July 2010
25 posts
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SimpleBits Redesigned and Integrated with Tumblr →
I’ve said it before, but nobody ever believes me, so I’ll say it again: Tumblr is faster, more inexpensive, easier to work with, and more socially connected than any blogging system out there. Yet another of my favorite web designers has switched to it, and put together a kickass redesign to boot.
June 2010
41 posts
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Microsoft Pulls KIN →
Really? A phone with strange shapes and limited features coupled with a phone plan more expensive than the one on the freakin’ iPhone didn’t sell well? What a surprise!
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IsItOnVerizonYet.com →
AT&T not good enough for ya? Might want to make this website your homepage.
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Windows 8 May Have an App Store →
Windows really does need this to improve the user experience. Let’s hope it’s more like Steam and less like the Microsoft Marketplace.
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John Gruber's Four-Word iPhone 4 Bumper Review →
No, it’s not exactly informative, but you have to admit his message comes across loud and clear.
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Thoughts on Rdio
Yesterday I got an invite1 to Rdio, a new online streaming music service. I was a big fan of Lala back in the day (I know, it’s only been dead for a month), but I may like Rdio even more. It may be the only subscription music store that doesn’t suck.
Unlimited music for $5/month is a pretty sweet deal, especially because it can be played on any computer with Internet access....
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What Do You Want For Your Blog?
I think I may have been missing the point about John Gruber’s commenting… comments. It wasn’t so much an opinion about commenting as a declaration of what he wants Daring Fireball to be.
Should a blog be like a forum where the writer makes a statement, and then the masses are free to squabble about it? Or should it be like a keynote, where the writer’s statement is...
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The Daring Fireball Conversation Style
Of all the controversial things that John Gruber’s site has to offer, perhaps the most controversial thing about the blog itself is the commenting system, or lack thereof. He catches hell for it all the time from various people, and doesn’t mind throwing it right back at them every so often.
I won’t argue that it doesn’t have its advantages, or even that it’s...
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The Real Arms Race →
Is the problem that Safari 5’s reader feature strips out the most annoying advertising and combines multipage articles, or that sites like Jim Lynch’s use such tactics in the first place?
Multipage articles, text-link ads, and all that sneaky stuff that websites do annoys the reader, but they does even more to cheapen online advertising, because clicks and views become more worthless...
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On Suckerfishes and User Experience →
Something worth thinking about: are dropdown menus that aren’t triggered by a mouse click really the best option for the web?
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Unlocking The Limited Edition Black Dashboard
staff:
Thank you to everyone who donated this week! I’m afraid we can’t match any more contributions, but if you’d still like to donate and unlock the Limited Edition Black Dashboard preference, we’re leaving a donation page up through the weekend.
Thank you!
Well, if I see any stories about how Tumblr went bankrupt this week, at least it was for an excellent cause.
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Firefox 4 to Add CSS3 calc() →
When every browser supports this (“when” being more like “if” in the web browser world), you’ll be able to have truly flexible layouts as opposed to fudging it with ems. Truly great stuff.
(via cameronmoll)
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Resolving the iPhone resolution →
guillee:
Wired ran an article saying that Apple’s claims about the iPhone 4’s screen resolution are false advertising. Phil Plait, knowing a thing or two about the subject after spending a few years calibrating a camera on board the Hubble space telescope, disagrees, and explains why. Interesting read, if only because it’s a great explaination what “resolution” means.
(via kevin)
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Do I Ditch Safari & Chrome?
I use a Windows machine at work, and I will be for the forseeable future. I usually use Chrome on Windows, and on its own it’s still the best. Same goes for Safari on the Mac. However, I have found that Firefox has benefits that I didn’t realize.
Yes, Firefox’s interface is currently dated and increasingly ugly, particularly on OSX. It’s performance isn’t the...
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“It’s like a glossy magazine come to life.”
– John Gruber Regarding iPhone 4’s Screen
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They Got Me
Working on a HP laptop with a substandard display causes some interesting issues. When I logged into Tumblr today I noticed that it looked a lot less blue than usual, and for five minutes I was convinced that the display was busted. Only then did I see this:
To get all of you involved [in helping with the Deepwater Horizon disaster] this week, we’re replacing Tumblr’s usual ocean blue with a...
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One Year →
So let’s look forward to things we didn’t see at the iPhone OS4 event earlier this year, as well as a new Apple TV and Safari 5. Oh, and that iPhone we’ve heard everything about. It’s weird having an Apple keynote where we know everything in advance this time around. I’ll be over at the Ars Technica liveblog if you need me.
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Nothing New To Report →
“Hello, New York Times paper delivery.”
“Hi, I’d like to order a couple hundred newspapers.”
“Sure, what for?”
“We need a bunch of newspapers to use as TV props for the next twenty years.”
“Alright, be there in 30 minutes.”
“Thanks!”
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HTML5 Visualization of Stanley Cup Teams →
I don’t even want to know how they did this, my brain would hurt.
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The Little Things
I’m still not satisfied with the Firefox 3.7 nightly build. I know these things are subject to change - it’s a nightly build, they’re trying out ideas - but any interface that becomes unreadable depending on the current Windows Vista/7 theme color is a major problem. It’s not too bad if you make the color as opaque as possible, but text and transparency don’t mix.
...
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Cross-platform collaborative code editor?
I’m looking for a code editor that will work between Windows and Mac that will let us work on the same HTML or CSS file at the same time without destroying each other’s changes. Any ideas?
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"Apple’s Hilariously Disingenous ‘HTML5’ Showcase” →
I don’t want to spoil anything, but if you’re a web geek, you need to read this article and realize that HTML5 isn’t what Apple says it is.
(via cameronmoll)
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Apple HTML5 Demos Require Safari →
Even if you have Google Chrome, you’re out of luck. What’s that sound? Is that Adobe’s PR machine screaming “HTML5 only works on Apple products!” at the top of their lungs? Yes, I believe it is!
Of course, HTML5 is a much different beast than Flash. There’s no way I would believe any statement like this, but somehow I think others might. Apple: you’re...
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WordPress 3.0 for Web Designers →
The new features really do turn WordPress into a CMS, and the custom post types are something it’s needed for years. Of course, it still can’t provide the community features that Tumblr provides, but as a standalone solution it rocks.
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If you send Valve's CEO multiple emails, he... →
I am looking out the windows of my 10th floor office (the office is the entire 10th floor, if that wasn’t clear, as it needs to be large enough to contain all of my awesomeness). It appears that the hounds have been released, as well as the ninjas (with some of the smaller and more agile ninjas riding on hounds), but no cease and desist letters, so you’re good on that front.
...
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Daring Fireball: Rob Rhyne on Briefs’s Rejection... →
Alas, Briefs was rejected. Rhyne suspects it is a misunderstanding — that the App Store reviewers, upon seeing what Briefs does, assumed it contains its own interpreter or otherwise executes arbitrary downloaded code. It does not. This one truly deserves reconsideration, Apple.
Does it really comply with the spirit of the App Store guidelines? Apple doesn’t seem to like third-party...
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Marco.org: Microsoft didn't lead the way to the... →
(Edited out due to Marco’s bold-face edit making me feel like a jackass. Really, I didn’t mean it to be criticism!)
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Prefetch Content with HTML5 →
Cameron Moll:
This sounds too easy.
Well, yeah, but that’s because prefetching content right now is so much harder than it should be. Looking forward to this long overdue feature being adopted in more browsers besides Firefox.
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Slowly Diving Into Cocoa
A few months ago I posted a screenshot from NoteScratch, a Mac app that I was working on. Though the underlying idea of a note-taking application built for speed and readability is still as awesome as it ever was, my plan to develop it in MacRuby with no prior Cocoa experience (and very little Ruby experience for that matter) was hopelessly optimistic.
That said, the application does run, but...
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"We didn't buy Palm to be in the smartphone... →
Aaaaaaaand that’s why I’ve just stopped looking at the Palm Pre as a phone that I want to get, because HP’s CEO doesn’t give a damn about a WebOS smartphone. I can’t see HP supporting Pres and Pixis after a statement like that. Hooray, imminent smartphone duopoly!
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Bugs Squared
Running a nightly build of Firefox that isn’t so ugly? Somewhat stable. Running an alpha build of 1Password for Windows? Also somewhat stable. Running an alpha build of 1Password integrated into the nightly build of Firefox? Total crashfest.
And yet I prefer it to using Chrome and actually having to remember the passwords. Indeed, I definitely prefer it to running old ‘n’...