Engineering the Cloud

There's no doubt the cloud is the future. What form that takes is anyone's guess. I love what Apple is doing with iCloud, even if it's taking forever to slowly roll out. My best guess at this point is even after the roll out is more complete, I'll still be using Dropbox. I love Dropbox.

There's a great interview on Technology Review with the founder of Dropbox, Drew Houston.

I think they've demonstrated that they fundamentally care about making the Apple experience really good, but they don't pay nearly the same attention to other platforms. Even if you're an Apple user, what happens when you need to share with someone who has an Android phone or you have to work with someone who has a Windows PC?

Hat tip to Shawn Blanc.

Interface Design

We all have mobile devices loaded up with apps. Some come pre installed from the factory. Others, we add. Some are extremely functional. They get the job done. Some are beautiful or inovative, even if they're not necessarily what we would choose for ourselves. It's the rare app that mixes the functional and the beautiful in just the right mix for me. When I find that rare app, it makes you wonder why the others can't be made better.

Matt Gemmell has a brilliant post today entitled Augmented Paper in which he explores this subject. It's a great read and has got me thinking about just what it is I value most in an app.

Design an experience. Make it as beautiful - and as emotionally resonant - as it can possibly be. Then adorn the core experience and content with only as much functionality as is absolutely necessary. Functionality - and software-based thinking in general - is like seasoning. A little is an enhancement; any more destroys the flavour, subsumes the artistry of the chef, and may well be bad for you.

Spotlight Shortcuts

I know there's a million different articles, posts and books written on the topic of working more efficiently on your Mac, but this post on lifehacker is really great. I use spotlight for a lot of things and had no idea it could do all of this.

Half the time, when I'm looking for a file, it's because I don't actually know where it is, or its buried so far in the Finder that I don't want to click around the file system to get there. Searching for it in Spotlight will get you the file, but you can also use this keyboard shortcut to view that file's parent directory. Just highlight the file and press Cmd+Enter (or Cmd+Click on the file) to view it in the Finder. It's immensely handy for searches where you need to do more than just open the file.

Insanely Simple

I've been eagerly awaiting the release of Ken Segall's book about the idea of simplicity as it relates to his experience with Apple and other companies he's done advertising work with. Today, on his blog, he made available an 11 page introduction to the book that will be released on April 26th.

For a concept that’s supposed to be obvious, Simplicity can be difficult to describe. It can be a choice, a feeling, or a guiding light. You might even think of it as a spirit, for you can tell pretty quickly when you’re in a place that believes in it and when you’re in a place that doesn’t.

Simplicity is the love child of two of the most powerful forces in business: Brains and Common Sense.

Since most people are endowed with both, you’d think that Simplicity would rule the world. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. For example, Common Sense would suggest that when Microsoft created the Zune Store to compete with the iTunes Store, it would have charged a fixed price per song, much as Apple did. Instead, it offered “Microsoft Points,” which required customers to purchase points by the hundred, then use a conversion rate of eighty points to the dollar to buy a ninety- nine- cent song. The architect of that scheme seems to be missing the Common Sense gene— and those who approved it were a bit light in the Brains department.

 

You can get more information about ordering the book here.

 

Archive All

I love this post by MG Siegler over at parislemon. It captures much of what I hate about email. I haven't summoned up the courage yet to do this myself, but I'm thinking hard about it.

But archiving all my mail forced me to change habits. I was sure there would be something I would miss or forget. But the reality is that there was no way I was ever going to get to all 5,000 things I had starred anyway. I was kidding myself. And I was creating a sense of dread for myself on a daily basis when I looked at my inbox and saw all those goddamn stars.