September 2007
93 posts
Re-engineering Engineering →
John Schwartz for the New York Times: Engineering schools had structured themselves, largely for the convenience of faculty, around a comfortable way of teaching but not the best methods of learning. There was too much note-taking in the classroom and not enough hands-on learning. Institutions stressed research over undergraduate teaching, because that’s where the recognition and grant money come...
Do your own thing →
Marco Arment: I wasn’t truly comfortable doing my own thing until years later, but I remembered that night. A stoned guy’s idle conversation became the goal for my life outlook. No other statement or occurrence has been more fundamental in making me stop worrying about what other people think and do, which in turn makes it true. Marco is pitch-perfect in this article, and his...
Racket →
Shaun Inman recounts his time on the Layer Tennis court: Give me 252,000 pixels, competent design and wit. Oh and you only have 15 minutes and can’t use found art. How does that old designer’s adage go? “You can have good, fast and cheap—pick two.”
Ask 37signals: Pressure to grow? →
José Bonnet on growing without “growing”: Our customer base is growing. Our revenues are growing. Our customer satisfaction is growing. Our product offering is growing. Our integration options are growing. This is the kind of growth we want. I have a huge desire to be part of a company that understands this: “growth” doesn’t have to be about the number of employees....
A Friday List of...
5 Albums that are perfect for Fall: Van Morrison - Moondance The Weepies - Say I Am You Hem - Rabbit Songs The Shins - Oh, Inverted World Iron & Wine - The Creek Drank the CradleTo me, Fall is the laid back season: the craziness of Summer is gone, but the harshness of Winter hasn’t quite set in, and things are just generally relaxed. I chose the albums above because they feel like Fall;...
To Comment or Not to Comment?
I received an e-mail yesterday, which in and of itself was nothing special, but this e-mail asked for my opinion (I typically just give my opinion, so having someone ask for it was notably exciting). Here’s the relevant portion of the e-mail: I just added comments to my blog (http://newsroom.tumblr.com) and I’m curious what you think about comments on a blog. I notice you have none....
Microsoft bashes Google over DoubleClick →
Nate Anderson writes: After admitting that the online advertising industry is a fluid one that has seen Yahoo, Microsoft, and AOL all make large purchases in the last few months, Smith contended that only Google’s merger with DoubleClick posed a threat to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Ah, the old “do as we say, not as we do” argument. I’m not saying the...
Coudal Partners' Layer Tennis →
The rules of the game: Two artists (or two small teams of artists) will swap a file back and forth in real-time, adding to and embellishing the work. Each artist gets fifteen minutes to complete a “volley” and then we post that to the site. A third participant, a writer, provides play-by-play commentary on the action, as it happens. The matches last for ten volleys and when it’s...
Ten Tips for a (Slightly) Less Awful Resume →
Tips 3-10 are excellent; they are tips everyone should read and treat as gospel, in my opinion. Tips 1 and 2, however, are more interesting. They’re interesting because they simultaneously refute my previous post on resumes while at the same time making my point that resumes are viewed as sub-par if they don’t conform. (via marco)
Bonds Baseball to Be Branded With Asterisk →
Ken Daley quoting Dale Petrosky: “I think what Marc did with buying the ball, doing the online poll, giving people options, nobody’s ever done that before, either,” he said. “So, it’s all sort of a first. My feeling is that baseball belongs to the fans, and I thought giving the fans a voice was a pretty neat idea.
The Death of the Resume?
Recently, I looked at my resume and decided the design I had chosen was stale and border-line cheesy. So yesterday, while at lunch with a co-worker, I came up with a new design for my resume. After putting together a first pass, I was showing it to my co-worker when someone else said this: Why are putting so much effort into your resume? You know almost everyone who looks at it won’t care,...
Pixelmator 1.0 Released! →
Wow. This app may well replace Photoshop for me…and it’s only $60?!
The 100% Easy-2-Read Standard →
This article is a perfect example of why I end up redesigning my site as often as I do. After reading an article like this, I just can’t help but look at the typography on my site a different way. The moment I start looking at my site like that is the moment I resolve myself to redesign it, and it’s a vicious cycle. On a side note, I’m having a minimalist love affair with...
Whats the Future of the Music Industry? →
I have a number of problems with the music industry, and this article covers every single one of them (and then some) in remarkable detail. This is a must read for anyone interested in the failings of the music industry over the past decade. (via Shawn)
How to compete with free →
Oliver Reichenstein: If you produce what everyone produces, you don’t have a good chance of making a profit. And that implies that, if you produce something that is reproducible without additional cost, your product value sinks to zero. In order to be able to raise the price, you need to deliver unique value. The article begins by discussing the music industry and their inability to keep up with...
Death to the Cubicle! →
Linda Tischler: The solution [to the problems cubicles cause], Tompkin says, is to customize space to various types of work. Give those who need uninterrupted time a quiet place to work and those who need to collaborate a more social space. That may mean a glass-walled office for heads-down work, and a variety of gathering places for group work. “As the workforce becomes more mobile,”...
A No-Frills Kitchen Still Cooks →
Mark Bittman: Like cookbooks, kitchen equipment is a talisman; people believe that buying the right kind will make them good cooks. Yet some of the best cooks I’ve known worked with a battered batterie de cuisine… It’s entirely too easy to get sucked in by the shiny, industrial gadgetry found in typical kitchenware stores. Truthfully, that’s probably how my wife and I ended up...
Catch a Mouse without a Mousetrap →
Chris Glass details a simple, borderline-genius, 5-step method for catching a mouse without buying a mousetrap. Added bonus: it’s humane too.
The Case for Minimalist Web Page Design →
From the article: Minimalism is functionality and esthetics working together. In web design, minimalism involves removing all unnecesary frills, focusing on the user, and creating an interface that is at the same time pleasant to the eye, easy to navigate, intuitive, and effective in helping the user achieve his goals quickly and effortlessly. I have a deep respect for people can perfectly pull...
Web Typography: Bottom Margins →
This article is just one of many on the topic of maintaining vertical rhythm in web design. The article only covers lists and paragraphs, so it’s just an introduction to the topic, but it’s great for easing you into the idea.
The Talk Show →
One of my favorite new podcasts finally got a “real” site. It looks as good as I expected it to, if not better.
Is There A Perfect Office Floor Plan?
My employer is considering reworking the office’s floor plan soon, and the more I think about it, the more I realize that office floor plans are tricky. On the one hand, open floor plans are attractive and modern, but they practically invite interruption. On the other hand, cubicles are just rows upon rows of the same boring, uninspired modularity. Surely there’s some kind of middle...
Blocking Creative Thinking →
Copyblogger covers 10 things that typically act as a mechanism for blocking creative thinking, and I’m guilty of at least 5 of them.
Redesigned: Daily Meh →
Simen redesigned his site, and I’d be lying if I said I’m not hugely impressed. It looks fantastic.
How to Spot Arial →
In the eternal battle of Helvetica vs Arial, arm yourself appropriately. Once armed, though, you might consider testing yourself.
NBC to provide downloads of popular shows →
So, does this have everything to ensure it’s doomed from the beginning? Windows only? Check. Completely arbitrary expiration of your download? Check. Ads that you can’t skip? Check. Every time a major content provider does something like this, I’m even more convinced these guys have no idea how to run their business in the “internet age.”
Always wait for something better. ALWAYS. →
The Macalope has been hit-or-miss lately, but this article was spot-on. I especially appreciated this:My god, people act like EDGE is some blight on the human condition like polio or something, as if there were no trade-offs to be made that 3G was simply better. It’s not. I’m glad someone is saying this. EDGE isn’t anywhere near as bad as tech-writers want everyone to think it...
Pirate talk, slang, words, and lingo →
More ways to talk like a pirate than you cared to know about. The one I’m currently trying to use (legitimately) in a sentence?Hornswaggle - To cheat or defraud, often of money or belongings…
English-to-Pirate translator →
Need help with your pirate-ese? I think this here page be what yer lookin’ fer! (via Shawn)
September 19: Talk Like A Pirate Day →
Avast, ye maties! Talk Like a Pirate Day be upon us, so flap yer yap as pirates do or ye be walkin’ the plank! Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Super Smash Brothers Brawl goes online →
From the article:Sakurai explains that Brawl “supports Nintendo WiFi Connection. If you connect your Wii to the Internet, you can enjoy linked battles with distant people!” I am literally about to bust at the seams to get my hands on this game.
Who Shot the Serif? →
For the budding typographer in all of us, this article provides an excellent introduction to the wild world of typography. If you couldn’t tell from the link, this particular article deals specifically with serifs, also known as “the curly bits at the ends of letters.”
Statetris →
Kinda fun, but not very forgiving if you don’t line up perfect horizontally. Also, Hard is the only setting worth playing.
Low Light v1.1 →
I noticed a few minor spacing issues with 1.0, so I’ve issued this minor update which hopefully fixes those problems. As usual, please keep me abreast of any issues you might come across by using the contact links in the sidebar.
Elevator Expertise from an Expert →
Khoi Vinh:As I learned afterwards, [the elevators] were designed according to a principle of elevator service called destination-based dispatching. The basic idea is that, rather than putting passengers on the first elevator car that arrives, the system routes passengers to the cars that will deliver them to their destinations most quickly. I would have never guessed that so much went into getting...
Introducing: Low Light →
As I alluded to yesterday, I am ready to release yet another Tumblr theme, and I call this one Low Light. The last theme I released was a kind of homage to newspapers, so I was looking for something different this time around. Specifically, I wanted light text on a dark background and less contrast than before. I also wanted the color palette to be soft and soothing, but everything needed to...
The Misuse of E-mail
E-mail fascinates me, culturally speaking. Everyone uses e-mail, but it’s misunderstood. It’s simple yet powerful. It’s an efficient form of communication, but the speed with which one can write, send and forget about an e-mail belies the underlying complexities and subtleties. Let’s talk about what e-mail is not. E-mail is neither a replacement for a hand-written note, nor...
Music Video: Feist's "1 2 3 4" →
By far the best song off her new album, The Reminder, the video for 1 2 3 4 is a simple, fun-to-watch, campy, one-shot delight; the use of color and people both work perfectly. When you’re done with the real video, compare it to this one. (via AATW)
Internal MediaDefender E-mail Leak →
FTA:Now, in what is surely the biggest BitTorrent leak ever, nearly 700mb of [MediaDefender]’s emails have gone public. Wow, there is some very damning content in these e-mails. This can’t possibly be a good thing for MediaDefender. (via marco)
“Remember folks, iPods do relatively well under automobiles, but laptops...”
– Jacqui Cheng
The Last Question by I. Asimov →
Wow.
When In Doubt, Make It Public →
Jeff Atwood:We live in a world of infinitely searchable micro-content, and every contribution, however small, enriches all of us. But more selfishly, if you’re interested in deriving maximum benefit from your work, there’s no substitute for making it public and findable. Obscurity sucks. But obscurity by choice is irrational. I couldn’t agree more. (via DailyJunk)
Cocoon - Emergency Outdoor Survival →
The designer’s description:Cocoon is a place to find shelter in extreeme conditions and environments. Hang it off a tree or a cliff face or anywhere you else you need to. Inside, the user is comforted by a warming colours and materials that will ensure they stay warm no matter what the conditions are like outside. It doesn’t look particularly comfortable, but wouldn’t dare call...
Bloxorz →
Apparently, I’m about to lose yet another afternoon to some crazy-addictive Flash game.
“Users are experts in their own lives, lives the designer will see only if she...”
– Clay Shirky