512 Pixels

The power of the nerd community shouldn’t be underestimated.

The chart in Chris Ziegler’s post really sums things up nicely.

If you want to be respected as a customer, buy an Apple product. Android just seems more and more masochistic every day.

Vlad Savov:

Samsung has just distributed the worst news of this Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade cycle: the popular Galaxy S smartphone that sold 10 million units last year and the 7-inch Galaxy Tab tablet won’t be upgraded to Android 4.0. The company’s argument is that they lack sufficient RAM and ROM to run the new OS alongside TouchWiz and other “experience-enhancing” software.

So, instead of what is doing what is best for the customers and the Android ecosystem, Samsung is going to do what they do they do best: cover their own rear.

As Shawn Blanc asked in his Galaxy Nexus review:

Who’s fighting for the users?

Pitiful, but not surprising.

Everyone’s favorite domain registrar has gone insane.

Everyone’s favorite lawyer-turned-tech-blogger Nilay Patel has posted an in-depth look at SOPA. You need to read this.

In his excellent, in-depth Nexus Galaxy review:

But my overall impression after using Android for a week was that of being underwhelmed. Though the operating system is functional and advanced in certain areas, it still has an overarching feel of still being immature. Moreover, there was nothing on Android that made me feel more empowered compared to using my iPhone.

Sure, there are bits of the Android OS that I like and appreciate, but never once was I wowed or delighted. Which is unfortunate, because those are important elements when you are using a device day in and day out every day of the year.

Jim Hopkins has a copy of the memo. In it, Bob Dickey, President of Gannet, writes:

In every local market, we have the most and the best journalists. These new tools will help our journalists meet the demands of the new news cycle, one that requires agility in real-time reporting, social media and greater emphasis on video storytelling, further increasing our competitive advantage.

In addition, we’ll provide the devices to create a “digital workstation” at each of our local Information Centers to monitor the content experience we provide across digital channels — tablets and smart phones, in particular. This will give us a vital point of view so we can adjust our storytelling with greater precision.

Props to Gannet on this move. Newspapers need to embrace multimedia — coupled with good writing and reporting — to do well online.

That said, this is just one more step down the road to the place where reporters are being relied on for all aspect of their stories. Arming writers with iPhones is cheaper than hiring someone to shoot video.

This Kickstarter project is less than $1,000 from being funded. I backed it because this project captures my favorite Steve Jobs quote.

When re-branding Forkbombr, I almost named the site bicyclemind.net. True story.

Rachel Swaby for Wired:

But Dropbox’s success is now at a critical moment. Providing a way to give users access to everything they do on a computer from everywhere has become the brass ring for digital services. And Dropbox is the one to beat. After years of remaining largely below the radar of the world’s biggest computing companies, Dropbox is now faced with a host of very prominent competitors. The most immediate, of course, is Apple, whose iCloud service launched in October.

iCloud hits Dropbox hard on the simplicity and ease of use fronts because Apple has been working in this space from the beginning. iCloud may be cross platform averse, but its automatic syncing slices seconds from Dropbox’s drag-and-drop approach.

I really think Swaby misses the point with this.

iCloud may become a direct competitor of Dropbox’s, but at the purposes of the services are different at this point.

Dropbox’s main usage is to sync files; iCloud would have users sync data, hiding the individual files from the user interface. MobileMe’s iDisk was more of a direct competitor with Dropbox than iCloud is, as its primary use was syncing folders and files.

Apple’s wants to leapfrog this entire model with iCloud. iCloud may become the go-to solution of OS X and iOS users to sync data in the future, but right now, that’s just not true. Nerds still like files too much.

We’re hoping you decided to check out the trial of OmniFocus after their sponsorship earlier this month. Here’s a quick 5-step jumpstart.

1. Capture everything. Take 15 minutes to move things out of your head and in to OmniFocus. Anything from long-term goals (earn pilots license) to quick errands (card for mother).
2. Define next actions. “Earn pilots license” deserves its own project. Move it to your library and decide what to do next.
3. Organize actions with contexts. “Research area flight schools” might be assigned to a Mac context for googling, “card for mother” to Walgreen’s.
4. Now we do stuff. If you’re at the office, focus on work projects to get stuff done!
5. Review mode. Take time to consider each active project. Does it need some work?

Find out more about OmniFocus here, and don’t hesitate to ask questions.

via Time

On this week’s Back to Work, Dan and Merlin talked about minimalism, and how it can become a distraction in and of itself.

They discuss the point that if someone can’t work unless every single cord and pixel are in just the right place, maybe they should be more interested in the work at hand.

I think this is dead on. I like having a minimal computing experience as much as the next Mac nerd, but I do feel the temptation to keep tweaking and keep shedding tools. Sometimes, that temptation feels bigger than a looming deadline.

Minimalism isn’t about a super clean desk with an iMac perfectly centered on it, with a single TextEdit window open on the screen. It should be about getting the work done, with the best tools possible. For some people, that means having 45 Safari tabs open while pushing back the piles of paper just enough to make room for a mouse. Some people need a clear desk with a full-screen text editor.

In reality, minimalism (or zen, or whatever) doesn’t have a fixed definition. It varies. It is about reducing friction just enough to work, then sitting down and doing the work.

Don’t let fighting the distractions become a distraction.