OMG that sound serious! I wonder what he’s talking about?

The Retina iPad, for example, violated Apple’s design creed: products should get thinner and lighter — aka, cooler. Not thicker and heavier.

But Apple fixed this quickly (six month later) with the iPad Mini trifecta: thinner, lighter, cheaper. And the iPad, reinvented as the Mini, has been a runaway success.

Oh my! I read it a few times and I’m still not sure what the fail is, perhaps I should read it again.

This is what we call “link bait”, a provocative title draws you in and then fails to deliver because they don’t care beyond the click. See, cash moves everything around these “news” sites and they’ll do anything to get the dolla, dolla bill ya’ll. Now that you’ve clicked and been served 15 ads, they’re not all that worried about letting you down with writing that doesn’t deliver what the title promised.

As best I can tell, the “fail” is that Apple had to (slightly) increase the thickness and weight of the 3rd generation iPad to deal with the LTE radio and Retina screen. I’m not an expert but I don’t think this really hurt Apple because they somehow managed to sell a gazillion 3rd and 4th gen iPads before the Mini came out.

What about the iPad Mini? Is it something you can compare to the full size iPad? Are people who buy a 7″ tablet really in the same group as those who prefer a 10″ version? I’m not convinced the two can be compared. I’ve fondled a Mini and it’s a very nice device but I said the same thing about the Nexus 7. They may be fantastic devices but I personally prefer the screen real estate provided by the larger tablets and I’m pretty sure I’m not alone.

I do find it interesting that while phones surge upward in screen size, we seem to be gravitating backwards with tablets, does that make sense? Don’t mention phablets please, I really don’t like that term. Oops, I typed it, how do I delete again?

Sorry, I got sidetracked, where was I?

I think what the author really wanted to say is that first generation products aren’t that great, if you owned a 1st gen iPad you know the later versions were better but that’s sort of expected. The Surface RT and Pro are going to improve, they’re going to get lighter, faster, and thinner as Microsoft iterates them. Is that surprising to anyone? I hope not.

Of course no one would have read his article if the headline read “Microsoft Surface Will Eventually Improve”.

I say this to establish I’m not really picky when it comes to normal interaction with applications. Sure, I wish things were simpler or more streamlined but for the most part, I suck it up and go about my day. My workplace is still on Windows XP which may play a role but I don’t think I use Windows 7 or OS X to their full potential either. I know a few keyboard shortcuts here and there but I seem to reach for the mouse more often than not. I’m a pretty normal computer user who’s about to complain a lot about a tiny UI issue in an app I use daily.

For the past 10 years, all instant message communication in my workplace has been via Yahoo IM. I’m serious, we used that horrible program all day, every day. Naturally our security department wasn’t thrilled but they didn’t have a viable replacement until we upgraded our phone system to VOIP. Now we use Cisco Jabber which ties into our phones and email systems and is pretty cool except one small thing that drives me bat-bleep crazy. Imagine you’re at work and someone sends you an IM. This is a situation we’re all familiar with, the IM window pops up, you read their message and you type a response. Easy-peasy except in Cisco Jabber, the default cursor position is in a search box and not the reply field. Can you guess what happens every time I receive an IM?

What should I search for?

This image is of the search box at the top left corner of the IM window, it allows you to search your contacts but that functionality already exists in the contact window. I guess there’s some utility in this function but why focus the cursor in that field when I obviously want to reply to the IM I just received?

OK, let’s think this through rationally, maybe I just need to hit TAB? Nope, it takes nine presses of the TAB key to get to the reply field.

The compose field, a natural place to start.

It’s crazy to think about but someone — or several someones — declared this software fit to ship. One or more people tested this product and didn’t see a problem with this behavior. You have to wonder how thorough the testing process was to let this slip through. What if it wasn’t a mistake? What if this is their intended behavior? Someone help me, I’m scared!

If you’re curious, shift-tab takes you to the compose field. That’s bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S.

Very often it’s the little things in your product that will drive your users crazy. That insignificant item you overlooked or thought wasn’t a big deal will make someone want to rip their hair out every time they use your software. In my case, every time I receive a new IM, I start responding and realize I’m typing in a search box. Will I eventually learn? Probably. Should I have to? No! This is a crap product shipped by a company that should know better.

Attention to detail is very important. I don’t think I can stress that enough.

-Marco Arment

The problem with hunches is that it’s incredibly easy to forget them, precisely because they’re not fully-baked ideas. You’re reading an article, and a little spark of an idea pops into your head, but by the time you’ve finished the article, you’re checking your email, or responding to some urgent request from your colleague, and the next thing you know, you’ve forgotten the hunch for good.

Those of us who prefer an analog solution will simply jot down our "sparks" in a notebook but what if you prefer a digital solution? I recommend using the "Append to Dropbox" action in Drafts for iOS, a method which an be found in this article by George Coghill. I’m sure something similar to Drafts exists for Android but I don’t know for sure.

Whatever method you chose, keeping a spark file seems like a smart idea and I plan on starting one today.

They consisted of questions like:

• Who is this page for?
• What problem does this page solve for the user?
• How do we know they need it?
• What is the primary action we want users to take on this page?
• What might prompt a user to take this action?
• How will we know that this page is doing what we want it to do?

I love learning how designers drill down into the function of a site or product. I often dream of being someone with an expert eye and taste that can influence product design but then I realize I don’t have those skills and I pout in the corner.

Make sure you check out the other stories on their site, there’s a lot of knowledge in these pages.

How Far is it to Mars?

It’s amazing what can be accomplished with Javascript and CSS these days.

Bit by bit, the youthful energy that created so much value was siphoned off. Whereas we’d once been free to work on whatever seemed interesting, we now found ourselves in vaguely defined middle-management roles, sitting through pointless meetings where older doofuses who didn’t understand the Web challenged our intuitions and trivialized our ambitions.

It’s always interesting to peek behind the curtain of startups and their acquisitions. Obviously I’m not in a place where I can agree or disagree with what he has to say but he makes a compelling argument.

(via: TightWind)

Let’s take a look at one of Einstein’s notebooks, specifically the so called Zurich Notebook

This stuff is way over my head but look at the handwriting, it’s so precise! I’m guessing he preferred graph paper as it lends itself to computation and drawing.

I think it’s ok to feel a little self conscious of your notebooks after all, this is Einstein we’re talking about.

I’ll say this, I had high hopes. OK, not really.

As I write this, I realize I never posted any pictures or details of the Hoffman Bama I built, I suppose at some point this spring I should pull it out of the garage and snap a few pictures. While I have it out, maybe I’ll work on that goal from 2009?

Probably not, I’m much too old now.

– Ben Franklin (allegedly)