December 2011
The Opposite of Responsive Web Design Dec 30, 2011
Who needs a mobile website when you have a clever writer instead? (Via Adam Banks.) This is the “awesome” site, by the way.
2011′s Final Episode of The B&B Podcast Dec 30, 2011
Ben kicks off the show by asking me four questions about this past year and the upcoming year. We discuss MacBook Airs, iPads, and iPads with keyboards, including kicking off the rumor mill for what we may or may not … (More)
10 Things We Learned About Apple in 2011 Dec 29, 2011
Dan Frommer writes some of the best list posts in tech. In today’s post, numbers 2 — Apple is happy to go a whole year without a major hardware design revision — and 3 — Apple isn’t tied to its … (More)
Sponsor: OmniGraffle Dec 28, 2011
My thanks to Omni Group for again sponsoring the RSS feed this week. Creating in OmniGraffle: a five-step introduction attempt in less than 140 words. Desired outcome: a new mockup of WebsiteThing. Start it up. Download OmniGraffle here. Choose “Blank” … (More)
How Kansas City Ranks Dec 28, 2011
Rated as the number 1 favorite for barbecue but also as the 6th fattest city in America.
Kinda a Tom Clancy Fan Dec 23, 2011
It’s episode 39 of The B&B Podcast and Ben and I talk about the ins and outs of writing a website and we answer a bunch of listener-submitted questions. Also, Merry Christmas. Brought to you by this month’s sponsor: Instacast.
Dropbox vs. iCloud Dec 22, 2011
Stephen Hackett: iCloud may become a direct competitor of Dropbox’s, but at the purposes of the services are different at this point. On iOS the file system is abstracted away altogether. Bringing iCloud to the desktop Mac is just the … (More)
Danny Sullivan’s Galaxy Nexus Review Dec 22, 2011
Danny Sullivan hits a lot of the same things that I was feeling in regards to the inconstancies of the UI in points. Especially the “triple-colon”.
ICS Paper Cuts Dec 22, 2011
A weblog by Grant Paul documenting some of the UI inconsistencies in Android 4.0. (Via Matthew Panzarino.)
Sponsor: OmniFocus Dec 22, 2011
My thanks to Omni Group for sponsoring the RSS feed this week. We’re hoping you decided to check out the trial of OmniFocus after our sponsorship earlier this month. Here’s a quick 5-step jumpstart. Capture everything. Take 15 minutes to … (More)
The Icon Handbook Dec 21, 2011
Jon Hicks’ new book is now available. It looks fantastic in both design and content. Congrats, Jon!
Ship Today, Update Tomorrow Dec 21, 2011
Mike Isaac wrote this article for Wired last week about the growing trend from tech companies to just get a product out the door as soon as possible and then ship software updates later in hopes to improve the usability … (More)
Kindle Fire Software Update Dec 21, 2011
David Pogue reports that last night’s software update to the Kindle Fire makes a lot of the maddening software issues less balky: Sure enough: the home screen “carousel,” a rotating shelf that holds all of your books, magazines and movies, … (More)
Santa and Siri Dec 20, 2011
Love this new Apple commercial. We saw it a couple times on Sunday as we watched KC beat Green Bay (sweet!) and New England beat Denver (not sweet).
The Top Five U.S. Ski Resorts Dec 20, 2011
Vail, my personal favorite resort in Colorado, ranks 5th on this list. And the other 4 resorts — Jackson Hole, Alta, Telluride, and Squaw Valley — I have not yet been to. Sounds like I’ve got some traveling to do. … (More)
Why Did Path Add Sleeping as One of Its Five Moment Types? Dec 20, 2011
Dave Morin, co-founder of Path, gives three answers. The first one is an interesting observation: First, we are now in the Post-PC, Mobile era. In the PC era we would often ask: are you online or offline? In the Mobile … (More)
David Smith’s Estimation of Kindle Sales Dec 19, 2011
He took a much more objective approach than Marco and I did, by comparing the number of reviews on Amazon.com for each of the new Kindles as well as searching on Twitter for images of “New Kindle”. And according to … (More)
Kindle Sales Numbers Dec 16, 2011
Amazon said yesterday that they are selling over 1 million Kindle devices per week. But they gave no hint as to the breakdown. Marco Arment looked at his affiliate links since the beginning of October, and sees the Kindle 4 … (More)
The Difference Between a Super AMOLED Display and a Super AMOLED Plus Display Dec 16, 2011
Rasmus Larsen: Super AMOLED Plus ensures perfect detailing and text reproduction. Super AMOLED shares sub pixels making text appear fuzzy. The Galaxy Nexus has a Super AMOLED display (no plus). I’ve been using a review unit that’s on loan from … (More)
The B&B Podcast, Episode 38: Skinny Jeans Dec 16, 2011
Another week, another action-packed episode of The B&B Podcast. This week Ben and I talk mostly about Android and the Galaxy Nexus which Verizon was kind enough to loan me. We also talk about Christmas and consumerism and the spirit … (More)
How Does iOS 5’s iMessage Know That the Recipient Is an iOS 5 Device? Dec 16, 2011
Random but related story: on Sunday I sent a text message to a friend and the bubble turned blue, so I added in, “Hey, you got an iPhone!”. He asked how I knew, and I told him the blue bubble … (More)
SublimeVideo is Now Free Dec 16, 2011
SublimeVideo is an online service that lets you upload videos and embed them as HTML5 videos that fall back to Flash if HTML5 isn’t supported (usually the opposite is true). They now have a free plan that lets get unlimited … (More)
On Discovery & the Social Graph Dec 16, 2011
Joshua Blankenship: The discovery opportunities that exist for Twitter as a product and for me as a user are vastly under-served. [...] The #discover results could be almost any randomized content and it would be exactly as relevant to me … (More)
Paul Haddad Interview Dec 15, 2011
Nice interview with Paul Haddad — the programmer behind Tapbots — talking about Tweetbot.
MG Siegler on Path Dec 14, 2011
MG Siegler: Mobile is not only the future of personal computing, it’s the most personal form of computing. It’s a machine you’ll have with you during all the most important moments in your life. That’s the opportunity here. If you … (More)
John Carey on Path Dec 14, 2011
John Carey: The landscape of social media is quickly changing and I feel Path is a brilliant move in the right direction. Speaking of John Carey and Path, those amazing default photographs you can use for your cover image? They … (More)
Sponsor: OmniFocus Dec 14, 2011
My thanks to OmniGroup for sponsoring the RSS feed this week. You have goals — use OmniFocus to reconstruct fragments of ideas or projects into actionable steps to complete those goals. Move the responsibility of remembering daily tasks from your … (More)
Matt Alexander’s Review of The Jawbone UP Dec 14, 2011
Matt has had his for several weeks and no trouble whatsoever. My first one, after its battery was first fully recharged, stopped holding a charge for longer than a couple days. So Jawbone sent me a new one a few … (More)
Welcome to the Internet Dec 13, 2011
I was interviewed by Chris Enns for his awesome podcast, Welcome to the Internet. We talked a about coffee and writing and my workflow and the “origin story” of how I made the leap into writing for my weblog full-time.
Thinking Time Dec 13, 2011
For writers, business leaders, designers, developers, and anyone else who works primarily with their mind, taking time out to just think is so vital. No doubt, if you’re reading this, you know what I mean. And so Jacob Gorban’s post … (More)
Blends App Dec 13, 2011
Blends is a great and new-to-me iPhone and iPad dictionary app. It’s fast and has a very nice design. But what’s best about it are some power-user features I haven’t seen in other dictionary apps before: Wild Card Searches: Say … (More)
Twenty four hours of Lumia Dec 12, 2011
Alasdair Monk, designer and iPhone/iOS aficionado, shares his thoughts on the Nokia Lumia 800 and Windows Phone software. Spoiler: he loves it.
Interactive CSS3 Lighting Effects Dec 12, 2011
This is pretty darn slick. (Via Phil Coffman and Cameron Moll.)
The condescending UI Dec 12, 2011
Paul Miller, on The Verge: My problem with many modern UIs is that they never get past the telling phase. They’re always dressing up their various functions with glows and bevels and curves, and in the process they somehow become … (More)
Stuff Dec 12, 2011
Speaking of simplicity, this essay from Paul Graham is right along the same lines as Matt wrote about. Graham’s article is (as always) a great read and definitely worth coming back to once and a while.
Simplicity Dec 12, 2011
A great piece by Matt Gemmell (whose writing has been on fire lately): Above all, I enjoy simplicity. I’m willing to pay more, and do more, to get it.
Bring a Trailer Dec 12, 2011
The guys behind this website find and feature great vintage cars that are for sale around the country so you don’t have to scour eBay. It’s a fun site even if your not in the market for a “Barn find, … (More)
Dave Caolo: What’s new in iBooks 1.5 Dec 10, 2011
Finally! A light-on-dark color scheme for low-light reading. (But seriously. Finally.) Also, full-screen mode gets rid of the illustrated fake book pages on the right-hand side of the screen.
Kid History Dec 9, 2011
Anna and I just stumbled across these YouTube videos yesterday and we were both laughing so hard we were crying. All six episodes are hilarious, but if you’re just going to watch a few: episode 1 gives you a good … (More)
How Thunderbolt Devices Affect Each Other When Daisy Chained Dec 9, 2011
James Galbraith, the lab director at Macworld, did an ultra-nerdy analysis of read/write speeds for different external drives when daisy chained via Thunderbolt in various patterns and with or without additional displays attached.
No Choice? Dec 9, 2011
Seth Godin: Remarkable work often comes from making choices when everyone else feels as though there is no choice.
On Kickstarter: iPen Is a New Type of iPad Stylus Dec 9, 2011
For those who’ve really been itching for a great stylus for their iPad, this may be it. While I don’t agree with their opening statement that the iPen “transforms the iPad into a content creation device, not just a content … (More)
In Defense of Connect and Discover Dec 9, 2011
Sean Sperte: Are the connect and discover labels really going to stop people from tapping on them? If anything, I’d argue that they do the opposite. If “Find” were used (along with the traditional magnifying glass icon), it’s likely some … (More)
The B&B Podcast, Episode 37: It’s Old School, Bro Dec 9, 2011
I’ll give you one guess as to what Ben and I talked about this week. And this month’s fine sponsor, Instacast, is doing a giveaway. Check out the show notes for details.
John Gruber on The New Twitter Dec 9, 2011
This article by John Gruber about the new Twitter for iPhone app design expresses my thoughts almost exactly. I too switched to Tweetbot in April of this year and so the new design doesn’t bug me so much because I … (More)
Oliver Reichenstein on The New Twitter Dec 9, 2011
Oliver Reichenstein: The problem I can see from outside is that the management set requirements that were impossible to solve.
The History of Twitter for iPhone Dec 9, 2011
Jeremy Stanley put together an overview of all the major releases, from Tweetie 1.0 in November 2008 all the way through to Twitter for iPhone 4.0 yesterday.
Stephen Hackett’s Hasty Review of the New Twitter iPhone App Dec 8, 2011
Yeah, so I’ve been fiddling with the new Twitter iPhone app for all of 30 minutes, but I’m in agreement with Stephen on his likes and dislikes of the app so far. Too bad they removed the “swipe-on-a-tweet” feature, it … (More)
Tip for Getting to Your DMs Quickly in Twitter for iPhone Dec 8, 2011
Since they’ve been buried under the “Me” tab. Oy.
Flipboard for iPhone Dec 8, 2011
And hey, speaking of new iPhone apps, Flipboard released their iPhone version just yesterday. I downloaded it last night and it’s very well done.
The Next New Twitter Design Dec 8, 2011
A look at the new design for the Twitter website (which will be rolling out to current users over the next two weeks). It hasn’t rolled out to my account yet, but from looking at the video and the screenshots … (More)
Twitter Signups up 25% Since Integration with iOS 5 Dec 8, 2011
From the perspective of a long-time Twitter user, I love the way I can give an iPhone app access to my Twitter account by one tap.
Don’t Be A Free User Dec 8, 2011
It’s not hard to name a few products that are just great but which have yet to establish a business model despite their growth and popularity. Instagram and Tumblr both come to my mind as prime examples. Stamped does not … (More)
Productive Macs Software Bundle Dec 7, 2011
This is a great software bundle. I use Fantastical, BusyCal, and LaunchBar every single day. From my point of view, the price is worth it for those apps alone. (Note: if you grab the bundle via this link then I’ll … (More)
“We Suffer From Information Overconsumption” Dec 7, 2011
Mac Slocum has an interview with Clay Johnson that gives some food for thought (no pun intended). The interview is about Johnson’s upcoming new book, The Information Diet. The thesis of Johnson’s book is that the problem of “personal information … (More)
Learning to work with Auto Save Dec 7, 2011
David Sparks wrote this piece for Macworld back in October. Basically he preemptively laid out why my old-school workflow that used Save As is now extinct and to just move on with things already. I know this is true. My … (More)
Sponsor: OmniGraffle Dec 7, 2011
My thanks to the Omni Group for sponsoring the RSS feed this week. OmniGraffle is the easiest and most elegant way to create website wireframes, process flows, organization hiearachies, and, frankly, almost anything. Rely on OmniGraffle to create beautifully simple … (More)
Morning Tells the Truth Dec 7, 2011
Since going full time, one of the hardest writing disciplines for me has been to not publish an article as soon as I’ve finished that first edit. Stepping away from the article for an afternoon or even a day or … (More)
Cable Release Trick for iPhone Dec 6, 2011
Ben Brooks tipped me off to this clever tip on this past week’s episode of the B&B podcast: you can use the volume up button on your iPhone earbuds to snap photos. (Link via Duncan Davidson.)
Golden Rules to Live by While Travelling the World Dec 6, 2011
Nice list. Tip number 1 is a no brainer (I try to avoid chain and corner restaurants as much as possible), but tip number 4 is a new idea to me. (Via Kottke.)
Linens ‘n Things Dec 5, 2011
Jake Marsh wrote this post a month ago about this topic of linen in the Notification Center versus linen in the Multitasking Tray: Both of these interfaces [Notification Center and Multitasking Tray] have our friendly neighborhood linen as their background … (More)
The 2011 Eddy Winners Dec 5, 2011
Macworld’s picks for the best Mac hardware and software of the year.
iOS 5 Notification Center Fall Down Transition Dec 5, 2011
Ah ha. This video by Max Rudberg (the same Max who posted the Multitasking Tray gesture video) demonstrates almost exactly what I was talking about in my last link about the Notification Center being “above” the Home screen rather than … (More)
Why is the iOS Notification Center on “Top”? Dec 5, 2011
The aforelinked reminded me just how off the Notification Center feels in regards to its “depth” within iOS and it’s interaction with the Home screen. I agree with the comment “Shrike” makes in this linked-to post on the AppleInsider forums. … (More)
A Simple Gesture to Activate the Multitasking Tray Dec 5, 2011
My initial reaction to this is: yes, please. Four-finger swipe on the iPad is already my new default way to bring up the Multitasking Tray — it just seems much more convenient than double-tapping the Home button. But then I … (More)
Louie Mantia on Social Networks Dec 5, 2011
He’s got a point: What’s the point of single-purpose social networks if you have to publish content from one onto another? For Instagram, they may have built an app-only social network, but not everyone (like my family) uses it enough … (More)
Copper Mountain Time Lapse Video Dec 5, 2011
Aside from Vail of course, Copper is my favorite place to ride in Colorado.
The Erosion in the Paid Media Pyramid Dec 3, 2011
Seth Godin: There’s a huge sucking sound, and that’s the erosion of mass as part of the media model. Fewer people buying movie tickets and hardcover books, more people engaging in free media.
Brett Terpstra’s Setup Dec 3, 2011
One of the core apps in my setup is nvALT, and Brett is the guy who forked it.
Facebook Buys Gowalla Dec 2, 2011
Another huge talent acquisition for Facebook. The guys at Gowalla do amazing work.
The Kindle Touch compared to Nook Simple Touch, Kobo Touch, and Kindle 4 Dec 2, 2011
A great review by Marco Arment, comparing the pros, cons, and similarities of the three major E-Ink touch-screen e-readers. After posting my review of the Kindle Touch many readers wrote in to ask which device I would ultimately recommend: the … (More)
People to See, Places to Go Dec 2, 2011
Recorded just this morning, on episode 36 of the The B&B Podcast Ben and I talk about iMove, iPhone photography, the Jawbone UP and the Fitbit, the Doxie Go, and Ben’s new crappy monitor. Brought to you by Instacast HD.
Macworld 2012 Early-Bird Registration Ends Soon Dec 2, 2011
Just a note that after this weekend, the price for a pass to Macworld | iWorld goes up a bit. I’ll be there, and am greatly looking forward to it.
Some Users Are Down on Jawbone UP Dec 1, 2011
In short, there are three complaints against the UP: (1) the device itself gets bricked and cannot be operated or synced to the iPhone at all; (2) the battery stops holding a decent charge; and (3) the removable cap which … (More)
Droplr 2.0 Dec 1, 2011
The fast, fun, easy-to-use, link-, image-, text-, and file-sharing service, Droplr, just got a major update today. I’ve been using Droplr since it was in beta back in 2010. It’s one of those apps I use every single day. With … (More)
That’s a Lot of Cardboard Dec 1, 2011
Pictures of the Amazon fulfillment center in Swansea, Wales — one of the largest Amazon warehouses in the world.
