<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" media="screen" href="/~d/styles/rss2full.xsl"?><?xml-stylesheet type="text/css" media="screen" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~d/styles/itemcontent.css"?><rss xmlns:creativeCommons="http://backend.userland.com/creativeCommonsRssModule" xmlns:feedburner="http://rssnamespace.org/feedburner/ext/1.0" version="2.0"><channel><description>My random musings… :)</description><title>LeviFig</title><generator>Tumblr (3.0; @levifig)</generator><link>http://log.levifig.com/</link><atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/levifig" /><feedburner:info uri="levifig" /><atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="hub" href="http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/" /><creativeCommons:license>http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/</creativeCommons:license><feedburner:emailServiceId>levifig</feedburner:emailServiceId><feedburner:feedburnerHostname>http://feedburner.google.com</feedburner:feedburnerHostname><feedburner:feedFlare href="http://add.my.yahoo.com/rss?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2Flevifig" src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/my/addtomyyahoo4.gif">Subscribe with My Yahoo!</feedburner:feedFlare><feedburner:feedFlare href="http://www.newsgator.com/ngs/subscriber/subext.aspx?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2Flevifig" src="http://www.newsgator.com/images/ngsub1.gif">Subscribe with NewsGator</feedburner:feedFlare><feedburner:feedFlare href="http://www.bloglines.com/sub/http://feeds.feedburner.com/levifig" src="http://www.bloglines.com/images/sub_modern11.gif">Subscribe with Bloglines</feedburner:feedFlare><feedburner:feedFlare href="http://www.netvibes.com/subscribe.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2Flevifig" src="http://www.netvibes.com/img/add2netvibes.gif">Subscribe with Netvibes</feedburner:feedFlare><feedburner:feedFlare href="http://fusion.google.com/add?feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2Flevifig" src="http://buttons.googlesyndication.com/fusion/add.gif">Subscribe with Google</feedburner:feedFlare><feedburner:feedFlare href="http://www.pageflakes.com/subscribe.aspx?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2Flevifig" src="http://www.pageflakes.com/ImageFile.ashx?instanceId=Static_4&amp;fileName=ATP_blu_91x17.gif">Subscribe with Pageflakes</feedburner:feedFlare><item><title>As seen on Commercial Rd bus stop.
via @Malarkey

I...</title><description>&lt;img src="http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kz2oyjqPtl1qz8pdho1_500.png"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;As seen on Commercial Rd bus stop.&lt;/em&gt;
via &lt;a href="http://twitter.com/Malarkey/status/10033381741"&gt;@Malarkey&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I couldn’t agree more and applaud the decision.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=bCd4yFTbgMg:A2qjaZ51240:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=bCd4yFTbgMg:A2qjaZ51240:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?i=bCd4yFTbgMg:A2qjaZ51240:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/levifig/~4/bCd4yFTbgMg" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/levifig/~3/bCd4yFTbgMg/439145844</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://log.levifig.com/post/439145844</guid><pubDate>Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:42:18 +0000</pubDate><feedburner:origLink>http://log.levifig.com/post/439145844</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>My first attempt at using a custom iPhone theme.

I’ve...</title><description>&lt;img src="http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kymtgytVQ51qz8pdho1_400.jpg"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;p&gt;My first attempt at using a custom iPhone theme.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I’ve never been fond of theming the iPhone for several reasons, the main one of them being that the default looks are impressive and beautiful! Now, this 2G is getting old and the older it gets the more comfortable playing around with it I get (I’ve had it jailbroken/unlocked since close to day 1 though), especially installing some more “radical” apps like LockInfo and these themes.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;To be honest, I hate 99.99% of the themes available but this one is BEAUTIFUL and has tons of talented folks adapting app icons especifically for it (check this thread at MacThemes: &lt;a href="http://cld.ly/d21k2r"&gt;http://cld.ly/d21k2r&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Notes:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Yes, I’m giving biteSMS a try… So far so good! Loving it, actually!&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Yes, that Weather icon updates dynamically! ;)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Yes, I’ll post the Lockscreen with LockInfo (yes, I bought it) soon… Not as cute, but handy to have.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;
&lt;p&gt;UPDATE:
I found this Photobucket album with a LOT of icons for this theme (especially handy since MacThemes doesn’t allow search &lt;em&gt;in thread&lt;/em&gt;! #FAIL). &lt;a href="http://s858.photobucket.com/albums/ab146/Theme-Suave/"&gt;Here you go&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=j6NY0TTCPNo:a_YaGdNMXRc:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=j6NY0TTCPNo:a_YaGdNMXRc:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?i=j6NY0TTCPNo:a_YaGdNMXRc:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/levifig/~4/j6NY0TTCPNo" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/levifig/~3/j6NY0TTCPNo/421004665</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://log.levifig.com/post/421004665</guid><pubDate>Tue, 02 Mar 2010 01:58:00 +0000</pubDate><feedburner:origLink>http://log.levifig.com/post/421004665</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>An Adobe Flash developer on why the iPad can’t use Flash</title><description>&lt;a href="http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2010/02/20/an-adobe-flash-developer-on-why-the-ipad-cant-use-flash/"&gt;An Adobe Flash developer on why the iPad can’t use Flash&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Flash on the iPad will not (and should not) happen—and the main reason, as I see it, is one that never gets talked about: &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Current Flash sites could never be made work well on any touchscreen device, and this cannot be solved by Apple, Adobe, or magical new hardware.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;That’s not because of slow mobile performance, battery drain or crashes. It’s because of the hover or mouseover problem.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;by Morgan Adams, an interactive content developer who knows a lot about building Flash.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=2emj0DOLoiw:k5vrcIT9POQ:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=2emj0DOLoiw:k5vrcIT9POQ:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?i=2emj0DOLoiw:k5vrcIT9POQ:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/levifig/~4/2emj0DOLoiw" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/levifig/~3/2emj0DOLoiw/406168468</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://log.levifig.com/post/406168468</guid><pubDate>Tue, 23 Feb 2010 03:09:24 +0000</pubDate><feedburner:origLink>http://log.levifig.com/post/406168468</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>Interview with Mike Matas</title><description>&lt;a href="http://blog.cocoia.com/2010/interview-mike-matas/"&gt;Interview with Mike Matas&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;My favorite designs are the ones that don’t just solve a problem, but also engage you on an emotional level—where you take away more from it than just the end result of its function. When there’s that balance between functionality and emotion, the two amplify each other and the result is really powerful. I’m always trying to get there when I’m designing.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;— &lt;a href="http://mikematas.com/"&gt;Mike Matas&lt;/a&gt;, brilliant 23-year-old designer, creator of interfaces like &lt;a href="http://www.delicious-monster.com/"&gt;Delicious Library&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href="http://www.apple.com/macosx/what-is-macosx/time-machine.html"&gt;Apple’s Time Machine&lt;/a&gt;, interviewed by &lt;a href="http://cocoia.com/"&gt;Sebastiaan de With&lt;/a&gt; (another incredibly talented designer). A MUST read.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=ezsccU2foqQ:PQa8LUTa5z0:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=ezsccU2foqQ:PQa8LUTa5z0:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?i=ezsccU2foqQ:PQa8LUTa5z0:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/levifig/~4/ezsccU2foqQ" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/levifig/~3/ezsccU2foqQ/370681233</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://log.levifig.com/post/370681233</guid><pubDate>Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:36:00 +0000</pubDate><category>interview</category><category>design</category><category>inspiration</category><feedburner:origLink>http://log.levifig.com/post/370681233</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>Outsourcing Sucks</title><description>&lt;p&gt;Well, 90% of the time at least.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;One of the main corporate values every company should strive for, no matter its size or funding, is &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand_equity"&gt;brand equity&lt;/a&gt;. It usually takes a lot of time and effort, and can be destroyed in a matter of minutes following a drastic bad decision.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;To work towards brand equity, a company needs to work &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt; all its employees and instill its own corporate culture. I’m not talking about ping-pong tables or office &lt;em&gt;Rock Band&lt;/em&gt;, I’m talking about values. “Customer First” or “Do No Evil” are interesting mottos but end up being a bit too broad and meaning little to nothing in the everyday routine &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; not backed up by a set of core values that every employee abides by and strives for.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;That’s why outsourcing sucks. When outsourcing, companies hire what they call  “collaborators” but don’t work &lt;em&gt;with&lt;/em&gt; them. They give them work to do and expect the collaborator to get it done and get it done fast. There could be exceptions, but usually there’s no bond between the company and the collaborator beyond a contract: you give me this, I’ll give you that. How can a company instill their own corporate culture on a freelancer or someone else’s employee? Again, I’m not saying it’s impossible, I’m just saying it’s extra hard.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Bad examples of outsourcing or third-party services can quickly be found by googling complaints against major companies. Take Amazon or IKEA for example. They provide excellent service and shopping experience. Most complaints I’ve heard of them were because of their deliveries. Which one of those takes care of distribution? Neither. They sub-contract other companies, whose employees care less about the company who contracted their company. They’re working according to their company’s culture and towards its brand equity and not for those who contracted them. And let’s be honest: I’m not sure USPS/UPS/FedEx/etc employees are that worried about their company’s brand equity or culture.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Back in the IT world, why would companies choose outsourcing, something that takes away the main value a company can strive for? Because they want to increase their cash flow and hire more people than they can get work for. I’m not talking about outsourcing someone for 3 or less months either. I’m talking about companies that hire employees to work outsourced exclusively. I went through an experience where one of my managers informally asked me, around an office lunch, if I would be available to work outsourced. I was quite vocally against that prospect. I loved our company’s culture and “startup” environment. I would be working on a big corporation, at their offices and would rarely see my colleagues. Even though my role had changed into something I wasn’t particularly fond of, I preferred working there, with my colleagues, than going by myself, representing my company, into someone else’s office and team. I was still a junior and the burden of carrying my company’s brand equity was too much to bare so we parted our ways. Looking back, that was a good decision for everyone.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I just shared my particular experience to show that this feeling isn’t new and I just now chose to talk about it because of an interesting discussion on Twitter about IKEA. At first, it sounded like a complaint against IKEA. Then, I realized it had been a problem with the delivery, which isn’t handled by IKEA. At the end of the day, one thing is true: IKEA chose their distribution partner and is now suffering from lack of control over its own brand equity because their partner. I’m not saying IKEA should start their own distribution branch, but… should they?&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;As per usual, feel free to reply to me personally. I don’t think public comments are all too constructive, so if you want to counter my argument (please do!) or simply give me any kind of feedback, feel free to do so by &lt;a href="http://levifig.com"&gt;email&lt;/a&gt; or hit me up &lt;a href="http://twitter.com/levifig"&gt;@twitter&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=nqhH9b8iL0g:kskGrp0JAU0:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=nqhH9b8iL0g:kskGrp0JAU0:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?i=nqhH9b8iL0g:kskGrp0JAU0:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/levifig/~4/nqhH9b8iL0g" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/levifig/~3/nqhH9b8iL0g/370481377</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://log.levifig.com/post/370481377</guid><pubDate>Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:27:00 +0000</pubDate><category>article</category><category>p52</category><category>outsourcing</category><feedburner:origLink>http://log.levifig.com/post/370481377</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>How to Fall 35,000 Feet—And Survive</title><description>&lt;a href="http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/air_space/4344036.html?do=print"&gt;How to Fall 35,000 Feet—And Survive&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;You have a late night and an early flight. Not long after takeoff, you drift to sleep. Suddenly, you’re wide awake. There’s cold air rushing everywhere, and sound. Intense, horrible sound. Where am I?, you think. Where’s the plane?&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;You’re 6 miles up. You’re alone. You’re falling.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Things are bad. But now’s the time to focus on the good news. (Yes, it goes beyond surviving the destruction of your aircraft.) Although gravity is against you, another force is working in your favor: time. Believe it or not, you’re better off up here than if you’d slipped from the balcony of your high-rise hotel room after one too many drinks last night.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;By Dan Koeppel in &lt;/em&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.popularmechanics.com/"&gt;Popular Mechanics&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I can’t begin to tell you how brilliantly well-written and entertaining this piece is, so I won’t: go read it for yourself. :)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=Orj5b6S8beY:dY75WNILI7o:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=Orj5b6S8beY:dY75WNILI7o:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?i=Orj5b6S8beY:dY75WNILI7o:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/levifig/~4/Orj5b6S8beY" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/levifig/~3/Orj5b6S8beY/370441565</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://log.levifig.com/post/370441565</guid><pubDate>Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:46:48 +0000</pubDate><feedburner:origLink>http://log.levifig.com/post/370441565</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>A Closed System = Good</title><description>&lt;a href="http://www.rinich.com/post/358597818/i-love-walled-gardens"&gt;A Closed System = Good&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There is a complaint running around that the iPad is a closed system, that people aren’t free to customize it, that it’s not opened up so that we can all poke around inside it. Complaints are the the iPad is killing off an idea of computing that’s open and free for all.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;To which I say: Good! Does anybody remember what using a computer is like? I spent a week after reinstalling my operating system picking out the right tweaks and gizmos and gadgets to make things more manageable. Weblogs exist that do nothing but teach you how you can make your experience on a computer less shitty. On a closed system, you can’t do that. You work with what you’ve got. Even if what you have is suboptimal — and guys? We live in the future; suboptimal for us is leagues beyond what the poor savages of 2008 had — when you’re using a device, you have to use it do do something, not just to fuck around.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;

&lt;p&gt;— &lt;a href="http://www.rinich.com/post/358597818/i-love-walled-gardens"&gt;great article&lt;/a&gt; by &lt;a href="http://twitter.com/napiformest"&gt;Rory Marinich&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Besides, like I said in &lt;a href="http://log.levifig.com/post/358120567/apple-ipad"&gt;my article on the iPad&lt;/a&gt;, those who really &lt;em&gt;need&lt;/em&gt; some more advanced access will have the jailbreak, like the iPhone. Truth be told, most apps and uses of the jailbreak on the iPhone (besides Terminal/SSH access and a few developer tools and a few cool apps — e.g. LockInfo) are horrible themes that do nothing but make the UI really fugly… And hardcore programmers can always use their laptops!!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=kVlKHx1tzO4:TKgN5Hw5f20:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=kVlKHx1tzO4:TKgN5Hw5f20:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?i=kVlKHx1tzO4:TKgN5Hw5f20:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/levifig/~4/kVlKHx1tzO4" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/levifig/~3/kVlKHx1tzO4/359547326</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://log.levifig.com/post/359547326</guid><pubDate>Fri, 29 Jan 2010 12:18:41 +0000</pubDate><category>ipad</category><category>closed</category><category>echosystem</category><feedburner:origLink>http://log.levifig.com/post/359547326</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>My Reply to the Flash Team (re: iPad)</title><description>&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;No Flash on the iPad/iPhone is a feature, not a bug! None of those flash games are touch-able and optimized for such an interface… I don’t play Farmville but I’ve seen kids around the house playing it and it’s already incredibly slow and imprecise enough with a mouse pointer, let alone on a touch interface. I’m going to try to keep thinking that Zynga isn’t developing Farmville for the iPhone/iPad because they don’t think it’s worth it, not because Adobe is interested in that or funding them in any way… right?&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;As to video, there are other great alternatives out there, and it’s a matter of developers building them.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Bottom line is: if those companies really want to tap into the iPhone/iPad market, they can make better apps if they develop them to run natively on those devices. Besides, even a Windows user, having the choice between a free Flash game or a free native game, he’ll choose the latter. The only reason they keep playing Flash games is because of sites like Miniclip.com, that congregate the games in one center place. With the AppStore, there’s no reason/need for that.&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;p&gt;Regardless of the value of Flash (which I don’t see anywhere), you have to admit that Flash is becoming less and less relevant. And Adobe/Flash Team/Developers are scared and afraid to adapt to a new ball game. I wish the Flash Team developers all the best, professionally, I really do but… maybe it’s time to start investing on some more interesting and relevant products.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;

&lt;p&gt;— This was my comment to a &lt;a href="http://blogs.adobe.com/flashplatform/2010/01/apples_ipad_--_a_broken_link.html"&gt;post on the Flash Team blog&lt;/a&gt;, that is moderated and I don’t know if it will get posted… ever! :)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=7LgeEpZ_-qM:MmUrs4wCB6k:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=7LgeEpZ_-qM:MmUrs4wCB6k:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?i=7LgeEpZ_-qM:MmUrs4wCB6k:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/levifig/~4/7LgeEpZ_-qM" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/levifig/~3/7LgeEpZ_-qM/358691396</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://log.levifig.com/post/358691396</guid><pubDate>Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:39:28 +0000</pubDate><category>ipad</category><category>adobe</category><category>flash</category><feedburner:origLink>http://log.levifig.com/post/358691396</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>The Revolutionary Tablet</title><description>&lt;p&gt;As I was following the live keynote, when I first saw pictures of Steve Jobs holding the “thing” itself, I thought to myself “uh-oh… a giant iPhone?”. And even though I wanted one immediately, it didn’t produce in me the sheer amazement that the iPhone announcement did over 3 years ago (yup, the iPhone UI is still at least 2 years ahead of the competition, &lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpGu7TlPZiA"&gt;like Jobs predicted&lt;/a&gt;). I wasn’t sure I needed one, but I sure as heck tweeted my enthusiasm about the new wonder device coming from Cupertino. I couldn’t follow the whole live event, so I had to catch up on all the details later. The UI for Apple’s own apps looked amazing. The ability to run games on such a big screen was awesome. And iWork looks pretty decent. And then I watched the keynote &lt;a href="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/specialevent0110/"&gt;video stream&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;All I can say is that this &lt;em&gt;truly&lt;/em&gt; is a revolutionary device. Not because of it’s OS’ innovative interface (we’ve all seen that on the iPhone/iPod Touch) or because we saw something we’ve never seen before, but because of the possibilities a multi-touch device with a screen this big brings to developers. After seeing Phil doing a demo of the new iWork apps I was awestruck! They are breath-taking, both in terms of UI (looks) and UX (User Experience). Now, I really wanted one. Just because it’s not a revolutionary UI doesn’t mean it’s not a revolutionary device. And in it’s class, it is truly revolutionary (think tablet PCs, aka “cheap laptops”).&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h3&gt;The Nay-sayers&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;When the iPhone came out I heard one-too-many big shots in the tech industry going “No way I’d buy one”. Those were the ones that rushed to every single touch smartphone device that was announced after the iPhone. What did  most of them do after 1-2 years? They bought an iPhone. And even while they’ll complain about some things on it (as do I and most people that truly love the device), they’ve come to understand the reason behind the subject of most of their complaints. When was the last time you understood the reason behind anything Microsoft did that you disliked? Ya, I thought so.
So, anyway, I wasn’t surprised to see them all back in full-force, bashing the iPad. All I can say is: I’m sure you’ll get one before &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_phenomenon"&gt;2012&lt;/a&gt;… :)&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h3&gt;It’s a Big iPhone/iPod Touch&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;So, you think the iPad is just a big iPhone/iPod… Really? Have you actually seen the keynote video? Have you seen Apple’s own apps, like Calendar, Address Book and the iWork “trio”? There’s no way those apps could’ve been developed for the iPhone screen and UI! Did you notice the drastic reduction in tables in the iPad interface? Everything looks incredibly smoother and more “interactive”. The iPhone had severe constraints in terms of size and that’s okay: it is a phone after all! [I know, I know, much more than that, but stick with me here for a second] The iPad opens incredible opportunities for developers. And this time, they have and SDK from the get-go. I can’t even begin to think what amazing apps will come out soon. Before its launch, I saw a few “leaked” (read: fake) videos. The one that caught my attention because of the high level of details was for an &lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIGd4aBzhTU"&gt;IKEA app&lt;/a&gt;. Go watch that video now. I’ll wait. — Pretty amazing huh? :) Yes, I know it was fake, but that seems like possible from a functional standpoint. Besides, we all saw custom interfaces for iPhone apps (think &lt;a href="http://tapbots.com/"&gt;TapBots&lt;/a&gt; and their amazing apps). The truth is, the AppStore (and the iBooksStore) will be the killer feature for this device. And once apps that truly use all the potential of this device, a new version will come out that will keep pushing the boundaries. And yes, I know that because I know Apple! :)&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h3&gt;Disappointments… Are You Sure?&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Of course, no device is ever perfect. But I heard some complaints that I have a hard time agreeing with.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No multi-tasking:&lt;/strong&gt; I do believe multi-tasking is truly overrated. It is probably one of the prime reasons for decrease in productivity. Besides, it’s a device that does productivity really well, but it is also stellar at entertainment. One of my top iPhone feature requests also applies to the iPad: a quick way to return to the previous application like, for example, the Home button double-tap. Because iPhone apps are increasingly more aware of each other and are getting better at saving current state on exit (my favorites on that are &lt;a href="http://www.atebits.com/tweetie-iphone/"&gt;Tweetie 2&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="http://www.instapaper.com/iphone"&gt;Instapaper&lt;/a&gt;), the lack of the ability to quickly return to previous app is becoming a major flaw in the iPhone/iPad OS.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No Flash:&lt;/strong&gt; Where’s the problem on that again? Want my opinion? The iPad saves me the extra step of installing Click2Flash! Seriously though, Flash is a handy tool but it can’t become something web developers rely on. There’s little that can only be done in Flash now that HTML5 supports video so well. As to websites that use Flash for their user interface, well… I don’t use them and so shouldn’t you!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Big bezel/size:&lt;/strong&gt; Well, any less and you’d be mis-touching it’s screen, which would be incredibly unpleasant. Besides, if it was any smaller, you wouldn’t have enough screen real estate too build amazing apps like Keynote and Pages! iWork is probably the single most revolutionizing piece of software on the iPad. Don’t get me wrong, Calendar and Address Book are quite amazing, but the User Experience on iWork is something beyond “pretty” and “nice”.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Closed filesystem:&lt;/strong&gt; That’s probably one of the few problems I see with the iPad. Looking at how iWork opens/saves documents reveals its closed nature. You navigate their gallery wherein lie your documents. I’d love to see a “Pro” version of the iPad, with a more OSX-esque filesystem. Maybe not the entire OS, but perhaps an Finder-like app from Apple themselves. On the other hand, 90% of the users are better off not having access to the filesystem, and for the other 10%… I’m sure a jailbreak will come soon enough. :)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No Camera:&lt;/strong&gt; Really?? You see yourself taking pictures with a device the size of a closed &lt;a href="http://www.apple.com/macbookair/"&gt;Macbook Air&lt;/a&gt;? As to the front-facing camera (for iChat Video, for example), I can see a new version coming out in 1-2 years including that. Besides, Apple didn’t even include iChat with this release and I’m sure they’ll release it at some point (along with some sort of multi-tasking, to run iChat Agent in the background and quickly switch to it).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;
&lt;h3&gt;Hate to Love it&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Bottom line to the iPad is: it is a revolutionary device. The reason why some didn’t think so was because they expected the same “WOW” factor the iPhone had 3 years ago. I’m pretty sure Apple thought of the iPad &lt;em&gt;during&lt;/em&gt; the iPhone development. They probably thought “Hey, this iPhoneOS is really awesome and this multi-touch is terrific. Too bad we can’t build 10in iPhones. Ya, that’d be awkward… Oh, wait!”. I love reading on my iPhone, mainly blog posts and articles. I can’t see myself reading a book on it. I bought “Classics” when it came out and I don’t think I got past page 4-5 on any of the books there, and I love its gorgeous interface (so did Apple!). The idea of reading such short blurbs of text per screen is annoying and reading book becomes a daunting task that way. I’m still the guy with a couple of notebooks, one of them for taking notes while I read a book… on paper! I love books: their smell, their touch, the experience of reading them on a coffee shop, etc… But because of my traveling lately, I’ve suffered from having some books in one place, some books with me, some books in other places and it sucks. Not to mention how expensive it becomes when moving to a new country: books are heavy and airlines don’t like that!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h3&gt;Buy a paper book, get the e-book version for (almost) free!&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The iPad opens a new possibility for authors and publishers. It allows them to include color pictures, videos, graphs, links, etc right on their books. I can’t even imagine how awesome it would be to have an animated sequence at a chapter cover page, or a small screencast on a technical book. Can you think “live links”? Ability to link to webapps or videos or code that can be updated if the need ever comes? Can you think of “in-book purchases”, where you can buy a new revised print/edition for a discounted price? The possibilities are now wide open.
I bet Apple will do to books what it did to music: standardize. Book prices will become more standard (not the cheapest) and small publishers and authors will have a new audience and way to reach potential buyers. Anyone who’s gone through the process of self-publishing can probably attest for that better than I, but I’ve heard it’s not easy, nor the price/quality—in terms of the actual print, not the content—is as good. If you’ve bought 37signals “Getting Real”, you know what I mean (awesome book, highly recommended).&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h3&gt;But I still love the paper…&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Well, don’t tell the tree-huggers that, but I know what you mean. Like I said before, the feel of reading a paper book is incomparable to any other reading experience… now! We might see that change in the future, and even though I’m a bit conservative on that, I can’t deny that it will be the future (and no, it wasn’t Apple who started it).&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h3&gt;A few questions remain…&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I still have a few questions about the iPad though. Like:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Will Safari have a limitation in terms of number of tabs like its iPhone counterpart? Will it “blank” my other tabs all the time, forcing a reload on tab switch? &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Will I be able to buy an iPhone app and have access to iPad optimizations once I install it on the iPad?&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Will iPad apps be able to include an iPhone-optimized version in them? Or will I have to buy the same app twice?&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Will developers be able to provide in-app purchases for optimized version of their existing apps? What about the other way around—iPad apps with optimized iPhone versions?&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But the biggest one in my mind is: &lt;strong&gt;“How soon will the jailbreak be released?&lt;/strong&gt;” (along with “Will Apple mind that too much?”).&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Also, was this what Apple had in mind when they created &lt;a href="http://iwork.com"&gt;iWork.com&lt;/a&gt;? Maybe that will become a way to share documents between devices, like the iPad and a Mac… ;)&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h3&gt;Final Remarks&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, this is a transition device. Apple is once again writing history. Brace yourselves as this is the path that personal computing will be taking. No, laptops and desktops won’t be going away soon (if ever), but personal computing is way more than that. The iPhone revolutionized the personal communications device segment. The iPad will do so for the personal productivity and entertainment segment.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Also, these are my initial thoughts and I don’t presume I’m right and everyone is wrong. I’m not a hypocrite and I’ll be vocal about what I think. But I don’t mind being proven wrong or disagreed with. You can contact me by email (check my &lt;a href="http://levifig.com"&gt;homepage&lt;/a&gt; for that) or &lt;a href="http://twitter.com/levifig"&gt;@levifig&lt;/a&gt; on Twitter. :)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=tJoXMImUboI:8GvR-HVUwHQ:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=tJoXMImUboI:8GvR-HVUwHQ:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?i=tJoXMImUboI:8GvR-HVUwHQ:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/levifig/~4/tJoXMImUboI" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/levifig/~3/tJoXMImUboI/358120567</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://log.levifig.com/post/358120567</guid><pubDate>Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:15:00 +0000</pubDate><category>article</category><category>p52</category><category>opinion</category><category>ipad</category><feedburner:origLink>http://log.levifig.com/post/358120567</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>I Have No Talent</title><description>&lt;a href="http://railstips.org/blog/archives/2010/01/12/i-have-no-talent/"&gt;I Have No Talent&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;p&gt;John really had me thinking… Too often I just give up when dealing with difficulties; I wait for my talent to magically tell me the solution; I wait for my creativity spark so that I don’t have too put too much effort into it.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I have to stop thinking about “it” so much and plow through those hard relying more on &lt;em&gt;effort&lt;/em&gt; than on &lt;em&gt;talent&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=XBmpeTgI7yc:V_qP6Bqe4Io:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=XBmpeTgI7yc:V_qP6Bqe4Io:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?i=XBmpeTgI7yc:V_qP6Bqe4Io:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/levifig/~4/XBmpeTgI7yc" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/levifig/~3/XBmpeTgI7yc/357391747</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://log.levifig.com/post/357391747</guid><pubDate>Thu, 28 Jan 2010 05:16:13 +0000</pubDate><feedburner:origLink>http://log.levifig.com/post/357391747</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>"As a creator, part of what I seek is recognition, immortality. I don’t work for Apple or Google..."</title><description>“&lt;p&gt;As a creator, part of what I seek is recognition, immortality. I don’t work for Apple or Google (I’ve been offered jobs &amp; buyouts) because I want the fame myself. It’s my shot at immortality. My designs are my children. So it stinks when I feel like Steve might get the fame for my innovation. I lose my children, as it were.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;But your children aren’t really yours. They have lives of their own. So when your designs do change the world, you have to accept it. You have to say, ‘Ok, this was such a good idea, other people took it and ran with it. I win.&lt;/p&gt;”&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; - &lt;em&gt;&lt;p&gt;by Wil Shipley, who is the main developer of a Mac app called &lt;a href="http://delicious-library.com/"&gt;Delicious Library&lt;/a&gt;. Apple’s new &lt;a href="http://screenshots.dustincurtis.com/gallery-software-ibooks-20100127-20100127-170212.jpg"&gt;iBooks app&lt;/a&gt; on the iPad uses many of the same interface design elements as Delicious Library, such as the wooden shelf books are placed upon.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;— Reblogged from &lt;a href="http://blog.dustincurtis.com/wil-shipley-on-changing-the-world-with-design"&gt;Dustin Curtis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=-Sg7rYL2gT0:loNDJoVAgvc:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=-Sg7rYL2gT0:loNDJoVAgvc:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?i=-Sg7rYL2gT0:loNDJoVAgvc:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/levifig/~4/-Sg7rYL2gT0" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/levifig/~3/-Sg7rYL2gT0/357028096</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://log.levifig.com/post/357028096</guid><pubDate>Thu, 28 Jan 2010 01:39:39 +0000</pubDate><feedburner:origLink>http://log.levifig.com/post/357028096</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>It’s unexpected yet awesome to see someone in the US take...</title><description>&lt;object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400" height="300" data="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=8709313&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;fullscreen=1&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=0&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=00ADEF"&gt;&lt;param name="quality" value="best" /&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /&gt;&lt;param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /&gt;&lt;param name="scale" value="showAll" /&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=8709313&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;fullscreen=1&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=0&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=00ADEF" /&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=8709313&amp;server=www.vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=0&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=00ADEF&amp;fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="300"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;p&gt;It’s unexpected yet awesome to see someone in the US take espresso coffee this seriously… It looks a lot like coffee back home (Portugal) BUT… you should really put sugar in your coffee/espresso: it helps tone down the acidity and lets your taste buds really extract the full aroma of a good coffee! *yum* =)&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;(via &lt;a href="http://blog.paulozoom.com/post/344691161/i-want-to-go-there-and-taste-it-just-because-of" class="tumblr_blog"&gt;paulozoom&lt;/a&gt;/&lt;a href="http://simplebits.com/"&gt;simplebits&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=Z5ThTwFP7UQ:a2d4IstzpDc:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=Z5ThTwFP7UQ:a2d4IstzpDc:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?i=Z5ThTwFP7UQ:a2d4IstzpDc:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/levifig/~4/Z5ThTwFP7UQ" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/levifig/~3/Z5ThTwFP7UQ/346221209</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://log.levifig.com/post/346221209</guid><pubDate>Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:55:22 +0000</pubDate><feedburner:origLink>http://log.levifig.com/post/346221209</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>"
I have an idea for a thing (1 million people)
I tried to build a thing (50,000 people)
I built a..."</title><description>“&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;I have an idea for a thing (1 million people)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;I tried to build a thing (50,000 people)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;I built a thing that works (10,000 people)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;I built a thing that people use (1,000)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;I built a thing that’s easy to use (50 people)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;I built a thing that people enjoy using (5 people)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;I built a thing that people love (1 person)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;”&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; - &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.andybudd.com/archives/2010/01/good_products_a/"&gt;Andy Budd on “Good products are one in a million”&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=Yz49iu8-kTs:BsimNUenEyc:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=Yz49iu8-kTs:BsimNUenEyc:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?i=Yz49iu8-kTs:BsimNUenEyc:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/levifig/~4/Yz49iu8-kTs" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/levifig/~3/Yz49iu8-kTs/345366085</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://log.levifig.com/post/345366085</guid><pubDate>Thu, 21 Jan 2010 03:58:44 +0000</pubDate><feedburner:origLink>http://log.levifig.com/post/345366085</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>"The second [very important trend] is that for consumer web apps today, design matters more than..."</title><description>“The second [very important trend] is that for consumer web apps today, design matters more than technology. Much has been written about how the cloud, accessible web frameworks, etc. have dramatically lowered the cost of getting a startup to market, and that’s certainly true, but it also means that since everyone is on EC2 and Ruby on Rails, technology is no longer what differentiates most consumer web apps. What does is design. UI/UX design. Social design. Business model design as well (Groupon and Gilt Groupe, the two tremendous e-commerce success of the past two years, are in Chicago and New York respectively). To be sure, technology is and always will be very important. I don’t want to go back to the startup where the MBA bosses around engineers. And some of the best designers will be engineers (like David Karp, or Mark Zuckerberg). But you can’t just engineer anymore. You have to design.”&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; - &lt;em&gt;Excellent article on the importance of design vs features, using Tumblr and Posterous as examples. By Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry on &lt;a href="http://pegontech.wordpress.com/2010/01/19/why-tumblr-posterous-ass/"&gt;PEG on Tech&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=7KAJuU3eask:OSFbzoteouw:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=7KAJuU3eask:OSFbzoteouw:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?i=7KAJuU3eask:OSFbzoteouw:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/levifig/~4/7KAJuU3eask" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/levifig/~3/7KAJuU3eask/344959521</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://log.levifig.com/post/344959521</guid><pubDate>Wed, 20 Jan 2010 23:27:18 +0000</pubDate><feedburner:origLink>http://log.levifig.com/post/344959521</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>"Next time you want to illustrate a flow or concept with a diagramming tool, throw away the source..."</title><description>“Next time you want to illustrate a flow or concept with a diagramming tool, throw away the source file as soon as you export the PNG or PDF. If you’re afraid to throw the source file away, you spent too much time on it.”&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; - &lt;em&gt;Ryan Singer @ &lt;a href="http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2073-next-time-you-want-to-illustrate-a-flow-or"&gt;SVN&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=gpKDr6_hoUo:QM7JZj0FeNo:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=gpKDr6_hoUo:QM7JZj0FeNo:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?i=gpKDr6_hoUo:QM7JZj0FeNo:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/levifig/~4/gpKDr6_hoUo" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/levifig/~3/gpKDr6_hoUo/344611556</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://log.levifig.com/post/344611556</guid><pubDate>Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:38:00 +0000</pubDate><feedburner:origLink>http://log.levifig.com/post/344611556</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>Don't design… yet!</title><description>&lt;p&gt;You had a great idea. You try designing it. You’re frustrated. You give up.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h3&gt;10% inspiration&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I tend to skip the initial thought process and attempt to jump straight into the design part. I’m not talking about those creative bursts where you open your favorite graphic editor and in a few minutes you come out with something really cool. I don’t know about you, but those bursts usually happen with something I don’t need and end up in my “playground” folder for some laughs a few years later.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Too often, I open &lt;a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/fireworks/"&gt;Fireworks&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;a href="http://www.onlinemathlearning.com/statistics-math-quotes.html"&gt;74.38% of you&lt;/a&gt; will do so with &lt;a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/"&gt;Photoshop&lt;/a&gt;) and start trying to come up with a design directly from an idea in my head. Sometimes it works out all right, sometimes I waste a few hours before giving up and trying something else. I can’t help but think that I’ve thrown away more than a few great ideas because of that. Now, this tends to happen more often when doing graphic design (e.g. logo, stationery, etc) but it can happen when designing a layout for a website. This happens way more often when designing for a personal or new project than when redesigning or working for a client with very tight specifications. This brings me to the probable cause. &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h3&gt;Refueling the brain&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I’ve been reading a lot more lately. I’ve always enjoyed reading as a kid, but the advent of the computer+internet caused me to lose that, replacing it with “text scanning” and “topical reading.” I won’t go into that right now, but going back to reading really helped broaden my horizons. I’ve been reading about how our brain works—how we think—and also about design and design theory. One of the things that all those books had in common was what I’ll call “the call for thinkers.” We need to think about design just as much as we think when we’re decorating a house. Unless you dislike your house or have an absolute lack of taste, you will think about your decisions when buying furniture and decoration for your house. Moreover, you enjoy looking and being at well decorated house (even if someone else did it). So, why don’t we think about design the same way?&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I remember reading somewhere how we need constraints when designing. The more constraints the better. When that one great idea comes to your head—your shining moment—you probably didn’t have any specifications or constraints. It could be a great idea. It can have an amazing potential, but if you try designing that spark before you develop it into a full-blown flame, you run the risk of losing it.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h3&gt;90% perspiration&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.markboulton.co.uk/"&gt;Mark Boulton&lt;/a&gt;, in his “&lt;a href="http://www.fivesimplesteps.co.uk/"&gt;Designing for the Web&lt;/a&gt;” book (amazing read) writes about types of briefs. Along with the Client Brief, the Technical Brief and  the Creative Brief, there’s the Idea Brief, which is supposed to be “short, concise and describe the project aims.” 

&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;An Idea Brief is sometimes the most difficult to write. It needs to be short, concise and open. Good starting points for Idea Briefs are:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;“How to…”&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;“We want to…”&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;“How do we…”&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;They start the sentence off in the right way — by asking a question. It’s the designer’s job to come up with the answer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;

So go write an idea brief. It can be a half-page long brief, but type it out. Share it with a few close friends. Think about it for a while. Don’t let the spark die and keep adding small firewood to help it grow. Start building around it. If it’s web design, write some markup or code or ask/hire someone if you can’t. And when the flame grows, start designing.

&lt;p&gt;If you’re anything like me, this is not easy. For me, an idea is not a good enough until I can visualize a great design/layout for it. I guess I need to *see* it to *believe* it. But this is keeping me from releasing some good ideas, always waiting for that “great” design. I’m not talking about when you’re working on a design of someone else’s idea, that’s different. But get your idea rolling, learn programming and start building it.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h3&gt;The hard way&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;You might be reading this and thinking: “This is nonsense” or “I’m not a coder, I’m a designer”. Let me tell you something I’ve been slowly realizing (too slow, perhaps): designing is not about the looks. Got that? Designing is about the flow, it’s about the color balance, the grid, the whitespace. It’s about the interaction, the experience. So think before you design. I’ve had some great ideas that I left to die simply because I worried too much about the looks way too soon. Don’t fall into the same mistakes I have. This idea is neither new nor revolutionary, but I keep making the same mistake over and over again. So maybe this is a selfish article, but please: &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Think first; build second. Design later.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;PS: If you wish to let me know what you think about this article, please do so by replying to &lt;a href="http://twitter.com/levifig/status/7922005809"&gt;this tweet&lt;/a&gt;. Thank you.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=3jOBL_d08Sc:wxXVz5TYrec:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=3jOBL_d08Sc:wxXVz5TYrec:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?i=3jOBL_d08Sc:wxXVz5TYrec:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/levifig/~4/3jOBL_d08Sc" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/levifig/~3/3jOBL_d08Sc/341615266</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://log.levifig.com/post/341615266</guid><pubDate>Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:59:00 +0000</pubDate><category>article</category><category>p52</category><category>design</category><feedburner:origLink>http://log.levifig.com/post/341615266</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>Finagle's Laws</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;First Law:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br/&gt;&lt;em&gt;To study a subject best, understand it thoroughly before you start.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Second Law:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br/&gt;&lt;em&gt;Always keep a record of data — it indicates you’ve been working.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fourth Law:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br/&gt;&lt;em&gt;Once a job is fouled up, anything done to improve it only makes it worse.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fifth Law:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br/&gt;&lt;em&gt;Always draw your curves, then plot your readings.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sixth Law:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br/&gt;&lt;em&gt;Don’t believe in miracles — rely on them.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=VtD61PRbT4k:bvRWSzM4YrU:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=VtD61PRbT4k:bvRWSzM4YrU:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?i=VtD61PRbT4k:bvRWSzM4YrU:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/levifig/~4/VtD61PRbT4k" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/levifig/~3/VtD61PRbT4k/341589583</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://log.levifig.com/post/341589583</guid><pubDate>Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:41:34 +0000</pubDate><feedburner:origLink>http://log.levifig.com/post/341589583</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>DO. WANT! :o

(via @iso50)</title><description>&lt;object width="400" height="336"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/V3KrFV0-WFw&amp;rel=0&amp;egm=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;fs=1"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="wmode" value="transparent"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/V3KrFV0-WFw&amp;rel=0&amp;egm=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400" height="336" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;p&gt;DO. WANT! :o&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;(via &lt;a href="http://twitter.com/iso50"&gt;@iso50&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=Q8Q7C3DTP-E:fqawlnZt968:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=Q8Q7C3DTP-E:fqawlnZt968:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?i=Q8Q7C3DTP-E:fqawlnZt968:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/levifig/~4/Q8Q7C3DTP-E" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/levifig/~3/Q8Q7C3DTP-E/331643613</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://log.levifig.com/post/331643613</guid><pubDate>Wed, 13 Jan 2010 03:14:25 +0000</pubDate><feedburner:origLink>http://log.levifig.com/post/331643613</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>"Don’t confuse legibility with communication. Just because something’s legible,..."</title><description>“Don’t confuse legibility with communication. Just because something’s legible, doesn’t mean it communicates.”&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; - &lt;em&gt;David Carson (in “Helvetica”)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=eZ91R_jJlkc:51tBYOeYHzg:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=eZ91R_jJlkc:51tBYOeYHzg:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?i=eZ91R_jJlkc:51tBYOeYHzg:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/levifig/~4/eZ91R_jJlkc" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/levifig/~3/eZ91R_jJlkc/331349501</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://log.levifig.com/post/331349501</guid><pubDate>Wed, 13 Jan 2010 00:19:44 +0000</pubDate><feedburner:origLink>http://log.levifig.com/post/331349501</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>"That’s why I use grids. For me it’s a tool for creating order. And creating order is..."</title><description>“That’s why I use grids. For me it’s a tool for creating order. And creating order is typography.”&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; - &lt;em&gt;Wim Crouwel (in “Helvetica”)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=1rpOhu_Hv4k:fpI1T193EcA:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?a=1rpOhu_Hv4k:fpI1T193EcA:F7zBnMyn0Lo"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/levifig?i=1rpOhu_Hv4k:fpI1T193EcA:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/levifig/~4/1rpOhu_Hv4k" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/levifig/~3/1rpOhu_Hv4k/331261411</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://log.levifig.com/post/331261411</guid><pubDate>Tue, 12 Jan 2010 23:22:53 +0000</pubDate><feedburner:origLink>http://log.levifig.com/post/331261411</feedburner:origLink></item></channel></rss>
