03.24.09
Posted in Best Practices, Web Design at 12:55 am by madcap
According to an article from Valleywag, Mark Zuckerberg had some not-too-pleasant-sounding things to say about Facebook users:
“He said something like ‘the most disruptive companies don’t listen to their customers.’” Another tipster who has seen the email says Zuckerberg implied that companies were “stupid” for “listening to their customers.” The anti-customer diktat has many Facebook employees up in arms, we hear.
It’s difficult to tell what Zuckerberg’s real tone was, since the above is hearsay. If his point is that a company never has to care about or listen to its customers, he is dead wrong. On the other hand, if he believes that innovation rarely bubbles up from one’s user base, then he is correct. It is the balance between the two forces that makes or breaks a company.
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12.13.08
Posted in Web Design at 11:30 pm by madcap
This is a response to Matt Wilcox’s article The fundamental problems with CSS3:
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08.10.08
Posted in Culture, Technology at 9:00 pm by madcap
For some reason, I really love to hate David Brooks. Perhaps it’s the way he shows up on TV magazines and smugly declares others (notably Barack Obama) to be elitists who are out of touch with the mainstream while himself being an intellectual egghead no more in touch with the common folk than he is with his fellow NY Times columnists. Basically, I guess I’m saying that he comes across to me as a hypocrite and a sell-out.
Now, there’s nothing I like more than to be self-deprecating. I have an iPhone, and yep: I got the white one cause it visibly demonstrates that I’m so cool I got the 16GB 3G model. I peruse sites like gizmodo to find out what kind of cool shit is out there. Guess what, David- I don’t have time to scour every geek conference and news site in search of some gems, and why should I when the fine folks at gizmodo are willing to do it for me? Their contributors operate on the same model that you do: taking their time to peruse the sea of information that most of the rest of us don’t have time to, and then communicating their opinions along with it. The difference: they aren’t usually such pricks about it.
When you first come across some obscure cultural artifact — an unknown indie band, organic skate sneakers or wireless headphones from Finland — you will want to erupt with ecstatic enthusiasm. This will highlight the importance of your cultural discovery, the fineness of your discerning taste, and your early adopter insiderness for having found it before anyone else.
Then, a few weeks later, after the object is slightly better known, you will dismiss all the hype with a gesture of putrid disgust. This will demonstrate your lofty superiority to the sluggish masses. It will show how far ahead of the crowd you are and how distantly you have already ventured into the future.
To wit: if there’s anything more detestable than a too-cool-for-this-life hipster, it’s the hater who is too sarcastic for too-cool-for-this-life hipsters. David: why you hatin’?
David Brooks - Lord of the Memes - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com
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07.08.08
Posted in Current Events, Economics, Technology at 10:49 pm by madcap
Electronic Arts Inc. said Monday that this month it will release a Scrabble application, a Web program that Facebook members can plug into their profile pages.
Just one little problem…
One key limitation is that EA’s Facebook game will be available only to U.S. and Canadian users, as determined by the numeric Internet address of their computers.
[...]
The split in rights means that Facebook users in, say, San Francisco won’t be able to play the authorized version with friends in London, so they might still turn to the unauthorized Scrabulous.
Hasbro officials played down the restrictions, however, saying players tend to reside in the same country, given the world’s linguistic differences.
My word! Online Scrabble goes legit - CNN.com
That’s right… nobody speaks English outside of the US and Canada… especially not people in England!
(Note to Hasbro: they spell “color” with a ‘u’ in Canada too.)
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06.26.08
Posted in Rants, Technology at 9:50 am by madcap
A new evil has descended upon the internet. Not quite as annoying as pop up ads, but at least as insidious. That evil: rollover ads.
I’ve noticed a number of Flash-based banner ads that popover the browser window when you roll over them. So far I’ve mostly seen this on facebook while playing Mob Wars. The insidious part is that all it takes is a wayward swipe of the mouse to trigger this nonsense.
Evil!
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