http://www.capndesign.com/ I'll untangle your mess of wires, metaphorically. en-us capn@capndesign.com Copyright 2014 2010-09-22T16:15:44-05:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://www.capndesign.com/archives/2010/09/ideos_future_of_the_book.php Ideo considers three aspects of the digital book’s future. It’s a nicely done video and it takes some features I looked at in my Multi-Layered iPad talk to a whole new world (a dazzling place, for you and me). Below is the video and some interesting points about each of the interfaces. Nelson It provides a view into what your friends and other important people think about the content you’re reading. I like how easy it is to scan through a book and find passages that are important. These would be a great research tool. Showing debates that started from a particular passage is interesting. It’d be nice if you could actually respond to the discussion inside the app. Bringing in outside content is a great start, but no one has built a reader that lets you discuss the media inside the app. Coupland It’s designed to show you what your colleagues, or social network, are reading. In theory, you can have a discussion about something inside the app, but you’re not actually reading the app here (I think), so it’s still not a direct link between consuming and creating. Alice It turns the written word into a game. For example, if you’re in the right location or if you tap on your device with a secret code. It sounds like Condé Naste and Activate’s Gourmet Live might be the first real app to attempt this. The idea of contributing to a story is pretty cool. I’d love to see my friend’s version of a particular passage or see a photo of my own house instead of a generic one when I’m reading a scary story. 3651@http://www.capndesign.com/ Technology\Web 2010-09-22T16:15:44-05:00 http://www.capndesign.com/archives/2010/01/fine_my_brief_thoughts_on_the_ipad.php Here's how Apple wants us to buy computers. Typical consumer family: 1 iMac for everyone, 1 MacBook for travel, 1 iPad for the couch and 2 iPhones Professional user family: 1 Mac Pro for home/office, 1 Macbook Pro for the road, 1 iPad for the couch and/or clients and 2 iPhones And when they're better, an AppleTV in every room. My friend Adam, and others I'm sure, are concerned about this being a peripheral. While you clearly need a computer to sync the devlice, but I don't think there's reason for concern. If it's not true already, most homes will have one computer that acts as home base. You'll keep your music, movies, contacts, etc. stored there and everything else will sync with it. If you already have a laptop and a desktop, the laptop is as much a peripheral as an iPad would be. Sure, the iPad is more geared towards consumption, but so what? As I've read a few times lately, the vast majority of time that most users spend on a computer is consumption, so it only makes sense to optimize towards that. If you don't want a consumption device, there are plenty of other options at your disposal. Sidenote: I tried to keep this short, since I've already complained about the amount of interesting content being produced. My apologies if I added to your pile. 3466@http://www.capndesign.com/ Technology\Web 2010-01-29T15:39:38-05:00 http://www.capndesign.com/archives/2010/01/more_tablet_conjecture.php After outlining my thoughts on the tablet, a few folks have noted that Apple has never made a modular device because they're clunky and harder to produce, but I don't think that means they never would. While I'm not positive it will be a laptop, I am quite confident the tablet will act differently in different environments (see Pogue's explanation of Droid docks). After writing the last post, I found some examples, new and old, that showed similar ideas. Two years ago, Popular Mechanics envisioned a truly modular tablet. I think this is further than Apple would go, but is most similar to what I discussed above. I couldn't find the source of this image, but I see something like this as a distinct possibility. Tim Van Damme posted a thoughtful piece yesterday that struck a similar cord. "Combine this 'shell' with our tablet, and you get a fully functional desktop computer". Finally, here's a real product. Lenovo is coming out with a hybrid laptop/tablet that is pretty ugly, but is theoretically identical to what I proposed. I think I'm done prognosticating (for now), but I'm growing more and more excited about this device. I've also started thinking more about how content will be displayed. More to come on that later. 3471@http://www.capndesign.com/ Technology\Web 2010-01-12T12:28:47-05:00 http://www.capndesign.com/archives/2010/01/the_apple_tablet_will_be_a_laptop.php Sippey believes the iTabletSlateTab will be a laptop with a touchscreen where the screen can fully wrap around. I almost agree, which means it's time for me to stake my claim in the tablet sweepstakes. The Apple Tablet will actually be the second generation of the MacBook Air. The screen will be 10" (as predicted by many), touchscreen, have very high contrast and will be detachable. That is right friends, the screen will be attached by a magsafe-like connector that keeps the screen attached to the keyboard. The last time I blogged about the tablet, I thought there'd be some docking station so you can use it as a computer at home. Instead, it will just be half of the computer. I could imagine some kind of stand for watching on the plane or just for around the house, as well. As for price-point, I think it will indeed be $800-1000. I think they'll add editorial content to the iTunes store using web technology similar to the iTunes LP format (as John Siracusa has predicted). I think it will be based on OS X and not another new operating system, but it will likely require a new 10.6.x version to operate properly. I also think it will be awesome. Further Reading Gruber's take on the Tablet Nick Bilton's take Marco's take David's take, which is similar to mine (I think) 3456@http://www.capndesign.com/ Technology\Web 2010-01-04T17:01:57-05:00 http://www.capndesign.com/archives/2009/12/whats_not_to_like.php 3452@http://www.capndesign.com/ Technology\Web 2009-12-23T15:10:43-05:00 http://www.capndesign.com/archives/2009/11/ochocinco_is_a_smart_entertaining_man.php For the last couple months, I've been following Chad Ochocinco's tweets (he's a wide receiver on the Cincinnati Bengals). Chad is known as a bit of a clown* but is a really hard worker and an excellent receiver. He's known for his inventive touchdown celebrations and desire to be loved by everybody. He's definitely succeeded in converting me as a fan. Unlike Terrell Owens, a fellow clown who is a phenomenal talent but toxic in the locker room, Chad is liked by his team and loved by fans. Since joining Twitter several months ago, he's started to give back to his fans. For each of the home games, he flies one of his Twitter followers out to watch from the stands. Originally the idea was that they would tweet in his stead, but that didn't seem to happen. He's also not afraid to announce his location (especially when he's at a mall, which is often). In fact, he'll often ask fans to give him a lift or meet him for dinner when he's out of town. When he's at home, he often offers to bring 100 fans to a movie (and they show up!). You could argue (accurately) that's excellent at marketing himself, but after following along for a bit, I just think he's a good guy. He seems to hang with fans and work hard on he enjoys it. To me, it's a typical case of a perosn putting in hard work at something they love and having the success follow. * See: his last name, which used to be Johnson, but is now officially his nickname, a poor Spanish translation of 85 3427@http://www.capndesign.com/ Sports 2009-11-16T11:14:59-05:00 http://www.capndesign.com/archives/2009/11/remembering_that_guy.php When all of the augmented reality apps started shipping for the iPhone, I started thinking of the most useful applications of the concept. While it's entertaining to see subway stations all around you, I have a harder time remembering people. I want an app where you can hold your iPhone up and point it at a group of people, it will recognize the faces of those in your contacts list (iPhoto already has facial recognition) and show their names. You would also be able to go back and look at previously taken photos to see who is in them for a reminder. And maybe, in some future world where privacy concerns aren't an issue, I'd be able to see the names of friends of friends with links to some of their profiles on the web. Writing this, I remembered I thought of something similar for DVDs. Then I found this Nokia video below (via Nick Bilton) that shows something pretty similar to the app I want. I do like Nokia, but it's funny they're calling this the technology of 2015 when we could probably do this today. 3420@http://www.capndesign.com/ Technology\Web 2009-11-12T10:52:45-05:00 http://www.capndesign.com/archives/2009/11/yes_i_know_you_have_new_sweaters.php On occasion, I buy things. Since I am lazy, I like it when companies come to me and inform me of their new or cheap wares. This is why I check that box on their site that lets them send me newsletters. It's a fair deal. They send me information I want and in return I trade them money for goods. Everybody wins, except most of the time. Oh really? I can now get a $25 discount on a future purchase of swim trunks if I buy $175 worth of linen pants? Is the 15% discount on all striped pantwear you mentioned on Saturday still applicable? Too bad the buy 3 children's AFC North hats get 2 NFC South ladies earmuffs deal is over, because that was doozy. I'm being clever here, but I would like to tell every manager of every newsletter everywhere to never send me more than 2 emails a month. I signed up for info on new products and sales, not an email carpetbombing. This may have worked with catalogs when that was the only way to access your products from home and they were highly disposable, but I have a computer that maintains a consistent connection to the internet and it's usually within arms reach. Reminding me you exist on a near-daily is annoying, useless and puts you one step closer to my spam folder. So please, tell me when you have something new or something awesome or something cheap, but do not send me four emails a week about anything. I will unsubscribe and then I will not hear about anything you're doing. And then no one wins. 3419@http://www.capndesign.com/ Technology\Web 2009-11-09T23:17:09-05:00 http://www.capndesign.com/archives/2009/11/you_could_eat_off_the_floors.php 3418@http://www.capndesign.com/ Design 2009-11-04T01:21:52-05:00 http://www.capndesign.com/archives/2009/10/know_your_meme_geddan_get_down.php Know Your Meme is my favorite video podcast. Even for someone like me who probably knows a little too much about the internet, I'm constantly learning new things. This site is also great for anyone who is confused by "The Twitter" and "FaceSpace". The video above is my newest favorite episode. I suggest you watch it. 3411@http://www.capndesign.com/ Culture\Politics\Law 2009-10-18T08:00:47-05:00 http://www.capndesign.com/archives/2009/10/introducing_canabalt_high_scores.php I am becoming obsessed with the iPhone game Canabalt. In the game, you run and jump for as long as you can before you die. Maybe not revolutionary, but it's damn fun. My biggest problem with the game is that the only way to share your scores is to tweet them. You have a leaderboard on your phone, but it's not global. And since I'm so awesome at the game and Sippey asked nicely, I built a public leaderboard based on people's tweets. That's right, the world now has a Canabalt Scoreboard. For those who are technically minded, I have a script that hits the Twitter search API every few minutes and grabs people's scores. I went back as far as Twitter would allow to grab old data and I'm ignoring scores from people (cheaters) who posted from the web and not the API (which sucks for me as I've gotten 16k+, but didn't tweet it). That's it! Good luck, Canabalters. 3406@http://www.capndesign.com/ Technology\Web 2009-10-14T14:31:42-05:00 http://www.capndesign.com/archives/2009/07/just_dont_use_squares_and_triangles.php I'm doing a poor job catching up with my New Yorkers as I'm now 5 months behind. The good news is that you've probably already forgotten about this article. In the 2/23/09 issue, there's an article about weaponizing robots that focuses on one of the best gun-makers and his efforts to sell his inventions. The robots he has built, the ones with the guns, can only fire their weapons when the operator presses a button.* Quoth: "Automating firing, that's taboo," [Adam Gettings of Robotex] said. But, with a little programming, "you could definitely do targeting and tracking. You could have it identify targets, A, B, and C, put squares around them. Then just hit a button and decide which person to take out." Immediately, I thought of the Madden football games. In Madden, after the play starts, each player is assigned to one of the buttons on the controller. When you're ready to pass, you press that button and the quarterback throws the ball. The problem is that I often press the wrong button. Not a big deal when you're playing a video game, but it becomes a bit more of an issue when you're choosing whom to shoot. Here's hoping they have someone controlling this device who's better at video games than me. I suggest they look to Madden Nation for recruits. * I'm glad people in our government are fearful of autonomous weaponized robots. No one wants another Skynet. 3377@http://www.capndesign.com/ Technology\Web 2009-07-26T19:10:55-05:00 http://www.capndesign.com/archives/2009/06/poetry.php Today, this may seem like gibberish, but our children will consider this the moment in which language changed course and a new breed of linguists was born. If others can smell you, u gotta be able to smell yourself Pfffffffffffff I farted Aggggh Can u smell dat Lol THE_REAL_SHAQ, 12 minutes ago from TwitterBerry 3366@http://www.capndesign.com/ Technology\Web 2009-06-12T17:17:07-05:00 http://www.capndesign.com/archives/2009/06/ceci_nest_pas_un_tablet.php 3364@http://www.capndesign.com/ Technology\Web 2009-06-08T09:51:59-05:00 http://www.capndesign.com/archives/2009/05/encouraging_useful_reviews.php Flipping through ma tweets, I found this one from Jeffrey Zeldman (which I presume came from Jared Spool at An Event Apart Seattle): 1 in 1,300 purchasers writes a review. With a standard 2 percent conversion rate, you need 3 million visitors a day to get useful reviews. Reading that made me think about how I almost never write reviews, especially for products. The only times I do write reviews is when I have something to gain. For others, respect provides enough motivation, which is why Amazon implemented badges. Having 'Real Name' and 'Top 500 Reviewer' beside your username commands some respect and ensures authenticity. This is really helpful for those seeking reviews, but not for most who should be writing them. Currently, there is not much for me to gain by writing reviews on Amazon. My friends run in other circles and there's just not enough time in the day. Now, if there was a financial motivation, this would be another story. Amazon Reviewing Associates Amazon runs a successful referral program that allows you to generate money when people buy products from your links. I don't have any numbers to back this up, but it's safe to assume that the money Amazon loses in referral fees are made up in a reduced advertising and marketing budget. My dad, a car dealer, used to say it takes $250 just to get someone in the door. Amazon's number is probably significantly less, but they also have significantly more customers. If driving traffic to content is this valuable, shouldn't accurate reviews of a product be rewarded as well? Getting a customer in the door is an important step, but closing the sale is just as crucial. I propose that Amazon rewards users whose reviews are deemed most helpful and the people who find those reviews first. Mr. Spool, the man who inspired the tweet above, made the case that helpful reviews account for $2.7 billion in revenue. Even if this is high, it's obviously in Amazon's best interest to encourage these. If I could make $5-10 a month writing reviews for Amazon products, I'd be writing a whole lot more of them. Even if that number petered out after a while, I'd likely still continue once I got in the swing of things. In fact, it seems that an outside company could make money with their own recommendation engine using this system. If they were to share the referral rewards and place some subtle ads, there'd probably be a pretty good business. The thing I like best about this idea is that everybody wins. Amazon sells more products, active community members get rewarded and I'm more likely to buy the best beard trimmer. 3348@http://www.capndesign.com/ Technology\Web 2009-05-04T21:57:10-05:00