Tap Left Margin -> Next Page; my favorite feature of the iPad. This means I can comfortably read while drinking tea and not worry about which hand holds my iPad.
The majority of the time I’m reading a book I just want to go forward. It always felt clumsy to swipe with my left thumb. Advancing with just a tap means the device never breaks my flow.
I thought this chart from The Verge was terrific. Focus and restraint breed quality. (via Shawn Blanc)
Raven for Mac. Interesting concept for a new browser on Mac OS X. It’ll be interesting to see how the software develops. Browsers definitely still have room for improvement and it’s refreshing to see someone thinking in new directions. Sidenote, it’s ridiculous how many apps Loren Brichter’s original Tweetie design has inspired.
We are fascinated by our giants and this fascination motivates us to learn. This is good. But we continually forget every story in this world is unique. We can’t cherry pick the convenient elements of one successful life and graft it into our own, expecting the same results. Had da Vinci or Ford been born today, they might have ended up janitors or car salesmen. And a school teacher or gardener from their times, born today, might have transformed the world. We don’t want to see success as fragile or circumstantial, but the slightest touch of chance in the lives of any great man or woman, and we’d never know their names.
Scott Berkun – The Jobsian fallacy.
Evangelism is word-of-mouth marketing. It’s the best kind of marketing because it’s honest and personal. We don’t pay attention to television commercials and magazine ads because we don’t trust them. We do, however, trust our friends recommending something to us.
And so, companies want their customers to tell their friends about the product. But try as you may, you can’t force people to talk about your product, which means that the next best thing is to try and get people to at least use it.
Shawn Blanc – You Can’t Buy Word of Mouth.
The Argument for 3G MacBooks. I’m wholeheartedly in agreement here. My 11″ MacBook Air is, in most ways, the ideal computer. Persistent web access with 3G built in would cover the last remaining hole in its features.
Cleaning… iOS 5 introduces a terrible change to cache management that prevents apps like Rdio and Instapaper from storing persistent data on a device. Totally ruins Rdio’s offline storage mode. Sad Christmas.
When I walk through Best Buy, which I try to do once every few months, it feels like it’s technology at its worst, the magic of progress used as smoke and mirrors to confuse and dupe consumers rather than make their lives better.
Matt Mullenweg – What’s Next for Apple.
Steve said that each of the three user interfaces made possible a revolutionary new type of product. The mouse enabled the Macintosh. The click wheel enabled the iPod. Multi-touch enabled the iPhone. What will Siri enable?
Shawn Blanc – Apple’s Fourth Interface