October 2007
104 posts
Behind the scenes at 37signals: Design →
Justin Reese: …this series of posts is about taking you behind the scenes at our real office: Campfire. Campfire is where our team — local and remote — gathers everyday. We use it to chat, show each other screenshots, get feedback, upload files, collaborate on copy, share code, get alerts when sites are modified, search previous conversations, and much more. Simply telling people you use the...
Stephen Doyle's Word Art →
This is some of the best work I’ve seen lately. I dare use the word “moving” to describe much of it. I thought this one was particularly good. (via)
The Lost Art of the Rant →
Daniel Seidel, writing for Slate: The Web is often rightly criticized by the guardians of high culture for encouraging bilious discourse and sloppy writing, with cruel message-board postings and bloggers attacking one another at the slightest provocation. But in this new golden age of the rant, when the Web allows anyone to lash out about anything at all, it would be foolish to dismiss the more...
“We will send our sons anywhere in the world to die for democracy…But I’ve never...”
– Ricardo Semler
Top 100 Jazz CDs →
Few things are as versatile as a good jazz CD, and you’d be hard pressed to go wrong with the albums on this list. I have 5 of the top 10 (1, 2, 4, 6 and 8), and I would recommend them to anyone.
The Pirate Bay Sees a Future Without BitTorrent →
From the article: The guys from The Pirate Bay are always working on interesting side-projects, but there is one in particular that’s so significant, it might be the future of filesharing. For a while now, they have been working on a brand new protocol - which may come to replace BitTorrent in the near future. Now, this is interesting.
Can Google kill PowerPoint? →
Turns out, no, no they can’t. And this is unfortunate because I harbor a healthy disdain for PowerPoint (mostly because there are only about 4 people in the world who use it properly), and was hoping Google could provide a decent, free alternative.
Make Leopard's Menubar Opaque →
OpaqueMenuBar from Eternal Storms Software does exactly that: OpaqueMenuBar is a tool for Mac OS X 10.5 “Leopard” to make the menu bar non-transparent, so you cannot see through it any more. Personally, I like the new menubar, which is surprising because I was fully prepared to hate it.
The Road to Clarity →
Previously making the internet rounds a few months ago, this article details the change from Highway Gothic to Clearview on America’s highway signs. How easy it is to identify letters while driving 60+ mph in the dark has to be one of the more interesting challenges typographers face, and I thought this article did a good job of underscoring the importance of picking the proper typeface for...
iWant, therefore iComplain →
Core77 asks why people seem to be complaining differently these days: Apple is widely recognized as selling people easy-to-use products that they actually want, but these products are often attacked relentlessly in forums and online chatter. Did you ever notice that when people criticize Apple products, it often starts “I love the [iGadget] but…”? Seems to us people never used to...
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard: the Ars Technica review →
A ludicrously in-depth review from John Siracusa. It’s definitely the best (and most complete) review you’ll read, if you can get through it all. For those of you not willing to read all 16 pages of the review, here’s the short version: He considers it to be a rock-solid foundation and a definite step in the right direction, even if there are some sticking points along the way.
Beautiful sites with no (or very few) images →
Fadtastic gives a quick rundown of sites that focus less on images, and more on being simple, readable and elegant. The conclusions about what makes these sites unique include this gem: Content. The text stands out. It urges you to read it. It looks elegant and the clean structure of the page allows you to read in comfort. That’s exactly what I hoped to accomplish with my last redesign.
Inquisitor for Leopard →
Dave Watanabe: The short story is this…Inquisitor works. The shipping Leopard did not completely remove extensions, it simply has imposed stronger security conditions on them. This is excellent news, especially since I depend on Inquisitor way more than I should.
When Pigs Fly: The Death of Oink, the Birth of... →
Bar none, one of the best rants against the music industry I’ve ever read. It’s long (really long), it’s well reasoned and it comes from someone with an inside knowledge of the music industry. If you’re at all interested in the current state of the music industry, the death of OiNK or how the major labels screwed the pooch, you owe it to yourself to read this.
Paul Giacherio's Tumblelog →
This tumblelog just showed up in my list of Followers (in fact, he was my 100th follower), and he has one of the most original Tumblr layouts I’ve ever seen.
Student’s Ad Gets a Remake, and Makes the Big Time →
From the article: A television commercial for the new iPod Touch from Apple, scheduled to begin running on Sunday, 10-28 is being created by the longtime Apple agency, TBWA/Chiat/Day. It is based on a commercial that an 18-year-old English student and Apple devotee named Nick Haley, who says he got his first Macintosh when he was 3 created on his own one day last month. It’s a pretty good...
Layer Tennis: Behind the Scenes →
An interesting look at what was going through Chris Glass’s head and how he created his volleys during last week’s Layer Tennis match. This week’s match begins today at 2pm CST. See you at the court.
A Friday List of...
With the recent shutdown/raid of the OiNK BitTorrent tracker, I’m sure people are left wondering where they’re going to get their fix of new tunes. Well, thank goodness I’m here. Here’s my list of… 5 6 Sites To Help You Find New Music: Tiny Mix Tapes - Mostly a news/review site, but I’ve previously linked to their Automatic Mix Tape Generator which is an...
How Hard Could It Be?: Five Easy Ways to Fail →
Joel Spolsky guest writing for Inc.com: Software development takes immense intellectual effort. Even the best programmers can rarely sustain that level of effort for more than a few hours a day. Beyond that, they need to rest their brains a bit, which is why they always seem to be surfing the Internet or playing games when you barge in on them. It would be really nice if more people understood...
Spoon, in concert →
Like the band Spoon? Want a free live show? The latest episode of All Songs Considered, an excellent NPR podcast, is of Spoon’s recent concert at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC. It’s a good show, too—definitely better than the one I caught at the Hi-Tone in Memphis, TN a year or two back. Quick Note: I don’t know how NPR handles their podcast downloads, so this link could...
Bullshit Is Most Important Issue For 2008 Voters →
“News” video from The Onion, and it’s especially funny because it’s so true.
American kids, dumber than dirt →
Mark Morford writing for SFGate: My friend often summarizes for me what he sees, firsthand, every day and every month, year in and year out, in his classroom. He speaks not merely of the sad decline in overall intellectual acumen among students over the years, not merely of the astonishing spread of lazy slackerhood, or the fact that cell phones and iPods and excess TV exposure are, absolutely and...
Woot-Off! →
Another month, another Woot-Off. Save the Woot guys some bandwidth and use a Woot Checker.
“If Wes Anderson were God we would all be attractive, and cancer and real jobs...”
– Caitlin Boersma for the Bygone Bureau
How the Colorado Rockies' fielding wizardry will... →
Eriq Gardner writing for Slate: Baseball is usually seen as a clash between pitchers and hitters—a test of wills between the guy on the mound and the slugger at the plate. […] But if there’s ever a time to focus on the guys with gloves, it’s the 2007 World Series. Game 1: tonight at 7pm CST
Universal to sell music on USB drives →
From the article: Universal Music, the world’s biggest music company, is to release singles on USB memory sticks this month, in an attempt to arrest the decline in music sales. And Brian Rose, commercial director for Universal UK had this to say: This is aimed at the younger, 12 to 24 year olds, who no longer believe that the CD is as cool as it used to be. Wow. These guys just don’t get...
"Automatic" Mix Tape Generator →
Tiny Mix Tapes provides an “automatic” mix tape for people who can’t be bothered to make their own mixes. You simply submit the theme, and their “robots” put together a list of songs to go with the theme. Sadly, actually making a mix tape of these songs is up to you. The user-submitted themes are on display for all to see and range from vaguely autobiographical...
A More Useful Twitter?
I’m a relatively new Twitter user; I follow a few people, and they follow me. Everyone knows a little bit about everyone. That’s what I love about Twitter, but that’s not all Twitter is good for. Pretty quickly after I started tweeting, I began to notice places where Twitter could be truly useful. Around the office, for example, Twitter could be used to notify people when builds...
Lazy-Ass Nation →
Jim Windolf writing for Vanity Fair: While traditionally given to hard work, Americans have also, somewhat paradoxically, kept a close watch for any innovation that might take some of the drudgery out of everyday life. I’m all for removing some of the tedium (vacuuming or dusting, for example) from everyday life, but Windolf seems to conclude that we’re “innovating”...
1776 →
Robot Chicken spoofs 300 to near-perfection.
New theme, Easy Reader, Released →
After a couple of minor, last-minute tweaks, I’m releasing my latest Tumblr theme. The theme is based on the Information Architect’s 100% Easy-2-Read standard, so I’ve called it Easy Reader. A live preview can be found by clicking the link to this post, and more information about the theme can be found by checking out its page on the Tumblepedia. Hope you like the new theme, and...
500 Years of Art →
This YouTube video covers 500 years of female portraits from da Vinci to Picasso, each one morphing into the next. It’s fascinating to see how styles change from one to the next. A list of all the paintings, artists and dates is available here.
Apple Reports Q4 Results →
Lots of numbers here (2.1m Macs sold, 10.2m iPods, 1.1m iPhones, $6.22b revenue, $904m quarterly profit, etc etc), but they all boil down to the same thing: Apple is kicking ass. It’s a crying shame I don’t own any AAPL stock…
Designing Usable Web Forms →
“Ryan Singer, designer at 37signals, discusses the usability of sign-up forms at the Future of Web Design in London (www.futureofwebdesign.com).” The video does a piss-poor job of getting the presenter and the presentation, so you might prefer to grab the audio & slides separately and follow along at home. (via)
5 Workplace practices that should end →
I’m going to tackle these in order: Yes. Definitely. Sure, why not? Yes. Yes. I especially enjoyed this quip, because it’s so remarkably true: It will come as news to most people over thirty that most people under thirty do not leave voice mail messages. I honestly can’t think of the last time I left someone at my office a voicemail; similarly, I’ve had messages on my...
The Future of Software Development →
Alex Iskold on the current state of software development: Equipped with a modern programming language, great libraries, and agile methods, a couple of smart guys in the garage can get things done much better and faster than an army of mediocre developers. (via)
Low Morale: Creep →
This is an animated music video, set to Radiohead’s “Creep”. The creator, Laith Bahrani, describes how it came to be: Creep was created as an extension to a series of shorts called `Low Morale’ which I began to develop during a well-paid, comfortable yet soul-destroying job as a senior designer in a multimedia agency. The countless days spent in the run down converted office,...
P2P vs Radiohead's "free" Rainbows →
Nate Anderson writing for Ars Technica: Radiohead’s innovative digital distribution arrangement for their new album, In Rainbows, lets people pay whatever they want for the music, including nothing at all. Despite that, BitTorrent swapping of the album has been on the level of other major releases. Are people really so cheap that they won’t even register with the band in order to snag...
Apple sued over iPod storage capacity →
This is special: The complaint alleges that all Apple products have, on average, 7.5 percent less storage space than advertised. The Plaintiff [David Bitton] is asking for a full refund or, if a refund is refused, a 7.5 percent refund for him as well as all iPod owners in Quebec. Apparently, no one has told Mr. Bitton that this is common among HDD manufacturers; if you divide your capacity by...
Portal →
Yet another Flash game designed entirely to make me waste an afternoon at work. (via daily junk)
The Pedal-to-the-Metal, Totally Illegal,... →
This Wired article, already making its way around the web, details the record-breaking attempt at The Cannonball Run (a fast-as-you-can trip from New York to Los Angeles). This quote could be my favorite: The crimes that Roy and Maher have committed, state after state, number in the hundreds. There will be months before the statutes of limitation run out, months before this story can finally be...
6-Word Stories →
This is a Wired article from a few months back, and one that I loved at the time. It starts with this anecdote (which I love, even if I doubt its legitimacy): Hemingway once wrote a story in just six words (“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”) and is said to have called it his best work. There’s something very appealing about the constraints of telling a story in 6 words, and...
A Brief Message: Neologotastic! →
This one is by Erin McKean: People who don’t hesitate to create new things in other media — who happily design their own fonts and mix their own colors — shy away from coining new words, with an almost reverent attitude towards the existing language. But words are human, and were made by human creativity.
Radiohead Sell 1.2m Copies of 'In Rainbows'? →
An exclusive from GIGWISE: Even if every person who downloaded the album paid just 10 pence, the band will still rake in a massive £120,000. That figure is likely to be higher, with many speculating the average figure will even out at around the £1 mark. Until these numbers are verified elsewhere, I’ll remain somewhat skeptical, but it looks like a nice payday for Radiohead (especially since...
Steve Jobs Announces iPhone SDK →
Straight from Stevie-J himself: Let me just say it: We want native third party applications on the iPhone, and we plan to have an SDK in developers’ hands in February. Maybe now everyone can go back to liking the iPhone?