By John Gruber
WorkOS launches auth.md — an open protocol for agent registration.
Linked List: January 23, 2008
Wednesday, 23 January 2008
- Edward Tufte: Interface Design and the iPhone ★
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Smart video presentation by design genius Edward Tufte, demonstrating the cleverness of the iPhone’s UI, with particular emphasis on the way it maximizes available screen space by eliminating pixel-wasting “computer administrative debris” (e.g. scroll bars). I agree with his disparagement of the Stocks UI, but I don’t like his re-imagined Weather app at all — it seems convoluted and de-emphasizes the most important data. (Thanks to David Magda.)
Update: This link went down shortly after I first linked to it Monday, but is now working again. According to Tufte, they’re now serving the movie from Amazon S3.
- Derek Powazek: Hey Apple, Don’t Make Me Think ★
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Derek Powazek observes that in Safari, the left-to-right order is Reload/Location Field/Search, but in the new MobileSafari, the order is Search/Location Field/Reload. I don’t think it’s a big deal, but I agree with Derek that MobileSafari’s order should be reversed — not just to match Safari’s, but to match the overall “go to the top right for Search” pattern that Apple has established system-wide in recent years.
- Introducing EveryBlock ★
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New startup (with a stellar team behind it):
We aim to collect all of the news and civic goings-on that have happened recently in your city, and make it simple for you to keep track of news in particular areas. We’re a geographic filter — a “news feed” for your neighborhood, or, yes, even your block.
Today we’re launching in three American cities: Chicago, New York and San Francisco.
- Inventive Labs: Tabulate ★
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Outstanding JavaScript bookmarklet for MobileSafari that adds “open in new tab” behavior to any web page, including the very convenient option of queueing up several links to open in new tabs at once. (Via Cameron Hunt.)
- Electronista: MacBook Air’s External Superdrive Requires Special USB Port ★
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Electronista:
While external optical drives have existed that rely on the USB port alone, the particular power demands of the Apple-made drive should prevent it being used elsewhere; the sole USB port has been boosted past its specifications to supply enough power to use the drive with just the data cable rather than a direct power connection, say contacts.
- The Betamax Doctrine ★
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Paul Kafasis on Last.fm’s streaming music catalog and the implications for recording tools like Audio Hijack Pro.
- Coda: The One-Window Wonder ★
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Extensive Coda review by Shawn Blanc.
- Last.fm: Free the Music ★
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Richard Jones of Last.fm:
Something we’ve wanted for years — for people who visit Last.fm to be able to play any track for free — is now possible. With the support of the folks behind EMI, Sony BMG, Universal and Warner — and the artists they work with — plus thousands of independent artists and labels, we’ve made the biggest legal collection of music available to play online for free, the way we believe it should be.
Ad-supported revenue model, with payments based on popularity — the more a song is played, the more money they pay to the artist.
- James Surowiecki on the Psychology of Product Pricing ★
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James Surowiecki, a few weeks ago in The New Yorker:
In an experiment in the early nineteen-nineties, people were first asked whether they preferred a $110 microwave oven made by Emerson or a $180 oven made by Panasonic. Only forty-three per cent chose the Panasonic. But when a higher-priced Panasonic model, costing $200, was introduced into the mix, people’s choices changed in a curious way: suddenly, sixty per cent wanted the $180 oven. Just adding a more expensive model made the medium-priced version look more attractive and boosted Panasonic’s total sales. Change what surrounds a product, in other words, and you can change what people think of it.
Exercise for the reader: Consider how Apple takes full advantage of this phenomenon with products like the iPod Nano (and, before, the iPod Mini) and, now, the MacBook Air. Next, consider a hypothetical $249 iPhone Nano.
- Andy Ihnatko’s Alcatraz Photo Set ★
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Speaking of Andy Ihnatko, he’s got a fantastic photo set from a visit to Alcatraz last week, including a slew of shots from areas not normally available to the public.
- MacBreak Weekly Ep. 74 Discussion on MacHeist ★
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Good discussion on the merits of MacHeist from the perspective of indie Mac developers on this week’s episode of MacBreak Weekly, with Leo Laporte, Merlin Mann, and Andy Ihnatko. The MacBreak discussion starts around the 8:00 mark, and then picks up again around 38:00 when they’re joined by Rich Siegel from Bare Bones Software. Siegel makes two main points against selling software at such a spectacular discount: (a) customer support costs; and (b) that it lessens the perceived value of software.
- NetNewsWire and Other Desktop Apps: Your RSS Router ★
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Brent Simmons on the myriad ways NetNewsWire integrates with other applications.