Jazz Wax just posted a timely piece on Sonny Stitt on his interesting use of the experimental Varitone or Electric Sax. The goal of this 1965 instrument was to integrate the organic reed vibration sound generation process and electric manipulation and amplification of the sound. The instrument would provide a suite of on-board tools and… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Technology
Onmouseover Is Over : Rethinking Hover In The Tablet Age
I have been doing some UI web porting for tablets and one of the issues that comes up right away is the lack of a ‘hover’ action and the need to unravel a lot of hover triggered content. No mouse, no onmouseover. Get it? This type of housecleaning can be a good thing – there… Read more »
The Tyranny of the Extroverts
An old essay called The Tyranny of the Extroverts resurfaced in my feed reader the other day. It got me thinking about some of the talented and shy developers and musicians I have had the privilege to work with over the years. These are the kind of people who trouble getting past an HR interview… Read more »
Get rid of multitasking if you want to not suck
I have come to the conclusion after years of multitask creep that it is not working for me. Yes, I can bang though a tons of low-level tasks while responding to emails, reminders, meeting requests, tweets, IMs and physical interruptions but I have found it increasingly impossible to concentrate on doing the more creative work… Read more »
Digging jsfx
Building an HTML5 browser based game or synth? Need some fresh sounds for those nav mouseovers on your step uncle’s used car site? This is the JavaScript library for you. (Requires browser WAV support) There is definitely something useful here. I am going to mess around with this more.
It’s Not A Redesign If You Don’t Cut Features
A content website that has been live for any length of time will contain feature bloat: editorial modules, revenue features, social doo-dads and third party widgets etc. If you talk to the right stakeholder, EVERY feature on a website is “vital” but how many really are? Removing features can dramatically improve site engagement metrics by… Read more »
On Having a Super Power Skill
There is no question that this is a great time to be able to code but what of the Super Power skill thing? What does it feel like to have a “super power” skill? Do you know it if you have one? Is it something that becomes part of your overall mojo like a Superhero’s… Read more »
WordPress 3.1 is Awesome
Yes WordPress 3.1 is out. I have upgraded to 3.1 on every WordPress install I run including the 100% wp popdust. We have been using the 3.1 RC versions on our dev boxes for weeks so this transition has gone smoothly. While the admin bar and new internal linking feature are getting a lot of… Read more »
Speeding up Email and Ditching buttons
This is where a email needs to evolve – both on the UI/UX side and the etiquette aide. The fact of the matter is, younger people dislike and do not use email as much …and for good reason. It feels like a slower form of digital communication. If it feels slower it is slower. Emails…
I like faking functionality and shipping quickly to gauge real world uptake prior to development. This is not always feasible but if it is, it has a lot of upside. Developers do not like to carefully build out features that are possibly going to get killed. They often resolve this dissonence in two ways: 1…. Read more »User Driven Development
