February 2012
13 posts
3 tags
Yahoo Messed Up Today →
Nolan Caudill on Yahoo laying off the highest level of Flickr’s customer support team yesterday:
Flickr-the-site will be fine but Flickr-the-culture took a huge hit today and those suits in Sunnyvale balancing some column or doing their thousandth “re-org” are completely to blame. I bet they don’t even know what they’ve done and that’s probably the worst...
January 2012
27 posts
2 tags
'We Are Going after All Americans. We Would Like... →
Ron Johnson, in an interview with the AP:
Q. What ideals have you embraced from Steve Jobs?
A. The importance of doing everything you do to your very best. And that the journey is the reward. If you do things well one at a time, you end up in a really good place. Don’t get ahead of yourself. Control the things you can.
(Via Gruber.)
2 tags
A New Sith, or Revenge of the Hope →
Keith Martin completely re-evaluates the story and plot of A New Hope in light of the prequels. Meticulous in a good way.
3 tags
Happiness Takes (A Little) Magic →
Brian Lam, on technology (news) addiction:
If you make content that is the intellectual equivalent of gummy bears, your site will appear to grow quickly. Advertisers reward size, and growing fast is expected in most places I’ve seen. Last month I visited Xeni Jardin, my blog-sister from Boing Boing and she said to me, “Only cancer and bullshit websites grow fast.”
And a...
1 tag
The Third & The Seventh →
In 2009 I first watched this short film by Alex Roman and nearly cried from its purity and its beauty — I’d never seen anything like it.
Today I’d like to share it with you.
3 tags
'Wait, Did I Just Hear a webOS Alert Tone in the... →
Josh Topolsky interviews Jon Rubinstein now that he’s left HP.
3 tags
Reading on the Web Needs Its iPhone →
Wherein Rian Van Der Merwe disparages, or rather describes how advertising is disparaging, the current state of reading on the Web. These certainly aren’t new thoughts to web designers, developers, or just plain-old lovers, but they remain as important as ever.
1 tag
'Exact Nonsense' →
Penn Jillette, in his book God, No!: Signs You May Already Be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales:
There is no god and that’s the simple truth. If every trace of any single religion died out and nothing were passed on, it would never be created exactly that way again. There might be some other nonsense in its place, but not that exact nonsense. If all of science were wiped out, it would...
4 tags
'How Much Do Music and Movie Piracy Really Hurt... →
Answer: No one has any idea.
That PIPA and SOPA can get as much traction as they did without an answer to this, the most basic question, is frightening.
(Via MG Siegler.)
2 tags
'Perspective' →
Farhad Manjoo:
Apple’s profits ($13 billion) exceeded Google’s entire revenue ($10.6 billion).
(Via John Gruber.)
2 tags
Yep →
Jonathan Coulton:
Make good stuff, then make it easy for people to buy it. There’s your anti-piracy plan.
(Via Merlin Mann.)
1 tag
'Don't Cry. Disney Owns The Right to That... →
Hitler reacts to SOPA.
3 tags
EFF's 2011 in Review: The Year Secrecy Jumped the... →
This is my concerned face.
2 tags
Nothing Good Gets Away →
Such a beautiful letter from John Steinbeck to his son Thom, who needed advice when he believed himself to have fallen in love with a young girl named Susan at his boarding school.
(Via Frank Chimero.)
1 tag
Does Culture Matter for Product Design? →
Don Norman ruminates on Human-Centered Design vs. (what he calls) Activity-Centered design and the value/quantity of instilling culture when designing products. Classic, thought-provoking Norman.
4 tags
Kill Your Ego, Be Happy →
Wisdom.
(Via egomaniac Amanda Nudelman.)
3 tags
Fred Wilson: 'Pseudonyms Drive Community' →
Fred Wilson was kind enough to write up a little summary on our recently-released pseudonym research. A lot of people have raised valid points since we published the data and we’re keeping in that in mind as we continue our newfound love for research.
In the meantime though, the value of pseudonyms remains personified on Fred’s blog, A VC. A top-notch community filled with classy,...
2 tags
61 Percent Of Disqus Comments Are Made With... →
Fun fact of the day.
2 tags
Just Because Something Is The Way It Is Doesn't... →
Clay Johnson, on SOPA and how/why Internet defenders should also take the time to get to know how Congress works:
Right now, if you want effective legislation around your industry, then you need to pay the right lobbyists, make the right campaign contributions, and write the right legislation at the right time in order to get it out of Washington. If you had to objectively pick the winning...
3 tags
Sickening. →
Lakhdar Boumediene on his wrongful arrest and incarceration in Guantánamo:
The fact that the United States had made a mistake was clear from the beginning. Bosnia’s highest court investigated the American claim, found that there was no evidence against me and ordered my release. But instead, the moment I was released American agents seized me and the five others. We were tied up like animals...
Nordstrom's Employee Handbook →
This has made the rounds numerous times. I love it but I’ve never formally shared it. Enjoy:
Welcome to Nordstrom
We’re glad to have you with our Company. Our number one goal is to provide outstanding customer service. Set both your personal and professional goals high. We have great confidence in your ability to achieve them.
Nordstrom Rules: Rule #1: Use best judgment in all...
4 tags
Steve Jobs' Vision of the World →
Steve Jobs:
When you grow up you tend to get told the world is the way it is and you’re life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family, have fun, save a little money.
That’s a very limited life. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by...
1 tag
Time Lapse View of Earth Taken from the... →
Should have sent a poet.
(Via Jason Major for Discovery News.)
2 tags
Don’t Be a Free User →
Maciej Ceglowski on the pattern of free-of-charge web services getting popular and then cashing out and shutting down:
What if a little site you love doesn’t have a business model? Yell at the developers! Explain that you are tired of good projects folding and are willing to pay cash American dollar to prevent that from happening. It doesn’t take prohibitive per-user revenue to put a project...
2 tags
Brilliant →
George Vaillant:
It is all too common for caterpillars to become butterflies and then to maintain that in their youth they had been little butterflies. Maturation makes liars of us all.
Added to Quotes.
3 tags
Nick Bilton Interviews Scott Harrison →
Bilton:
What have you learned that can help other nonprofits?
Harrison:
Simplicity is key. Be able to tell your story simply. I can’t tell you how many nonprofits I meet and after three minutes talking to them, I still have no idea what they do. Show. Don’t tell. And do it visually. Use the Web to tell people where their money has gone and let them see what it has done.
1 tag
'Portal 2 Is The Best Movie Of 2011.' →
Neven Mrgan recounts his favorite things in 2011.