Every week I read thousands of blog posts. Here, for your weekend enjoyment, are some highlights from my recent reading, for you.

	On Starting Up… http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/11/03/are-business-plans-still-necessary/ Are business plans still necessary? The Product Guy says, "YES!"
	On Design & Product Experience… http://www.myinkblog.com/2009/11/02/6-ways-to-take-your-webdesign-from-good-to-great/ Great advice on giving your product that extra bit of zazz.
	On Modular Innovation… http://developer.yahoo.net/blog/archives/2009/11/cloud_keynote.html Yahoo speaking on accelerating Modular Innovation in the cloud.

Have a great weekend!

Jeremy Horn
The Product Guy

Add to Social Bookmarks:

This is part 5 of a short story of personal exploration and development by one new to the daily employment of Gmail, long resisted, long desired, and eventually brought to conversion by an Android.

Part 5: To Resist

Recently our journey began. From the humble origins of Outlook to the portable synchronicity of the Windows Mobile platform, I did travel, did evolve, as needs, desires, and demands of communication and productivity so evolved and changed. Through the darkness of masked potential so emerged new and exciting opportunities. But, to fully grasp this fortune, these new degrees of productivity, it is important to pause, take measure of, and understand the crux at the heart at the core of the resistance to Gmail.

I am often asked, more so in the days since my recent conversion to Gmail, what is was, specifically, precisely, that caused me to build up such a strong aversion to a product such as this. And, the final piece, pieces, that made whole, almost immutable, my resistance to this conversion were the slowness, and the abundance of the little things.

Slow Play

The slow ticking, deafening to one waiting for the anticipated. Uncomfortable, the overbearing beating experienced, slowly. For far too often, especially when compared with its (Gmail’s) client-based counterparts, the tortuous drip of the less than instant search…

…as well as the much lamented loading and screen transitions …

…that seem, even to this day, to reassert themselves and do cause the reluctant reassessment, of reversion from this conversion. And, impediments enough prior to that, too fostered, bolstered the overall aversion.

Thus Be Slow

This product, whose existence in my heart was a duality of contradiction, both courted and simultaneously resisted, placed further strains on this relationship that was still yet to be through its exhibition of yet another form of slow, adding unnecessary ballast to an already firmly cemented resistance.

This flame, with whom I oft flirted and fled, constantly tempted me, showing me a directional inclination to meet my needs and address my concerns. Such innovations were Gmail’s enchantments.

Dressed in exciting and alluring features befitting many a niche market and wanton suitor, myself not excluded, Gmail showed off such items as inline Netflix — great for that quick, one-time thrill; directionally appealing, but not enough upon which to build a long term relationship.

My family is a small one, but with everyone having their role and doing their part, up to now always getting along. Sure, there’s the occasional spat. But, in the end the family has always come together, harmony reached, OneNote sharing with Outlook, email and notes kindly cooperating and linking up with calendar, etc.

Gmail looked like it may someday get along with the whole family. However and again, its slowness came into play. Oh, sure, it worked hard in demonstrating the desire to improve and move in this direction, but lacking in facility, and those of which to bring home to and boast about.

But, for sealing the deal, a broader, some more whole approach, more generally appealing would be needed.

Separations

Passionate reunions were, over this long courtship, ignited…

I waited, just outside, for what seemed, maybe even was, an eternity, to be able to take Gmail out and offline. But, while the time did eventually come, and did go a long way in wearing down my long established resistance, freeing myself and Gmail in our travels, enjoying our time in the park, on the plane, in far off places, places where WiFi had yet to reach.

… but, each and every time ending in disappointment, each subsequent breakup more disheartening than the last.

And, while dazzling, this flame, with whom I flirted, was a slow burning one. The evidence of aforementioned inclinations dwindled, giving rise to apprehensions of illusions, concerns of progress in ways most fitting to the needs most relevant, most pertinent to my resistance.

Little Things & The Resistance

But, what of the other reasons for my resistance, which managed to be sustained from the early days of the private Gmail beta to the most recent of but few weeks passed? What sort of little things could have kept me apart from Gmail for so long a time? For surely there must be more to such a stalwart position as has been held by me, and I am sure many others still, for, for them, the resistance most definitely continues. And, indeed there are. In addition to…

Exiguous Encouragement,
Inescapable IO (Information Overload), and
Suffersome Slowness

… there too are the staunch galvanizers of resistance …

Tiny Things.

The Next

And, these propellants of reluctance, delayers of adoption, the fundamental causes of my resistance to what would eventually be overshadowed and forced aside, through the coercion of an Android to my conversion to the ways of Gmail, will, my friends, have to wait until next week.

Subscribe now (click here) to make sure you don’t miss any part of this series exploring the eventual adoption of Gmail in one’s daily life, by one once thoroughly addicted to, dependent on, the primarily client-based solution of Microsoft’s Outlook,

what brought about this conversion, (1) (2)
why it took so long, and (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)
what should be done to encourage greater Gmail adoption. (8)

Enjoy & Tweet!

Jeremy Horn
The Product Guy

Add to Social Bookmarks:

Every week I read thousands of blog posts. Here, for your weekend enjoyment, are some highlights from my recent reading, for you.

	On Starting Up… http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2009/10/swinging-for-the-fences.html Finding success with the other kind of entrepreneur, older and serial.
	On Design & Product Experience… http://webdesignledger.com/tips/20-dos-and-donts-of-effective-web-design Effective web design comes about by paying heed to specific do’s and don’ts. A conversation, with examples, exploring many of them.
	On Modular Innovation… http://blog.programmableweb.com/2009/10/21/content-modularity-more-than-just-data-normalization/ On the importance of content modularity to Modular Innovation.

Have a great weekend!

Jeremy Horn
The Product Guy

Add to Social Bookmarks:

Many online social products, and more continue to, avoid a formal timestamp format…

2009-10-10 23:14:17 and Thu, October 29, 2004 12:14:19 PM

… opting for more user friendly, “warm and fuzzy,” human-readable styles…

9 days ago and 5 years ago.

As a result, and also in my quest to always help provide my clients free, cheap and easy to use tools, I have been on the lookout for a jQuery plugin that would provide the ability to easily…

• convert timestamps to ‘cuter’ language-styled forms (e.g. yesterday, 2 hours ago, last year, in the future!),
• customize the time scales and output formatting, and
• dynamically update the displayed CuteTime(s) upon request and/or automatically.

While there are other similar tools out there in JavaScript, PHP, and, I am sure, many other languages, none adequately met my goals. Therefore, I created the jQuery CuteTime plugin.

Usage

CuteTime is a customizable jQuery plugin (jQuery.cuteTime) that automatically converts timestamps to formats much cuter. Also, it has the ability to dynamically re-update and/or automatically update timestamps on a controlled interval.

As a Function

If used as a function, a string containing a cuteTime version of the provided timestamp is returned.

$(document).ready(function () {
	// timestamp MUST be a valid Date().parse 'able' format
	$.cuteTime('2009/10/12 22:11:19');
});

<html>
	<body>
		<div class='predetermined'></div>
	</body>
</html>

As a Method

If used via Selector, CuteTime replaces the text of the provided object with a cuteTime.

$(document).ready(function () {
	$('.timestamp').cuteTime();
});

<html>
	<body>
		<div class="timestamp">
			2009/10/12 22:11:19
		</div>
		<div class="timestamp">
			2008/11/01 07:11:00
		</div>
		<div class="timestamp">
			2018/11/01 07:11:00
		</div>
		<div class="timestamp"></div>
		<div class="timestamp" cutetime="1980/10/12 22:11:19">
			2009/10/12 22:11:19
		</div>
		<div class="timestamp" cutetime="asd">
			10/12/2009 22:11:19
		</div>
		<div class="timestamp" cutetime="asd">
			aoisd
		</div>
		<div class="timestamp" cutetime="asd"></div>
	</body>
</html>

When initialized, the cuteTime() call either updates or assigns the ‘cutetime’ attribute to the provided objects. Method implementation supports chaining, returning the jQuery object.

e.g. <div class=’timestamp’ cutetime=’2009 10 12 22:11:19′>2009 10 12 22:11:19</div>

If the cutetime attribute already exists within the provided object, then the text within the object is ignored in the cutification process. If the cutetime attribute does not exist or an invalid one is provided, then a valid cutetime attribute is assigned to the object.

If the cutetime attribute is missing, then it is calculated from the text of the provided object.

If neither cutetime attribute nor valid object text exist, then the timestamp is assumed to be ‘now’.

When using CuteTime in the form…

<br />
$(document).ready(function () {
	remember_the_cuteness = $('.timestamp').cuteTime();
});

… the following methods can be used …

// stops all automatic updates of refresh-enabled timestamps
remember_the_cuteness.stop_cuteness();

// (re)starts the automatic updating of timestamps
// REMINDER: make sure refresh is set to > 0
remember_the_cuteness.start_cuteness();

// updates timestamps of the provided objects
remember_the_cuteness.update_cuteness();

Settings

By default, automatic updating is disabled and the following CuteTimes can be displayed…

the future!
just now
a few seconds ago
a minute ago
x minutes ago
an hour ago
x hours ago
yesterday
x days ago
last month
x months ago
last year
x years ago

To change these settings, they can either be accessed directly…

$.fn.cuteTime.settings.refresh = 10000;

… or at the time of initialization …

my_cutetime = $('.timestamp_move').cuteTime({ refresh: 60000*10 });

The default settings data structure is…

$.fn.cuteTime.settings = {
	refresh: -1,			// time in milliseconds before next refresh of page data; -1 == no refresh
	time_ranges: [
		{bound: NEG_INF,	// IMPORANT: bounds MUST be in ascending order, from negative infinity to positive infinity
			cuteness: 'the future!',			unit_size: 0},
		{bound: 0,
			cuteness: 'just now',				unit_size: 0},
		{bound: 20 * 1000,
			cuteness: 'a few seconds ago',		unit_size: 0},
		{bound: 60 * 1000,
			cuteness: 'a minute ago',			unit_size: 0},
		{bound: 60 * 1000 * 2,
			cuteness: ' minutes ago',			unit_size: 60 * 1000},
		{bound: 60 * 1000 * 60,
			cuteness: 'an hour ago',			unit_size: 0},
		{bound: 60 * 1000 * 60 * 2,
			cuteness: ' hours ago',				unit_size: 60 * 1000 * 60},
		{bound: 60 * 1000 * 60 * 24,
			cuteness: 'yesterday',				unit_size: 0},
		{bound: 60 * 1000 * 60 * 24 * 2,
			cuteness: ' days ago',				unit_size: 60 * 1000 * 60 * 24},
		{bound: 60 * 1000 * 60 * 24 * 30,
			cuteness: 'last month',				unit_size: 0},
		{bound: 60 * 1000 * 60 * 24 * 30 * 2,
			cuteness: ' months ago',			unit_size: 60 * 1000 * 60 * 24 * 30},
		{bound: 60 * 1000 * 60 * 24 * 30 * 12,
			cuteness: 'last year',				unit_size: 0},
		{bound: 60 * 1000 * 60 * 24 * 30 * 12 * 2,
			cuteness: ' years ago',				unit_size: 60 * 1000 * 60 * 24 * 30 * 12},
		{bound: POS_INF,
			cuteness: 'a blinkle ago',			unit_size: 0}
	]
};

The parameters are defined (and all can be overridden) thus…

• refresh
  • time in milliseconds before next refresh of page data;
  • a value of -1 disables refreshing

• time_ranges
  • the array of bound_structures that delineate the cute descriptions associated with time_ranges
  • time_range’s boundary structures consist of the following variables…

• time_range[x].bound
  • the value is an integer representing the time difference between the provided timestamp and now
  • the lower inclusive bound, or starting point, for using the ‘cuteness’ string that describes the current timestamp
  • the exclusive upper bound is defined by the next boundary structure definition in the time_ranges array [current boundary + 1]

• time_range[x].cuteness
  • string to use in place of the current timestamp (e.g. ‘yesterday’)

• time_range[x].unit_size
  • the integer divisor in milliseconds to apply to the calculated time difference
  • if unit_size > 0 then a number value is prepended to the cuteness string as calculated by time_difference / unit_size (e.g. 4 hours ago)
  • if unit_size = 0, then no number is prepended to the cuteness string (e.g. an hour ago)

BTW

Make sure you use timestamps that are fully recognized by the JavaScript Date object’s Parse method in all the IE and FF browser versions you want to support. Otherwise, prepare for a headache.

Get It

You can download CuteTime, dual licensed under GPL and MIT, from…

jQuery Repository
http://plugins.jquery.com/project/CuteTime

Git
Public Clone URL: git://github.com/theproductguy/CuteTime.git
GitHub: http://github.com/theproductguy/CuteTime

Zip
jQuery.cuteTime_source-bundle_1.0_20091019.zip

Demo

http://theproductguy.com/cutetime/cutetime.demo.html

Status updates can be found here, jQuery CuteTime.
If you find this useful, or have any questions, ideas, or issues, leave a comment.

Enjoy!

Jeremy Horn
The Product Guy

Add to Social Bookmarks:

Every week I read thousands of blog posts. Here, for your weekend enjoyment, are some highlights from my recent reading, for you.

	On Starting Up… http://www.undertheradarblog.com/blog/the-series-a-term-sheet-5-terms-founders-should-focus-on/ Series A fundraising and the 5 terms every founder should know.
	On Design & Product Experience… http://www.fubiz.net/2009/10/19/facebook-facelift/ Facebook gets another facelift.
	On Modular Innovation… http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/humans_as_sensors.php IBM’s bridging of online and offline worlds through Modular Innovation and human sensors.

Have a great weekend!

Jeremy Horn
The Product Guy

Add to Social Bookmarks:

This is part 4 of a short story of personal exploration and development by one new to the daily employment of Gmail, long resisted, long desired, and eventually brought to conversion by an Android.

Part 4: To Resist

Recently our journey began. From the humble origins of Outlook to the portable synchronicity of the Windows Mobile platform, I did travel, did evolve, as needs, desires, and demands of communication and productivity so evolved and changed. Through the darkness of masked potential so emerged new and exciting opportunities. But, to fully grasp this fortune, these new degrees of productivity, it is important to pause, take measure of, and understand the crux at the heart at the core of the resistance to Gmail.

I am often asked, more so in the days since my recent conversion to Gmail, what is was, specifically, precisely, that caused me to build up such a strong aversion to a product such as this. The constitution of my answer is thus…

Inescapable IO (Information Overload)

Almost on par with the deficiency of means of acclimation available to (potential) Gmail converts, is the onerously persistent burden of IO — Information Overload. From the beginning of Gmail there have always been discussions, a construct of threaded conversations, automagically grouped, combined, amalgamated into lists.

Lists, and of lists, bombarding, overwhelming with line after line after line of content with no simple, no familiar way to dig out. A monotony of information, endless in its flattened constancy. Of course, this is a monotony not universal to this method of interchange, for where others have embraced the grouped order hills (sub-folders) comingled with sowed valleys (sorted) and ranges (folders), Gmail plows this all down in lieu of a different order. By these flattened plains, stretching outward, there is no way to easily zoom into what is important, have a sense of past, localized exchanges. With the horizon the only visible bound, without knowing exactly of that for which you seek, it is easy to become lost, no characteristics, no landmarks to point the way, no approach to lead the way between the here and there.

However, in this new order, for as far as the eye can see, there exist few instruments to either approach or approximate the supposedly archaic structures of the prior lands (Outlook, Exchange, Windows Mobile). Digging is limited to the most simplest of shovels, requiring a precision of intent previously unnecessary. For buried deep within a list, unsortable, unorganizable, may be that sought after thing, yet only revealed to the skilled, the lucky, in finding the magic word, the keyword.

And then there are those younger conversations, active, full of life, in the here and now. Conversations woven into threads, subject-locked, compressed together, layer upon layer, each exchange compounding each further layer another more, until at last, with the grounds of this conversation deeply rooted, only then, within this vastly growing mound does one realize that there may be more than one or two who have suffered the fate of being buried alive, messages unread, deep within the endlessly scrolling, organizably deficient, active discussion threads; where many an unread message have before, too been lost.

Sure, such structures have their merits, especially in contrast to those ‘archaic’ (Outlook, Exchange, etc.). But with no means by which to avoid or mitigate the suffocating enclosures of the hierarchically challenged experience, with few approximating tools, with the IMAP equivalents merely presenting additional schmutz to the pile that was already heaping layer upon layer of Information Overload, with minimal ability to shift around, to lessen the burden, the paths toward maintaining the productivity and efficiencies of time past can easily be obscured.

The Resistance

But, what of the other reasons for my resistance, which managed to be sustained from the early days of the private Gmail beta to the most recent of but few weeks passed? For surely there must be more to such a stalwart position as has been held by me, and I am sure many others still, for, for them, the resistance most definitely continues. And, indeed there are. In addition to…

Exiguous Encouragement, and
Inescapable IO (Information Overload)

… there too are the staunch galvanizers of resistance …

Suffersome Slowness, and
Tiny Things.

The Next

And, these propellants of reluctance, delayers of adoption, the fundamental causes of my resistance to what would eventually be overshadowed and forced aside, through the coercion of an Android to my conversion to the ways of Gmail, will, my friends, have to wait until next week.

Subscribe now (click here) to make sure you don’t miss any part of this series exploring the eventual adoption of Gmail in one’s daily life, by one once thoroughly addicted to, dependent on, the primarily client-based solution of Microsoft’s Outlook,

what brought about this conversion, (1) (2)
why it took so long, and (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)
what should be done to encourage greater Gmail adoption. (8)

Enjoy & Tweet!

Jeremy Horn
The Product Guy

Add to Social Bookmarks:

Every week I read thousands of blog posts. Here, for your weekend enjoyment, are some highlights from my recent reading, for you.

	On Starting Up… http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/11/finding-your-co-founders/ To find a co-founder.
	On Design & Product Experience… http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/10/09/iphone-app-design-trends/ A look at the design trends of iPhone applications.
	On Modular Innovation… http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/12/aiming-to-make-meaning-jaiku-co-founder-leaves-google/ Jaiku co-founder leaving Google to ‘make meaning’ in Modular Innovation?

Have a great weekend!

Jeremy Horn
The Product Guy

Add to Social Bookmarks:

This is part 3 of a short story of personal exploration and development by one new to the daily employment of Gmail, long resisted, long desired, and eventually brought to conversion by an Android.

Part 3: To Resist

Recently our journey began. From the humble origins of Outlook to the portable synchronicity of the Windows Mobile platform, I did travel, did evolve, as needs, desires, and demands of communication and productivity so evolved and changed. Through the darkness of masked potential so emerged new and exciting opportunities. But, to fully grasp this fortune, these new degrees of productivity, it is important to pause, take measure of, and understand the crux at the heart at the core of the resistance to Gmail.

I am often asked, more so in the days since my recent conversion to Gmail, what is was, specifically, precisely, that caused me to build up such a strong aversion to a product such as this. The constitution of my answer is thus…

Exiguous Encouragement

To be unwelcomed into foreign arms was foremost the chief reason for my resistance. Over the years I have proven myself adaptive, willing and eager to try and learn new skills, especially of those that possess the potential to further optimize my relationships and time spent thereupon. This cause, perhaps the best embodiment of my duality of desires, the eagerness to embrace, coupled with the strenuous resistance to adopt, too had solutions’ twain — to either or both acclimate or assist.

To acclimate, the more desirous of the paths would have been to support an easing shift, a reduction of the jagged peaks on this most mountainous path to the gentle current of reorganized communication. To teach one, myself, how to swim this new stroke in this new lane, would be to show me, teach me, facilitate my gradual, incremental evolution. Providing an environment wholly novel and new, with no path to acclimation nor encouragement in transition, a total dunking in the deep end, from user interface to other parallels of familiarity that could bring me forth, predicates the alternative, of the lowest common denominator, to assist.

To assist, the tools of self determination would enable the toe dipping into the Gmail pool. To be able to straddle, with one foot in each, the choices, both presenting their own unique experiences, both available to cater to my liquid needs, would have, in an unforceful fashion empowered me to, myself, make the decision as to when I felt I was fully ready to jump into this new pool. Recently, and for far longer at the exclusive enterprise level, tools of synchronization do exist, but fall/fell short in timing and implementation — from seamlessness to bidirectionality; capabilities becoming better addressed and more widely available since my full on dive in.

The Resistance

But, what of the other reasons for my resistance, which managed to be sustained from the early days of the private Gmail beta to the most recent of but few weeks passed? For surely there must be more to such a stalwart position as has been held by me, and I am sure many others still, for, for them, the resistance most definitely continues. And, indeed there are. In addition to…

Exiguous Encouragement

… there too are the staunch galvanizers of resistance …

Inescapable IO (Information Overload),
Suffersome Slowness, and
Tiny Things.

The Next

And, these propellants of reluctance, delayers of adoption, the fundamental causes of my resistance to what would eventually be overshadowed and forced aside, through the coercion of an Android to my conversion to the ways of Gmail, will, my friends, have to wait until next week.

Subscribe now (click here) to make sure you don’t miss any part of this series exploring the eventual adoption of Gmail in one’s daily life, by one once thoroughly addicted to, dependent on, the primarily client-based solution of Microsoft’s Outlook,

what brought about this conversion, (1) (2)
why it took so long, and (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)
what should be done to encourage greater Gmail adoption. (8)

Enjoy & Tweet!

Jeremy Horn
The Product Guy

Add to Social Bookmarks:

Every week I read thousands of blog posts. Here, for your weekend enjoyment, are some highlights from my recent reading, for you.

	On Starting Up… http://webanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/10/7-ways-of-handling-404-error-messages.html Sometimes more important than what you company is offering is what you offer when there is nothing to be found at all.
	On Design & Product Experience… http://www.myinkblog.com/3-powerful-ways-to-make-typography-talk-on-your-website/ A key component of a web product’s overall experience is Typography. A great set of tips on how to better express through ‘type.’
	On Modular Innovation… http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/applications_from_the_internet_of_things_pachube.php Pachube’s Modular Innovation efforts in enabling a more interconnected, sharable online world.

Have a great weekend!

Jeremy Horn
The Product Guy

Add to Social Bookmarks:

A big thank you to everyone who made it to the inaugural meet-up of The Product Group, as well as to our sponsor, Balsamiq Studios! We all had a blast discussing Product People-oriented topics and enjoying Wonderful food.

Over the 2 hours we discussed…

Product Development Cycle: tips, challenges, advice

Google Wave: the strategy behind it, Google, and online collaboration

Product Focus & Organization: tips for keeping your product on track and how to avoid the problems of the ‘heads down’ dilemma

The Product Group meet-ups are an opportunity for Product People (managers, strategies, marketers, etc.) to come together to meet, interact, and network in a roundtable setting. It’s awesome to meet fellow Product People in a laid-back, conversational gathering like this one and I am looking forward to seeing everyone, new and familiar, at our next meet-up …

Thursday, November 5th @ 7PM
@ Wonderful @ 172 8th Avenue (bet. 18th and 19th St)
NYC

If you would like to attend our next meet-up, RSVP today or visit our group webpage at…

http://meetup.com/TheProductGroup

Enjoy!

Jeremy Horn
The Product Guy

P.S. If you or an organization you represent would be interested in sponsoring an upcoming gathering of The Product Group please contact me.

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