February 2010
47 posts
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My Setup - What I use to get the job done
Inspired by the interviews at The Setup, what do people use to get the job done? I decided to replicate it for myself for the Show N’ Tell Friday. Not sure it fits in what you had in mind Jason. Sorry!
Who are you, and what do you do? I’m Jean-Philippe Cyr. I’m a freelance user experience strategist in Montreal. I work with marketing agencies and private companies at...
WatchTaking small steps along the way with Jason Fried
“For me it’s about the tiny little things because you can course correct along the way… I think there is this myth in entrepreneurship that you have to take the big risk and you have to quit your day job and sink all your life savings into this thing in order to be successful… I think you’re better off taking small steps along the way. ...
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“Don’t ask users for feedback. The burden is on you to make your product...”
– Dustin Curtis - How to build a great product Provocative, check. True, check.
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“Programming is an art that becomes a business when its value is effectively...”
– Amber Rae - Creating awesome from scratch
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Outdoor and Me
You may also read this post with a different title, like “Sport and Me” or “Outdoor gears and Me”, but let’s start by the beginning. When I was young, in time where teachers where still asking their students to stand in line from the taller in the back to the shorter in the front, I always been the closest one to the teacher. I only got to my full extension after high...
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The Setup - What do people use to get the job... →
A bunch of nerdy interviews with professionals in their own field (game designers, developers, hackers, interface designers, illustrators, photographers, etc.) and their answers to the simple questions: “Who are you and what do you do?”, “What hardware do you use?”, “And what software?” and “What would be your dream setup?”.
They are all in my...
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“Most people need less done well, not more done poorly.”
– Brian Christiansen - iPad: A shift
NorCal Advanced Internet Services →
Cosmetic Surgery for Web Sites.
“We want your business, but we value your choice.”
They certainly are kicking ass ;-)
(via John)
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“By listening too much to outside suggestions, you destroy the very reason why...”
– Marco Arment - Side effects of developing for yourself
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Twitter Venn - Twitter Data Visualization →
Here’s a fantastic way to look at some data from Twitter with Twitter Venn. Enter three keywords and see their comparative and overlapping frequency.
From Four Ways of Looking at Twitter
(via Fred)
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Star Wars Weather Forecast By Tome Scott →
Star Wars Weather Forecast by Tom Scott, a crazy funny dude who does also plenty of other projects just for the fun of it, like cooking breakfast with an iron, or just try to remove his fingerprints with a pineapple, or even do some bodysailing.
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Steve Wiebe Reclaims Donkey Kong Jr. World Record →
Steve Wiebe’s done it again. After claiming the Donkey Kong Jr. record back in April, he was usurped from the throne by Oklahoma-based gamer Mark Kiehl the following fall. But, as of yesterday, Twin Galaxies reports Wiebe’s back on top with an epic score of 1,190,400 points.
Ya baby…. Ya! But please Steve, you need to take back your title on Donkey Kong. No way, Billy L...
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SublimeVideo - The Future Of Web Video →
Soon to be released by Jilion, a Switzerland dev creative team, the best HTML5 video player on your screen. Safari, Chrome, Firefox, IE (with fallback to Flash), iPhone and iPad compatible. Slick full screen mode.
Outstanding job. Can’t wait.
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How I Design Interactive Solutions
Following the suggestion Show ‘N Tell Friday by Jason, to post a project each Friday on what you are working on or have worked, I have decided to be more generalist and talk about how I design Web sites.
I always start each project by listening to my client needs by deliberately not looking at his current Web site or any of his competitors. I want from the start to think outside the box...
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Sex, Love, Peace - Bran Van 3000, album Rosé.
...
“PowerPoint is killing conversation. Normally used by people who doesn’t have...”
– Paulo Coelho (via Karine)
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They Say I'm Extreme
They say: I’m extreme.
I say: I’m a realist.
They say: I demand too much.
I say: they accept mediocrity and continuous improvement too readily.
They say: “We can’t handle this much change:”
I say: “Your job and career are in jeopardy; what other options do you have?”
They say: “What’s wrong with a ‘good product’?”
I say: “Wal-Mart or China or both are about to eat your lunch. Why can’t you provide instead a fabulous experience?”
They say: “Take a deep breath. Be calm.”
I say: “Tell it to Wal-Mart. Tell it to China. Tell it to India. Tell it to Dell. Tell it to Microsoft.”
They say: The Web is a useful tool.
I say: The Web changes everything. Now.
They say: “We need an initiative.”
I say: “We need a dream. And dreamers.”
They say: Great design is “nice”.
I say: Great design is necessary.
They say: “Effective governance is important.”
I say: Bold, brash boards that are representative of the market served – more than a token woman or two and an empty seat for the “forthcoming Hispanic” – are an imperative. Now.
They say: “Plan it.”
I say: “Do it”.
They say: “We need more steady, loyal employees.”
I say: “We need more ‘freaks’ who routinely tell those in charge to take a flying leap…before it’s too late.”
They say: “We need Good People.”
I say: “We need Quirky Talent.”
They say: “We like people who, with steely determination, say, ‘I can make it better’.”
I say: “I love people who, with a certain maniacal gleam in their eye, perhaps even a giggle, say, ‘I can turn the world upside down. Watch me!’”
They say: “Sure, we need change.”
I say: We need revolution now.
They say: “Fast follower.”
I say: “Battered and bruised leader.”
They say: “Conglomerate and imitate!”
I say: “Create and innovate!”
They say: “Market share.”
I say: “Market creation.”
They say: “Improve and maintain.”
I say: “Destroy and reimagine.”
They say: “Normal.”
I say: “Weird.”
They say: “Happy balance.”
I say: “Creative tension.”
They say: They favor a “team that works and lives in harmony.”
I say: “Give me a raucous brawl among the most creative people imaginable.”
They say: “Peace, brother.”
I say: “Bruise my feelings. Flatten my ego. Save my job.”
They say: “Basic black.”
I say: “Technicolor rules!”
They say: “We need happy customers.”
I say: “Give me pushy, needy, nasty, provocative customers.”
They say: “We seek Harvard M.B.A.s.”
I say: “I seek certificate-free ‘Ph.D.S’ from the School of Hard Knocks.”
They say: They want recruits with “spotless records.”
I say: “The spots are what matter most.”
They say: “Integrity is important.”
I say: “Tell the unvarnished truth, all the time…or take a hike.”
They say: Diversity is a “good thing.”
I say: Diversity is breath of fresh, creative air – absolutely necessary for economic salvation in perilous times.
They say: It’s “daunting.”
I say: It’s “a hoot.”
They say: “Zero defects.”
I say: “A day without a screwup or two is a day pissed away.”
They say: “Think about it.”
I say: “Try it.”
They say: “Plan it.”
I say: “Test it.”
They say: “Radical change takes a decade.”
I say: “Radical change takes a minute.”
They say: “Times are changing.”
I say: “Everything has already changed. Tomorrow is the first day of your revolution…or you’re toast.”
They say: “We can’t all be revolutionaries.”
I say: “Why not?”
They say: “We can’t all be a brand.”
I say: “Why not?”
They say: This is just a rant.
I say: This is just reality.
From: Seth Godin’s The BigMoo (via JM)
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“If you can’t understand it, you can’t change it.”
– Eric Ev
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What you truly want →
Constantly reassess what you’re spending your time on every day, and make sure that the largest percentage that you can manage is dedicated to what you really want–what you dream about–because if you don’t, that dream will just stay a dream, and never turn into a reality.
Please Rob Me - The Empty House Location Service →
Are you using geo-location check-in mobile app, like FourSquare and are publishing your location on Twitter, Facebook and other social platforms?
Then, PleaseRobMe lauched by ForTheHack (the same who have done How Large Is Your Twitter e-Penis) is the perfect service for the nearest thief to rob your house when you are out.
What a good mockery website! Just too good, not to pass it around ;)
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Side effects of developing for yourself →
I originally made it for myself, because I had a need for it, and I didn’t even tell anyone else about it for months. It ended up being useful to other people, but that was a fortunate side effect. When it came time to make an iPhone app, I made my own dream app to satisfy my needs, and the same thing happened: it was adopted by other people who had the same needs.
Solving something for you is...
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“Directives, announcements, declarations, missions statements – that’s all crap....”
– Jason Fried - Culture is the by-product of consistent behavior
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The CSS Awards →
The gallery of the most prestigious websites in the world created with CSS. An international jury of the top designers, agencies, and bloggers will award prizes to the best CSS websites.
I’m so happy to have discover this design/css showcase site. FWA is nice… but as I can’t stand Flash anymore ;)
(thx to Johann)
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“When you start to build something new, think about the what could be, the what...”
– Dustin Curtis - The dcurtis Manifesto
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My initial thoughts about Google Buzz
Google Buzz is like FriendFeed, the social aggregator acquired by Facebook last year and now partially integrated in the Facebook news feed. Actually Google Buzz is exactly like FriendFeed at the difference it is integrated in the most used Webapp of all time: Webmail.
Like Friendfeed you can integrate your other social activities (Twitter, Picasa, Flikr Youtube, Reader, and any other RSS...
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Now Do This →
The simplest to do list you will ever used.
Things doesn’t always have to be complex and saturated of features to be successful and of value.
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1500 posts later...
Yes, this post is the my 1500th!
The number, how impressive it can be, it just a number at the end of the day. What I’ve been the most proud of, after having blog for more than 5 years now (first in French on Blogger and then in English on Tumblr), is that I always wanted to add a personal note or an opinion on each of my posts, as small or brief it can be.
My friends know me as a big...
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Proposal: Tumblr Show 'N Tell Fridays
strake:
Even though I’ve never met most of the people I’ve discovered on Tumblr, I feel like I have a pretty good feel for their personalities and interests. For some of these people, I have a general sense of what they do for a living although I have no idea what they work on when they aren’t reloading their Tumblr dashboards.
So I had an idea I wanted to propose to the Tumblr community. ...
“ideas are thoughts that can hinder action.”
– Amber Rae When ideas hold you back
Jeeze! I do recognized myself here. I can sit all day and ideate as she said. Stop and putting one of them into action each day is the way to go. Thanks again for that reminder ;)
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“Consultants are known for the work that they do, and this often means the work...”
– WSJ.com - How to Succeed in the Age of Going Solo
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Life Below The Fold →
Good article by Paddy Donnelly that make you think twice about that concept of the page fold on the Web. The misleading concept that people do not scroll below the visible portion of a browser maximized on a 1024 x 768 pixels resolution monitor.
I keep telling my clients that a long page does not scare anyone anymore if the content on the page is well structured and presented. Users even like...
Make your own photo book with Blurb →
I didn’t know this online service where you can easily do a photo book, but also anything else you want as their software, Booksmart, let you design a book with text, illustrations, photos, etc. Their web platform let you also share, promote and sell your book online.
I must admit that the Apple iPhoto album service is top nutch, but it doesn’t give you a lot of templates and freedom...
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