No comments
31
Aug 10
If you can’t get excited about your word processor, stop reading now. But if you can get excited, Betalogue offers a great side-by-side compairson of Microsoft Word and Apple’s take on the classic word processor, Pages:
“In Word 2008, you have at least three different ways of viewing the same information (the style[s] of the current selection), i.e. a palette, a toolbar control, and a dialog box, and none of them is able to provide any useful information. In addition, each of them provides a difference piece of false information!”
Lots of screen shots. Good write up. Check it out.
No comments
27
Aug 10
Fred Brooks in an interview with Wired:
“Great design does not come from great processes; it comes from great designers.”
This seems so natural and correct when talking about design. Applied to other professions, you might see:
- Great software does not come from great processes; it comes from great developers.
- Great engineering does not come from great processes; it comes from great engineers.
- Great testing does not come from great processes; it comes from great testers.
- Great management does not come from great processes; it comes from great managers.
Yet time and time again, we lean back on the processes that in the best of situations are mediocre and brittle.
No comments
23
Aug 10
Kallokain smartly applies some game theory to agile adoption:
“Over the past two years I have seen a lot of debate about the success of Agile software development. Agile methodologies can produce great results. This is well documented. Yet, in many companies, they don’t. This has lead many people to question Agile. Some reject it altogether. However, the root cause of the problem isn’t in the Agile methodologies. The root cause that makes Agile fail is in the companies adopting Agile methodologies.”
No comments
19
Aug 10
A friend asked my opinions on the iPad and iPhone 4. Somehow, I thought I had posted something about this, and while I posted plenty of other opinions about the iPad, I had only officially put out my initial reaction, and haven’t said boo about the iPhone 4.
Let me rectify this.
iPad:
- The iPad will not replace a laptop. But it will replace more of your laptop than you think. Pick up the keyboard that goes with it, and it’ll be closer still.
- Not having a traditional desktop with files and folders is an asset to the iPad. It makes it easier to use, and easier to understand. If you don’t believe me, walk around your office and see how many people “file” things into their desktop.
- Reading books with iBooks works fine, and is a pleasure. The highlighting and notes abilities are very nice. I’ve read a few books on it now.
- The screen is not useable outside. I tried it on a cloudy day, and the reflection was too much.
- It is far better for consumption than creation. However there are some creative bits that work well on it (drawing, short emails, etc). As such, I haven’t quite found a good fit for using it at work.
- The iWork apps (I have Pages and Keynote) are great, but are not compatible with last-years desktop version of iWork. This is really disappointing, and worse: the iPad Keynote app reads my ancient PowerPoint files just fine.
- There are some really fun, addictive, and innovative games available for only a dollar or 2 each.
- I didn’t get the 3G version, but will next time The ability to pay for 3G access a month here or there would be perfect for vacations.
- Overall: if you have room in your budget for another device, you’ll love the iPad for surfing, social networking, sharing photos, and playing games.
iPhone 4:
I still have a 3GS, and will likely get the new phone (iPhone 5?) next summer.
First, lets talk about the antenna: From what I understand, the antenna thing might be an issue in certain situations, for some people, but for other people, they get reception where they never previously were able to. If you are concerned, get one of the bumpers – it fixes the death-grip problem. If you are really concerned, wait till January. The rumors are stronger than usual, and suggest that January is when there will be an iPhone on the Verizon network.
Other than that, I hear the screen is amazing and the camera is as good as many dedicated cameras. FaceTime is great, and I’m waiting to hear if this latest incarnation of video conferencing will be one that the public actually adopts.
If you’re concerned about an “open” platform and are thinking of picking up an Android phone, I’d highly suggest reading this, this, this, this, or this.
Overall: Apple is still making the best smart phone, at a competitive price. Other phones are at least a year behind in technical capabilities, and if you look at their usability, I have yet to see a report of a new phone that is better than (or as good as) the original iPhone that was released 3 years ago.
No comments
17
Aug 10
Daniel Pink writing for the Telegraph:
“Most of us believe in positive self-talk. “I can achieve anything,” we mouth to the mirror in the morning. “Nobody can stop me,” we tell ourselves before walking into a big meeting. We believe we’ll do better if we banish doubts about our ability or our strategy and instead muster an inner voice that affirms our awesomeness.
But not Bob [the Builder]. Instead of puffing up himself and his team, he first wonders whether they can actually achieve their goal.”
Pink then dives into some research on whether positive self-talk actually improves performance or not.
Spoiler: Having doubts improves performance.
monthly email
RSS 2.0