Jeff Rock

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Obligatory.

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Viewing the Dashboard at 30,000 feet never gets old.

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When in Potomac Maryland you drink Duvel out of Waterford, darling.

Cultural Cringe

Clinton Duncan:

In Australia, we have this thing called “cultural cringe.” I could go on and on for ages about the origins of this phenomena, but that’s why we have Wikipedia. Simply put, it’s when a society thinks pieces of culture (movies, fashion, ideas, art) are inherently better when produced overseas, and locally grown culture develops an inferiority complex. Other countries have it, but we’re much better at it here in Australia — stupid-crazy-good at it.

A few weeks ago, while being advertised to at full volume in a movie theater that I paid to be in, an Outback commercial played across the screen. One of my friends leaned over and said “we’re going to look back at these ads and be appalled at how racist they were”.

He’s right. Well, racist may be the correct term, but you get the idea (culturist?). Blaring didgeridoos. Silhouetted kangaroos. Blown out accents and safari jumpsuits. A flurry of boomerangs.

This is the world image of Australia. Cultural cringe indeed. That’s why I was surprised to see how Brand Australia decided to redesign the country’s overarching identity campaign:

Boomerangs? Really? I mean, it’s definitely clever with the allusion to an Australian map and all, but is this really the way to make a clean break for a country that’s been so completely stereotyped?

Might as well just throw another shrimp on the barbie, mate.

45 days later: iPad apps →

Neven Mrgan:

• Tumblr website - Close to great on the iPad. With a few adjustments, it would replace the official app (which they don’t have an iPad version of).

Strangely enough, I felt the same way for the first few weeks. The Dashboard works very well on iPad. I was so impressed with it that I was toying with the idea of no iPad app at all.

But then it hit me. In my mind, Tumblr iPhone app (as well as all the mobile apps we develop for Tumblr) can be split into 2 functions: composition and consumption.

Composition is all about efficient, powerful content creation. Access to the photo library and hardware. Large fields and full API support for advanced options. Editing. Etc.

Consumption has traditionally been about displaying the Dashboard and swimming in the media stream that comes with it.

What we’ve all learned over the past 6 weeks is that the iPad is well suited for consumption experiences. Remember, Tumblr isn’t just a blogging engine. It’s a media platform.

The Dashboard has been the only way we’ve been able to enjoy Tumblr media up to this point. I think I’d like to change that.

The Fallacy of the Chilling Effect →

Zac Bir:

So, some people are upset about Apple’s draconian iPhone/iPad development policies.

Some people are less upset with Apple than with other developers who aren’t as upset about those policies as they ought to be.

Well, the developers who aren’t upset, the ones who are dealing with the reality of the situation, aren’t toadies. They aren’t capitulating. They aren’t abdicating. They aren’t scabs. They’re delivering real things of real value to real users. The gripers should take note.

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topherchris:

burgerfriday:

THIS.

Everyone like this beautiful lunch we had today.

I refuse. That is totally not a pizza cone.

Tumblr Blackberry App Open Beta!

The Mobelux Blog:

Do you:

• Have a BlackBerry running OS 4.5 or higher?
• Love Tumblr?
• Want to help us test something cool?

Great! Go here and fill out the form. Once we have enough space monk…er, testers we’ll send out further instructions.

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My WaterField iPad Smart Case arrived today. I’m sure there are cases out there with more pockets that are thinner and much cheaper, but this one is wonderful. The stitching is very well done and the materials are of a much higher quality than I was expecting. It even came with a hand-written note. When was the last time you bought something that came with one of those?

Along with the Smart Case was a postcard that read:

WaterField bags are designed and made in San Francisco, where rent is high, labor expensive, and competition is intense. We wouldn’t go anywhere else.

Whatever your reasons, you’re doing it right. Keep up the good work, guys.

Saddle Up

Steve Jobs:

We know from painful experience that letting a third party layer of software come between the platform and the developer ultimately results in sub-standard apps and hinders the enhancement and progress of the platform. If developers grow dependent on third party development libraries and tools, they can only take advantage of platform enhancements if and when the third party chooses to adopt the new features. We cannot be at the mercy of a third party deciding if and when they will make our enhancements available to our developers.

This becomes even worse if the third party is supplying a cross platform development tool. The third party may not adopt enhancements from one platform unless they are available on all of their supported platforms. Hence developers only have access to the lowest common denominator set of features. Again, we cannot accept an outcome where developers are blocked from using our innovations and enhancements because they are not available on our competitor’s platforms.

Back in October I posted something to the same effect (albeit less eloquent). I was skewered for it. No big deal, I’m used to abuse. I’m an iPhone developer (ba-da-ching!).

But I am curious to hear what Flash folk have to say after reading Thoughts on Flash. It lays out the exact reasons why Flash will never exist in iPhone OS quite plainly. 90% of the statement is based on logical conclusions and the final 10% on business decisions. Sure, there’s a stick in the eye here and there but nothing nearly as childish as Brimelow, Adobe’s “Platform Evangelist” has been spewing.

This is an effective line in the sand. If you want to be a part of the biggest computing paradigm shift in 30 years, get your shit together and move from legacy tools. Your comfort with a toolset will not (and should not) govern forward momentum. This has happened before and it will happen again.

It’s time to move on.

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Alright, everyone can relax now. WWDC 2010 has been announced (June 7 -11).

If you’re attending I’ll see you there. Definitely grounds for a Tumblr meetup.

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They’re finally here! Thanks, Mandate Press!

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Had dinner with Phil, Sarah and Emily at Popkin Tavern last night.

I can assure you Phil was unsuccessful in hypnotizing my Rogue Half-A-Weisen. Even though from the looks of that photo, he tried really hard.