Ben Brooks [http://brooksreview.net/] recently linked to a few folks who've built their own desk, including my own. He mentioned to me that he had looked for a post about the experience and I realized I never wrote one. Here it is (sadly, with poor quality images). I've been using a standing desk for a couple of years now. But each iteration has been a hack of a regular, cheap fiber board desk. This time I wanted real wood and something of a good size. I picked up a solid wood door from a local…
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Interesting read [http://www.subtraction.com/2012/06/19/built-to-not-last] — and follow up [http://www.subtraction.com/2012/06/20/follow-up-to-built-to-not-last] — from Khoi Vinh. I agree completely. The two concepts at play here are planned and perceived obsolescence. The former is defined as creating items that are designed to malfunction after a certain period of time, forcing the consumer to make another purchase. The second is the idea that the producer will create new models or options…
Josh Bryant posted a couple [http://d.pr/n/I7Wt/91DPmWQz] of pieces [http://d.pr/n/SKqf/3TEVhP2o] outlining his concerns about the problems presented by the new Retina Macbook Pro. His concerns are well founded, especially for interface designers. The main question that has to be answered, in Josh's words: > So, how do you go about designing 1x resources on a 2x screen? He gives a few options, none of which he's happy with. The web community is still trying to find the best methods to deliver r…
This week's news of the launch of Pocket [http://getpocket.com/] — a compelling rebrand and slight change-of-focus of Read It Later — caught my attention. Like all the recent chatter on Instapaper and Readability, Pocket touches on a subject dear to my heart. It's not surprising that these tools generate a lot of opinion and discussion — services like Pocket give us more control and access to the content we consume and share via the Internet. And we care about that content. Regarding Pocket, th…
All the recent hubbub around Readability is fascinating. And exciting. So [http://daringfireball.net/linked/2012/03/30/readability] many [http://daringfireball.net/linked/2012/04/02/davidsonability] insanely [http://dashes.com/anil/2012/04/readability-instapaper-the-network-and-the-price-we-pay.html] talented [http://www.mikeindustries.com/blog/archive/2012/04/what-the-betamax-case-teaches-us-about-readability] folks [http://brooksreview.net/2012/03/explanations/] are chiming in on this dis…
Although this is not new news for anyone, I've been reminded of the importance of touch when working on iOS. I'm not of the mind that one should go out of the way to create or work on an iPad. It's possible, but much less frictionless [https://chrisbowler.com/journal/marco-arment-on-ipad-productivity] than working on my Macbook. Still there are certain activities I prefer the iPad for. A weekly review is one, partially due to the complete embracing of the platform that the folks at OmniGroup […
Like Ben Brooks [http://twitter.com/benjaminbrooks], I've long had some thoughts about Twittiquette rolling around in my head. Ben expressed some thoughts [http://brooksreview.net/2011/05/follow/] this morning on the service and how he thinks people should react when they are followed or unfollowed by others. It's an interesting subject as we all react towards these actions differently. But I try to keep a few things on my mind. Don't take it personally At some point, you're going to find out…
A well designed application, whether native or web based, will have clever UI elements that make the usage more pleasant. Some are obvious from the start, others are delightful surprises that you come across during your usage. Rdio [http://www.rdio.com/] is an application that gets you on both ends. I love the service since it has given me access to so much new content that I could never afford to purchase on iTunes. And in the course of finding all this great new music, there are often times w…