Add some goddam color!

Posted in business, design, games, ideas, technology on February 8th, 2010 by admin – Be the first to comment

I quickly realized after looking at this amazing collection of gaming consoles that color is needed. Take a look at these images (via Coudal Parnters) and tell me which ones stand out? Which ones seems inviting? Fun? Something that screams for you to touch?

Color is pretty much what is missing today in all electronics. Everyone, including Apple, wants to play it safe with the brushed silver, sleek black or cool white. Grow some and try the rest of the color wheel.

MULTIFUNKTIONS SPIELCOMPUTER

head body

Posted in business on February 8th, 2010 by admin – Be the first to comment

Son: Daddy? What are those funny words on the back of your neck?
Dad: Son. Let me tell you a story about the old days of Hypertext Markup Language.

DropBox: File storage, sharing and syncing across multiple computers

Posted in business, software on February 3rd, 2010 by admin – Be the first to comment

Need to store, sync and share across multiple computers? DropBox is the answer. I’ve been using for about 2+ months now and it’s fantastic. Drop dead simple and fast. It’s also free for the first 2 GBs.

Why we make project plans

Posted in business, ideas on February 3rd, 2010 by admin – Be the first to comment

Excellent analysis by Graham Ericksen on why we make project plans:

“I’m suggesting that project plans are the same thing: artifacts of rituals meant to quell anxiety about the unknown.”

Project completion: Feb. 8, 2010 at 10:32:12 AM EST

Posted in business on February 3rd, 2010 by admin – Be the first to comment

I wholeheartedly agree with this.

It’s not a promise, it’s a guess (37Signals):

“When is it going to be done?” is a reasonable question and we as software developers should try to come up with the best answer we can based on our experience and analysis. What we should not do, however, is treat our answer as solemn oath.

Unless you are doing the exact same project with the exact same team (highly unlikely), there is no way to precisely estimate when it will be completed. No amount of detailed project planning is going to predict the future.

The Impact: iPad No Flash

Posted in business on January 30th, 2010 by admin – 3 Comments

Like one of the comments said “a picture is worth more than a 1000 words” (via Daring Fireball > TheFlashblog)

Jimmy Fallon does an awesome Neil Young impression

Posted in funny, music on January 29th, 2010 by admin – Be the first to comment

I really can’t tell the different between the two.

<a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/youtube.com/watch?v=tY5x8pF512k');" href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=tY5x8pF512k"">http://youtube.com/watch?v=tY5x8pF512k"</a>

Boxee UX Design

Posted in business, information design on January 29th, 2010 by admin – 2 Comments

I know it’s difficult with client work, but I wish more people could share their IA/design work. I really enjoy learning from real -life examples. Here are some samples from Whitney Hess, who designed the Boxee interface.

Thoughts on specification and requirements documents

Posted in business on January 28th, 2010 by admin – Be the first to comment

There is some debate as to whether product requirements and specifications documents are  necessary steps in building a software application. But before giving my thoughts on whether they are useful or not, I need to explain how I define requirements versus specifications.

A requirements document is a short description of what the application is supposed to do and who is going to us it. I emphasis short because there are many requirements templates out there that ask writer to fill out all kinds of garbage such as assumptions, dependencies and constraints. I don’t know how anyone could answer these questions because 1) they are either asking you to predict the future or 2) perform some self-administered psychoanalysis.

A specifications document is defining how the application will actually function from a user’s and technical perspective. This is where the details come into play. Screen specifications, site maps and user flows are used to detail each screen’s content and functional components.

So back to original question, are either of these documents necessary? For my the answer is “Yes”, but not because I think anyone is actually going to read them. The main reason I create these documents to fact check my wireframe. For me, the wireframe is the primary deliverable because it something people can actually view and interact.  It is the application. However, some things just can’t be fully explained through the wireframe alone. Calculations, rules, flows and other bits of logic that define what the user can see and do should be written down. If not, your going to have a difficult time getting your application coded.

Another benefit is it helps me catch mistakes or omissions within my mock-ups. The act of writing out how a particular screen will work uses a different part of my brain than the visual/design part. It like someone else running quality control on my work.

So is writing a requirements and specifications, mind numbing, tedious work? Definitely! Does it improve quality and save time? Yes, but keep in mind that these documents are not etched in stone, they can be changed, ignored or just plain disregard as soon as the code starts to fly.

Conan 1864 Baseball

Posted in TV, funny, video on January 28th, 2010 by admin – Be the first to comment

I never watched much Conan (same goes for Letterman and Leno) but this is one of my favorite clips.

Conan 1864 Baseball