Diversity in Tech 2015 & 2014
From Amazon to Yahoo, we rank tech brands for diversity of employees by race and gender…(click image above or link below for interactive infographic)
Source: Diversity in Tech | Information is Beautiful
Apple
Google’s high-end Nik Collection photo software is now free, and probably dead
A few years ago, the Nik Collection of photo editing tools would have cost you $500. Now, Google’s giving it all away.
Why this matters: Google is in the business of selling ads though online services, not direct sales of online software, so while it’s unusual that the software lasted this long, Nik users probably should have seen the end coming. In any case, it’s further proof that just because you paid for something doesn’t mean it’s safe from the Silicon Valley acquire-and-kill model.
Source: Google’s high-end Nik Collection photo software is now free, and probably dead | PCWorld
Look it Up
Oxford Dictionaries (@OxfordWords) in iOSx has the following usage examples which are the very definition of #EverydaySexism
See the full tweet & comments here.
How Did Apple lose its way?
How Apple Is Giving Design A Bad Name
Now, although the products are indeed even more beautiful than before, that beauty has come at a great price. Gone are the fundamental principles of good design: discoverability, feedback, recovery, and so on. Instead, Apple has, in striving for beauty, created fonts that are so small or thin, coupled with low contrast, that they are difficult or impossible for many people with normal vision to read. We have obscure gestures that are beyond even the developer’s ability to remember. We have great features that most people don’t realize exist.
Source: How Apple Is Giving Design A Bad Name | FastCoDesign
+Commentary: This is a great longform article that deconstructs the very notion of what good design is supposed to be & represent. It also focuses on the shift to touch and portables that demand a completely different framework. Many of the things pointed out in the article are things experienced first hand, while teaching the horde of new converts to Apple products (especially those at the older end of the spectrum) how to use them. Read More
Welcome to hell:
Apple vs. Google vs. Facebook & the slow death of the web
Those huge chunks — the ads! — are almost certainly the part you don’t want. What you want is the content, hot sticky content, snaking its way around your body and mainlining itself directly into your brain. Plug that RSS firehose straight into your optic nerve and surf surf surf ’til you die.
Are these the ads that pay for the content? Lengthen Your Healthspan
Unfortunately, the ads pay for all that content, an uneasy compromise between the real cost of media production and the prices consumers are willing to pay that has existed since the first human scratched the first antelope on a wall somewhere. Media has always compromised user experience for advertising: that’s why magazine stories are abruptly continued on page 96, and why 30-minute sitcoms are really just 22 minutes long. Media companies put advertising in the path of your attention, and those interruptions are a valuable product. Your attention is a valuable product.
Source: Welcome to hell: Apple vs. Google vs. Facebook and the slow death of the web | The Verge
+Commentary: YOUR ATTENTION is the product. Welcome to a post-consumerist information society that is built upon the architecture of social media, what will they do if content is suddenly not subsidized? Leave your thoughts in the comments below. This is a conversation we definitely want to have 🙂
Things You Probably Didn’t Realize
Google’s ad penalties are more significant than Apple’s Ad-Blocker
“Highly unlikely” would probably be how you’d have responded a year ago to someone telling you two of the largest tech companies in the world — Apple and Google — would both try to fix mobile advertising by blocking ads, but that’s currently the case.
For instance, much has been made of a new feature allowing iPhone and iPad owners to block advertisements in Safari when iOS 9 debuts –with the rationale that it will enhance web browsing. But Google’s recent decision to start penalizing websites featuring app install ads –intrusive ad units that slow page load times and engulf the entire screen — might be a more significant way to improve the browsing experience.
Source: Google’s ad penalties are more significant than Apple’s ad blocker | Gigaom
+Note: Good read if you do any sort of display advertising!
Apple might finally let you delete preinstalled iPhone apps?!?!
According to Tim Cook, Apple is “looking at” letting consumers get rid of default iPhone apps that are rarely used. These are the ones you almost always hide away in a folder the minute you set up your new iPhone: Compass, Stocks, Podcasts, Tips, etc…
Source: Apple might finally let you delete apps that come with the iPhone | The Verge
+ NOTE: Yes, Please. Let others ((cough, cough ANDROID+providers)) do the same. From Tim Cook’s lips to the Tech God’s ear.
Optimize Images in Your Blog Posts for Retina Display
Typically images that are found in posts can range anywhere from 400-1000 pixels in width. If we chose the @2x method, this would mean that each image would be between 800-2000 pixels in width.
Serving images that large on every page load could result in a tremendous resource hog, not to mention it would eat away at your bandwidth. Read More
Postmortem of a Venture-backed Startup
Lessons Learned from the rise and fall of @Sonar
For those unfamiliar, Sonar Media Inc. was a mobile app created to help make the world a friendlier place. Our mobile app buzzed in your pocket when friends were near and ushered in a new wave of “Ambient Social Networking” companies. Downloaded by millions of people all over the world, Sonar was promoted by Apple and Google in 100+ countries, won numerous awards such as runner-up at TechCrunch Disrupt and Ad:Tech Best Mobile Startup, raised nearly $2,000,000 from prominent angels and VCs, and was featured on more than 300 publications including the New York Times, CNN, CNBC, TechCrunch, and TIME.
And yet, we failed.
We did lots of things right and lots of things wrong at Sonar. I do my best to share a few of our lessons learned. Read More at Medium
Users don’t hate change. They hate you.
The 9x Effect Applies to Redesigns Too
Jack woke up to an “upgrade”!
Recently, more than the color of the leaves on the trees has been changing. Everyone seems to be redesigning. Apple’s OS7 , Slate , new features on Twitter , Google , the Yahoo logo (and much of Yahoo ) — even my kid’s school website. And users are angry, annoyed, exhausted, eye-rolling… not delighted.
And so the usual comment comes: users hate change. Read More
The past and the future of famous logos
We review the history and imagine how Apple, IBM, Xerox and other famous logos will look like in the future.
Read More
GLEAMsocial 