12.21.12 |
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Adam Davidson for The New York Times:
This business model, perhaps as much as artistic creativity, is responsible for TV’s current golden age. Networks have effectively entered into a quality war. Basic-cable channels have to broadcast shows that are so good that audiences will go nuts when denied them. Pay-TV channels, which kick-started this economic model, are compelled to make shows that are even better. And somehow, they all seem to be making insane amounts of money.
We’re clearly in an amazing TV era, but, as Davidson surmises, how much of it is dependent on the quasi-monopolistic system cable providers run now? What happens when content shifts to the web?
12.20.12 |
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Startup founder Vibhu Norby:
All in all, mobile service apps turn out to be a horrible place to close viral loops and win at the retention game. Only a handful of apps have succeeded mobile-first: Instagram, Tango, Shazam, maybe 2 or 3 others…
…You have an entirely different onboarding story on the web. You can test easily, cheaply, and fast enough to make a difference on the web. You can fix a critical bug that crashes your app on load 15 minutes after discovery (See Circa). You can show 10 different landing pages and decide in real-time which one is working the best for a particular user. You can also close a viral loop: A user can click an email and immediately be using your app with you.
12.19.12 |
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The Ashbury and Ashbury design shop blog:
There’s a writing angle to the whole thing that needs some airing. The whole story is already being co-opted as a case study in the importance of clear communication and getting the tone right. This worries me, because that’s exactly what it isn’t, at least not in the way that’s being suggested.
More than almost any of the many other articles regarding Instagram, this one nails why Instagram is in such hot water with its users. I myself don’t plan on quitting Instagram immediately, but for now my main photographic attention has shifted to Flickr.
12.19.12 |
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If you’re a web developer, you’ve probably had to implement loading animations (e.g. spinners, bars) several times. In the land of ajax and back end validation, it’s essential work. Lately instead of the usual transparent GIF route, I’ve preferred implementing CSS based animation; it’s one less HTTP request and easily customizable.
Yet writing CSS based loaders can be time consuming. That’s what makes cssload.net useful. Pick an animation, color set and download the CSS3 code.
12.19.12 |
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Lukas Mathis:
It seems as if Apple tried to hide iTunes’ complexity under a shallow veneer of simplicity. Unfortunately, a new coat of paint won’t fix the leaning tower of Pisa.
12.18.12 |
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As much as I love Tweetbot, Twitterrific 5, the new Twitter client from Iconfactory, matches my Twitter needs more effectively. This blog post breaks down the app’s development organization. This is the most important sentence:
When you have a large project, be it a movie or a piece of software, you have to have someone calling the creative shots.
12.18.12 |
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User interface designer Maykel:
If you want to create something, you should learn the basic level of actually implementing it. This goes for handcrafting physical products as well as interactive ones. Sure, it’s scary. Yes, it starts out being confusing. And there is more than a 99% chance that you will fail at your first try.
12.17.12 |
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Garnett Murray writes an epic takedown of the Wii U. His commentary on system load times and are especially damming:
Keep in mind it took 25 seconds on average to return to the Wii U Menu after loading each of these others apps, so if you were to start each app listed above once and return to the Wii U menu afterward, it would take eight and a half minutes, not including initial startup and loading time, to do it. That can only be described as fucking insane.
I’m rooting for Nintendo; more competition only makes Sony, Microsoft and other gaming competition step up their game. But there are way too many ‘what were they thinking?’ moments associated with this Wii U launch.
12.17.12 |
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FF Meta and Myriad makes for a a pretty rare web pairing (for that matter, Myriad solo is pretty underutilized), but Ev Williams’ Medium does the job right.
12.11.12 |
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Excellent profile by The New Yorker’s Alec Wilkinson of Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor. It’s behind The New Yorker’s usual paywall, but if you have access it’s a really engrossing read (admittedly as a huge NIN fan since my teenage years I’m probably a bit biased in this regard.)
There’s some interesting tech news here as well: Reznor is working with Beats Electronics on the design of a new music-streaming service that will compete with Spotify and Rdio. He argues Spotify is like “being on the web without Google” and he has a point. As noted earlier today, music curation is a huge challenge to crack. Will this new Beats offer anything really different? We’ll see.