February 2012
16 posts
2 tags
Google's new "batshit crazy" UX →
Google recently redesigned their sites so that users can no longer click on the top-left logo to take them “home.” First of all, this is not one of those “OMG I hate the new Facebook/Twitter redesign” overreactions — this is a legit UX gripe, and I am clearly not the only one.
Dustin Curtis recently linked to a post by former Google designer Kevin Fox on why this...
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Please steal these WebOS features →
So why was it so easy for me to use the TouchPad for work, but not the iPad? I think it’s because there are a number of things the TouchPad does that make it more suitable for work.
Now that it is becoming increasingly obvious that HP won’t do anything useful with webOS, it’s time to start stealing the things it does well. Here are some of these things.
Lukas Mathis points out all the great...
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Kevin and Phebe - "Buzzer" →
Kevin and Phebe is a series of web shorts that are quick and to the point. I particularly liked this episode. Extra bonus points because a friend of mine is friends with “Kevin” from the series. You can see all the episodes on their site, The Wildness. [Vimeo via The Wildness]
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Bokeh and art →
Samsung made this cute little video using custom bokeh shapes. They also published this handy little tutorial in case you wanted to mimic their results. [YouTube via PetaPixel]
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On Google, Apple, and "privacy" →
I’m not really too interested in last night’s WSJ “scoop” on Google and its mobile Safari practices, but if you want to read up on it, this piece by John Battell is probably the most balanced I’ve read so far:
In short, Apple’s mobile version of Safari broke with common web practice, and as a result, it broke Google’s normal approach to engaging with consumers. Was...
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About Gatekeeper →
The folks at Panic — developers of popular apps Transmit and Coda — wrote up a pretty good article explaining the pros and cons of Gatekeeper, a security feature offered in the newly announced OS X Mountain Lion.
Today’s Mountain Lion announcement introduces an important new security feature, called Gatekeeper, in addition to the “sandboxing” feature that premiered in Lion. I’d like...
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How to erase people from your photos like a boss
Thanks to modern day technology, there are a lot of post-processing tricks illusions (a trick is something a whore does for money) that photographers can use to enhance their images. Scalado just announced a new tool called Remove that can literally remove anyone from the background of your pictures — absolutely perfect for preventing ex-girlfriends strangers from ruining your shots....
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How Samsung plans to win over Apple fans →
I’m sure you’ve seen those commercials where Samsung takes a dig at Apple fans waiting in line for the next iProduct. At first I thought they were kind of silly, but it turns out there’s a method to their madness:
For starters: The washed-out look of the commercials was purposefully unsaturated and a bit milky, because the tone visually embodies the boredom of waiting in...
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BoxHead portrait tutorial →
I really like this portrait tutorial by my friends at BoxHead Studios. Great stuff. [BoxHead Studios]
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Giants fan
I really like this shot that I took at the NY Giants Super Bowl parade yesterday. This girl caught my eye, but everyone was packed in like sardines, so I didn’t have enough room to look through my viewfinder as I normally would. Instead, I extended my arms in the air and blindly fired off a couple of shots. Luckily, this one came out pretty well.
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Chinese Oreos also come in wafers!
Jason Kottke recently posted that Oreos in China are actually tube-shaped. Essentially, Kraft had to rethink the entire cookie :
It turns out that if you didn’t grow up with Oreos and develop an emotional attachment to the cookie, it can be a weird-tasting little thing. And this started a whole process in the Chinese division of Kraft of rethinking what the essence of an Oreo really...
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The problem with the iOS Home Screen →
The iOS Home screen is conceptually broken. Not “broken” as in unusable, unstable or technically flawed. From an engineering standpoint, the iOS Home screen works. The concept of the Home screen we interact with today is broken because the Home screen wants to be a real, physical, tangible surface while providing access to the gates of the intangible: apps. Apps are data, information,...
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I got mail!
The other day was my birthday, and I received a single birthday card in the mail. It was awesome. Thanks, Ang!
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My kind of dress pants
Forget jeggings (they’re not nearly as comfortable as they sound, trust me) — dress pant sweatpants are the future. I would probably “dress up” way more often if I actually owned a pair of these. Just think about it for a second. Sweatpants… that look like dress pants. How have these not been invented before? Next up: sweatpant suit. [Betabrand via PetaPixel]
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The Dangers of Fracking →
A beautiful fracking website by Linda Dong. Informative, too! [Dangers of Fracking via Daring Fireball]
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Bark Hot Dogs = I wants it
Ever since watching this, I really want to try Bark Hot Dogs in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The only problem is, well, it’s in Park Slope, Brooklyn (sorry, Bear).
I’m actually not a huge hot dog fan, but just like this news anchor, I can always appreciate a great sausage. So who knows, maybe one day I’ll make the trip to Brooklyn to see what this Bark Butter is all about. In the...
January 2012
20 posts
2 tags
Clear for iPhone →
Clear looks to be a pretty slick app for managing your various lists. I’ll definitely be trying this out once it’s released. [Vimeo]
1 tag
Will the real Google please stand up?
Sarah Lacy of PandyDaily writes that Google should do itself a favor and just come clean already about its Search Plus Your World results:
This isn’t an issue of whether Google—as a for profit company—should have the right to push its own services over others. This isn’t an issue over what Twitter or Facebook would do in Google’s shoes. To me, the interesting issue isn’t even...
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Don't forget to "take your medicine" →
Adrien Chen of Gawker conducted a fascinating interview with an IT guy who services a different kind of clientele: high net-worth individuals and criminals. One of his unique services is to provide members of drug rings with prepaid cell phones and a supply of SIM cards that are cleverly rotated using a pill box:
With Martin’s system, each crewmember gets a cell phone that operates using...
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Tree in a puddle
Speaking of my last post, I really like this shot that I recently took in Washington Square Park of a tree’s reflection on a drizzly afternoon.
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Getting the picture
A surprising thing happened when the iPhone 4S was released back in October. No, I didn’t get one — which is actually kind of surprising by itself — but more significantly, I stopped taking pictures on my iPhone 4. Call it “camera envy,” but whenever I saw a picture that was taken on a 4S, I immediately felt like my iPhone’s camera was inadequate.
Of course,...
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Star Wars Uncut -- a crowdsourced remake →
I may be a geek, but I’m actually not a huge fan of the Star Wars series. Still, this entirely crowdsourced remake is pretty damn awesome. From the YouTube description:
The Story:
In 2009, thousands of Internet users were asked to remake “Star Wars: A New Hope” into a fan film, 15 seconds at a time. Contributors were allowed to recreate scenes from Star Wars however they...
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Confessions of a Publisher →
Sarah Lacy has a fascinating article on her newly launched PandoDaily site that provides an insider’s perspective on how Amazon may be planning on taking out book publishers altogether:
[Publishers] can’t pay $1 million for books anymore. Amazon could probably afford to lose $20 million/year in their publishing arm just to put the other publishers out of business. I think that’s what...
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This is what Madeline did →
I really love this video twist on a Project 365 (which is typically done as a photography project). It’s a great way of looking back on the year and remembering some of the things that you did:
I hope this video inspires you to treasure every day you get and find the good, beautiful moments in even the worst days (even if it’s just going for a walk, taking a drive, or spending...
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Clara C - I Won't Give Up (Jason Mraz cover) →
I’m not familiar with the original by Jason Mraz, but this is a pretty nice song. I’ve been a fan of Clara C ever since I heard her Rocketeer cover last year. Good stuff. [Doobybrain and Hans]
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Protect your lens in the most delicious way... →
I don’t always carry around my lenses in a wrap, but when I do, I use a burrito. [Photojojo via PetaPixel]
New York 2011, in Photos →
Some really nice photographs taken by a tumblr user in New York during 2011. I really need to take more pictures. [Eye Heart New York]
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How Doctors Die →
Ken Murray writing for Zócalo Public Square on how doctors die:
Years ago, Charlie, a highly respected orthopedist and a mentor of mine, found a lump in his stomach. He had a surgeon explore the area, and the diagnosis was pancreatic cancer. This surgeon was one of the best in the country. He had even invented a new procedure for this exact cancer that could triple a patient’s...
Ian Dunbar on dog-friendly dog training →
I’ll definitely be keeping this in mind when I get my own dog (someday!). I like how he also applies this philosophy to human relationships as well. [TED]
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Why Samsung Is The Next Apple →
John Biggs from TechCrunch:
Samsung, and to some extent the other vendors, have finally cracked it. For most of the past few years they’ve watched as Apple ran circles around them in terms of media sharing and remote control. Obviously Apple’s systems have been limited to iPod/iTunes/iPad/Mac but Samsung, a major player in both the white goods and the mobile markets, can now have it all.
...
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Jeff Harris and his self-portrait project →
I’ve heard of doing a Project 365 — I even attempted one last year (and failed miserably) — and I’ve also heard of self-portrait projects (usually involving beards), but I really like the concept behind this project by Jeff Harris. It’s not only a reason to capture tons of self-portraits, but it’s also a great way of incorporating your daily experiences so...
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MG Siegler on why he hates Android →
MG Siegler wrote an article detailing the history of the Android platform, its original goals, and what it has since become. In doing so, he also explains why he hates Android:
Apple, for all the shit they get for being “closed” and “evil”, has actually done far more to wrestle control back from the carriers and put it into the hands of consumers. Google set off to help in this goal, then...
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Golden fireflies in Japan →
I was just in Japan this past summer, but these pictures make me want to go back again! [Digital Photo Blog via PetaPixel]
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Misconceptions about iOS Multitasking →
Fraser Speirs wrote an excellent piece on how multitasking actually works in iOS. Everyone who owns an iOS device should read it:
Let me be as clear as I can be: the iOS multitasking bar does not contain “a list of all running apps”. It contains “a list of recently used apps”. The user never has to manage background tasks on iOS.
For the record, I have a habit of...
1 tag
Learning to code
I’ve always wanted to learn how to code, so that’s another resolution of mine. And thanks to Code Year, hopefully it won’t be as painful as I thought. The idea is that they’ll send you a new programming lesson each week throughout the year covering the basics of programming. I’m pretty excited for it to start. You should join too!
On a somewhat related note,...
Making the cut
I haven’t yet had a chance to come up with a formal list of all of my resolutions for this year, but lately I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about things that I can cut out of my life. There’s been a lot of talk about the information diet — and God knows I desperately need to go on one of those — but it shouldn’t just apply to information. I’m...
December 2011
11 posts
2 tags
The Blue Pond
I also love this picture by Kent Shiraishi. [National Geographic via Reddit]
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Fall Gradient
I love this picture. [Daily Dose of Imagery]
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No, you can't search Google via their Facebook fan...
I wish I could say that I’m surprised to read this, but some people are actually trying to search Google through the Google fan page on Facebook. One Redditor decided to help them out. [Reddit]
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Google Zeitgeist 2011 →
I love these annual recaps of the year by Google. One day, I’m going to watch them all back-to-back, and I’ll feel like Mike Myers in Austin Powers after he got cryogenically reanimated. Except with (slightly) better teeth. [YouTube via Gizmodo]
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Mika-san explains Return of the Jedi →
This is adorable. Spoilers, obvi. [YouTube via Kotaku]
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Dogs in Cars
This slow-mo video of dogs sticking their heads out of car windows makes me happy. I can’t wait until I can get a dog of my own. Someday… [Doobybrain]
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Comic Sans Project →
This is brilliant. [Comic Sans Project via Eddie]
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The unintended effects of driverless cars →
I’m buried deep in Taxation of Corporate Transactions this weekend (I know you’re jelly), but I just had to escape for a second to share this post from Koushik Dutta on the potentially awesome side-effect of Google’s driverless car project.
Dutta compares cars, which are typically not in use most of the time, with airplanes, which are almost constantly in use. The...
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The Reason Android is Laggy →
This is quite possibly the geekiest link that I have ever shared (and that’s saying a lot), but if you’re wondering why some people claim that Android’s UI is “laggy,” Andrew Munn has posted his explanation (but first you should really read this post by Dianne Hackborn clarifying some of the misconceptions about Android graphics):
Work on Android started before the...
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The New Yorker breaks embargo for The Girl With... →
Embargoes be damned, film critic David Denby’s review of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo will apparently be published in tomorrow’s issue of The New Yorker. Denby’s reasons for breaking the embargo: 1) there are too many big movies coming out at the end of the year; and 2) it’s a positive review anyway.
I’m no expert when it comes to review embargos, but this...
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Path only works if you reject those friend... →
An interesting point by Josh Constine from TechCrunch on how sharing with less people might actually improve the experience of using Path:
Path lets you share things that only people who really care about you want to know, like when you wake up and go to sleep, or when you travel more than a few miles. If you are friends on Path with anyone you might feel embarrassed by sharing that content...
November 2011
13 posts
1 tag
Whatever works for you →
Marco Arment recently touched on the topic of being an evangelist for his technological choices and how he’s become a lot less annoying about pushing his choices onto others. It’s an issue that I briefly mentioned while linking to a Gizmodo article on trying to convert your friends to your tech religion.
I couldn’t agree more with the following point by Marco:
You should use...
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The proper way to reheat cold pizza →
That’s right, you’ve (most likely) been doing it wrong. I present to you: the proper way to reheat cold pizza (so that it doesn’t suck). Now if only I could apply this to food that I cook myself (so that it doesn’t suck). [Food Wishes via Reddit]
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Om Malik reflects on a decade of blogging
A lot of people have been reflecting on Om Malik’s recent post marking his 10th year of blogging and the lessons that he’s learned along the way. I’m not a regular reader of his blog, but I really took his tips to heart, particularly this one:
4. Be regular. And show up to blog every day. After all you are as fresh as your last blog post.
I recently recommitted myself to...