The disappearing startup
Troubling news for the future growth of the US economy.
More of a visual effect
This Motherboard article is a fascinating look at Uber.
“I know this seems a misleading to you but it is meant as more of a visual effect more than an accurate location of drivers in the area. It would be better of you to think of this as a screen saver on a computer. Once a rider request a trip there will be actual information about the partners [sic] location showing up in the app.
Uber makes no distinction, visually, between the little black sedans that are available to passengers, and those that may be part of a visual effect.”
The way to deal with controversy with a very interested crowd
In what I believe is an extremely rare event, a very senior Apple executive appeared on a podcast in front a live audience. The podcast, The Talk Show with John Gruber, was a very friendly audience, made up of folks attending the 2015 WWDC in San Francisco, so Apple developers and fans all. On the other hand it’s an opinionated bunch when it comes to Apple, an opinionated bunch with very high standards for their favorite computer company.
What I found so interesting in this discussion was how Phil Schiller, the SVP of Marketing for Apple, handled the difficult topics. Areas such as software quality, which many Apple faithful will say has declined recently (I agree), were dealt with by reciting facts, the data Apple uses to judge software quality in the wild. Even though the host took issue with the baseline (some of the most annoying issues wouldn’t necessarily show up on standard crash reports for example) Phil dealt with the controversy very calmly. Most critically he didn’t apologize for the way Apple runs the show. Mistakes will be made, but ultimately Apple is looking for the best options and priorities. Sometimes it will work out well, other times improvements can be made.
This interaction stands in stark contrast to many companies that fall all over themselves apologizing for the opinions they have or options they’ve taken. You have to respect a company that has an opinion about how things should be and stands by that over the long term.
Design for the human
In episode 467 of HBR Ideacast Evernote CEO Phil Libin discusses how the increasingly personal devices such as the phone or smart watch are changing how work gets done. He makes many interesting points in this podcast, but one that stood out was how these new devices are reducing the session length of each interaction. Where time spent on a computer can be often measured in hours, time spent on each interaction with a smart watch can be measured in seconds. This difference, a drastic reduction in session length while at the same time dramatically increasing the number of sessions per day, means that software design must take this into account by designing not for the device but the human.
Already in the consumer space users are requiring software that seamlessly operates from device to device depending on the context (such as Apple’s continuity). Enterprise software, or business process within business, hasn’t caught up with this phenomena.
Missouri lawmaker proposes requiring ID for mobile payments
Missouri lawmaker proposes requiring ID for mobile payments | FOX2now.com
It’s almost as if he has no idea what he’s talking about.
Monument Valley
I’ve played Monument Valley on iOS since it first came out. It’s a really unique game perfectly suited for an iPad. There’s been a good deal of copy written lately about how much money a developer can make on the App Store. Occasionally we get glimpses into the financial side of this business. Very interesting to see for this admittedly very popular app.