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See also: articles | email newsletter
A good take on why you shouldn't worry about the competition. Because you should be focusing on taking care of your own company to make sure it continues to run and grow!
Rather than fighting the nature of how the platform works, we can lean into each part of the stacks strengths.
Remember that what you’re making is in a perpetual state of almost right up until the end. And it's never right even after.
A collection of speeches, interviews, and emails by Steve Jobs. His more well-known views on making products, design, and life pursuits, are all in there. But what I found most interesting is his thoughts on leadership and running a company.
Comic strip that sums up a current use case for generative AI.
Those who identify with their ideas, care more about being right than truth, and never change their mind.
The interesting history of Cyan, and the people that have kept it going for so long, as its game Myst celebrates 30 years!
A growing movement of volunteer court watchers is showing up and documenting what they see.
For accessibility, hashtags should always be camel case.
Best life hack ever: press and hold down the number 2 on your microwave to stop it from making the most annoying sound in the world when your food is done.
Every time I find myself procrastinating to do something, taking the next small step always helps move things forward.
Social media has made us think that people aren't being themselves online. This article makes the case that the internet may be the one place where we are able to try and be as much of ourselves as we can be.
The addition of hand tracking to the latest iteration of Myst is great for understanding a bit about how the process works. It makes perfect sense for the world of Myst and is an example of how much simpler of a user interface it is than using controllers!
Ever wonder what it's like to develop a cartoon TV show for Disney and work with Standards and Practices on Disney feels is appropriate for kids? The creator of Gravity Falls shared his experience which is pretty hilarious!
As Apple is set to bring augmented reality to the masses with its rumored headset, there’s already research being done for a new generation of how we interface with technology.
The best part of the original Blade Runner was its soundtrack, and it’s still one of my favorite of all movie soundtracks. Its composer, Vangelis has died.
How nuclear energy is actually the answer.
A powerful interview with author Jonathan Rauch on his new book, The Constitution of Knowledge about how cancel culture has affected free speech. Featuring Penn Jillette, Teller, Michael Goudeau, and Matt Donnelly.
Getting into the practice of thinking about your own venture as a way to get better at doing it so you're better-prepared for when the big important decisions come along.
On how we should use data.
How competition works in business, from Basecamp founder Jason Fried, who recently launched an email service that competes with Gmail.
On the time we have.
Polls opened up this week in my area. I dropped my ballot off, but the setup for voting seemed pretty nice, everyone being very careful and helpful. As contentious as politics get on TV and online, it was a nice reminder that people in real life are very pleasant!
How we evolved agriculturally and culturally.
A podcast about electronic music similar to the kind the story talks about, did a read of my short story and included tracks from the unofficial soundtrack.
On our ability to choose.
On interaction design and complexity.
Masks may be a safer way to go out if we're going to do it anyway!
Advice on avoiding a viral illness from someone that has had to do it before.
How you should pay attention to the things someone else considers work but you don't. Those are the things you have interest in, are good at, and can make a living from!
The similarities between artists and inventors and what they do on a daily basis to do great work. Spoiler alert: they have a routine for consistent progress, take afternoon walks, and socialize regularly.
A short online series about a video production company making the same commercial at different budgets: $1,000, $10,000, and $100,000, and what goes into each version.
Instead of carving it up in pieces.
How much effort goes into putting things off by keeping our selves unnecessarily busy, and how we should practice being still from time to time as a way of better figuring out our course.
If you're trying to build an audience, email newsletters are the new social media. This video from Chris Zukowski shows how to build a fan club for your indie art product using an email list.
Paul Jarvis explains why newsletters are actually better than social media.
Avoiding senseless multitasking, focusing your efforts, and surrounding yourself with the right people.
This past year I’ve transitioned to primarily plant-based eating, eliminating meat and dairy from my diet, along with processed foods, while reducing salt, sugar and oils. I’ve put together this guide during my transition to help me stay on track, and included other important health aspects to maintain like regular exercise, proper sleep and meditation/mindfulness.
The six degrees of Bex.
My new short story is up with a free soundtrack of songs. It’s about an engineer who has just taken a trip to Japan and is unprepared for what he finds when he lands back home in San Francisco: a world 20 years into the future.
I spent the last month writing and designing a complete guide for building marketing emails using a template system. Please pass it on to anyone you think might find it useful!
The phenomenon by which a new, innovative product or process must necessarily destroy the older way of doing things.
Great piece on how we present content on the web.
An interesting look at the evolution of a video game genre, from the technological requirements to the creative constraints to the business needs.
Compiled by Xerox, the company that invented the GUI.
During the early days of MP3s, WinAmp was the best Windows MP3 player around. It had a simple interface that you could even change the look of by downloading ‘skins’. I even made a couple of skins myself back then.
I never programmed any music myself, but I sure listened to a lot of MODs when I was a kid and I’m sure a lot of them were written with Impulse Tracker.
Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and the other tech titans have had to fight for their lives against their own government. An exclusive look inside their year from hell and why the Internet will never be the same.
I’ve written a short story while ago that I thought I would share here. If you’re a follower of the blog, you’ll be familiar with some of the themes covered. Enjoy!
Twenty years ago today, the organization that created the World Wide Web made its underlying technology available to everyone on a royalty-free basis. To commemorate that occasion, the very first website is now back online at its original URL.
The hackers who dominate news coverage and popular culture — malicious, adolescent techno-wizards, willing and able to do great harm to innocent civilians and society at large — don’t exist.
The growth of the Net is not a fluke or a fad, but the consequence of unleashing the power of individual creativity. If it were an economy, it would be the triumph of the free market over central planning.
I remember using HyperCard as a kid at school, amazed by what I could do with it. Later I started building websites with the same enthusiasm and eventually became a professional web designer. Even though I only used it for a brief amount of time, I think it’s what inspired me to do what I would be doing for a long time!
A short documentary about the Demoscene, a computer art subculture started in the late 80’s and blowing up in the early 90’s.
Some great insight into what computers will be capable of from Steve Jobs in a rare 1983 speech. He also gives the most perfect explanation of how computer programs work.
Free to all comers, facilitated by the growth of the Internet, mod tracking offers a gateway into the world of professional-quality music production that anyone can pass through. And even though mod tracking is no magic wand — it won’t automatically transform musical dunces into sublime songwriters — it does remove key obstacles along the road to self-expression.