The idea of offline web applications is getting an undue amount of attention. Which is bizarre when you look at how availability of connectivity is ever increasing. EVDO cards, city-wide wifis, iPhones, Blackberry’s. There are so many ways to get online these days that the excitement for offline is truly puzzling. Until you consider the one place that is still largely an island of missing connectivity: The plane!

But planes are not a very common hang-out spot for most people. The two major groups of people who are on a plane often enough to care and have an interest in web applications are traveling salesmen and techies who go to too many conferences.

I used to somewhat belong to latter group. And I too liked the idea of having access to my web applications at 30,000 feet. Then it actually happened. SAS offered connectivity on their transatlantic flights between Copenhagen and Chicago. Nirvana, eh? Hell no. Access to my web applications meant that the one time where I’d actually have serenity to read a book or listen to a podcast or just chill out got sucked into looking just like any other day at the office.

Ironically, SAS killed the internet access on their transatlantic flights this January because nobody was using it. (Well, except for me saying “look, I’m online at 30,000 feet!!” in a chat room). And I think that’s a good indicator for offline web applications. The idea is cool, but the reality is that it just doesn’t matter. You don’t need access to all your stuff all the time. We’re already overloaded with connectivity. Cherish the few remaining strongholds for offlineliness!

(Yes, yes, I’m sure there exists other niches and pockets of dark holes where if only we had access to the GlobalMegaCorpSocialY application, the world would be a better place. I’m certainly not going to deny that. Just that for most people, most of the time, it couldn’t matter less.)

UPDATE: The Mile High Club: 37signals, fuck yeahs, and productivity stock-art

Clotaire Rapaille believes all purchasing decisions lie beyond conscious thinking and emotion and reside at a primal core. He helps Fortune 500 companies discover “the code” (i.e. unconscious associations for their products) that will help them increase sales.

In this interview, he talks about the limits of traditional market research.

They are too cortex, which means that they think too much, and then they ask people to think and to tell them what they think. Now, my experience is that most of the time, people have no idea why they’re doing what they’re doing. They have no idea, so they’re going to try to make up something that makes sense. Why do you need a Hummer to go shopping? “Well, you see, because in case there is a snowstorm.” No. Why [do] you buy four wheel drive? “Well, you know, in case I need to go off-road.” Well, you live in Manhattan; why do you need four wheel drive in Manhattan? “Well, you know, sometime[s] I go out, and I go—” You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to understand that this is disconnected. This is nothing to do with what the real reason is for people to do what they do. So there are many limits in traditional market research.

Rapille argues that for communication to succeed it has to speak to someone’s inner reptile. “We’re cheaper” doesn’t connect with people in a lasting way. You have to go deeper than that. Plus, when you offer a deeper connection, it’s harder for someone else to come along and copy your success.

It’s absolutely crucial for anybody in communication…to understand what I call the reptilian hot button. If you don’t have a reptilian hot button, then you have to deal with the cortex; you have to work on price issues and stuff like that.

In the kind of communication I’m developing and using, with 50 of the Fortune 100 companies who are my clients, almost full time, it is not enough to give a cortex message. “Buy my product because it’s 10 percent cheaper”: That’s cortex. Well, if the other is 15 percent cheaper, I move to the others. You don’t buy loyalty with percentages. That is key. It’s not a question of numbers; it’s the first reptilian reaction…

Everything has to be on code. Everything you do should reinforce the code; not just the packaging or the communication should be on code. The leaflet, the brochures, everything should be on code. And if you are the first one to position yourself like that, knowing all the different aspects, you have a competitive edge. They might try to copy, but they don’t know the formula; they don’t know the code behind it.

Examples of products that are on code after the jump.

Craig Newmark’s editorial on net neutrality. This is a serious issue for anyone who uses the web (and anyone who wants to offer any services over the net).

Here’s a real world example that shows how this would work. Let’s say you call Joe’s Pizza and the first thing you hear is a message saying you’ll be connected in a minute or two, but if you want, you can be connected to Pizza Hut right away. That’s not fair, right? You called Joe’s and want some Joe’s pizza. Well, that’s how some telecommunications executives want the Internet to operate, with some Web sites easier to access than others.

Write your rep and tell them to keep their hands off the net. Tell them you want the net to remain neutral.

Want a MSN hotmail account? Be prepared to run this gauntlet:

Some recent postings on the 37signals Gig Board:

GE Healthcare is looking for a Web app visual designer with CSS/ASP.NET experience in Boston, MA.

Grockit is looking for a RoR Developer located anywhere (SF/LA preferred).

GrossLog is looking for a designer to create the UI for a killer web app located anywhere.

Housing Works Thrift Shops is looking for an individual or company to Finalize Ruby on Rails Point of Sale System in New York, NY.

Berlin Cameron is looking for a Flash designer in New York, NY.

Souliss is looking for a Web Developer located anywhere (UK/EU preferable).

Find your next gig or find your next contractor on the 37signals Gig Board.

Talkers vs. listeners

“A few years ago I attended a meeting of the Association of Humanistic Psychology. One of the seminars was led by two eminent therapists. One was charismatic and engaging. The other was soft spoken and quietly confident. During the question and answer period, I realized that the “boring” therapist was a master at active listening. The charismatic therapist was performing.”

Sidestep premature optimization

“Sidestepping premature optimization turns out to be good general wisdom for life: Don’t get obsessed with a potential problem until it actually becomes a problem. The implicit suggestion here is that life’s curveballs often come from places where you least expect them, so it’s a waste of time and energy to focus too much on hypotheticals.”

Experts: Multitasking slows you down and increases the chance of mistakes

“Check e-mail messages once an hour, at most. Listening to soothing background music while studying may improve concentration. But other distractions — most songs with lyrics, instant messaging, television shows — hamper performance. Driving while talking on a cellphone, even with a hands-free headset, is a bad idea. In short, the answer appears to lie in managing the technology, instead of merely yielding to its incessant tug.”

Profile of Edward Tufte

”’I don’t want to sound too majestic, but my books are forever knowledge. People will be reading them a long time from now.’ By ‘forever knowledge’ Tufte means his principles ‘are indifferent’ to culture, gender, nationality or history. They apply to a 6,000-year-old cave etching, to the latest web design, to every map, chart and graph in between.” [via JK]

Look ma, no mouse!

Join me for a three-hour workshop on web-app design in London on April 17th. I’m giving the workshop once in the morning and again in the afternoon.

We’ll take an in-depth look at my design process. In particular, we’ll discuss specific UI techniques and pitfalls along with best practices for collaboration among designers and developers. I’ll present individual techniques against the wider backdrop of “What really matters” to make software that people love.

I hope to take a lot of questions and learn a lot from the attendees as well, so bring your thoughts and experience!

Future of Web Design Workshops
17th April 2007
Kensington Close Hotel, London
£395 exc VAT
Plus a copy of the Future of Web Design Conference on DVD!

Zune

Daniel Øhrgaard writes:

Notice how the little, er, laser-beam-thing (?) above the navigation suggests moving from left to right, i.e. first you “meet zune” and in the end you, inexorably, require “support”... Well, at least it’s sorta honest.

PHP Developers’ Network

Megan Jack writes:

Check out the yellow box that alerts you that this article may be out of date. I’ve come across a lot of content on the web that is not dated. Is this article from 2005 or 1998? Who knows. The PHPMac method could be applied to any site – I think a lot of misinformation occurs when people don’t realize that content they are reading is out of date, either because there is no date or because they don’t notice that the article or website is several years old. About.com is particularly bad for this (no dates on articles).

We were mortified by the news of Kathy’s death threats. Our Campfire was flush with wtf’s and holy sh*ts. Kathy Sierra is probably the most universally liked blogger among the 37 crew. To see her subjected to this kind of vile, despicable, criminal behavior is heartbreaking.

Hopefully the guilty will be duly punished and Kathy will be back to her usual cheery, wonderful, insightful self shortly.

“In business, I look for economic castles protected by
unbreachable ‘moats’.”
-Warren Buffett

According to Buffett, the wider a business’ moat, the more likely it is to stand the test of time.

In days of old, a castle was protected by the moat that circled it. The wider the moat, the more easily a castle could be defended, as a wide moat made it very difficult for enemies to approach. A narrow moat did not offer much protection and allowed enemies easy access to the castle. To Buffett, the castle is the business and the moat is the competitive advantage the company has. He wants his managers to continually increase the size of the moats around their castles.

When looking to purchase a business, Buffett pays careful attention to a business he understands not just in terms of what the business does but also of “what the economics of the industry will be 10 years down the road, and who will be making the money at that point.” He is “also looking for enduring competitive advantages.” This, in a nutshell, is what makes a company great: the width of the moat around the company’s core business.

Morningstar’s site explains why the concept of economic moats is a cornerstone of its stock-investment philosophy and describes some of the main features of wide moats.