One of my favorite design blogs redesigns. There is a lot more going on and much more content. The homepage is a bit cluttered, but I enjoy the more modern aesthetics.
John Gruber on Microsoft’s current state:
People who love computers overwhelmingly prefer to use a Mac today. Microsoft’s core problem is that they have lost the hearts of computer enthusiasts. Regular people don’t think about their choice of computer platform in detail and with passion like nerds do because, duh, they are not nerds. But nerds are leading indicators.
This is true in many markets with broad appeal, not just computers. Microsoft is looking ever more so like the digital equivalent of General Motors. Car enthusiasts lost interest in GM’s cars long before regular people did; the same is happening with Windows.
Excellent piece.
The trailer for Wes Anderson’s latest movie (and first animated film), Fantastic Mr. Fox is finally here and looks great. It’s amazing to me how Anderson’s style is still so evident despite it being stop-motion. The aesthetics are great, the voices are great, and it looks like the story will be great. I’m very much looking forward to this.
(Type-nerd sidenote: It looks like Anderson is branching out a bit using Futura Black in all the titles as opposed to his traditional Futura Bold. I just thought that was interesting.)
A look at some of the common design patterns between popular iPhone applications. An interesting read.
Liz Danzico asks established designers to answer this question for young people hoping to enter the design field:
So you’re thinking about becoming a designer? If I could tell you only one thing about going into the field, my advice would be…
A lot of the answers are great.
Trailer for the latest Coen Brother’s film, A Serious Man. Looks good!
The brand new iDisk app for the iPhone looks really nice. It might be time to set up a MobileMe account.
MG Siegler for TechCrunch:
AT&T is constantly promising that network upgrades are coming, but Apple keeps selling more and more iPhones. While it would never admit it, I think it’s beyond time to wonder if AT&T can handle the exclusive iPhone partnership anymore. I’m not saying that the situation would be different had it been Verizon who got the exclusive deal, I’m simply stating what is on everyone’s mind: AT&T is simply not working the way it should be for customers who are paying close to, or in excess of, $100 a month.
This goes right along with my recently posed question on Twitter: “So, really, when are we getting MMS on the iPhone?” Because we should have it right now.
More Mad Men related links: A great article on the making of the stunning season three poster, the people involved, and the key concepts of the design. AMC also has a great behind the scenes video of how they set up the photography. Really great stuff all around.
I enjoyed this for two reasons: (1) I live in Nazareth and have been to this library many times and (2) my mom is a librarian (though not at this library).
From a New York Times study:
The first study of drivers texting inside their vehicles shows that the risk sharply exceeds previous estimates based on laboratory research — and far surpasses the dangers of other driving distractions.
This is a serious issue.
(via Daring Fireball)
I’ve been enjoying designer/photographer Ben Frank’s new food blog. A great combination of delicious dishes and terrific photography.
Paste Magazine, reporting on iTunes offering bonus content when users purchase full albums:
The plan entails bundling together digital extras with the downloads to emulate that unique, timeless experience of browsing through all those neat extras that often come with physical CDs: liner notes, booklets, lyric sheets, photos, etc. Video clips are rumored to be an accompaniment as well.
This sounds like a great idea and could be great news for designers involved in the music industry. Reminds me of a small piece I wrote back in 2007 about the future of music packaging.
John Gruber, responding to David Simon’s piece on why newspapers should charge for their online content:
I’m not pretending to be an expert on the details of exactly how newspaper companies should adapt. But you don’t have to be an expert to notice the obvious. Newspapers are losing millions of dollars. New, online-only publications, on the other hand, are operating at a profit. And there is a stark difference between the two: new online publications are lean and mean. They are small, flat organizations where most of the employees are producing actual content.
I agree that charging people for content online is, at its core, a flawed system. Like Gruber writes, when you pay for a newspaper, not only are you paying for news you are also paying for the actually physical paper – a tangible product. You don’t get the same feeling when you pay for something you cannot hold, like a webpage. Anyway, for every site that charges for their content, there will be so many more that don’t and in the end, that is where the public where go to get it.
The challenge for newspapers today is to figure out how to make money online while still offering content to its readers at no charge. I also recommend reading Gruber’s other piece, Charging for Access to News Sites, where he looks at, and attempts to answer this problem.
Jerry Brito, reporting for the San Francisco Examiner:
A Maryland-based IT firm that specializes in defense contracts was awarded the federal contract to build Recovery.gov, the government site meant to make stimulus spending transparent. The bill to taxpayers for this Web site will be $9.5 million in the next six months.
It seems ironic to me that we are paying an absurd amount of money for a company to build a website for stimulus spending. At least our money is going to good use, right? Ha!
(via 37signals)
Palm, talking about updates to the Palm Pre software:
Oh, and one more thing: Palm webOS 1.1 re-enables Palm media sync. That’s right — you once again can have seamless access to your music, photos and videos from the current version of iTunes (8.2.1).
I had a feeling this would happen; Palm obviously wants to make this a game with Apple. However, what I don’t understand is why they keep taking the low road by telling iTunes that the Pre is an Apple registered device when it’s plugged in. If that wasn’t enough, they have filed a complaint against Apple use of it’s USB Vender ID:
Palm believes that openness and interoperability offer better experiences for users by allowing them the freedom to use the content they own without interference across devices and services, so on behalf of consumers, we have notified the USB Implementers Forum of what we believe is improper use of the Vendor ID number by another member.
Seriously, Palm? My question now is why spend your time complaining about not being able to use another company’s software—software they built and own—when you could be spending that time to make your own software that works seamlessly with your products to provide your customers with the best experience possible? If your goal was to provide a seamless customer experience, this is what you’d do; not piggyback off the work of another company.
As of right now, Palm is coming across as lazy and trying to fulfill some vendetta they have against Apple. It’s cheap. I’m slowly losing my respect for Palm.
