Author: Jake

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… Read More

This is cool. Million-song dataset: take it, it’s free The newly-released dataset will inevitably lead to some fascinating research. Incidentally, the Ars post mentions that Pandora uses trained musicologists to recommend music based on your preferences and habits. I wonder how Apple produces Genius results. Anyway, Google Music is on the horizon, and being an… Read More

And so it begins with “The Dark Knight” . . . . louisgray.com: Rent Movies on Facebook With Credits, Starting With WB A month ago, after Apple announced their in-app subscription model changes, I wondered if content owners would turn to Facebook as a channel, not for more revenue (the 70/30 split is the same),… Read More

Here’s another smart design improvement on USB ports. Infinite USB Ports | Geekosystem Combine this design with the impossible-to-put-in-upside-down design, and you’ve got something magical.

Before you light up the comments, make sure to read the first part of this review, in which I give my overall assessment, i.e. I really like the Xoom and think it’s an important piece of consumer electronics. To list the Xoom’s issues, I’m using the classic euphemism from our school days. So, let’s jump right… Read More

The Motorola Xoom is an important product. It’s not something new or something magical. It’s just a tablet. So why is it important? It gives the iPad some competition. Yes, I’m aware that Samsung, Dell, and others sell Android tablets. Yes, I’m aware that the Kindle and NOOKcolor are preferred by many for reading eBooks.… Read More

Nielsen released some mobile statistics, which set off the usual ink-spill, and yes, I know I’m also guilty. As noted previously by Jason Grigsby (@grigs), not all analysis is created equal. Anyway, among other things is this observation: Trends Show Android Gaining Among The Young And Vivacious I had the misfortune of eavesdropping on a… Read More

Yes it takes 10 minutes to watch this video, but I’ll bet you will. Update: Andrew Tait is the man responsible for this epic journey, h/t Jason Kottke, Geekosystem. On display here is one item that users generally take for granted, i.e. backward compatibility. Plus, this is another great use for a VM, providing a… Read More

The most interesting nugget I’ve seen from today’s iPad 2 announcement was about iTunes, specifically that iTunes contains 200 million accounts. Apple Now Has 200 Million iTunes Accounts, Biggest Credit Card Hub On Web You can create an Apple ID without attaching a credit card, and I think you can use iTunes with that same… Read More

If you’ve used an iOS device and an Android one, you’ll know that iOS 4’s notifications and multitasking are horrible in comparison to Android’s. These features are so bad, I wonder how they even got released by a company so dedicated to user experience. So, check out this take on what iOS notifications should be, namely… Read More

Last week, I met John Yopp (@johnyopp) who runs a team called the Retail Applied Research. You might be familiar with the Retail (@OracleRetail) team, e.g. from reading David Dorf’s (@dordav) blog. Anyway, John and his team are a lab; they work on prototypes, proving concepts for retail use cases, etc. Sound familiar? Yeah, that’s… Read More

This is somewhat bittersweet news. Android 2.3.3 Makes Screen Shots a Root-Free Affair | Android Phone Fans Yes, Android should have an easier way to capture images of its screen, but the amount of traffic driven here by my how-to post on that very topic will be a loss. Not that we’re selling ads or… Read More

Facebook has been making a lot of news lately, not that I would normally care, but since creating a fan page for us, I’ve paid more attention to them, especially given the relatively high amount of referral traffic driven here. Here’s a quick roundup: 1. Facebook acquires Beluga Why it matters: I’ve been messing with… Read More

Very interesting post, especially as the Motorola Xoom finishes its first week of sales. Why operators will find it hard to sell tablets | asymco When the iPad was announced and ultimately released, a very common phrase thrown about was that it’s “a large iPhone.” More accurately, the iPhone is “a small iPad.” Even though… Read More

If you read here, you’ll know I love smartphone apps for small units of work. Aside from targeted use cases, what makes native apps really shine is their ability to address the device’s hardware, e.g. accelerometer, GPS, gyroscope, camera, microphone, etc. So, as a user, I’m into apps. As a developer, I hate apps with… Read More

Interesting post from DHH (@dhh) about corporate IT. As millenials join the workforce, the ongoing role of IT will change, or it should anyway. The end of the IT department – (37signals) Having been on both sides of this table, in IT early in my career and later in development, I’m empathetic to both sides.… Read More

Louis Gray (@louisgray) posted a thoughtful and measured review of his HTC HD7 Windows Phone 7 las week. louisgray.com: Windows Phone 7 is the Best Windows I’ve Ever Tried Side note, Louis does a nice job of avoiding fanboism, which I respect. His feedback is similar to what I’ve seen from others, essentially, it doesn’t… Read More

Having very recently tested a Motorola Xoom, the first device to run Android’s 3.0 version, a.k.a. Honeycomb, I found this both helpful and interesting. PSA: Own An Android 3.0 Device And A Mac? Install This One nice feature of Android is that it allows your phone’s micro SD card to be attached to your computer… Read More

Here’s a fun one to start your week. By Sticky Comics (@stickycomics), h/t Geekosystem.

This is one of those how-to/reminder posts. Consider yourself warned. You might recall that I ran a mobile survey a few months ago, and if you took it, you probably noticed that I used Google Docs Forms, an underrated, dead simple way to create a basic web form, collect data and analyze the results. Anyway,… Read More