Several application developers have added in-webpage video demos of their programs. I’m surprised that not everyone has done so. Instead of asking a potential customer to download a trial version (or worse, to just buy it) and then install it,...
Read moreThe webpages for the MacBook Air and the iPad Mini blend whitespace, images and text masterfully. The result is simple, elegant and aesthetically pleasing (nice fonts make a huge difference). They also don’t make extensive use of columns. The top...
Read moreTapiture is simple and elegant in design. Everything is very nicely put together and the menu is simple and effective (and only pops up when you need it). If a site needs to present a ton of images, their variable...
Read moreIn 1997, Steve Jobs said something pretty eye-opening about marketing and selling to consumers. From the video of the talk (linked below), at around 3:20 “… the way to do that, is not to talk about speeds… it’s not to...
Read moreA co-founder of RethinkDB put together a list of lessons for startups. While some are aimed at VC-funded startups, a lot of them are generally applicable. http://www.defmacro.org/2013/07/23/startup-lessons.html
Read moreNeXT was a pioneer in bringing object oriented programming into the industry. Their WebObjects framework, introduced in 1995, (which is apparently still used to power iTunes) was well ahead of it’s time. It has many conceptual similarities to the modern...
Read moreAccording to Rob Pike, your code almost never needs to take into account the endianness of the machine it’s running on. From his blog post (linked below): “The entire Plan 9 system ran, without architecture-dependent #ifdefs of any kind, on...
Read moreFrom Rob Pike: “I’m pretty sure the concept of a hidden file was an unintended consequence. It was certainly a mistake.” https://plus.google.com/+RobPikeTheHuman/posts/R58WgWwN9jp
Read moreMost of the views expressed on the page (linked below) are opinions, but many of those opinions are from people worth listening to. There are several subcategories (left panel, under ‘Software’). http://harmful.cat-v.org/software/
Read moreThe page (linked below) has a lot of very insightful quotes from people worth listening to. http://quotes.cat-v.org/programming/
Read moreI’ve been a fan of Paul Graham’s essays for a while now. He’s written a lot about startups and programming. If you haven’t read his work, it’s worth checking out (he’s pretty qualified to talk about these things). He’s written...
Read moreThe site (linked below) has pulled together a lot about Steve Jobs. It covers his management style at Apple, personal characteristics, great quotes and more: http://allaboutstevejobs.com/index.php
Read moreThe article (linked below) contains a few insights into Apple’s approach to design from an ex-Apple Designer http://www.fastcodesign.com/3030923/4-myths-about-apple-design-from-an-ex-apple-designer
Read moreThe latter half of the article (linked below), by Dan Bricklin (co-creator of VisiCalc), touches upon the big idea of the ‘Metaphor’ paradigm in user interface design. I think this part (near the very end) is key: “This is not...
Read moreThis piece was written by Dan Bricklin (co-creator of VisiCalc – the killer app that made the Apple II a hit and helped the PC market take off). In it he argues that the counterculture movement played less of a...
Read moreThe post (linked below) was written by Andy Hertzfeld, a member of the team that built the original Macintosh. In it he discusses the spirit and culture of the team behind the Macintosh. The website has a lot of interesting...
Read moreThe paper linked below is a response to the classic ‘Worse is Better’, written by the guy who originally wrote it (however, it seems like he’s still on the fence). The best part (IMO), is the part about the ‘PC-loser’...
Read moreThe paper (linked below) was written by Dennis Ritchie in 1979. It covers the beginnings of Unix at Bell Labs. An interesting point from the paper is that Unix and C weren’t completely planned out and then implemented but (after...
Read moreThe paper (linked below) was written by Dennis Ritchie in 1993. It covers the history and development of C at Bell Labs. From the end of the paper – this is what makes C so great: “Despite some aspects mysterious...
Read moreAlthough it refers to a specific moment in history (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September), it’s something that can happen to any community at any time. The problem isn’t just that the original community is overwhelmed by the massive wave of newcomers and unable to...
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