It’s no secret that I love Rdio. Today’s update makes it even more fantastic. The updates make it a smoother experience overall. Really looking forward to digging in to the changes more after SXSW.
Asides
iA Writer for iPhone. My favorite writing application on the Mac is now live on the iPhone. It includes support for iCloud and Dropbox. I would love to pay them more than $0.99 for such a wonderful piece of software.
Writing beginner level tutorials. Great tips about what to consider when writing tutorials aimed at beginners. My favorite nugget is, “[people looking for help] won’t be searching for the solution – they’ll be searching on keywords relating to the problem.” (via Daniel Bachhuber)
Deploy. An essay by Mandy Brown that asks how we can more effectively create living texts.
The business of bookmarking. Maciej Ceglowski covers the basics of Pinboard’s business. Fascinating look at what goes in to making Pinboard run effectively and profitably. (via Marco Arment)
Made Better in Japan. Fascinating look at food, service, and fashion in Japan. Focuses on the obsessive approach to quality that many places adopt. Japan is among the top countries on my list to visit.
On Content: less is more. Sean Blanda nails it here. Great set of guidelines for any writer to aspire to. I wish more publications understood and followed these ideas.
Work+ A new iPhone app from Tender Creative that aims to help you discover new places to get work done. Looks like a nifty tool. Kind of similar to an idea I wrote about previously.
Path uploads your entire iPhone address book to its servers. Shouldn’t this be the kind of shady behavior that an app store review process prevents? Would be fantastic to see answers to these 3 questions.
Update: Path’s CEO answered those three questions a minute after I posted this. His response to #2 is a cop out. “Industry best practice” is just a way of avoiding blame. Protect your users data and do what’s right, not what’s typical.
Between the Lines. Fantastic piece about parking in Los Angeles as it compares to other cities. Some of the numbers (revenue, number of spots, number of meters) are astounding. Such sprawling parking kills the possibility for a dense, urban city. Earlier, “Parking Lots as Public Spaces.”