nickbaum.com

"Comfort noise is a fake hiss that your mobile phone, your VoIP phone, your corporate digital phone..."

Thu, 22 Jan 2015 09:09:20 -0800

“Comfort noise is a fake hiss that your mobile phone, your VoIP phone, your corporate digital phone system, whatever, creates to mask the silences between talkspurts.”

- I had no idea this existed, but that’s fascinating. via A comforting lie

Loving these QR code portraits (via Robin Sloan).

Tue, 20 Jan 2015 10:55:32 -0800

Loving these QR code portraits (via Robin Sloan).

I have no idea how well this will work in practice, but it...

Wed, 14 Jan 2015 08:30:19 -0800

I have no idea how well this will work in practice, but it reminds me a lot of the projection in Spike Jonze’ HER movie.

Stunning pictures of Manhattan by night. I’d love to see a...

Tue, 13 Jan 2015 08:30:20 -0800

Stunning pictures of Manhattan by night. I’d love to see a San Francisco version.

“Contemporary logos need to look good on freeway...

Mon, 12 Jan 2015 21:01:48 -0800

“Contemporary logos need to look good on freeway billboards, on letterhead, as iOS icons, and, in the case of the Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest logos, affixed to tiny tweet/like/pin buttons.”

Love these! (via DIY Geometric Paper Animal Sculptures by...

Wed, 19 Nov 2014 08:56:13 -0800

Love these! (via DIY Geometric Paper Animal Sculptures by Paperwolf | Colossal)

This Is Not a Vermeer ™, the first post in a great series on art...

Sat, 26 Jul 2014 17:30:00 -0700

This Is Not a Vermeer ™, the first post in a great series on art authenticity.

Love these old Apple prototypes from Hartmut Esslinger of Frog...

Wed, 28 May 2014 13:02:45 -0700

Love these old Apple prototypes from Hartmut Esslinger of Frog Design (via Kottke)

I started reading this beautiful photo review of the original...

Mon, 19 May 2014 21:05:44 -0700

I started reading this beautiful photo review of the original Sony Walkman, and promptly got sucked into an evening of design porn. I can’t get enough of this stuff. (via Sony Walkman TPS-L2 — Minimally Minimal)

This long essay describing the development of Threes gives...

Sat, 17 May 2014 17:08:04 -0700

This long essay describing the development of Threes gives wonderful insight into the craft involved in building a successful app (via THREES - A tiny puzzle that grows on you.)

I like how many distinct ways Ramsey Nasser found to explore the...

Tue, 06 May 2014 15:23:10 -0700

I like how many distinct ways Ramsey Nasser found to explore the idea of programming in Arabic (via Artist’s Notebook: Ramsey Nasser - ANIMAL).

I’m always inspired by this little segment from Ira Glass...

Sun, 30 Mar 2014 12:01:12 -0700

I’m always inspired by this little segment from Ira Glass (lovingly illustrated by frohlocke).

I just love how obsessive the @Medium team is about getting the...

Thu, 20 Mar 2014 22:10:14 -0700

I just love how obsessive the @Medium team is about getting the details right. Great to see this level of craft.

“How hard could it be to draw a horizontal line on the screen?” (via Crafting link underlines on Medium — Medium)

When we get our own place, I’ll be sorely tempted to start...

Thu, 13 Mar 2014 14:45:58 -0700

When we get our own place, I’ll be sorely tempted to start lettering the walls. (via plain as dave)

Beautiful and thoughtful memorial for the Utøya massacre in...

Sat, 08 Mar 2014 08:30:06 -0800

Beautiful and thoughtful memorial for the Utøya massacre in Norway. (via Bustler: Swedish artist Jonas Dahlberg to design July 22 Memorial sites in Norway)

Great fence. (via A Fence of Mirrors Reflects the Changing...

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 10:28:15 -0800

Great fence. (via A Fence of Mirrors Reflects the Changing Landscape | Colossal)

#want (via Fallen Tree Bench by Benjamin Graindorge | Colossal)

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 00:30:21 -0700

#want (via Fallen Tree Bench by Benjamin Graindorge | Colossal)

Beautiful high-res video of San Francisco. (by Teton Gravity...

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 00:30:24 -0700

Beautiful high-res video of San Francisco. (by Teton Gravity Research)

The differential is a brilliant design, and this video does a...

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 00:30:17 -0700

The differential is a brilliant design, and this video does a great job explaining it. (by mrumman1978 via Kottke)

Facebook doesn't need to build a phone.

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 22:12:13 -0700

Rumor has it that Facebook is launching a Facebook phone tomorrow, with hardware by HTC and a custom version of Android.

Building a phone UI centered around Facebook makes a lot of sense; there are so many integration points. You can seamlessly integrate SMS and Facebook Messages, calendar and Facebook events, contacts and your friend list, the camera and Facebook Photos, etc.

Perhaps most importantly, you can make Facebook applications first-class players in the OS, appearing on the home screen, hooking into notifications, etc.

But I think it’d be a mistake to implement this strategy by customizing Android at the OS level. There’s an easier and more powerful way: use the existing app to turn every Android phone into a Facebook phone.

Unlike iOS, Android comes with a wide range of permissions and a powerful mechanism called intents. Want to replace the home screen? You can. Want to replace the lock screen? You can. Want to handle incoming SMS? You can.

The Facebook app is already installed on millions of Android phones around the world. These could all be turned into de-facto Facebook phones overnight.

Now that would be a judo move.

Disclaimers:

I worked on the Android team a long time ago. I have many friends who work at Facebook, some of which I’ve pitched this idea, but I have no knowledge of their plans.

I’m not super familiar with how Android handles increasing permissions, perhaps this would risk losing too many users. Providing this as a separate app would still be simpler than requiring an OS upgrade.

There may be deeper integrations that are not possible at the permissions/intents level, and require OS-level customizations. Surprise us!