Day: August 25, 2011

Glassboard is for sharing privately with groups

I’ve just started using Glassboard. Glassboard is for sharing privately with groups on your iOS, Android or WP7 devices. But while I’ve barely sent a message as yet it fits so well where tools like Twitter were failing. And yes, that means that it only runs on mobile devices at least for now. Could easily work, but for me, having the ability to see activity on my boards from bots, or notify my desktop could be helpful. Maybe. I have to think about that some more. But it certainly seems that way for the use cases I have in mind for myself.

There are other tools that I’ve been using that do similar things (so far) like Groupme which has advantages (at least for now). For example, not everyone I work with or everyone in my family has a smart phone. But every one (at least as of recently) can receive and send text messages. But they also fail in various ways.

I’m looking forward to see how Brent and crew move this forward.

“then I will feel that my genes are still in there…”

“To me, Apple exists in the spirit of the people that work there, and the sort of philosophies and…”: “To me, Apple exists in the spirit of the people that work there, and the sort of philosophies and purpose by which they go about their business. So if Apple just becomes a place where computers are a commodity item and where the romance is gone, and where people forget that computers are the most incredible invention that man has ever invented, then I’ll feel I have lost Apple. But if I’m a million miles away and all those people still feel those things and they’re still working to make the next great personal computer, then I will feel that my genes are still in there.”

– Steve Jobs, 1985 [Pithy quotes everywhere. It’s all in the timing…]
Source: One Thing Well

Steve

It’s nearly impossible to deliver “revolutionary”. Huge leaps in technology are rare. Huge leaps in anything are rare. To create great things you must take steps. Sometimes the largest steps you can. Steps that have some pain associated with them. But by taking steps, your audience, users, clients, etc. can follow along. They might be a bit uncomfortable, they might feel some pain. But they can deal with that. But if no one reaches, no progress is made.

Steve has pushed the boundaries for a long time. He wanted quiet machines that were easy to use. He wanted to eliminate the clutter computers required both mental and physical. He wanted them to be elegant and simple and purposeful. He wants them to disappear into the “doing” of it, without the device being the focus.

He didn’t do this as an artist, working by himself in a studio advancing his personal craft. He edited and filtered the ideas of others, demanded precision and detail, and unforgiving excellence from generations of corporate citizens. He needed folks to follow along, trust his instincts, fix everything down the tiniest details. And then do it again, and again, and again.

To me it very much a tortoise and hare story. He kept going when others said enough. That’s a hell of thing. Because it’s easy to say “enough”.

CEOs should care about details. Even shades of yellow. On a Sunday

Icon Ambulance: Google’s Vic Gundotra recalls Steve Jobs The Perfectionist:

Joining other reactions on the web to Steve Jobs’ sudden resignation as the CEO of Apple yesterday, Google’s vice president of engineering Vic Gundotra recalled on Google+ a particular Sunday in January 2008 when Apple’s boss asked him to call his home. The reason? The Google logo on the iPhone:

So Vic, we have an urgent issue, one that I need addressed right away. I’ve already assigned someone from my team to help you, and I hope you can fix this tomorrow. I’ve been looking at the Google logo on the iPhone and I’m not happy with the icon. The second O in Google doesn’t have the right yellow gradient. It’s just wrong and I’m going to have Greg fix it tomorrow. Is that okay with you?

The following day, the world’s greatest product developer followed-up with an email message with the subject “Icon Ambulance”, directing Vic to work with Greg Christie to fix the icon.

Since I was 11 years old and fell in love with an Apple II, I have dozens of stories to tell about Apple products. They have been a part of my life for decades. Even when I worked for 15 years for Bill Gates at Microsoft, I had a huge admiration for Steve and what Apple had produced. But in the end, when I think about leadership, passion and attention to detail, I think back to the call I received from Steve Jobs on a Sunday morning in January. It was a lesson I’ll never forget. CEOs should care about details. Even shades of yellow. On a Sunday.

[Incredible.]
Source: 9 to 5 Mac – Apple Intelligence

Irene

Atlantic Tropical Weather Outlook: SATELLITE IMAGERY INDICATES THAT SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS
ASSOCIATED WITH THE LOW PRESSURE AREA LOCATED ABOUT 350 MILES
WEST-SOUTHWEST OF THE SOUTHERN CAPE VERDE ISLANDS IS BECOMING
BETTER ORGANIZED…AND A TROPICAL DEPRESSION COULD BE FORMING. IF
CURRENT TRENDS CONTINUE… ADVISORIES WILL LIKELY BE INITIATED
LATER THIS MORNING. THIS SYSTEM HAS A HIGH CHANCE…90
PERCENT…OF BECOMING A TROPICAL CYCLONE DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS
AS IT MOVES WESTWARD OR WEST-NORTHWESTWARD AT 10 TO 15 MPH. [oy]
Source: National Hurricane Center (Atlantic)

★ Resigned

★ Resigned: Zoom out enough and you can see that the same things that define Apple’s products apply to Apple as a whole. The company itself is Apple-like. The same thought, care, and painstaking attention to detail that Steve Jobs brought to questions like “How should a computer work?”, “How should a phone work?”, “How should we buy music and apps in the digital age?” he also brought to the most important question: “How should a company that creates such things function?” [It’s a sad day for anyone who loves the craft of technology and a vision of technology “that just works”.]
Source: Daring Fireball