Another new book out today, this one from a former Apple genius, Stephen Hackett. Bartending: Memoirs of an Apple Genius, is full of stories from Hackett’s time working in Apple retail at the Genius Bar.
Stephen’s website, 512 Pixels, is one of my favorites — he’s a talented and entertaining writer. I’ve already got his new book loaded on my Kindle and am seriously looking forward to reading it.
A brand-new book by WordPress genius, Jonathan Christopher:
The goal of this book is to facilitate happier clients (and happier developers) by way of successful projects.
Whenever I’ve hit a WordPress wall, I go to Jonathan for help and he usually whips up a brilliant solution in about 5 minutes. I’ve worked with him on personal projects as well as corporate ones. He’s professional, friendly, happy, a clear communicator, and really knows WordPress well.
Even though I don’t do client work, I still bought a copy of his new book this morning because I’m eager to learn any nuggets of wisdom that are in there, even if the topic isn’t specific to my occupation. If you work with WordPress at all, this book is definitely worth a look.
You can read more about the book on Jonathan’s website.
Two years ago: March 5, 2010, Instagram raised $500,000 in seed funding.
One year ago: February 2, 2011, Instagram raised $7 million on an estimated valuation of $20+ million.
One month ago: March 9, 2012, Instagram raised $40 million on a valuation of $500 million.
Last week: April 6, 2012, Instagram raised another $50 million on the same valuation of $500 million.
Today: Sold for $1 billion.
Kevin Systrom:
It’s important to be clear that Instagram is not going away. We’l [sic] be working with Facebook to evolve Instagram and build the network. We’ll continue to add new features to the product and find new ways to create a better mobile photos experience.
Zuck had the same sentiment in his announcement:
We’re committed to building and growing Instagram independently. Millions of people around the world love the Instagram app and the brand associated with it, and our goal is to help spread this app and brand to even more people.
For one, I see that Instagram figured out how to make money. Secondly, it will be interesting to see how the app and its network change over the coming months. Thirdly, this certainly adds more gas to the rumor-fire that Facebook is building something mobile and that they want it — whatever it is — to look beautiful.
Mark Zuckerberg:
I’m excited to share the news that we’ve agreed to acquire Instagram and that their talented team will be joining Facebook.
The deal is worth “$1 billion in a combination of cash and shares of Facebook.” This is great news for Instagram’s founders and investors and most likely a bummer for Instagram’s current user base. I remember when Gowalla was awesome, too.
So great.
This new iPhone app from Greg Pierce at Agile Tortoise reminds me of Birdhouse, but on steroids. It launches straight away into an empty text box so you can jot down any thought or note you like. From there you can save the draft of the note you just created or share it via Twitter, email, etc. It even supports Markdown export.
I like how Federico Viticci calls it a “Launch Center for text”. And Dave Caolo and Stephen Hackett both too have written brief reviews.
Makes me want to get the tan leather Smart Cover and pour coffee all over it.
Propellerhead, the guys who make the infamous and industry-standard Reason software, just launched this new iPhone app called Figure. It’s like a game where you use the built-in drum machine and synth sounds to make your own cool loops. It’s fun and surprisingly easy to use even for non-musicians. But if you do get confused, or want to learn more, their iPhone-friendly online manual is very well put together. And it’s just a buck in the App Store.
Update: Here’s one of my loops that I made this morning. Sadly, you can’t save or export the loops you make, so I held my iPhone up to my Yeti and recorded 8 bars worth in QuickTime. Fun nonetheless.
After yesterday’s link to the Wrap_Up on Kickstarter, a lot of readers contacted me to point out this similar-in-concept product: the Quirky PowerCurl. The PowerCurl looks to be more robust and is half the price, though it doesn’t accommodate international outlet adapters like the Wrap_Up. And if you grab a Quirky PowerCurl from this link, I may get rich enough to buy a Chiptole burrito.
Or, you could do as I do, and as Dr. Drang recommends, and simply be sure there’s some slack on the thin cable when wrapping it around those little feet.
Brilliantly clever trick by John Marstall.
Silicon Prairie News did a brief interview with me. It was a nice change of pace to be able to contribute to a Kansas City-based website and to meet with my interviewer, Annie Sorensen, face to face.
Because I never ever write in the browser, this is new to me. (Looks like it’s been around since July 4, 2011.) Yesterday when doing some upgrades to WordPress, I happenstanced across this full-screen-slash-distraction-free writing mode within WordPress. It’s actually quite nice. And, since WordPress now auto-saves your draft every 60 seconds, it’s not a bad place to compose articles. Though I’ll still be sticking to MarsEdit.
This is a funny remix of the Google Glasses video.
Ben Brooks and I talked about this yesterday when recording The B&B Podcast. It’s not a far stretch to imagine Google injecting ads into their Project Glass UI. But, to play Google’s advocate, they don’t have advertisements pop up when you’re using Android. When I was using the Galaxy Nexus, not once did I see an ad when trying to make a phone call or use the map.
(Via DF.)