Little Wing

"The problem is, in hardware you can’t build a computer that’s twice as good as anyone else’s..."

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:04:11 +0100

“The problem is, in hardware you can’t build a computer that’s twice as good as anyone else’s anymore. Too many people know how to do it. You’re lucky if you can do one that’s one and a third times better or one and a half times better. And then it’s only six months before everybody else catches up. But you can do it in software. As a matter of fact, I think that the leap that we’ve made is at least five years ahead of anybody.”

- Steve Jobs in 1994

Flux 2 & Stuf reviewed at videoedtechreviews.com (Updated)

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 12:17:00 +0100

Flux 2 & Stuf reviewed at videoedtechreviews.com (Updated):

I know it seems “wysiwyg” and “dreamweaver-like” and all kinds of non-hardcore, but I kind of like the idea of Flux 2 as a tool of many, at least for prototyping or starting up a project. It supports HTML5 and CSS3, and all sorts of awesome integration with javscript “packages”, but isn´t really mentioned on any of the bigger web dev blogs. It even supports shifting you over to Espresso when you are ready to get your hands dirty in pure code. I haven´t had a chance to really play with a lot yet though.

UPDATE: Actually, it´s possible to fully create, build and start the local server (for live previewing) for a Ruby on Rails app from within the GUI of Flex 2. And at this time this afternoon it´s out of beta.

Stuf is also kinda cool, but at this point I guess I expect clipboard syncing with an iPhone client as well.

This is killing two birds with one stone with regards to my...

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:13:00 +0100

This is killing two birds with one stone with regards to my toddler and next christmas. Oh, and a third bird for daddy, of course, considering it´s the Helvetica typeface:)

Alex Payne's Minimalism in Software

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:06:51 +0100

Alex Payne's Minimalism in Software

minimalmac: Pat Dryburgh’s most recent desktop setup....

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:19:06 +0100

minimalmac:

Pat Dryburgh’s most recent desktop setup. Beautiful.

Both nice bokeh and bouquet:)

Some things to think about...

Sun, 10 Jan 2010 00:29:00 +0100

“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”

– Steve Jobs

The greatest technology contributions that Apple has ever made are the ones that are so obvious they are often overlooked. Apple essentially created the language of computer UI. In fact, they have done so twice now.

Xerox/PARC legends aside, it was Apple that pushed and popularized the very idea of how we interact, instruct, and use a personal computer. It still remains today, virtually unchanged in concept from the beginning. The desktop as metaphor for a real world office - with files, folders, a workspace – all are there just as they were in 1984 when Apple introduced them to the general public in the Macintosh. The idea of a pointing device and typewriter style input – yep, still unchanged from 1984 when such things were generalized by Apple as the way we interact with such a machine. Everyone, from Microsoft to every graphical implementation of Linux, now uses this established UI language. Apple established the paradigm and it became the standard.

Apple has now established the paradigm for how we interact with a new class of computer. One that is small enough to hold in your hand and fit in your pocket – The iPhone. The obvious reason is that input for such a device would not work well with the methods they established for the desktop machine, and extended to the portable machine. Previous methods, developed for the world of the PDA, were insufficient in several respects. So, Apple has established a new paradigm, a new UI language, and it has became the standard.

What many people fail to see, what is directly at the center of why Apple is successful where other companies fail, is that they define this standard of interaction with the device itself. This is where the design starts. These are the first questions – How would you use this? Why would you use this? Other companies rush to create products to fulfill a need. Apple often creates products that define the need. These are two very different and, I would argue, opposite things. Other companies rush around to create devices that use this same basic language that Apple has developed. Because it is not an organic part of the creation process, because it is just a bunch of “me too”, they can’t possibly compete or succeed. The very thing that is most important, how you use it and why you need it, is being defined by someone else.

The ads for the iPhone are a perfect example of what Apple is really selling and where their strengths lie. Apple’s ads don’t focus on how it looks. They focus on how it works. Because they are the ones who establish the new paradigm, they are compelled to consistently and methodically show not only the reasons one would use it but how they would do it. They essentially need to function as instruction videos because you have never seen anything like this before nor did you know you even needed it, and they are defining both…

Press here, swipe here, tap here with your finger, tap on this onscreen keyboard. Look, it’s where you want to go and directions of how to get there! With a picture of the destination. It’s like magic, only better!

But here is where these things get a bit less obvious. The rest of this will be pure conjecture on my part. Just a lot of “what ifs”. Some food for thought if you will.

What if the iPhone were just the beginning? What if it is the establishment of a new paradigm not just for the smartphone but for the personal computer itself? It is no secret that the interaction metaphor established in 1984 is dated and not well scaled for the future we can see in our mind and feel is just around the corner. What if that thing we keep hearing rumors about will be the next “a ha” moment in this progression towards and new way to interact with our technical world? What if all of the work done to not build upon, but strip away, the Mac OS in Snow Leopard was to pave the way for this plan? What if Apple is about to reinvent the idea of computer interaction not just for the Mac but, once again, for the entire industry? As they have done with every single market they have entered before?

You know, just some things to think about…

"I tell people that if it’s in the news, don’t worry about it. The very definition of ‘news’ is..."

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:17:05 +0100

“I tell people that if it’s in the news, don’t worry about it. The very definition of ‘news’ is ‘something that hardly ever happens.’ It’s when something isn’t in the news, when it’s so common that it’s no longer news — car crashes, domestic violence — that you should start worrying.”

- Bruce Schneier /via charliepark and marco

"The human mind delights in finding pattern—so much so that we often mistake coincidence or forced..."

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:15:55 +0100

“The human mind delights in finding pattern—so much so that we often mistake coincidence or forced analogy for profound meaning. No other habit of thought lies so deeply within the soul of a small creature trying to make sense of a complex world not constructed for it.”

- Stephen Jay Gould /via butdoesitfloat, jeremyturner and merlin

"The Internet hasn’t changed the way we think,” argues neuroscientist Joshua Greene of Harvard. It..."

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:14:02 +0100

““The Internet hasn’t changed the way we think,” argues neuroscientist Joshua Greene of Harvard. It “has provided us with unprecedented access to information, but it hasn’t changed what [our brains] do with it.” Cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker of Harvard is also skeptical. “Electronic media aren’t going to revamp the brain’s mechanisms of information processing,” he writes. “Texters, surfers, and twitterers” have not trained their brains “to process multiple streams of novel information in parallel,” as is commonly asserted but refuted by research, and claims to the contrary “are propelled by … the pressure on pundits to announce that this or that ‘changes everything.’ “”

- Begley, “Does the Internet Change How We Think?” /via newsweek

"A lot of the people who read a bestselling novel, for example, do not read much other fiction. By..."

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 01:18:24 +0100

“A lot of the people who read a bestselling novel, for example, do not read much other fiction. By contrast, the audience for an obscure novel is largely composed of people who read a lot. That means the least popular books are judged by people who have the highest standards, while the most popular are judged by people who literally do not know any better. An American who read just one book this year was disproportionately likely to have read ‘The Lost Symbol’, by Dan Brown. He almost certainly liked it.”

- The Economist (via mudd up, peterwknox) (via marco)

24 ways: The Web Is Your CMS

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 09:19:00 +0100

24 ways: The Web Is Your CMS:

Great tutorial on the use of Yahoo Query Language for mashing up APIs and combining them in Yahoo´s server farm before return.

"Tablet devices that are just for viewing magazines have an audience the size of Darlington Football..."

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:22:44 +0100

“Tablet devices that are just for viewing magazines have an audience the size of Darlington Football Club. The iPhone has typified a trend towards convergence of devices: my iPhone is my mp3 player, phone, camera, portable computer, and on the very rare occasion gaming device. So why would I buy a piece of chunky hardware to view magazines now-and-again?”

- /by @andjdavies: Tablets. So hot right now…

I so agree about the current tsunami of pure “e-readers”.

marco: Soulver for iPhone, the iPhone port of my favorite...

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 08:49:43 +0100

marco:

Soulver for iPhone, the iPhone port of my favorite calculation scratchpad, was just released. I’ve been beta-testing it for months (and may have bugged them into making it in the first place), and its beta version (“Sums”) was even in my First & 20 profile.

Soulver for Mac is always open on all of my computers — home, work, and laptop. It’s a calculator, a numeric scratchpad, and a simple spreadsheet all in one simple, fast, inexpensive program with almost no interface.

Nobody ever knows what it is, but everyone who sees me use it always asks, “Hey, what’s that?” And when they see what it does, they instantly download their own demo copy.

If you frequently perform calculations throughout the day, you need to try Soulver. If you like it, buy it. And strongly consider the iPhone version as a Calculator replacement.

Both the mac and iphone version looks like great apps to have instead of traditional calculators (and perhaps also spreadsheets in some cases), the only thing is that the iPhone version seems to miss the benefit of the mac version´s word-processor style interface (on account of the keyboard being used).

mowglii - Itsy Twitter app for Mac

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 01:49:59 +0100

mowglii - Itsy Twitter app for Mac:

Small and minimal but some tricks up its sleeve like inline images. Maybe something for the Mrs. ?:)

"Where zen ends, ass kicking begins."

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 00:17:00 +0100

“Where zen ends, ass kicking begins.”

- Hyde (That 70s Show) /via mnmal

Web Analytics in Real Time - Clicky.

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 20:48:26 +0100

Web Analytics in Real Time - Clicky.:

Seems like a nice (and popular) real-time alternative to Google Analytics. It also tracks shorturls and twitter, but I guess Google won´t be far behind on that after just launching goo.gl and all.

Perfect animation (and funny): No Time For NutsDigital short...

Sat, 02 Jan 2010 20:22:00 +0100

Perfect animation (and funny):

No Time For Nuts
Digital short from the dvd Ice Age 2: The Meltdown

Reblogged from stevenbeelen´s most awesome blog.

What Will the Apple Tablet Mean for the Smarthome?

Sat, 02 Jan 2010 19:47:00 +0100

What Will the Apple Tablet Mean for the Smarthome?:

If the tablet was to be used to control multiple smart home sub-systems from unique apps this would result in a great deal of repeated opening and closing of each application. One potential way around this would be to have a common web interface to all devices - perhaps using something like HomeSeer and xAP / xPL. Or perhaps the larger form factor of the tablet will allow for a battery big enough to cope with the power-sapping nature of running multiple concurrent apps?

Yes, oh god, please let it multitask. If not for anything else just to shut up all the complainers of missing multitasking on the iPhone.

"It’s really hard to be simple, it’s much easier to look simple"

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 17:24:58 +0100

“It’s really hard to be simple, it’s much easier to look simple”

- Davide Butler on “Redesigning Design” (via quartodisecolo and sid05)

Just happened to stumble upon Nottingham – The elegant notepad...

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 16:40:30 +0100

Just happened to stumble upon Nottingham – The elegant notepad for your Mac today. It´s a note-taking app for mac in the spirit of Notational Velocity in that it´s simple and optimised for keyboard use.

I like (other than the delicious icon and the improved UI) that it also supports syncing with the Simplenote app for the iPhone. Sync is a must these days.

What really tickled my fancy however was that it also supports Markdown which I just read John Gruber´s excellent documentation on yesterday !

In his words:

Markdown is a text-to-HTML conversion tool for web writers. Markdown allows you to write using an easy-to-read, easy-to-write plain text format, then convert it to structurally valid XHTML (or HTML).