Notes

Notes from 2015

635 notes

Dec 2015

So Meat Boss has more than 100 reviews and a 5.0/5 rating. Wish I was eating one of their sandwiches for lunch. facebook.com

I worked in a video store for 25 years. Here’s what I learned as my industry died. vox.com

Friends, who's used promoter.io or a similar NPS system? What did you like or dislike most about it?

Friends, who's used promoter.io or a similar NPS system? What did you like or dislike most about it?

You know what? I don't think I'd have the balls to take out a selfie stick and take a picture in public.

I have unrealistically high hopes for the new Independence Day.

I think Voss is actually selling a water bottle, and filling it with water is a distribution hack to get it into convince stores.

Found this article about the 2013 Iron Bowl—Not sure there's been a more exciting team to follow in the last 5 years stanforddaily.com

Ha! Somebody put earmuffs on the spinning rock near the Federal Reserve.

@CustomerIO Found another bug—events being sent don't work in A/B tests. They work fine for A, but error for B.

This is cool. An interview with Mark Simonson, the designer behind Proxima Nova. buff.ly

@CustomerIO I'm unable to preview or test any new emails that I create. Looks like the tabs aren't working. Any idea what's wrong?

Nov 2015

I would love for Les Miles to go to UGA and Richt to go to LSU.

What a lame ending to the USC Clemson game. A reversed ball spot, really?

It's also amazing how poor quality some OEM laptops are. No wonder Microsoft is trying to build their own hardware.

Trying to solve computer problems for my parents is exhausting.

Why focus should be on mass transit instead of tolls to relieve traffic congestion buff.ly

What are the eagles doing? You'd think after two touchdowns, you wouldn't leave Calvin Johnson 1-on-1.

Guy in my uber pool this morning having a mental breakdown over traffic.

Jags solidly in 1st place for the worst uniforms of all time.

Designer friends, how do you feel about designing in the browser?

I wonder if Pandora will finally get a decent desktop app now that they've acquired Rdio.

“You may think your body and mind are your own. In fact, you are a fusion of many organisms” bbc.com

The Getty is easily the most spectacular building I've ever been in.

I drink PBR because I only drink award winning beers.

So is there no way to center text on a select element using CSS? Ridiculous.

There are so many brilliant lines in this post about Grantland or moreso about executives vs talent. lefsetz.com

With such a deep league and Bell down, I might have to start both Freeman and Coleman this week.

I've notice a much higher number of people following me on YouTube lately. Perhaps it's my @SignalTower interviews?

Designers and product people—how would you feel about changing your site to use social logins?

Love the subtle animation when you like a tweet. Hint: Like this to see it.

I'm always interested in the evolution of media properties. Ziff Davis is an interesting case study. fortune.com

It's been a while since I published anything. My writing is lacking sharpness.

Anybody out there have experience preventing duplicate accounts from being created, when implementing social login?

Oct 2015

Pictured: The Cachuma Lake Marina. Local tells me water level near-full 5 years ago.

It's interesting to watch users use your product after a major design release.

What's the best way to ruin a book? Make it required reading in school.

Bahahaha, I just heard someone refer to Danny Woodhead as a Pokemon-sized Marshall Faulk.

Hard to beat a morning shooting pool and watching the falcons play.

I've started Jeremy Hill over Giovani Bernard on every wrong week this season. Here's to getting it right this week.

It's interesting that emojicons are the answer to the difficulty of communicating emotions in text interfaces.

OH in Venice: Not to take what we have here for granted, but any weather is exciting.

Well, I'm glad somebody is inspired by my work. My resume builder to the left, copy to the right.

OK, I'll say it. I'm not a big fan of bathroom attendants.

The new Moto G has solid battery life. Approximately 9 hours of life left in 15% battery.

Also, think I prefer Freight Text Pro to Medium's new Medium Condensed Serif.

That was probably the most perfect blocked punt I've seen.

Los Angeles traffic is maddening. 30 mins to go 5 miles is not acceptable.

Every time I get caught watching a prime time TV show, I remember why I don't watch TV.

Sep 2015

I guess Taco Bell's app only model didn't work. That or they just used it as a marketing ploy while they build this. tacobell.com

Of all the days for it to be cloudy in Los Angeles, it's cloudy when there's a blood moon out.

It would be so awesome if penalties incurred during the touch down were added to the extra point. I want to see 48-yard extra points.

Trying to build a Chrome extension—I have no idea what I'm doing.

Looks like Luke McCown's wishes from the Verizon backup generator commercial have come true. Drew Brees is out.

The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...' - Isaac Asimov

18,000 miles and 13 countries and the largest photo collection of Soviet Bus Stops ever assembled. buff.ly

This Missouri, UConn game has been surprisingly entertaining.

Marketing friends out there—anybody have experience or know of good tutorials about setting up Customer.io?

Interesting to see a pricing page for a rocket company—only $90M for SpaceX's Falcon Heavy. buff.ly

“... trying to write more recently, it's like meditation but with spectators.” buff.ly

Curious how many people are buying Red Zone just to escape the DraftKings and FanDuel commercials.

Pretty excited for the Auburn game. Glad football is finally back.

The best part of LA are the cool, quiet mornings on this patio.

DraftKings commercials every 1.5 Minutes, $82mm spent this year. We're not even at week 1 of the NFL season. buff.ly

No designer was ever fired for using Helvetica in a logo.

Aug 2015

Then again there are some awesome spots like this park next to the marina.

I can't help but hear neckbeards every time someone says neck buds.

"The police gave chase, but were encumbered by sobriety."

One of the benefits of building a fantasy sports company—we've got a treasure trove of fantasy team name inspiration.

I guess of all the brands that could sponsor the new Falcons stadium, Mercedes-Benz is a rather good one.

So what's the deal with the 9 superscript characters being used for apostrophes in the Ubuntu font?

Wow, this might be the best thing I've read on Quora. Great read for product designers—Code is Law buff.ly

If you haven't started reading Tim Urban's explanation of Space X's Mars mission, you really should. buff.ly...

Product friends, how do you manage and keep track of transactional emails your application sends—flows, spreadsheets, something else?

Interesting to see flexbox making an appearance in Bootstrap 4. Maybe it's time?

I just discovered that the difference between light and heavy rail is not based on the gauge or weight, but on capacity.

It's pretty amazing that Voyager 1, traveling 38,000 mph, won't reach Proxima Centauri for 73,000 years.

If I was going on a tech/startup radio show, what things would you want me to talk about?

Oh, synthetic marijuana is killing people now? You know what would probably prevent that?

Some of my CSS class names need work sm-full-width-center isn't great.

The clock is ticking—Autonomous truck cleared to drive on US roads for the first time buff.ly

Ugh, trying to slug through this MBA book and not a damn thing is applicable to high-growth tech companies.

Who wants to bet Fast Company puts Larry Page on the cover of their next three issues?

From a cartoon I drew in 4th grade. Probably would have been a pretty good illustrator if I kept at it.

The Steve Jobs movie got a bad rap. It's a pretty entertaining movie.

Are there any "All you can download" stock photo sites, where you just pay for one day or week?

What does the Daily Fantasy Sports landscape look like leading into football season? buff.ly

Uber is following Amazon's model, price everyone out of competition to remain the only player in the market. bbc.com

Emailing myself dreams at night has been a very interesting exercise. Especially when I have no Idea what I've written in the morning.

What web application has the best onboarding process. Suggestions?

I am incredibly disappointed that the Kenny Loggins Login post didn't gain any traction on Designer News.
kennylog.in

Jul 2015

So one of my friends got a 2-foot-tall statue as Chairman Mao as a gift from one of his students...

Zero to One is an exceptional book. I'm kind of bummed that I'm done with it.

I just downloaded a bible app just to take a closer look at the design. Don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

DraftKings raises $300m in frenzied fantasy sports land-grab

Yahoo! buys-in, FanDuel raises, DraftKings calls—July has been a busy month for fantasy. buff.ly

This fire in Glacier Park is going to throw a wrench in our hiking plans.

The ads on the new Designer News are probably the best on the web—easily visible, but don't take away anything from the homepage.

"It was clear that the epicenter, the energetic core, to web and app design was there — not in schools or in AIGA." buff.ly

Still have an issue with buying domains. I do think my latest purchase sportsnews.io was a good one though—I'll keep telling myself that.

Uber and Lyft are winning the fight against Taxi's because people are voting with their wallets and time.

Oh, LinkedIn emails aren't getting through? Isn't that a tragedy.

The numbers in the fantasy space are unreal—FanDuel to Announce It Has Raised $275 Million More buff.ly

Designers, what are some homepages you like for a consumer-focused tech company?

looking for homepage inspiration from other consumer tech companies @snapchat interestingly is just a ghost.

Its a shame to see Topolsky leaving after he's done such an incredible job. Excited for his next chapter though. buff.ly

This guy floating on strings at the pan am games is the same guy as the guitarist in Mad Max. Same concept anyways.

I'm pretty sure Yahoo is just making up design patterns for logins. Pretty sure I have 4 or 5 separate accounts now.

If you haven't discovered POOLSIDE.FM yet, you're late to the party.

Welp, one year later I'm finally done editing all my photos from Italy.

Brilliant article, but don't open it at work—Make it Reign: How an Atlanta Strip Club Runs the Music Industry gq.com

The navigation is a bit confusing, but the presentation is spectacular—Going home to inner Mongolia. jack.ventures

"Reddit is a weird beast. Weirder than Twitter and that’s saying something. It should have been left the fuck alone."

Lines from the Hate Mail Kickstarter video—
"Even if I lost my eyes, I'd probably send some hate Braille." buff.ly

Software startup friends, how do you handle dev shops that won't stop contacting you about open product and engineering positions?

Does the CC tab now default open or is that just me? Either way it's incredibly annoying for someone who tries to keep their desktop clean.

Riff Raff's music might be terrible, but you can't say his music videos aren't entertaining.

I wish them the best, but have my doubts—Meet Nava, A Startup That Wants To Fix The Government's Crappy Design buff.ly

Tumblr's UI is just a bit too clever. I have several Tumblr blogs, and still get lost whenever I'm at the dashboard.

Win or lose, there probably hasn't been a more fun team to watch in the last five years than Auburn—Can I Kick It? youtube.com

Jun 2015

Incredibly cool to see HubSpot embracing side projects—Changes brewing at HubSpot’s ‘super-secret’ R&D group

As a user, it's maddening. Chances are I won't remember what I used when I'm trying to access my account next week.

I'm going to be sore as hell tomorrow, but it feels great getting back to the gym.

A stupid man's report of what a clever man says is seldom accurate.

On another note, the text messages by Tom Brady's equipment managers are just as good as I hoped they'd be.

We thought you might not want to chat over lunch, so we put iPads with ads on every table.

The average fantasy player spent $465 in 2014—Up 70% YOY from 2012. #FSTA

This is the pinnacle of QR codes in marketing! Heinz ketchup bottle QR code leads to hardcore porn site theverge.com

What's next after Atlas Shrugged—the Fountainhead, East of Eden or A History of Western Philosophy?

How did game developers pack entire games into so little memory twenty five years ago? - Quora buff.ly

And to think if AOL's Instant Messenger could have held on for a few more years...

Even in the clarity of the morning hours, good copy remains elusive.

Two years late to the market, Adobe Photoshop launches artboards. Competition is a wonderful thing. youtube.com

Still can't get over the design of this site—great typography and punchy copy.

I just logged onto Instagram for the first time since Facebook bought them.

Twitter peeps. Who among you are serious fantasy sports players? I've got a project that I'm looking for a few people to test drive.

My Morning:
-This is going to be a usability disaster
-Hey, this might work
-This is going to be a usability disaster
-Hey, this might work

Drug marketplaces are here to stay. They provide a safer option for buyers. The government should regulate instead. buff.ly

May 2015

Q: Is the iframe going to be seamless?
A: Well, as seamless as an iframe can be.

Successfully updated my telescope app to v.20, pretty proud of myself.

A clever hack, but I cannot see any real use case—How to Code A Live Dynamic Twitter Feed in HTML Email litmus.com

It certainly feels like Atlanta is a rocketship—Atlanta could add up to 100,000 jobs this year buff.ly

deck_final, deck_final_v1, deck_final_v2, deck_final_final

I'm kind of sick of the whole UX vs UI thing now. A good product is a good product. buff.ly

Shipped a banner to a printer, the confirmation email came back in Comic Sans. I hope that it is in spite, not ignorance.

I'm going to be on the 11-o'clock news tonight talking about bike lanes in Atlanta. If it isn't past your bed time, tune in.

The Manchester City website has an accessibility page, which lets users change background colors, font sizes. buff.ly

Free two-day shipping furniture—just another reason amazon prime is awesome.

Hey, @comcast I understand that I won't always get 50mbps speeds, but this is abysmal. Text pages load slowly.

I just paid a dollar for breakfast at IKEA and it was exceptional.

“The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary.”

― Nassim Nicholas Taleb goodreads.com

This looks like something from the Cold War—Ten-engine electric plane prototype takes off phys.org

Cut the head off of one streaming service and two come back. It happened for Popcorn Time, why not Grooveshark? grooveshark.io

"The damn tech companies did not steal your business, your opportunity and did not make you broke. The customer did." lefsetz.com

If you're questioning whether you should build a forum or newsboard with a wordpress theme or telescope, definitely go with Telescope.

Whoa, Amazon will now pay users to select slower shipping.

Will Microsoft release IE Edge for Mac? I hope so. It sure will make testing much easier.

"Like a well-built home, great software focuses on giving its users hundreds of small, satisfying interactions." buff.ly

"Most enterprise software looks like a cheap 70's prom suit — muted blues and greys everywhere " buff.ly

This is what my new queen-sized mattress came in. Computer for scale.

The War on Drugs end in the US in inevitable; however, it may repeat itself elsewhere. buff.ly

Apr 2015

I'm frustrated with these tabs that contain a bunch of forms. Markup is getting sloppy.

I have no idea what all these buttons do in my Comcast account page. Also, every click brings up a loading wheel...

Setting up a new TV for the parents. Mom is very concerned that there will be more steps.

I just directed traffic so an 18-wheeler could back out onto piedmont road. My work here is done.

There is a thin line separating flashes of brilliance and stupidity.

"As professors are transformed into managers, so students are converted into consumers." buff.ly

“I would use your product if only you had X feature” is a dangerous signal to follow. buff.ly

It's been a long time since I've been to Decatur. Cool area.

“The US educational system treats children like criminals, that need to be controlled, seen and not heard...” buff.ly

I want to dislike this, but it's actually quite clever—Snapchat Uses Its Own App To Poach Uber Engineers buff.ly

The real issue for cable companies may not be cord-cutters, but people who never had cable in the first place. buff.ly

An early warning of Ebola was behind a paywall, as is the NYT story pointing that out. buff.ly

This is a big one—EFF Busts Podcasting Patent, Invalidating Key Claims at Patent Office eff.org

Thanks to Uber and Lyft there is now an unlimited amount of drunk people transportation. I expect DUIs to drop dramatically in a few years.

Typekit just told me the font requests are slow because of the complexity of my CSS. Is that possible?

If artists split to separate streaming platforms, people won't pay for both. I suspect we'll see popcorn time for music—the new Napster.

Who among you thinks that Lynda's product will improve once LinkedIn takes over?

Don't ask for a username when you want the user's email.

"41 percent of millennials use ad block. My daughter has ad block and...she puts it on everything." buff.ly

The Economist’s Tom Standage on digital strategy and the limits of a model based on advertising buff.ly

I just discovered that Sketch automatically versions design files—absolutely incredible.

I've updated Creative Cloud and can't help but feel that I've made a mistake.

Mar 2015

I don't know what it b is about b this new android keyboard that makes me b type b random Bs and Vs.

Just v watched the UPS guy drop my package full of plates off the back of his truck.

Apple makes great hardware, but when it comes to accessories—mice and keyboards—Logitech is far ahead.

The non questions presented by characters in Atlas Shrugged are both brilliant and maddening.

Whoa, that's pretty cool. If you login to your @DollarShaveClub account after clicking on an email. You only have to enter your password.

Remember the time a 14-year-old invested in that startup?

People are starting to follow me on Medium. Perhaps, I should write something.

Healthcare-tech peoples—If you hold healthcare information and it is non identifiable information, are you still required to follow HIPAA?

A lot of good people are part of this—Brick by Brick: A Free Guide to Building Awesome Communities buff.ly

I've spent the last hour trying to figure out why my classes aren't working on this website—apparently I wasn't running sass watch...

Brands pay Buzzfeed to craft a story and design around the brand, publish it as a native ad and pay for distribution on social media.

Hey @MattWilcox, just discovered your site and wanted to say how much I like the type. Playfair makes for great body copy.

No wonder it feels like I haven't accomplished anything this morning. I lost an hour.

It's probably time to consider a new CMS when it's faster to add a link in the source than through the CMS editor.

It's both spectacular and frightening how many jobs autonomous transportation would eliminate.

Sad to see EA shut down Maxis. As a kid I spent countless hours playing SimCity, SimIsle, SimFarm and SimTower. gamerant.com

The secret to getting a lot of things done—find one thing you hate to do and start procrastinating.

Think you're site is too big for WordPress? WIRED just merged 100k posts, 12 databases, and 17 blogs into 1 install. wired.com

Feb 2015

People of Twitter, what's your favorite email newsletter?

And just like that, Disqus becomes a reddit competitor.

The more I build, the more I realize that I need to refactor this CSS.

New record set: made it to work without hitting any red lights.

Designing even very simple games is deceptively difficult.

All you documentary lovers out there should check out Documentary Addict. I've ben waiting for something like this! buff.ly

What does Sam's to-do list look like? Why do people copy the way he takes notes? Now's your chance to find out. solomon.io

Netflix, where the goal is to become HBO, before HBO can become them.

Of all NASA's future mission possibilities, none excite me more than those on Titan. buff.ly

I've got a bunch of Audible credits. Any book suggestions?

Incredible detail to displaying type at Medium—Death to typewriters: Technical supplement buff.ly

Equally erie and well-done, the Hart Island project attempts to gather stories of those burried on the island. hartisland.net

An example of how very subtle product design decisions influence consumer perception. See Apple's green sms bubbles. buff.ly

Will startups be more accepting? We'll see—M.B.A. Programs Start to Follow Silicon Valley Into the Data Age buff.ly

Millions of Facebook users have no idea they’re using the internet, and millions more belive that it is the internet. buff.ly

No human has traveled beyond low Earth orbit since 1972, the final Apollo mission. Frankly, that is embarrassing. vox.com

Thank you for downloading our app, we now have your address book and will start sending you spammy push notifications.

After spending a year designing in Sketch, it is infuriating working in Photoshop.

Great ending to the football season. Eight months until it starts again.

Jan 2015

Guess that landmark based on its worst Trip Advisor review.

Ah, American politics at it's finest! Politicians supporting Comcast/TWC merger with letters ghostwritten by Comcast theverge.com

The time for a Sid Meier's Pirates! in space has been long overdue. Well, I think that's what this could be. buff.ly

Interesting discussion on Quora: How many years of public education should be publicly funded and why? buff.ly

Wise words from Mr. Sullivan this morning—Never by a used car on a rainy day.

Noted.

Dilbert's boss has no name. In fact, he is only referred to as 'The Pointy Haired Boss.'

Can't select fonts from @typekit's dropdown, so I'm going to use Google to find the font I want instead.

The new profiles feature in Chrome is huge! It's about time that feature was added.

table, td, tr, table, td, tr—my life building email templates.

Whoops, that's a serious design mistake—Ford recalls SUVs because drivers are accidentally turning them off buff.ly

A Teenager’s View on Social Media. Spot on about Facebook being mainly used for groups. buff.ly

Five years later user-focused team messaging tool @SlackHQ is turning into everything Ning wanted to be—a build your own social network.

Does anyone own a One Plus One? I've got an invite for the 64 gig one.

This product looks awesome, and I don't even skateboard—Onewheel: The World is Your Playground youtube.com

Fascinating design in unexpected places—The brutal, beautiful bus stop design of the former Soviet states. vimeo.com

An exciting look at growth hacking in the Marijuana industry!

Coffee pot, I don't know where you're hiding this morning, but I will find you.

I'm curious what role education has had in the decline of entrepreneurs—Endangered Species: Young U.S. Entrepreneurs buff.ly

Older notes from 2014