Karm City

Apple's 2013 WWDC

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 18:44:00 -0400

Really exciting keynote today. The first one in a while that wasn’t just a refresh of existing designs.

One (extremely boring) thing that would probably yield a standing ovation from the developers: a redesign of iTunes Connect. It’s such an old, bad, basic piece of software; there are likely tens of millions of dollars in lost opportunity purely from its lack of adequate reporting tools.

For a developer conference, it would have been a nice surprise.

How good are the designers at a company?

Wed, 29 May 2013 16:20:00 -0400

A good indicator of how seriously a company takes design is to see how good their “Terms of Service” (or equivalent) pages look.

ToS links are usually relegated to the footer and are within the deep, untouched recesses of a website. A good, consistent design methodology doesn’t skip these.

Examples of good design:

Examples of bad design:

Each of the examples above may have fine looking home pages, but the ”bad design” examples fall apart as soon as you hit the ToS page. Only when you start to dig deeper do you see the ends start to fray.

One could argue that ToS pages represent 0.0001% of visits, so making them look good doesn’t matter. I say it does matter; it’s a symptom of a more important underlying issue: a lack of a cohesive design strategy.

A great carpenter isn’t going to use lousy wood for the back of a cabinet, even though nobody’s going to see it. When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.

- Steven J

The value of share buttons

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:17:00 -0400

Related to my previous posts on technology usage on content-driven sites, here’s some data on how people share said content with each other:

This is a fairly large sample size (100,000+ shares).

The results speak for themselves:

The most popular way users share is by copying the URL to the page itself and sending it manually via email, IM, etc.
Facebook and Twitter are the only two social networks of relevance. Pinterest and Google+ barely registered.
A surprising one: Print. As in File/Print. As in people printing out web pages. It’s even more popular than Twitter!

Things to check on your own site:

Make sure individual articles can be linked to directly (avoid doing fancy ajax content retrieval).
Ideally, your page URLs should be descriptive. For example, /this-is-a-cool-page, not /?post_id=32324
You really only need dedicated Facebook, Twitter, and Email buttons on your pages for ~99% sharing coverage; everything else is either too small to warrant cluttering the page further, or done by the user themselves.
Make sure your site looks acceptable when printed. Most browsers won’t print backgrounds, so if your branding CSS is all set via ‘background’ tags, they will be invisible when printed.

"I’ve also spent the past few years writing “articles” that were less and less interesting — they..."

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 13:14:00 -0400

“I’ve also spent the past few years writing “articles” that were less and less interesting — they were basically just SEO chum thrown out onto the internet in hopes of catching traffic.”

- Dan Lyons.

Thanks for telling us three years later that you’ve been writing link bait. How many tech stocks have been affected by that same SEO chum?

How can this not be interpreted as market manipulation (a run) considering the authority Lyons knows he had and his conscious effort to create drama where there was none?

IRC in 2013

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 11:59:40 -0400

IRC is different nowadays.

I stumbled across a great thread on HackerNews listing IRC channels people recommend.

As was true decades ago, most listed are highly technical, focusing on a specific programming language or database environment.

If you went into one of these channels in the late 90s and asked a question, the most popular response would be “RTFM,” leaving you to part in shame.

Not so these days, apparently. Folks are happy to “waste” their time explaining how things work and even help you fix a problem you’re having. Mind-blowing stuff.

Is this just a product of there being more developers in the world today compared to 10-15 years ago?

What's Localist's "Hook"?

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 14:59:00 -0400

What's Localist's "Hook"?:

localist:

We recently stumbled across a great piece about product hooks — features that are truly novel and useful — usually the mark of a great product.

Localist’s hook is a no-brainer: our dead-simple date entry when submitting an event.

Four years on, this is still a unique value proposition for Localist. Really surprised nobody else has really given this much thought considering how important it is!

Really neat style.

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 11:02:35 -0400

Really neat style.

Digg's using Reddit's playbook

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 12:14:44 -0400

With its recent announcement about replacing the killed Google Reader, Digg is apparently repurposing the tactic that led to its original downfall in 2010 when Reddit welcomed ex-Digg users with open arms.

Digg found a mass-exodus in the making and capitalized on it by prematurely(?) announcing their intentions of promising a better world for ex-Reader users.

This is just the kind of innovation we needed. Despite Google Reader’s innovations, it has remained stagnant as a product in the past few years. Lots has changed. It’ll be interesting to see where Digg steers the project.

Animated GIFs are getting pretty awesome these days.

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 10:45:35 -0400

Animated GIFs are getting pretty awesome these days.

thedailywhat: Resentment of the Day: DongleGate Following...

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 21:09:00 -0400

thedailywhat:

Resentment of the Day: DongleGate

Following a tweet (shown above) calling out a group of developers for their comments on “forking” and “big dongles” at this weekend’s Python convention, developer evangelist Adria Richards was pummeled with messages of harassment and death threats on Twitter. One of the men pictured ended up fired from his job, as was Richards, who was fired by email cloud service SendGrid via a Facebook post this morning. Around 6 PM EST, SendGrid CEO Jim Franklin released a more comprehensive statement regarding the situation, claiming that her actions “strongly divided the same community she was supposed to unite” making her unable to effectively do her job, resulting in her termination.

Pathetic on SendGrid’s part.

Adria Richards, a SendGrid employee, (rightly) calls out some sexist developers. Her employer then makes a knee-jerk conclusion that she can no longer effectively do her job based on malicious replies to her Twitter account.

In situations like this, you back your employee up, not throw them to the curb because they stood up for what’s right.

SendGrid’s rationale for firing Adria?

What we do not support was how she reported the conduct. Her decision to tweet the comments and photographs of the people who made the comments crossed the line. Publicly shaming the offenders – and bystanders – was not the appropriate way to handle the situation.

This sounds eerily similar to CNN’s pundits empathizing with convicted rapists.

What did Adria do wrong? She was fired for being bullied.

Pathetic.

Most popular mobile device resolutions

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 10:05:00 -0400

Related to my post about mobile device usage at US colleges, using the same sample of 30% of the higher ed student population, we’re presented with the above.

Clearly Apple is the favorite, but what’s interesting is the resolution: the iPad is the most used device. No Android tablets are in the top 10, indicating that those in the market for a tablet are choosing Apple almost without exception.

This is a reality check for Android tablet developers out there.

One thing to note: this result set does not consider Apple retina resolutions; retina iPhones and iPads report their resolution at the reduced non-retina numbers for backwards compatibility; Safari doesn’t know/care that it’s on a retina vs. non-retina display. I’ll be posting a retina vs. non-retina breakdown shortly.

Another nice thing: if you are building Android apps, you can pretty safely target the 720x1280 resolution to get decent device coverage.

It’s 2013 and we still haven’t found any worthwhile...

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 21:30:10 -0400

It’s 2013 and we still haven’t found any worthwhile widgets to cram into our home screens. Let the idea die, already.

Mobile device usage for US colleges

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 17:04:00 -0500

My company has a platform that serves 800,000+ students at universities across the US, or about 30% of the entire US college student population.

Here’s their mobile usage breakdown (pulled from our Analytics):

If you include the iPad, Apple blows everything out of the water:

Even if you exclude the iPad, Apple is so much higher, the others barely even register on the graph:

Interestingly, even the iPod beats out any one Android device.

Looking at just the OS level, which covers all Android and iOS devices, Android gets helped a little bit, but Apple is still clearly in the majority.

Android: the ultimate long-tail OS?

Compromise on nothing and you compromise on everything

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 14:27:00 -0500

I was thinking today about quotes I saw from Microsoft execs and the company’s Surface Pro, which (in essence) said, “No compromises! The Surface has a big screen, big keyboard, great battery life, good storage…”

Sounds great on paper, but the reviews say otherwise: it’s a device-by-committee that appeals to nobody.

Usually when two parties compromise, nobody wins. How did Microsoft, apparently doing the opposite, still fail?

Compromise on nothing and you compromise on everything. In other words, by not compromising on any individual feature, you’re compromising on the product as a whole. By trying to be everything to everyone, you end up being nothing to everyone.

What’s up with the spinny plus sign on the...

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 10:45:00 -0500

What’s up with the spinny plus sign on the “Feedback” links you see on most sites? It seems like a weird remnant from the “Under Construction” GIF days that nobody questions.

For car UI, gestures will cause more accidents

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 16:18:55 -0500

It’s “finally” here: gesture-based inputs on car interfaces. Gestures, somehow, are a must-have on every device these days. Phones, watches, fridges, now autos.

The inherent flaw: I need to keep my eyes on the road. If I’m sliding my finger over an intangible soft-button on the screen, I immediately need to look at my dash to see if I, in fact, pressed the button I intended to press.

Not only is it a less efficient convention, it’s even more dangerous than keeping everything in a tactile form.

How would I fix this? A few ways:

Windscreen HUD. Car manufacturers have barely scratched the surface with this. A possible distraction, but technically your eyes will still be on the road.
More functions on multi-function steering wheels; they’re still a relatively clean slate. Make cruise control (an arguably little-used function) not need five buttons and add some more quick-use functions, with the menu tightly enclosed in the HUD area.
Prioritize the most-used features (temp control, gear select) to be buttons, with everything else relegated to software menus.
Make the typical area for the speedo/tachometer a big screen that can dynamically change. Lexus did this with the LFA and it could have worked very well if they had toned down the flourish. Slightly more confusing, but limits time where your eyes are off the road.

Overall, it looks like the industry is opting for more complexity (GM is now offering an API for their car software) instead of getting back to basics.

That farmer doesn’t need Angry Birds in his Silverado.

A company needs to take the Apple approach: get in, rip out everything, only add the essentials after they’ve been deemed absolutely necessary.

"More so than any person I ever met in my life, he had the ability to change his mind, much more so..."

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 15:53:43 -0500

“More so than any person I ever met in my life, he had the ability to change his mind, much more so than anyone I’ve ever met. He could be so sold on a certain direction and in a nanosecond (Cook snaps his fingers) have a completely different view. (Laughs.) I thought in the early days, “Wow, this is strange.” Then I realized how much of a gift it was. So many people, particularly, I think, CEOs and top executives, they get so planted in their old ideas, and they refuse or don’t have the courage to admit that they’re now wrong. Maybe the most underappreciated thing about Steve was that he had the courage to change his mind. And you know—it’s a talent. It’s a talent.”

- Tim Cook (via david)

I would eat this painting.

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 10:47:40 -0500

I would eat this painting.

Politicians vs. Math. Fight!

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 13:53:00 -0500

Obama Plan

Keep Bush-era tax cuts in place for everyone but the top 2%
Reduce tax deductables for top 2%
Generate $850bn in additonal tax revenue over the next decade
Don’t fix the $10 trillion deficit; 90% still remains

Republican Plan

Keep Bush-era tax cuts in place for everyone
Keep tax deductables for everyone
Focus on tax reform and let the Bush-era tax cuts expire next year
Add $400bn to the deficit
Don’t fix the $10 trillion deficit; adding an additional year of debt to the bottom line

Do Nothing

Let Bush-era tax cuts expire for everyone, effectively returning to the Clinton era
Generate $1.5 trillion in additional tax revenue over the next decade
Don’t fix the $10 trillion deficit; 85% still remains

Ideal Scenario

Let Bush-era tax cuts expire for everyone, effectively returning to the Clinton era
Reduce tax deductables for top 2%
Reform the tax system, hopefully developing a long-term tax plan to reduce deficit further
Generate $2.2 trillion in additional tax revenue over the next decade
Don’t fix the $10 trillion deficit; 78% still remains

On paper, if we’re strictly talking about reducing the deficit, which both the Democrats and Republicans say they want, it’s a no-brainer. Any way you slice it, it will still be a problem for the next generation.

The only thing that is disingenuous to me is the perception that Obama is raising taxes. He’s not. He’s returning to the very same tax plan that generated massive budget surpluses in the 90s under Clinton. We could only be so lucky.

Fighting the idea echo chamber

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 17:29:40 -0500

We’ve all heard about how Baltimore is the next Silicon Valley. It’s something we all love to say to make ourselves feel justified in starting and keeping our companies here. The reality is: Baltimore isn’t Silicon Valley, and never will be.

When we can all admit that, we’ll be ready to focus on what Baltimore is, and how we can make it an environment that encourages action. A good start: let’s stop trying to recreate SV by talking about “hustle” and “startup ecosystem” and what Andreessen Horowitz is missing out on by not investing here, and focus on what Baltimore needs.

What specifically does Baltimore need? Many of you already know. Lots of great ideas have been thrown out there, but very few have ever broken ground, let alone completed. Below are a few thoughts on how to create an environment of action.

Own your idea: who will lead this effort?

You’ve probably gone to meetups, conferences and events to discuss ideas on how great Baltimore is and how to make it even better.

You’ve probably walked out of one of these events and thought, “that meeting was great, I had some solid contributions and heard some great ideas.” I know I have. Unfortunately, that’s usually where it ends. We all love the ideas, but nobody wants to jump into the pit and try one out.

Baltimore’s startup community is a friendly bunch. It’s only natural that we all get together and brainstorm on great ways to put the city on the map. Unfortunately, when there’s a room full of idea people and no clear goals defined, everyone spins in a circle. We leave the meeting with twenty ideas and no strategy. All twenty are great, but which one do we move forward with? More importantly, who’s going to own it?

Think more about what you can take ownership of, instead of just floating an idea. So before you leave that meetup, define: who will take control of that project or initiative?

Don’t ask permission: do it and they will follow

Get out there and execute without waiting for a unanimous vote, or consensus. If it fails, great, we have 19 other ideas to try out.

If an idea makes sense and it’s in your power to move, do it. When something has momentum, others will naturally want to join in and help. The folks who can participate, will.

Ask anyone in Baltimore if they’re a proponent of change/progress/success/positivity in Baltimore and 100 percent of them will say yes. But how many of them will be the first one to put a plan into motion? Start something cool, and people will follow.

We don’t need the city’s help to make the city better

Lower taxes, new incubators, and securing city grant money are all great ways to keep the momentum going, but there’s a lot more that can be done culturally. Instead of trying to get the city (or other government or institutional partners) on board before moving forward with an initiative, get out there and do it first, then invite the city to join in and help. If it’s just an idea, the city can choose to say no. If it’s happening whether the city likes it or not, they’ll have no choice but to join in.

Follow the leaders: plenty of examples exist

Look around at the great things that have emerged in Baltimore in the past couple years: the Beehive, Betamore, Betascape, TEDx, Ignite, etc. Each happened because someone jumped in without asking first. Use their strategy as a model and bring your idea to fruition, making Baltimore a place that rewards action.