10.04.12 |
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I’m generally not the biggest fan of Anthony Lane’s New Yorker film reviews, but I think he puts together a strong argument with Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest:
Here is frustration made flesh, with fearsome results; would it be heretical or ungrateful to say that there are times, when Phoenix is in full spate, and when Hoffman is revealing similar ruptures of rage in Dodd’s more genial façade, when there is just too much acting going on, perhaps with a capital “A”? Or that Jonny Greenwood’s rich and inventive score is used with such unceasing fervor that you almost want it, now and then, to take a break and leave the action in peace? On reflection, and despite these cavils, we should bow to “The Master,” because it gives us so much to revere…
For me, the screenplay fell flat in the latter half of the film, which made me like it far less than I expected going in. Yet there is so much to admire, much of what is highlighted in Lane’s piece.
10.03.12 |
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Really enjoyable read here on how Microsoft’s web design jumped into such a modern, approachable design. Pay special attention to author Nishant’s “four tenets” web design presentation at the beginning; I like his emphasis on responsive design.
10.03.12 |
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The Atlantic‘s Derek Thompson:
I have a theory — well, maybe more of a frame — for the message these two graphs are sending. For younger people, the Internet is the new cable news. For advertisers, cable news is still cable news…but ultimately, attention and money are zero sum, and advertising companies will shift money to meet the eyes wherever they go. And they’re going online.
10.02.12 |
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A great image collection of the Wong Kar-Wai great has been compiled over at The Criterion Collection‘s site. Can DP Chrisopher Doyle do no wrong?
10.02.12 |
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Checkmark is a location-based reminder iPhone app. True, ever since iOS 5 and Siri we’ve had the ability to add simplistic reminders via Apple’s built in apps. Yet entering a new reminder remains cumbersome. That’s where Checkmark shines – a new reminder is three quick taps away, and the UI is clean and easily digestible.
It’s currently $2 in the App Store. If you occasionally need quick reminders when you leave/arrive at work or home, it’s a good buy.
10.01.12 |
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Marco Arment wrote an astute article regarding the iPad 1’s lack of upgrade potential:
The iPad 1 was the first modern “tablet”, and as we saw (eventually) from its competitors, its $499 price point and excellent battery life were difficult to achieve in 2010 (and even in 2011). More RAM would have added to the component costs and decreased the battery life, potentially making it less appealing and jeopardizing its success, so Apple chose to keep it at only 256 MB.
Whether that was a good decision or not, it significantly shortened the iPad 1’s useful software life.
10.01.12 |
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I agreed with the design and development philosophy laid out by Dave Rupert in the latest issue of A List Apart:
Those of us involved in CSS and Web Standards groups are well acquainted with the concept of progressive enhancement. It’s important we stick to our collective guns on this. Pixels, whether in terms of device real estate or device density, should be treated as an enhancement or feature that some browsers have and others do not. Build a strong baseline of support, then optimize as necessary. In fact, learning how to properly construct a progressively enhanced website can save you (and your clients) lots of time down the line.
His core methodology for handling responsive images is simple: Rely on CSS first, SVG and icon fonts secondarily with the picturefill as a final solution.
09.28.12 |
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Major credit to the Apple CEO here: this is a flat out apology. No wiggle room, no “we’re sorry you feel this way”. And then there’s this:
While we’re improving Maps, you can try alternatives by downloading map apps from the App Store like Bing, MapQuest and Waze, or use Google or Nokia maps by going to their websites and creating an icon on your home screen to their web app.
Apple, naming five competitors as acceptable alternatives? Wow. I’m not a fan of revisionist history, but I doubt we’d see this candor during the Steve Jobs era.
09.27.12 |
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A great email from 1993 made the front page of Hacker News recently; Marc Andreessen proposes a new tag to be added to HTML…img. Cool to see how the effects of such a simple email helped set the foundation of the web we know today.
09.27.12 |
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John Gruber:
If you think about it, it makes strategic sense that, if Apple were going to break out on its own for mapping data, they would do so while there was significant time remaining on the maps license with Google.
Develop its own mapping data before the end of the Google contract? So far, makes sense. If you’re Apple, regardless of the end, having an Apple produced Maps in your back pocket is sensible.
An all-new maps back-end is the sort of feature that Apple would only want to ship in a major new OS release…I think everybody can agree this has been a major change, for users and app developers alike — should be delivered only in major new OS updates.
Significantly weaker argument here. Apple is famously a company devoted to what’s best for its consumers, right? So you’re telling me a flat out PR and technical disaster when it comes to their in house maps functionality (Apple’s current direction) is favorable over keeping the Google contract for a few more months to work out internal Maps kinks and yes, worse case releasing the app “mid cycle”?
It’s this lack of delay that’s infuriating about Apple’s switch to an in-house Maps client. There was effective time on the clock; yet Apple rushed out a half baked client and tried to package it during WWDC as though it was a superior option.