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scottieh

235 karma · joined November 19, 2008

writer, product maker.

http://scotthurff.com http://twitter.com/scotthurff

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scottieh··on “Churn” isn't a metric, it's people rejecting you–grow from it
Author here. You'd be surprised how many founders / operators I've spoken to over the past two years who work so hard to avoid discussing cancellations. At the core of it, they're hurt and scared by it. So yeah, it is dramatic. It's a very human phenomenon.
scottieh··on Facebook Paper's gesture problems
Looks like we use the app differently, which is entirely possible in this world ;) My assumptions were twofold: 1) users would like to scroll and scan quickly (because they're impatient), diving into content to find something that looked interesting to read, and 2) that the inertial scroll literally amplifies that action — potentially getting you something you want, faster.

Flinging the carousel has a playful factor (that you mentioned) and serves to immerse you more into the content. The fact, though, that I have to hurt my thumb to do this is a glaring problem, IMO.

scottieh··on Facebook Paper's gesture problems
Thanks for reading / commenting!
scottieh··on Facebook Paper's gesture problems
Was that swipe comfortable? Could you scan most of the headlines quickly, or was your thumb covering up most of them?

Paper's story carousel is designed to get you scanning headlines quickly with the inertial scroll. I believe that the current configuration — with its gestural shortcomings — does not ideally accomplish that goal.

scottieh··on Facebook Paper's gesture problems
Author here: I disagree that one can achieve the same effect by swiping near the center. A middle-to-left swipe on the phone doesn't make use of Paper's exciting physics-driven carousel. I can barely get any inertia swiping from the middle. Even worse, my thumb covers up most of the content and I have to make a "dabbing" motion to see a steady stream of stories.
scottieh··on Facebook Paper's gesture problems
This is the study I used as the basis of the Thumb Zone, etc.: http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2013/02/how-do-users-re...?
scottieh··on Facebook Paper's gesture problems
Your point about reducing the hero image is a very good one. I hadn't thought of that. And even if it's a poor quality image, the content is mostly static and distracts from the entire purpose of the navigation: getting you reading stories.
scottieh··on Facebook Paper's gesture problems
Inspired by a conversation over at Product Hunt: http://www.producthunt.co/posts/1105
scottieh··on Show HN: Posters for your startup's office (practicing my design skills)
My favorite: http://startupstyles.com/collections/posters/products/forgin...
scottieh··on 16 CEOs & product designers teach you how to ship products faster in new book
Thanks for the note.

At best, your enumeration is highly speculative. We can only see the finished products and a little bit behind the curtain (the iOS 7 videos, "Steve Jobs" by Isaacson, etc.) — iOS 7 is a work in progress and we don't know how he currently works, or what sort of "idea shaping" currently goes on.

Also, the headline is just that — a headline. It's to get people thinking or talking about who makes great products, and what constitutes a great product.

scottieh··on 16 CEOs & product designers teach you how to ship products faster in new book
He's definitely polarizing. But I chose him because his products have had such an immense impact on our culture and what we perceive to be possible.

As a side note, Ive had the marketing team do the icons. Here's why: http://www.fastcodesign.com/1672819/who-designed-ios-7-s-ico...

scottieh··on Wake up Barnes & Noble, Bookstores 2.0
It's a huge problem and I'm glad someone took a crack at identifying how large retail chains can stay relevant. I think it's spot on.
scottieh··on LIVE: Web 2.0 Expo Day 3 watch & discuss
Sweet.
scottieh··on Michael Robertson (mp3.com) discusses Entrepreneurship and the Music Industry.
He's telling the story of how he got MP3.com. Love it.

"Back in those days all the files were on ftp servers not web servers. Well I saw people searching for "mp3" cause it appeared on the bottom of the top 100 list that we would print out. My biz instinct said "if people are searching for it there must be opportunity."

scottieh··on Semil Shah, TechCrunch contributor and entrepreneur, talks Color
I like his point about what color has to give in return to a user. Right now, that's not much.
scottieh··on Peter Pham discusses the future of Color
Love this on Color use cases:

We are seeing amazing activity all over the world. The key is less about finding a dense area, but to get others around you to use it at the same time to get a whole new experience. You could be in the smallest populated city, but if you got everyone at the party, restaurant, sporting event, it'll be amazing.

We are seeing music festivals, college kids, sporting events, night on the town, etc. uses.

scottieh··on Is MySpace's death spiral due to bets on Los Angeles and Microsoft?
Yes, I think they used to run CF.
scottieh··on Is MySpace's death spiral due to bets on Los Angeles and Microsoft?
Ah, good point. Any details on what they're running?
scottieh··on Is MySpace's death spiral due to bets on Los Angeles and Microsoft?
I agree with the MSFT bet (.NET is such a heavy toolset), but I think the Los Angeles argument is also interesting.

Does starting a successful company depend on having a geographical talent base, heavily grouped together?

scottieh··on Chris Dixon discusses rising startup valuations & potential startup bubble
Nice. So basically he's saying that it's too expensive for an investor as of late.
scottieh··on Will Facebook become one of the most profitable companies in the world?
They've barely scratched the surface. And it's not just an ad network...

- virtual currency - daily deals - search integrated directly into the experience

and that's just off the top of my head

scottieh··on Will Facebook become one of the most profitable companies in the world?
Yes -- when a single organization owns the connections, interests and geographical data of 600 million people -- it's inevitable.

No other entity has amassed this amount of data before.

scottieh··on Online users can pay with Time instead of Money
It's about time this happened. Totally opens the doors for virtual currency.
scottieh··on Amazon is the Next Generation's Wal-mart
Your point is valid -- Amazon does enable third-party sellers onto the platform that don't utilize Amazon's shipping infrastructure (FBA, which is a recent development). But online retailers can easily leverage FBA to become as competitive with Amazon in terms of shipping perks.
scottieh··on Amazon is the Next Generation's Wal-mart
definitely not true. Fulfillment by Amazon enables third-party products to get Amazon Prime and Super Saver Shipping -- my mintsy.com business utilizes this
scottieh··on Amazon is the Next Generation's Wal-mart
to my knowledge, prime applies to everything -- and it's a huge success. piperjaffray reports there are about 2 million Prime users worldwide and a 20% increase in spending on Amazon after users sign up for Prime.

2m users x $79 per year = $158 million by the way. huge. and that's just revenue from the subscription service, not including the average order increase. plus a 92% renewal rate.

re: amazon stores -- third-party amazon stores offer a great deal for retailers who want to backfill their inventory with products they don't actually carry. amazon then pays the retailer affiliate fees, and the buyer doesn't know the difference.

scottieh··on Amazon is the Next Generation's Wal-mart
Friendland also contends that “Amazon’s aggressive investment in search, site content, customer service, digital distribution and third party platform have resulted in a sustainable competitive advantage.”
scottieh··on I'll give away one of my startups to someone on HN
Divvyshot looks cool. You could probably use a tehcrowd-like mechanism to promote it or increase engagement within the app
scottieh··on I'll give away one of my startups to someone on HN
I want this.

I founded and sold Groupvine, a group platform for colleges that was swallowed up by the Daily Jolt and shut down.

What I learned was that getting specific groups of people to shift habits and adopt new collaboration tools is tough. It's massive buy-in at every level.

We also wanted to aggregate activity from across campuses to filter a real-time stream of "what's happening now" in case you wanted to join in and check something out you didn't know was happening.

When I see this, I see a low barrier to entry and I see overlap with everything from what I was trying to accomplish to Yammer...

But then it applies to marketers, too. I want to know who everyone is who tweeted about Klean Kanteen bottles, but don't want to follow of them quite yet.

It's a "getting to know you" engine, a knowledge-cultivating engine, and simultaneously an activity-tracking engine.

I love it. It could be leveraged into marketers' tools, or simply as a way of giving people an easier way to be a voyeur. So many applications here!

scottieh··on You can now share files on FriendFeed
Agreed: this could be pitched in a similar fashion that Basecamp Journal / PBWorks (wiki?) / and even Yammer are -- more streamlined communication and possibly the value of ambient informational awareness.