March 2012
2 posts
Design, the new Development
codeacademy:
Design is about look, feel and function. It’s not just Photoshop, Illustrator or Balsamiq. It’s about finding out why particular elements feel more natural and are more expressive towards your vision and your brand. Design is how you can encourage users to interact with your application effortlessly. Why? Because that fosters community, growth, and what’s better for your users is...
Loud Desperation
codeacademy:
Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them. -Henry David Thoreau
What do you equate terms like soul-crushing, mindless, political with? It’s strange how often I’m hearing these words in association with traditional jobs today.
Is it odd to think these types of jobs were considered incredibly desirable, but today we can’t stand the...
September 2011
8 posts
Discovering Delicious
I was a heavy Delicious user and proponent at first, but quickly fed into its over-watered, over-polluted system of links that I couldn’t think to re-mine through solely because even my own link list had become a dump- my definition of information overload.
Normal search, a-la-Google has taught a generation of users that it’s okay not to horde the internet, but to instead rely on...
Timeline
Emotionally curated content culled from any source to share with anyone regardless of reciprocity.
That seems to be the goal of Facebook’s announcement today. A lofty one, but clearly feasible. Facebook is continuing on its quest of becoming the everything system.
The few problems I’ve had and continue to have are the lack of actual curated friendships on Facebook. There’s a...
BankSimple
With the first announcement of BankSimple curiosity has had the best of me. And while I consider myself an early adopter if only to understand what emerging technology is sticky, notions like BankSimple tend to permeate well beyond simple tech enthusiasts.
It’s interesting when a necessary idea meets a strong need. And what I realize more often is how willing people are to adopt change, if...
Mentality verse Sanity
Metro is a change, but it’s a new layer atop an old one. And for companies like Apple, willingness to adapt and not adopt has become a guiding principle.
Reverse scrolling is a simple but precise example of this. In terms of usability it makes sense, but to a number of users it’s disconcerting having to rethink something that’s been engrained in muscle memory for decades.
...
'Drive'
Spoiler: This analysis of the film ‘Drive’ discusses specific plot details and is dependent on you having already seen the film.
Some heroes are real. (Byline from the film poster.)
‘Drive’ is a look into the very soul or nature of what we commonly consider archetype heroes and throws it back in our face. If you want to be as confident as 007, or as cool as James...
Leading by Example
Where is Microsoft’s presence in Metro? If they’re banking so heavily on this being the future of computing, where are their apps?
I see no Microsoft Office Metro edition, no Visual Studio Metro edition. Hell, even a Task Manager Metro edition might be fun. Instead we’re left with a suite of intern developed applications to tweet and share photos. Certainly beautiful...
Mirror Effect
Having watched the day one Keynote from Microsoft, and Jensen Harris’s overview of the leading 8 principles in Win 8, I now have more questions than actual answers. Namely, can we ever expect Microsoft to separate rather than encapsulate the legacy PC desktop from the Metro one?
My comprehension quickly gets foggy as soon as I envision the vast spectrum of current Windows customers...
Base Station → iCloud Hub
From the original UFO base station, Apple released the AirPort Extreme, giving way to today’s Time Capsule, an easy to use backup solution for your Mac. With the introduction of iCloud however, we’re seeing less and the less the need for local media storage. If our files can retain themselves in the cloud, and in sync across all our devices, then what’s the purpose of needing...
August 2011
3 posts
Innovation and Vision
To innovate is to play. To envision is to predict.
And predictions are often wrong. So while we have a great many visionaries in the market, few are leading innovators.
Can you find and train people to understand the distinction? And can a company be open and understanding enough to allow play? Is this the root of Apple’s success over Microsoft’s? Or Google’s back and forth...
The Most Cliche Title Ever
Gruber:
How do you replace the irreplaceable man?
You don’t. But we’re not replacing him. Steve Jobs is still very much alive, and still very much ingrained in Apple. So yes, while it may be the end of an era, there still is opportunity to understand the dynamics of what makes Steve Jobs an irreplaceable man.
Buddha chose not to write his lessons, and instead relied on his...
Kindle Could be Kinder
I appreciate Amazon’s ability to create application quality web services, but I think Amazon missed an opportunity with Kindle Cloud Reader. If Amazon’s Cloud Music Drive can upload content via your PC and allow you to stream it globally, all personal literary content should be afforded the same opportunity.
The Kindle way is great for linking notes and bookmarks between devices, but...
June 2011
5 posts
Removal of Default iOS Apps
Apple released the iPhone in 2007 with 16 original applications. The default application list has grown since to include applications like Voice Memo and Compass. My question is will it be strange for Apple to remove retroactive applications?
For example will we always need a Stock or Weather application now that it can be included in the notification bar? Or are people using the Compass...
Getting Rid of the PC
In followup to my previous article, Replacing Ethernet I made it clear how quickly we can expect a single I/O port to change the way we interact with routers, and share between devices. Maybe the future of AirPort Extreme’s, though with WWDC behind us, it seems Apple may have more in mind with network peripherals in the sans PC world.
While iCloud offers a great number of storage features...
What "We" Are
Apple is execution and polish. Devoted to the exercise of functionality, practicality, and innovative design.
Google is open. The idea of open, freedom, and access prevails all else, including control.
Microsoft is complacency. Change and growth are not necessary when success is already at hand.
Replacing Ethernet
Breakdown of speeds by device:
Gigabit router - 1 Gbps over Ethernet
Cat 5 - 100 Mbps
Cat 6 - 1 Gbps [Capped 330ft] source
Wireless N - 300 Mbps
Thunderbolt - 10 Gbps bidirectional [copper capped 3 meters/~9ft]
1 GBps = 8 Gbps source
Even in its infancy, copper based Thunderbolt is extremely quick. Once it switches to fiber, we can only anticipate a...
How the Universe Works
Search engines are like the Hubble telescope trying to quantify the entire universe. It’s pointless if we know what we’re looking for.
It’s a novel idea for a single company to want to quantify and store the web, but less and less is archive what we need. Just as students can rely on Wikipedia, teenagers can on Facebook. It’s about finding a core service around relevant...
May 2011
7 posts
CEO for a Day: Microsoft
Ballmer doesn’t sit up at night thinking about where computers are going and how they can make the world a better place. He’s thinking about how he can sell more Windows licenses and copies of Microsoft Office. Kyle Baxter, TightWind
It’s completely naive to think a single day will be effective by any means, but in my mind, I like to think it’s enough to rock the boat.
Morning:...
Apple Genius → Apple Expert
Apple’s retail chains cater extremely well to the New to Mac experience. Between basic workshops and one-to-one, each new customer is introduced to the world of Apple.
But for users like myself that have been Apple advocates since at least the launch of OS X, I’d like to see workshops around higher utility- enabling and using scripts to automate functionality, learning to better use...
The iTunes Family
iTunes can register any number of iPods or iPhones, but is limited to five total iPads and Macs. Why in a decreasing DRM world, are we still faced with authorized caps?
If it has to happen, why not instead cap the numbers of concurrently playing devices. A single authorized account cannot play on more than 3 devices simultaneously, but you’re allowed to authorize any number of computers...
Complicating Netflix
Netflix provides a complete library, but one void of personalization outside of your own queue. Recommendations are one thing, but the ability to create your own segmented library can offer Netflix a more personalized and social approach to management and discovery.
Rather than the current state of Library > Queue, it should be Queue > Lists. Social lists, smart lists, private lists.
...
Keyboards Aren't the Future
Considering the highest percentage of population peaks the bell curve at around 25 words per minute, it’s not hard to see why.
UI, specifically mobile UI, has broken barriers that formerly withheld technophobes from relying on technology to the extent they are today. And it’s a great first step, but until desktop class applications, and systems find another form of input, there will...
The Genius of it all
Music has two very important faculties, finding it and listening to it. Most services offer one or the other, but never both.
Genius Mixes, not playlists, can serve both needs. Backed by the iTunes Stores profitability, an online version of Genius Mixes can afford to be commercial free, unlimited in play count, and unlimited in skip count.
iTunes can easily cross pollinate a preset number of...
Contracting Flipboard
Flipboard can quickly become the distributing model of choice. Consider its already great UI, and connectivity with Facebook, Twitter, Google Reader and RSS.
Content creation is already outsourced, why not create an open marketplace for users to view aggregated content previews and pay per article, or per subscription?
Taking it a step further, adding Instapaper and Readability integration, or...
April 2011
2 posts
The Big Picture
Digital films suffer on two fronts, the price to own, and the space to own; which is exactly why the Apple TV 2 is a streaming only device, and why competing media centers will follow suit.
No need for a central library since services like iTunes and Amazon keep record of your rentals and purchases.
Find what you like, stream it to any of your available devices or download it for offline...
Chrome OS, From Desktop to Mobile
Can Chrome OS succeed where Android fails? Why not? The web is open, infinite and scalable.
Seeing as the desktop is inherently more open than mobile devices, it stands to reason Chrome OS should cannibalize Android, rather than the other way around. Since desktops allow you to choose the operating system and version of your choice, mobile devices too, shouldn’t be limited.
Chrome OS may...
March 2011
3 posts
App Stores, the Next Step in Digital Identity
Registration for a service or application, should be as simple as installing it. Single click, and together the application is downloaded, installed and registered under your app store ID. Applications are then housed under your platforms ‘Settings’, or under your app store account.
Applications should be able to coexist since by default they share the same information, and the same...
Chat, the Social Hub
Social chat networks, like Beluga, seem far more in line with the progress of social networking. Optimized mobile and web experiences to share location, media and messages with those you’re closest to as quickly and easily as possible.
No worries about whether one user is on Google Chat, while another is on Skype. Less is it about agnostic applications like iChat, and more is it about a...
iPad Questions
Virtual Keyboard
Using the accelerometer as a degree of force in GarageBand, nothing short of pure genius. How can this help improve virtual keyboards?
Allowing force as a measurement of pressure, I should, in theory, be able to rest my fingers on a virtual keyboard without triggering an input. Mimicking our interaction with physical keyboards today, it’s a much more tactile, and...
February 2011
2 posts
End of the iPod Legacy?
The recent cross-pollination of the iPod nano with iOS features including touchscreen and widget based UI has me believe we are seeing the end of the traditional iPod line.
Exclusive digital media players seem nascent by today’s smartphone standards. Already an easy stepping stone, no less, from iPod nano’s 16 gig $179 price tag is the $229 8 gig iPod touch. $50 is all it takes...
Why Apple Will Remove All Existing I/O Ports
Marco, in his post, Speculation on the next MacBook Pro, says,
It would be very difficult to fit Ethernet and Firewire ports into the sides of a wedge-shaped case. Apple could conceivably ditch both for the 15” and keep them in the 17”, but that’s also a very ballsy move that would anger a lot of pro buyers.
Ben Brooks suggests,
Personally I think Apple ditches the Ethernet and platter...
January 2011
3 posts
For iOS, Openness Really Means Interoperability
The term open is becoming a baseless term, used more for hype than actual evidence of added value between devices. And as many users are noticing, often focus and ubiquity take precedent over even open standards.
Distinct terms like interoperability and iOS’s potential lack of support, instead, offers a more specific look at the greater problem: users are continually looking for PC...
Android ≠ Open Source
Android is open source, but not to us. What I’m quickly realizing, albeit late, is Google’s repetitive mantra of Android’s superiority due to its open nature, is a complete stretch of the truth. In fact, as the community continues to indicate, the very open nature of Android is what’s hindering it, not helping it.
So why has Google spun Android as the open source savior of...
What Happens in CES Stays in CES
A convention full of the latest technology and not a single confirmed release date?
Between the number of announcements and the amount of media coverage, it’s perplexing to think no company has leveraged CES as a platform to actually announce and release a device.
In case you missed it, here’s Engadget’s brief account of the 2011 ongoings at CES. In summary, tablets, Android...
November 2010
2 posts
Facebook, the next Aol?
A lot of speculation has come and passed regarding upcoming Facebook features which will bring it closer in competition with Google. While I try not speculate on rumors, I honestly believe that there lies only one area where Google and Facebook will heavily compete in the future, the operating system. This, in my opinion, is a comparison of both parties most utilized features. As a compelling...
Always On, Always Available
It’s clear to most that persistent computing is becoming the norm thanks to most SmartPhones and now computers. Instead of taking the time to shutdown time and time again, simple sleep cycles are becoming the defacto. Especially when you now factor in tablets like the iPad and their ability to be instantly available at the press of a button. Clearly Apple is sending signals that the future...
October 2010
3 posts
Remote Roundup
If you had to choose a set-top box based solely on its remote, which would you choose?
Roku, Apple, Bose
Boxee
Logitech Revue with Google TV. Full size above, Mini has a plastic flap not shown in the image.
My new felt iPad sleeve from byrd & belle. Gorgeous fit, feel, color and service.
AirPlay = FairPlay?
All this chatter about AirPlay has me thinking, it’s great AirPlay (formerly AirTunes) can expand to third party hardware developers, but what about software? And to what extent can hardware developers utilize AirPlay?
The alphabet soup that is my collection of media nzb, mkv, avi, etc, works great with Quicktime + Perian, but not so well with iTunes. When will we see desktop class...
September 2010
2 posts
My Best Hopes...
Image by philentropist
This may sound odd to most of you… But it’s in my greatest hopes that one day I’ll develop something worthy of piracy.
Yup, that’s right. Pirated. Why? Because piracy is the ultimate litmus. It shows people care enough about your product to want it, to want to share it, and well- to not want to pay for it. And with where I’m at in life,...
Don't Worry, You're in the Right Place
Writing is an extension of the mind, not the mouth.
Enjoy the thoughts and opinions shared here. If you’d like to get a hold of me, @arvindang is probably easiest. Otherwise you can send a message through Buzz.
Welcome and enjoy,
-Arvin