I’m really digging the new minimalist icon for the SoundCloud app.
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How not to design a form for the mobile web
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The irony is I was filling out a form to download comScore’s “2012 Mobile Future in Focus” report.
Not (yet) supported on mobile
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How is this acceptable in 2012?
Serendipity in change logs
Aside
I typically don’t spend time reading change logs in the App Store before hitting update all, but occasionally there is a gem like this.
Five things, 11/27/2011
Inspired by Rex’s apparent return to blogging, I thought I’d give a go at putting together a quick list of links and thoughts I collect throughout the day instead of tweeting them all into the ether without any context or losing them to the sieve of my brain. Look, I’m even stealing the name things as I’d just like this to be a generic framework for a post — whatever interests me that day and in however-many quantity. Anyway, I don’t think Rex can claim a patent on the bulleted list as blog post.
- Art & Copy. This 2009 PBS documentary about advertising popped up in my Netflix recommendations. An oddly out-of-place parallel story about a man who hangs billboards, peppered with the type of statistics and classic ad examples (Daisy, 1984, Lemon) you’d expect to be bombarded with in a Mass Comm 101 class, this honestly isn’t the most exciting 88 minutes you could spend in front of a screen. But the main feature — the one-on-ones with a handful of ad legends — is worth the time if you’re into that sort of thing.
- Shit That Siri Says has officially jumped the shark, like a month ago. Most single-serving Tumblr’s seem to fade away after only a few days, but I’ve actually had to take the unusual step of clicking unfollow on this one to save myself from the waterfall of unfunny screenshots. And does the superfluous that in the site title piss off anyone else?
- Stamped is a very simple iPhone app that lets you give recommendations on just about anything. No five-stars or bullshit 50-100 Robert Parker scale, just an easy pick-your-own-color stamp of approval. It’s a similar concept but different execution to Oink. I’m not sure where these apps go from here, but I’ve been surprised to actually see a handful of Twitter friends sign up for Stamped in the past week.
- TechCrunch takes a weirdly academic (or is it pseudoscientific?) look at Pinterest’s rapid growth and predicts the service will inspire hundreds of copycats and be a great success. Fine, but where is Pinterest for Men?
- iMeme is a handy OS X app for making memes without opening Photoshop. Pick from 50+ built-in templates such as the Pickup Line Panda or import your own image. There’s even a button to send your creation to Reddit. (I guess 4chan integration is forthcoming?)
Cheap wine
Slate comes to the defense of cheap wine, pointing out that Germans spend $1.79 on average for a bottle. I’m jealous. And thirsty.
If hints of cassis, subtle earthiness, and jammy notes don’t interest you, you are not a lesser person. Wine is not art. There’s no reason to believe that aligning your tastes with those of a self-appointed elite will enrich your life, or make you more insightful or sensitive. If wine critics want to spend lavishly on the wine they like, that’s great. Leave them to their fun. Be grateful that you can gain just as much pleasure, if not more, without bankrupting yourself.
Google cuts search queries from web analytics in the name of privacy
Google made a big, but little noticed, announcement today under the guise of making your search experience more secure and private.
Over the next few weeks, the default search behavior for users logged into Google will be to use a secure HTTP connection (https://) instead of a standard HTTP (http:// sans S) connection.
That’s all good and fine except one side effect is that analytics software on websites receiving the traffic won’t be able to see which search queries resulted in each visit. This has big implications on the ability to optimize site content.
The caveat, however, is what makes Google look bad: non-organic search referrals (that is, clicks from AdWords ads that advertisers have paid Google to display) will still include the search query. This has some people crying foul:
If Google really cared, the keyword data that site owners now no longer receive from organic queries would no longer be available for advertisers either. But that would hit their bottom line, because it makes it harder to show ROI from AdWords, so they won’t do that.
This issue didn’t seem to get much attention today, but I doubt we’ve heard the end of it.
Disrupting Craigslist
Matt Mullenweg has a good post on what he thinks is next for Apple: everything from search and payments to TVs and cars.
But, what I found most interesting was this graphic of the pantheon of start-ups eating Craigslist’s lunch.
We tend to think of Craigslist as the disrupter, not the disruptee, but boy does this illustrate a dog-eat-dog world.
“That’s what I wear. I have enough to last for the rest of my life.”
Walter Isaacson shares this excerpt by way of Gawker from his forthcoming biography on Steve Jobs about Jobs’ signature black turtleneck and jeans style:
Apple employees jeered their boss’s scheme for a corporate outfit. So he had to settle for a personal uniform, modeled on shirts he saw noted designer Issey Miyake wearing
Doing it wrong
The Capitol Times of Madison:
A 22-year-old Madison man […] didn’t get what he paid for from an “escort,” called police for help, and ended up getting a $681 ticket for soliciting a prostitute.
Always something strange happening in Wisconsin.
(link via some jerk who thought I’d enjoy it)