As charted by GoSquared based on all the pageviews across all the sites they are tracking analytics for.

Here on shawnblanc.net — which has a decidedly more Mac-nerdy audience — Mavericks is already the dominant desktop OS, representing 21-percent of today’s total pageviews so far.

Here’s the breakdown for my site so far today:

Operating System Percent of Pageviews
iOS 7 (iPhone + iPad) 33%
Mavericks 21%
Mountain Lion 19%
Windows 7 16%
The Rest 9%
Mavericks Adoption Rate

Today’s update to the iPad mini is a massive upgrade. Get this: pretty much the only difference between the new iPad Air and the new iPad mini with Retina display is the physical size.

And, since the iPad mini has the same actual number of pixels as the full-sized iPad, its Retina display is more dense. The iPad mini has the same 326 ppi display as the iPhone but in a 7.9-inch screen instead of a 4-inch screen. Which makes the mini the largest version of Apple’s most-dense Retina display. Fabulous.

Apple’s iPad Comparison Page

The product website for the new iPad Air (guess we can’t just say “Air” anymore, can we?) is fantastic. Check it out on both your Mac and your iPhone. Notice how on the Desktop version of the site if you hover over the down arrow at the bottom of the screen it says “Scroll to continue” and on the iPhone that says “Swipe to continue”. And that’s just one tiny detail for this responsive site.

iPad Air

Best in Class, Built to Last

With some exceptions, Apple has announced just one major update to the iPhone and the iPad per year. Some say this one-per-year pace is too slow for such a competitive industry where consumers want to buy only what’s new, newer, and newest. But for anyone who is already an Apple customer, once a year can sure come around quickly.

When I’m able, and when it makes sense, I prefer to spend more on an item and get something high quality. The tools and toys I use the most should be as close to perfect as possible. I want something built with care and quality, that is enjoyable to use, and will last me a long time.

Apple, its products, its surrounding ecosystem all sit in this market.

There is an aura of craftsmanship and attention to detail that presides over most of Apple’s hardware and software. And this same care for product development attracts 3rd-party developers and engineers who have the same ideals and commitment to excellence. The Apple ecosystem is home to the best hardware and software in the world.

One of the reasons I spend my money on Apple products is because they’re innovative, cool, capable, and delightful. But also, they hold their value and their usefulness for a very long time.

Best in Class, Built to Last

Jason Fried:

When you make something you make something else. Just like they say you can not not communicate, you can not not make something else. Everything has a by-product. Observant and creative entrepreneurs spot these by-products and see opportunities.

This is exactly how Delight is in the Details came to be. It started as a topic for several episodes of my members-only podcast, and then I picked it up and turned it into something so much more.

Sell Your By-products

Tonx is a small team of coffee experts who believe it’s easy to make a better cup in your kitchen than you’ll get at the best cafes – and for a fraction of the cost. By sourcing the finest coffees in the world and roasting them 24-hours before shipping, you’ll have the freshest coffee delivered straight to your door. And for a limited time, get a free trial to taste for yourself.

Also, Tonx is pleased to introduce The Frequency, an email newsletter packed with coffee secrets, brew tips, and special limited offers, exclusively for Tonx members.

* * *

My thanks to Tonx for sponsoring the RSS feed this week. Sponsorship by The Syndicate.

Sponsor: Tonx Coffee

The Rough Elements of a Successful Creative Business

creative business chart

What is a successful creative business? I think there are two elements: Creative freedom and financial stability.

I’m defining success as having the ability to do creative work we’re proud of and to keep doing that work.

There is no exact recipe for this stuff. It’s a little bit different for each person and changes with all sorts of factors like skills, passion, and even geographic location.

But this chart is a pretty good starting point to give a grid for what, more or less, makes up a successful creative business.

Let me explain the chart.

  • 75-Percent of a successful creative business should be spent on the art itself — the “content”. This is the hard and frightful work of actually making stuff. If you’re not spending the majority of your time actually making something, you’re doing it wrong.

  • Next, the 75-percent “Content” section of the chart is divided into three equal parts: Consistency, Talent, and Obsession. A huge part of making art online and growing an audience is centered around how often you show up, how good you are at what you do, and how narrow your focus is and how “weirdly obsessed” you are about it.

  • The remaining 25-precent is split between “brand” and “hustle”.

  • By brand I mean having a professional-looking website, having a cool iPhone theme, having an awesome user-experience for your eCommerce thingamajig, etc.

  • By hustle I mean (a) getting out there and promoting your work to others, and (b) contributing to the conversations happening in the circles you run in.

Here are some common excuses for why people assume they will fail:

“I don’t know how to promote my own work.”

“I can’t start putting my work out there until my website’s theme is just right.”

“My skills as a writer / podcaster / photographer / illustrator are pathetic.”

Good news, if you can at least show up every day and focus on a topic your obsessive about, then you’re already half-way there.

P.S. There’s additional good news: the more often you show up and do the work then the better your skills will get. And the better you get the more people will begin to promote your work for you.

The Rough Elements of a Successful Creative Business

Great life-advice-that-you-can-never-hear-too-much-of post from Gus Mueller. It takes guts to admit when you’ve been wrong and to confess publicly that you want to do better and be stronger next time.

Even with the autonomy of the Internet it can be scary to stand up for our personal values. There will always be the dorks who freak out because you stood up for your values and they happen to disagree with you, but most people will either follow your example (if they have the same values) or they will grow in respect for you (because you’ve been honest and sincere).

My grandfather lived to be 100 years old. If the Blanc blood running through my veins holds up like my grandfather’s did, then I’ve still got 68 years to go. Do I really want to spend one ounce of energy trying to make random people on the internet like me? Will that matter at all in six decades from now? I’d rather spend that energy strengthening my own core values, dating my wife, building life-long relationships with my sons, serving my friends, and doing the best creative work I can possibly do.

Core Values

Mark Jardine:

Seven months ago, we started working on a big update for Calcbot. We were hoping to release it sometime in the summer. Two months in, Apple announced iOS7 at WWDC. We knew this was a huge change. It would make every single one of our apps look dated so we had to make sure our flagship app was ready for it. All of the design work that went into the Calcbot update was rendered obsolete in one keynote and so we focused our energy on updating Tweetbot for iPhone. Playing with the beta of iOS7 over the next few weeks brought us to the realization that this would not just be a “re-skin”. We really had to just start over with the new foundation and concepts of iOS7.

Tapbots, Tweetbot, and iOS 7