- Lessons learned from Dreamhost’s billing debacle
- “The moral of this story is that ‘flexibility’ is rarely desired in programming! The less a program will accept/the less a program will do/the less options and preferences it has, the more usable it is/the more understandable it is/the more stable it is. Tough Love When designing a program, you’ve got to make some tough decisions .. and when you really can’t decide if this is something your users will need someday, err on the side of leaving it out.”
- 1960s Braun products hold the secrets to Apple's future
- “Some people will probably call these examples a ‘rip-off’ but, in a world where industrial design and art is constantly being recycled into new work, I just see Apple’s products as a great evolution to classic concepts. Now, as I look at Rams’ work I can’t help but to wonder: which of these old Braun designs will Apple revive next?”
- Steve Jobs on the Kindle
- “It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore. Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.”
- Profile of Tumblr’s David Karp
- “Entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, Mr. Karp continued, have a tendency to cash out early. ‘I want to build something I’d be happy to be employed by 10 years out,’ he said. ‘The idea of Tumblr employing 40 people in two years is such an incredible idea.’”
- Does bad design influence a site’s community?
- “MySpace, with its cluttered layout, can suggest an online incarnation of the broken-windows theory—surface disorder begetting actual chaos.”
- iPhone bookmark iconage
- “If you’re wondering how to control the icon that gets generated for your webpage with the new 1.1.3 iPhone release look no further than Apple’s iPhone Dev Center. Apple has added a section called “Create a WebClip Bookmark Icon” and it calls for a 57×57 pixel icon. After some testing today I’ve concluded this recommended sizing results in a fuzzy icon, largely due to the iPhone being a 163 ppi display. Instead of sticking with the recommended sizing I bumped it up to 158×158. When this gets scaled you’ll be left with a crisp icon that sits nicely amongst Apples crisp icons.”
- TASCHEN Book: Illustration Now, Vol. 2
- “This installment presents a completely new selection of 150 illustrators from all around the world. Whereas the first volume brought together a fascinating mix of star illustrators and brand new faces that together formed the face of illustration around the world, Illustration Now! 2 is even more exciting, featuring illustrators from 25 countries, with styles ranging from cutting edge to traditional.”
Dmitry
on 18 Jan 08I’m surprised that Steve Jobs doesn’t like the Kindle. I think it’s a great product and would certainly love Apple to make something similar with their multi-touch technology…
Nathan
on 18 Jan 08I think he made a good point about the Kindle. He didn’t say he doesn’t like it, but rather it’s irrelivent because nobody reads.
Mike
on 18 Jan 08Some of the Braun to Apple designs were a stretch but the iPod and iMac were spot-on.
Re. Kindle, I’m embarrased to say I’m one of those people who don’t read books anymore. When I rode public transit in Chicago, I read a 2 books a month. Now, I haven’t read a book in 2 years.
Dmitry
on 18 Jan 08He doesn’t like the product idea I meant—he doesn’t believe there’s a good business opportunity there. I think that’s ridiculous.
There are millions of people who read and companies like Amazon are making great business selling books. Even if people don’t read books, there is a growing population who reads stuff like blogs. Integrating books, blogs, magazines and newspapers into one device that’s designed for reading would be fantastic—I for one hate reading online content (especially long articles) on the screen.
I applaud Amazon for taking the first real steps at moving away from paper based content, however the device they’ve created is still in its infancy - it’s not terribly pretty and has its downfalls - which is why I think Apple has a great opportunity at getting in this market early on and making a beautiful and usable device.
Nathan Borror
on 18 Jan 08I’ve updated my post on the iPhone webclip icon dimensions. It looks like 60×60 is the exact size of those icons, still not what Apple recommends. This size will result in a crisp pixel perfect size.
Anonymous Coward
on 18 Jan 08Jobs’ opinion seems to be implemented on the Apple site, they make it fing impossible to find any info without having to watch a retarded movie.
Phil McT
on 18 Jan 08If Jobs applied that filter to his own products, he wouldn’t have a business. I bet 40% of the population have no desire for an MP3 player. Or a 3-lb laptop (or any kind of laptop at all for that matter).
Peter Cooper
on 18 Jan 08I’m beginning to think that Steve Jobs lives with his head in the sand most of the time. The paltry offerings at MacWorld this year were the start, but his comments on book reading tops it off.
It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore. Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year.
Forty percent of people in the US don’t use Macs, don’t routinely use the Internet, don’t own an iPod, don’t use Web applications, and don’t do a whole ton of things which have spawned and support gigantic markets. Saying “people don’t read anymore” is ridiculous. That’s all most of us on the Internet actually do anymore. The amount of reading that goes on nowadays is through the roof thanks to the Internet.
Put it this way, I’m pretty sure more people read books than put together movies in iMovie, do photography with iPhoto and build Web sites with iWeb, yet Steve seems to be behind those products. He’s either envious or downplaying the Kindle as the market just doesn’t interest him.
Daniel
on 18 Jan 08Re: Jobs’ opinion on the Kindle. I think John Gruber over on DF said it pretty well: “So, either (a) Jobs think the Kindle is a bad concept; or (b) Apple is working on a portable e-book reader”
But I must admit I don’t believe it’s (b). Apple is more into the instant gratification media of video and music – Apple is hip and books are old. Nor do I think the Kindle is necessarily flawed. It’s more a typical sweeping statement from Jobs.
Personally, I’m not terribly impressed with the Kindle, from what I’ve heard and seen (never used one – in the wrong country for that) except for the ubiquitous networking. I guess it’s because I still read and enjoy real, honest-to-god books. For that reason, I don’t think I’ll “applaud” Amazon like Dmetri does above. The idea of all-ebook-all-the-time just doesn’t sit well with me. It’d be great for technical texts probably, but then again I have a laptop for that.
My 3.14 cents (adjusted for the USD’s low exchange rate)
Justin
on 19 Jan 08How many people bought digital music before iTunes? Great technology can change how people do things.
Simon
on 19 Jan 08Re: Braun / Apple
Jonathan Ive’s obsession with Braun products extends to the iPhone too. The iPhone’s calculator for example, is a tribute to Dieter Rams’ and Lubs Dietrich’s elegant Braun ET44 and ET66 calculators (circa 1977).
Kibble
on 20 Jan 08What Jobs really means is that not enough people read enough books anymore for Kindle’s business model to work out. For the average reader, buying real books is considerably less expensive and is a better experience than buying a specialized device in addition to paying for the books. Kindle only works out if you buy huge numbers of ephemeral bestsellers.
A better model would be to appeal to the average reader with a versatile device, which is exactly what the iPod has become. Consider that within the next few years all iPods will be on the Touch/iPhone platform, to which Apple could add reader and book download capabilities with a mere software update.
I think that’s what Steve is getting at, and I agree.
Don Schenck
on 21 Jan 08Been using a Braun 7505 for years and love it. Just holding it in my hand makes me appreciate it.
This discussion is closed.