Archive for March, 2011:
Hello Loosely Coupled Friday
Here are a few loosely coupled items that caught my eye today. More App Store Economics: Case Study of 10M download game, monetized through ads. How much money? The answer is $30,000-ish for serving 108 million ads. This is probably why Android developers everywhere are ecstatic to see in-app purchases will launch next week. Speaking [...]
Here We Go Again, But Is It Bad?
I’ve been biting my tongue for several hours now, hoping the cynicism with abate. It didn’t. Haters gonna hate. Color Looks To Reinvent Social Interaction With Its Mobile Photo App (And $41 Million In Funding) That $41 million was committed pre-launch. Here’s another in the same vein: Pretty Flipboard Fundraising at an Even Prettier $200 Million [...]
How to Fix Rating Systems
A while back, I mused about the shortcomings of ratings systems. The short version is that a scaled system trends toward averages or extremes, falls victim to social pressures and provides too few/too many options. Problems exist for an up/down voting system which fails to capture any nuance and restricts the voter. Nothing has changed, [...]
Mapping Inside Spaces
A few years ago when we were enhancing Connect, we tried to get our hands on all the office maps for all the Oracle offices around the World. The idea was that simply providing a person’s office number on a profile wasn’t good enough, since most office numbers aren’t easily understandable without some context or [...]
Everything Needs a Game Layer
Here’s another bright mind, Seth Priebatsch (@sethpriebatsch) of SCVNGR, talking about gamification. Seth wants to build a game layer on top of the world, and I agree. I’m embedding his TEDxBoston talk from last year here, but definitely check out his SXSWi keynote from a couple weeks ago, which I’m not allowed to embed. Both Rich [...]
Amazon’s Android Appstore Launches
Amazon launched their curated Android Appstore today, and there are several interesting bits. For users: 1. It’s not a free-for-all like the Android Market. It was only a matter of time before someone took advantage of the openness of the Android Market. So now Android users can benefit from a curated (and presumably safe) store [...]
Samsung Adding to Honeycomb
I read this news with some sadness. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 8.9 to Have Customizations on Top of Honeycomb | Android Phone Fans One promising thing about Android 3.0 was that it might skate by without bloatware. The Motorola Xoom reportedly is stock Android 3.0, no additional layer of carrier or hardware vendor software. I was [...]
Social Loopholes for Paid Content
This is an interesting switch. The Google Loophole Has Become The Facebook/Twitter Loophole I hadn’t ever noticed a Google loophole for WSJ articles, but that’s probably because very little published by the WSJ interests me and any blog linking to WSJ content either went through or didn’t, meaning I didn’t spend any additional effort. The [...]
Major Update to the WebCenter Spaces iPhone App
A major update to the WebCenter Spaces iPhone app dropped today. Get the app here, or find the update in iOS if you’re already using it. I saw a preview of this update a few months ago, and it really is a major update to the first version, which debuted back in July 2010. Congrats [...]
On Anonymity: Is Authenticity Worth the Bad Behavior?
Anonymity bugs me, but after many years of existing on the intertubes, I realize that it’s frequently necessary for authentic commentary and very often, more interesting. Many people cannot (for fear of reprisals) or choose not to (for personal reasons) attach their names to what they say online. However, the problem with online anonymity is [...]
Are We Too Reliant on GPS?
Yes is the short answer, myself included. Are we too reliant on GPS? – O’Reilly Radar From the post: The core issue is that GPS technology has been built into many crucial infrastructure applications, from transportation systems to power grids, and in many cases there is no fallback option should the GPS signals suddenly become [...]
Flash 10.2 for Android Leaked
One of the many knocks on the iPad (and iOS generally) is its very public and purposeful lack of support for Adobe Flash. Obviously, one of the selling points for Android tablets (and phones) is the inclusion of Flash. So, when the Xoom dropped, its lack of Flash support was definitely a head-scratcher. Last week, [...]
What Happened to Nokia?
A long, but interesting account of the chain of events that led to Nokia’s deal with Microsoft. Musings on Mobile Software, What Happened to Nokia? The Register has its own take, also worth a read. Even if you can’t care less about mobile, these are worth a read if only to study the politics of [...]
The iPad 2 Will Conquer the Known Universe
It’s iPad 2 launch day, so there’s a lot of really derpy analysis floating around about how the iPad will dominate tablets, etc. Makes sense, right? One exception was this brief from Forrester, citing Amazon as Apple’s only real competition. Maybe I liked it because it makes a similar point to my own about the [...]
The Most Useless Machine
Saw this yesterday on Signal vs. Noise. Something about it fascinates me. Imagine yourself presented with this box. You’d immediately flip the switch, and after that, again to see if you could defeat the mechanical arm. It’s entertainment value far exceeds what you’d think from a description. It taps into our innate curiosity first, then [...]
Communities: What Kind of Managers Do We Need?
Editorial note: Here’s a guest post from Ultan O’Broin (@ultan) from the Oracle Applications User Experience Team in Dublin. You should read his blogs on translation and user experience. Enjoy. Community content. It’s all the rage, an outstanding example of collective intelligence-sharing, and a great user experience engagement and loyalty building strategy. It’s experiencing incredible [...]
Will the iPad Stunt the Growth of Future Geeks?
While reading The iPad Falls Short as a Creation Tool Without Coding Apps over on Wired, I was reminded of that Rich (@rmanalan) has said this a number of times about the iPad. For many of us, it’s essentially a casual computer/toy because it lacks any tools for creating software. This is the main reason [...]
Fun is the Future
After I watched Meaningful Play: Getting Gamification Right, YouTube suggested another Google Tech Talk, Fun is the Future: Mastering Gamification. Watch this one too.
Meaningful Play
Here’s another highly informative Google Tech Talk on gamification.
A Cognitive Teardown of the Angry Birds UX
This is a fascinating read if you’ve played the game and care about why you continue to pour hours into mastering it. It’s probably equally fascinating if you haven’t or don’t understand the appeal. I wouldn’t know, being dangerously addicted myself. Why Angry Birds is so successful and popular: a cognitive teardown of the user [...]
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