202 karma · joined March 14, 2010
It's sitting in a stack of books that I need to dispose of so if you're interested then I'll send it your way.
Edit: Although the book doesn't cover CSS3, the book teaches you what you will learn anyways (as CSS3 builds on existing concepts (as well as adding some new ones)); so you don't have to worry about learning outdated 'dis-information' (I think!).
You're underestimating how the technology can be used to simplify the process of taking an image for the average consumer. With the right marketing and UX Lytro could sell their camera as one that 'just works'.
No one wants to bother focusing an image. Everyone is disappointed when a photo comes out blurry. Yeah sure they could invest time into learning how to take better pictures but for a lot of people who just want nice pictures of their friends when they're on holiday/at a club/out for dinner, they don't want to waste their time doing that.
A camera where focusing an image is abstracted away so that the consumer doesn't have to think about it would be a huge step forward. (Think post-shot auto-focus with optional tweaking for when the camera doesn't get it right). Combine this with features already available such as automatic red-eye reduction and the barrier to entry for taking decent quality pictures is much lower. A lot of people would buy that camera.
Ever noticed how someone looks attractive from behind but then they turn round and are not so much? It seems to me that when our brain fills in the gaps it assumes that the subject is aesthetically pleasing. (Well, either our brain defaults to expecting something to look nice, or it fills in the blanks with an average and we find the average to be attractive.)
So coming back to simplistic design and why it evokes a positive emotional response from us: Perhaps it's because with a simple design our brain has more 'blanks' to fill in.
If anyone knows of a name for this phenomenon and further information exploring it I would love to learn about it. Same goes for if what I'm saying is nonsense and there is an alternate theory disproving mine!
Attention to detail and a certain bluntness has been attributed as part of Steve Jobs' immense success, but this come across as plain rude. It doesn't matter if Jobs is right or not, it's bad etiquette to criticise another's work in this context.
Of course, I am assuming that his opinion wasn't asked, and I know nothing of the relationship that Jobs and Doerr shared.
- Happens very rarely - Is trivially solved, even in a large codebase
I'm using a Macbook with the UK keyboard which for some rather odd reason dispenses with the # key and instead one must type option-3 to display a #. This conflicts with the applications hotkey which maps alt-3 (aka option 3) to switching tabs.
Brain dump of ideas follows:
Search for: "Best cheesecake recipe?" Result: Ingredients, step-by-step guide, perhaps a video too.
The search engine would adapt to my knowledge and, if I do not know much about baking, and/or cheesecakes, it would inform me that cheesecake's can be broadly categorised as baked or unbaked. It would recommend the recipe for one type to me based on which is easier for a beginner to bake, but with the option of overriding the default.
Search for: "Best steak"
Now this is a little ambiguous, so I would be prompted for further information such as "price range, distance, the time that I would like to eat at".
Result: x restaurant, which is y distance from you, serves the best steak at z pounds.
If applicable the search engine would inform me that if I am willing to travel half a mile further then I am able to get an even better steak for half the price!
It would also be great if I could make a reservation from the same page displaying the results.
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Now I realise that the above is pretty much impossible for a variety of reasons, but I would love to be able to pay for something like this.
Though I disagree that any new feature is a good thing :P
Apps appear to be more visible in this design, as well as having more of a purpose. Perhaps part of the motivation of this design was to encourage developers to make use of the Facebook platform.
It may be a good opportunity for web apps to make their users more public about their choice of apps. While apps can currently publish to a user's wall, I prevent this from happening because it seems spammy and pointless, but I wouldn't have an issue with an app having a dedicated space on my profile where it displays specific information.
It seems like it would be a good way for these people who know a little bit about me to quickly learn a little more about me.
However, I do not have any issues with the reliability of Facebook chat. Not to say that there are no issues, they just haven't affected me ...yet.
Facebook chat is the primary real time chat system that I use these days and has replaced MSN for me and my friends. I recently installed the Messenger app on my iPhone and it certainly has the potential to kill off whatsapp and similar apps due two reasons: all my contacts are already available, and that I can use either my laptop or phone, depending on whichever is available to me when I need to communicate.
Unfortunately I doubt that this potential will be realised. Why? Because I haven't seen Facebook advertise the app AT ALL. (I heard about the app through HN.) None of my friends are aware the app exists and it's such a shame. It wouldn't be hard for Facebook to push their chat service as an alternative to txt/bbm/whatsapp, they already have an ad network in place that they can use for free.
I really hope to see Facebook push their messaging service as a way to communicate not just when you are browsing facebook.com but instead as an alternative to text-based communication methods on phones.
My email is in my profile.
There is often an overlap with coders and people who have a good grasp of what is involved in front end development, including all the limitations and properties of the web, for obvious reasons. However, this does not make coding a necessity.