like(d) the promise of Android and, early on, I think it was good. Then it became too many devices, no unification regarding system updates, and potentially being locked into two years on an out-of-date OS.
It’s not that the OS or even the device is horrible. But, currently, it all felt like it was...
2 tags
Newspapers in reverse
I had a thought today and I’m positive I’m not the only one to think of it. What if newspapers did things in reverse. To this day newspapers are pouring truckloads of money into their print business. But what if they radically shifted all those resources to their web properties instead? What if the print edition augmented the web edition instead of the other way around?
It’s...
“We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which...”
– Carl Sagan (via nothingdreadfuleverhappens)
“More than 10 years ago, a Nielsen study reported that homes that converted from...”
– Marc Wilson, excerpt from “War for attention expands”
“The right solution to any design problem can only be discovered through...”
– Matt Henderson’s comment on “Exploring ideas in the pursuit of clarity”
Watch
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Hello again, Rdio.
Following the Rdio’s press release announcing some new features and user interface improvements, I decided to give their mobile app another try. I’ve always balked at Rdio’s sound quality over mobile. But it seems they’ve caught up with their competitors in that regard. Other than some fundamental differences between codecs (e.g, AAC, MP3, etc), it sounds absolutely great...
Microsoft demoes super fast touchscreen →
The full title asks if they can bring it to market. There are 2 answers to the question.
The first; Yes and they probably already have some concrete plans to do so. See, Microsoft needs to compete in more than just software and the only company excelling at touch technology is Apple Inc. So this demo and untold plans to bring it to market makes complete sense for Microsoft.
The second; No....
February 2012
7 posts
3 tags
Basecamp Next: The Simplest Project Management...
Several posts ago I asked where the simple project management apps are. Then today I watched this video.
Frankly, for how little UI was revealed, I was blown away. For years I balked at using Basecamp because it’s interface while simple, lost clarity over the years. But as you can see, they’ve made some massive improvements in that regard. And if you know me, I love removing things...
4 tags
Macbook Pro Redesign in 2012? →
I agreed with everything up until the bit about the optical drive. There is just no way Apple is going to drop the optical drive on their Macbook Pro line. Many creative and business professionals still use and depend on DVD discs to load and install software, not to mention heavy Bootcamp users running Windows alongside OS X.
Apple knows the Mac App Store isn’t the end-all-be-all solution...
Watchllllostandffffound:
Was just blown away by this. Justin Vernon Of Bon Iver jams with The Roots. So good.
It’s not good. It’s perfect musical splendor in your eyes and ears!
4 tags
When a Designer Tries to Write Ruby and Rails Code →
3 years ago, I attempted to develop a project management application with Ruby on Rails. Project management is an itch that I’ve been wanting to scratch for a long long time. So I threw my hat in the pile as a hobby project. The result was a huge confusing mess of models, views and controllers. I’m seriously embarrassed by most of the code I wrote during that time.
Truth be told,...
January 2012
7 posts
Adjustments
I’ve recently acquired a mid-2010 model Macbook Pro and it’s the fourth computer I’ve ever owned. Before now I’ve been accustomed to desktop computers with my first being a Commadore 64 (I’m not kidding), second being a Windows PC and the third being an iMac which has been replaced by the Macbook.
Thanks to desktop computing I’ve been spoiled by large screens...
1 tag
Congratulations. You wrote code no one cares...
When ever I read a blog post that talks about code to solve a specific problem, you will likely run into a douche bag web developer proclaiming in the comments to have written the same or similar solution some arbitrary amount of years ago and in a programming language no one cares about.
“Hey this is cool stuff, thanks for this! Oh by the way, I wrote a similar solution using fortran in...
3 tags
Where is the simple project management app?
Over the years I’ve gained a lot of experience using Basecamp, GoPlan and currently Rule.fm to participate in and manage large and small projects. To this day none of them seem to hit the spot. They all fail in one aspect or another and the failure is often large enough to impede productivity in the long-run.
It appears current PM apps including the ones I mentioned above ask the right...
1 tag
“There is no god and that’s the simple truth. If every trace of any single religion died out and nothing were passed on, it would never be created exactly that way again. There might be some other nonsense in its place, but not that exact nonsense. If all of science were wiped out, it would still be true and someone would find a way to figure it all out again.” - Penn...
December 2011
7 posts
2 tags
What is the simplest thing you can build?
That is a question I constantly have to ask myself. Personally as a web designer, design has always been about managing complexity and presenting simplicity. It’s a process that requires giving up things that are “cool” for the sake of something that is usable and clearly communicable. Anyone can do simple, but can you present simple, beauty and retain 100% usability? Many try...
“…ask yourself: do you click on ads and actually buy stuff because of the...”
10 tags
Console vs. PC: Give it a damn rest, please.
Can we please just stop talking about it. Whenever someone decides to divulge their wisdom about this topic, they always miss the point. To play video games is to have fun. It’s not sit in your awesome chair and troll about hardware specs on Reddit and Twitter all day. Grow up. Stop complaining, bragging or whatever it is you do to make your insignificant opinion appear relevant. Just enjoy...
Dear HBO →
First and foremost, I love your content. You’ve produced several of my favorite shows over the years, and the hits keep on coming. I’d love to watch Game of Thrones now, but I can’t. You see, the only way to get your service is to be a cable subscriber, and several months ago I cut the cord.
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November 2011
6 posts
1 tag
6 tags
Battlefield 3 isn't fun?
Let me preface all this by saying I’ve completely given up on the Call of Duty franchise. Some of that is because I enjoy playing other genres about as much as I enjoy playing first person shooters. But the primary reason is mostly because I’ve grown out of Call of Duty.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not referring to those who still enjoy Call of Duty as inferior, infantile or...