Kenneth Ballenegger

Justin Williams On PRMac's Ray Barber

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:02:00 -0800

Justin Williams:

I think my biggest pet-peeve by far is how PRMac handles itself in public. Anytime there is a question on the MacSB mailing list about advertising, press releases or anything remotely related, the site’s proprietor chimes in to plug his service. Just because you wrap your self promotion with :) doesn’t make it right.

As the creator of iPhoneSB, I’ve experienced the same thing. I’ve had to privately ask PRMac’s owner to tone down the self-promotion multiple times.

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach (Deluxe Version) Just pre-ordered it...

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:12:52 -0800

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach (Deluxe Version)

Just pre-ordered it on iTunes. So excited.

I get at least one email like this every day. I just ignore...

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:17:00 -0800

I get at least one email like this every day. I just ignore them.

My Proposed Solution to the App Review Situation

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:00:00 -0800

What if any app could be posted to the App Store instantaneously, without having to go through a review. Apple would still review each app, to even higher quality standards than currently. If an app is approved, it would receive some kind of “Apple-approved” badge. If denied, the app would live on, but without the badge. Apple would kindly provide the developer with a reason for why it was rejected, worded in english (as opposed to the legalese they use now).

Only approved apps would show up when one browses the App Store and in the rankings. Rejected apps could still be accessed through search (though approved apps would get priority in search results), and by knowing the iTunes store URL. Important updates (such as critical bug-fixes) would be instantaneous.

Users can opt to only allow verified apps on their phones, if safety is a concern to them. Developers have the security of knowing Apple won’t kill their business on a whim.

"Social software design conundrum: you read a disturbing abuse story and all various services present..."

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 23:54:00 -0800

“Social software design conundrum: you read a disturbing abuse story and all various services present you with a “like” button.”

- Matt Haughey

I had a great time at Temple Nightclub last Saturday night. Saw...

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:56:24 -0800

I had a great time at Temple Nightclub last Saturday night. Saw DJ Klaas, got to shake his hand while he closed his set with one of my favorite tracks ever, Infinity 2008 (Klaas Remix), by the Guru Josh Project.

Illustration: Digital Media, 1st part of the 2nd project. This...

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:03:00 -0800

Illustration: Digital Media, 1st part of the 2nd project.

This is the first part of the project. We chose a work from before the year 1800, and had to re-create it in vector using Illustrator. I chose this piece of ancient Japanese art.

16” * 28” full-color print.

Resist the urge to punish everyone for one person's mistake

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 15:02:32 -0800

Resist the urge to punish everyone for one person's mistake:

Derek Sivers:

Nine years ago, one guy tried to light his shoes on fire on a plane. Now for all future time, millions of people a day have to queue up to take our shoes off at the airport, because of that one dumb moment.

[…]

It’s important to resist that simplistic, angry, reactionary urge to punish everyone, and step back to look at the big picture.

Flash Isn’t The Problem, Flash Design Is The Problem

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:18:09 -0800

Flash Isn’t The Problem, Flash Design Is The Problem:

Louie Mantia:

I’m sure a lot of people (in the United States) would love to watch [Hulu] on their iPad. Putting Apple’s iTunes business aside, I see the same interaction problem here. When watching a video on Hulu, after a few seconds, the playback controls fade away to give you the best experience of watching. How do you get the controls back? Simple! Move your cursor back over the video, and they appear. Not so easy on a tablet without a cursor. Sure, you say that you could just tap the video, right? Wrong. On Hulu, tapping on the video itself pauses the video. If on iPad, to bring up the controls to scrub or view in HD, you’d have to pause the video first. That sounds like a broken interface right there.

Even if we had flash for the iPad, we wouldn’t be able to use it comfortably.

A Short Case for Don't Ask Don't Tell

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:08:00 -0800

I think we’re missing the point. The Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy doesn’t withhold any rights from gay men and women serving in the military. Serving in the army is a very tough job, and the soldiers need to focus on the job to be done rather than on their differences.

The policy is not asking gay men and women to lie, or renounce their sexual orientation. Rather, it’s about asking all soldiers to distance themselves from their personal feelings in order to give their full attention on the job to be done.

Ideally, this would not be an issue and the military would be able to function just as well with openly gay members, but the reality is that that would make other members uncomfortable, cause a division within the force and damage the social dynamic of the military.

Part of a project for 3D class. Abstract ink drawing on trace...

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:42:11 -0800

Part of a project for 3D class. Abstract ink drawing on trace paper.

A quick drawing exercise for my Illustration 1 class.

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:28:48 -0800

A quick drawing exercise for my Illustration 1 class.

"The future of personal computing that the iPad shows us is both seductive and dystopian."

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:19:46 -0800

“The future of personal computing that the iPad shows us is both seductive and dystopian.”

- Alex Payne — On the iPad

Illustration: Digital Media project 1. The brief was to...

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:59:00 -0800

Illustration: Digital Media project 1.

The brief was to digitally create a recognizable portrait of someone famous composed of other images stitched and manipulated together. (Kind of like a collage.)

18.5” * 24.5” full-color print.

A somewhat creepy sculpture on campus at the California College...

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:46:56 -0800

A somewhat creepy sculpture on campus at the California College of the Arts.

Imagine a site or service that would analyze your whole Twitter stream and analyze each tweet to...

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:44:38 -0800

Imagine a site or service that would analyze your whole Twitter stream and analyze each tweet to figure out your mood at the time. Imagine that it could aggregate that data, figure out patterns and report it in a meaningful way. Think of it as a Mint for your happiness rather than for your financials.

It could also help you correlate this data with other data, such as global / average happiness, Facebook data such as the friends you currently communicate most with or your relationship status, political and economical factors, your personal financials (by integrating with Mint), your eating habits, or anything else that could affect your happiness.

Many of us record our thoughts and feelings online through Twitter. When we’re happy, maybe because we just saw the greatest movie ever (Avatar), or because we had a great date with our significant other, we tweet about it. When we’re drunk, angry, frustrated, tired, relaxed and so on, we’ll tweet about it. That’s one huge pile of seemingly useless and insignificant thoughts – we’ve all heard the stereotype of the Twitter-addict who tweets about what he had for breakfast – but used and compounded as statistical data, it could be very powerful.

What Derek Powazek Hopes Apple Unleashes Tomorrow

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:12:21 -0800

What Derek Powazek Hopes Apple Unleashes Tomorrow:

Tomorrow, if the stars align, Apple could unleash a device that’s sexier than reading a magazine. A glossy screen like the iPhone, quality content in the iTunes store for a (hopefully) reasonable price, major publishes on board and independent publishers like me able to join in.

Here’s what I’m hoping for too, for tomorrow.

Sunset over a cemetery in Berkeley, CA. Pretty good for an...

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 15:18:22 -0800

Sunset over a cemetery in Berkeley, CA.

Pretty good for an iPhone pic, wouldn’t you say?

“Get Some Balls!” What happens when you multiply...

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:15:00 -0800

“Get Some Balls!”

What happens when you multiply beer advertisements with health care reform? You get awesomeness!

Apple’s iTunes Cloud Strategy

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:55:32 -0800

Apple’s iTunes Cloud Strategy:

The Lala upload technology will be bundled into a future iTunes upgrade which will automatically be installed for the 100+ million itunes users with a simple “An upgrade is available…” notification dialog box. After installation iTunes will push in the background their entire media library to their personal mobile iTunes area. Once loaded, users will be able to navigate and play their music, videos and playlists from their personal URL using a browser based iTunes experience.

Apple will link the tens of millions of previously sold iPods, Touches, AppleTV and iTablets to mobile iTunes giving users seamless playback of their media from a wide range of Apple branded devices. Since media will be supplied from the user’s personal collection, Apple is freed from the hassles of device and region limitations. iTunes shoppers will be able to continue to buy music and movies as they can now with purchases still being downloaded, but once downloaded they will be automatically loaded to their mobile iTunes area for anywhere access.

I believe that’s a good analysis of what’s to come from iTunes and Lala.