Inspired by Dave Fleet — and because it’s the holidays and I’m not ashamed to be too busy having fun to create original content — here are my top sixteen posts on i tell stories of 2008. (Yes, sixteen. Twelve wasn’t enough.)
These aren’t necessarily the most visited or commented-on posts; these are the ones that I like best.
You may agree, you may not agree. I’d encourage you to take a look through the archives if you’ve got some time. Tell me if I forgot something that really should have made this list.
The report released yesterday stated that there was an abundance of guns in our city’s public schools, that sexual assault and harassment is widespread, and that some schools are breeding grounds for gang violence. Color me naive, but apart from a few incidents that I knew of growing up, these kinds of concerns didn’t cross my mind when I was going to public school in Toronto.
At 28, Heath Ledger was much too young to die: he had enormous amounts of untapped potential. Most people will miss him because of his proven acting talent. I will miss him because he reminded me to take advantage of my own talent and potential.
I write love letters because I fall in love every day. Yesterday, I wrote a love letter on the back of a napkin to the waitress that smiled at me as she brought me my lunch. Last week, I wrote a love letter in chalk on the lamppost that broke my fall after I slipped on the ice. Just this morning, I wrote a love letter to the woman who answered my tech support call — and then read it aloud to her.
No one hears you when you say you’re sick of traveling. Sick of traveling: three words that make sense to people separately, but not in sequence. And they’re right — what am I talking about? What about being treated to fancy dinners at over-priced restaurants? And staying at hotels I could normally never afford? And watching rugby in crowded and rowdy bars? And having a choice of various kinds of bottles of water at ever meal?
The scary thing I need to admit now is that the mind of Sameer Vasta at the age of thirteen isn’t much different from the mind of Sameer Vasta at age twenty-six.
If you think about it, people who “don’t have enough time” to sleep a healthy amount are not the productivity machines we assume them to be. Instead, they’re just bad at time management.
So today, on Mother’s Day, and every day after this, I’m not going thank my mom for everything she has done for me. It just wouldn’t be enough. Instead, I’m going to show her the fruits of her labor; I’m going to prove to her that her hard work raising me resulted in a son that reflects the goodness and compassion that she emanates every day.
We, as humans or as robots, need to be reminded that we are not alone, that there is someone out there that wants to dance and watch Hello, Dolly with us on our iPods.
Cinema-going is not a task that can be done effectively with others. Far from it. Going to watch a film (especially a good one) is an activity best pursued alone and independently.
So there I was — with my tired and cold English, my rusty French, and my broken Spanish — standing in the middle of the intersection, luggage in tow, surrounded by three men who could only speak to one another through me.
It’s impossible not to be completely enamored with the whole concept of marriage: that two people can feel so strongly drawn to each other that they are willing to devote themselves to each other for life — or at least try to do just that. There’s so much beauty in that whole idea that I’m tearing up just writing about it now.
We throw valuable information away every second. Not all the information we receive will lead to great discoveries, but every piece of information that comes our way has the possibility to teach us new and exciting things if we just take it in instead of throwing it away.
Like Bill Murray, many consultants charge high rates to clients that can support those rates so that they can use some of their other time to evangelize for their passions like transit or the open web.
Fifteen stories below my window, a young boy reaches down to pick up a handful of greyish-white powder off the ground and comes up with a mitten-full of densely-packed snow. He cups his other mitten over the pile in his hand in an attempt to form a vaguely-spherical snowball ready to be thrown at the young girl in front of him.
And that’s my list for the year. What were your favorite posts from around the web that made you smile this year?
A few thoughts I threw together based on the questions I asked two days ago and your answers. Obviously, this is a lot of big-picture kind of thinking and a lot more thought needs to be put into the details, but I’d love to hear your thoughts on what I’ve got so far.
I recorded this after three straight days of traveling trying to get home from Mauritius — stuck in planes and airports — so my apologies if my voice is a little raspy. You might have to turn the volume up a bit. Okay, a lot.
Thanks to everyone for sharing your insight. I’ll pass along more information about the reason I embarked on this project in a few weeks.
I recently got a message on Flickr from a designer from Bruce Mau Design that proves that, despite using Tumblr to power their awesome blog, they just don’t get it when it comes to the web.
Here’s the message, unedited:
Hello Flickr Fan,
I am a designer at Bruce Mau Design. We are currently re-imagining our website, brucemaudesign.com and our images category is intended to show the breadth and depth of our work. I am tasked with the curation of 100+ images every few months.
As part of the shift from web 1.0 to web 2.0, we realize and want to capture the power of social networks and photostreams. While we often photograph our own work, we know thousands of you probably do even a better job and with a wonderfully, beautiful diversity of perspectives.
We are posting to our website images we have found on flickr containing our exhibitions, books, installations, strategy, communications, studio, and yes, bruce from your set.
If you would like us to remove your image please email me at clark@brucemaudesign.com.
We hope that our website represents a pixelated but audaciously complex view of our work and pushing design not to its greatest power but its greatest service.
Seems harmless, but there are a few massive problems with this message — and I’m not counting the poor grammar, capitalization, and convoluted language. Here’s a short list of some of them:
He didn’t use my name, but instead referred to me as a “Flickr Fan.” My name (and user name) is clearly all over my Flickr pages, so it isn’t hard to address me by name.
I have no photos containing Bruce Mau. I have one photo that references Bruce Mau in the comments, but none of Bruce as the designer seems to imply. Further, he doesn’t tell me what image they plan on using or provide a link to any of my photos that piqued his interest.
He’s using my image for a commercial purpose — to pad Bruce Mau’s portfolio — when my images are clearly marked with a license that prevents commercial use. Instead of asking me to use my image, he has decided to use the image, expecting me to email him if I want it removed.
He doesn’t provide a link to where my image is being used so that I can see the context of its use. In addition, all the images used on the Bruce Mau image gallery don’t include links back to the original photograph or any attribution at all. (A clear violation of my image license.)
I’m a huge fan of Bruce Mau’s work, which is why this blatant disregard for web etiquette, ethics, and appropriateness upsets me so much.
So here’s what I’m going to do.
Bruce Mau Design people, tell your communications directors that I’m willing to come in and run an introductory workshop for everyone in your communications department on web tools and online interaction — for free. I usually charge my clients a whole lot of money for those kinds of workshops; I’m willing to run an introductory workshop for free because I think that you’ve got the drive to do great things on the web, but just need a slight primer on how to do them.
Bruce Mau Design, the ball is in your court. Looking forward to hearing from you by email or in the comments.
UPDATE: I’ve had further contact with BMD, and have posted updates in my comment section. They’ve been really nice about all of this, and show a great willingness to learn.
I’ve wanted to buy a Flip video camera ever since the first one came out. If they shipped to Canada, I probably would own three, the latest being the ultra-sexy Flip Mino.
The problem is that not only do they not ship to Canada, they won’t take Canadian credit cards and their Amazon shop won’t let Canadians purchase the camera either. Super-FAIL.
Truth is, I’m in the market for a video camera.
Since I’m not willing to jump through hoops to buy a Flip Mino, I’m looking for your recommendations for a camera I can buy at a local electronics store. I don’t know much about video, but here’s what I think I want from my device:
Portable: I don’t need my camera to be as compact as the Mino, but I do need it to be small enough to toss into my Crumpler without a second thought. Small enough to hold in my hand and unobtrusive, but it doesn’t necessary have to be small enough to be fit in my shirt pocket.
Easy to Use: I’m no techno-geek — if it’s not in a browser, I’m usually not very adept at it — so any camera I use should easily plug the video output into iMovie. I can make it work from there, of course, so any camera with a USB output that easily ports to iMovie should work.
Rechargeable: One of the big problems I had with the original Flip cameras was the lack of USB-recharge ability. The Mino has solved that, but since I can’t get a Mino, any camera I buy is going to need to be able to be recharged by USB.
Digital: Duh. I’m not going to worry about tapes or stuff like that.
Affordable: My budget is a bit larger than what I’d expect to pay for a Mino, but I’m still not looking at shelling out big cash. This is a fun purchase, not a necessary buy, so I’d like to keep it under $300 if at all possible.
So that’s my list of needs. I don’t think they’re that extensive, so if you have any recommendations — and I really hope you do, because I know nothing about video cameras — please share them with me. Really appreciate all your help.
Yesterday, as I was sitting by the waterfront in Toronto, getting some work done with my Macbook Pro and sipping on a lemonade, three kids started running around throwing water balloons at each other.
Cute.
Until one of the water balloons hit my computer and exploded, also tipping over the lemonade on my table which subsequently seeped into the cracks of my computer. My screen went blank and I couldn’t turn the MBP back on.
Horror.
I ran to the Apple Store, and while they couldn’t do anything in-store, they shipped my MBP to Apple for me and gave me a loaner to use in the meantime. I regularly back up my data, so I’ve only lost about two days worth of work (not bad!) so I’m not stressing too much. I’m just worried about my poor little MBP and what is going to become of it.
Sob.
If I’m a little mopey and sad over the next few days, it’s because I lost my MBP: my best friend and favorite coworker. I’ll get over it soon enough. Most likely when I get her back.
So after some waffling and some soul-searching, I’ve decided that allowing comments on this blog is a good idea. I’m going to keep them open from now on.
That was the easy decision. Now I’m contemplating using a service like Disqus to power the comments here on this site.
The new update to Disqus allows two-way integration into Wordpress with a simple plugin, and gives more power to both readers and blog adminstrators to manage their comments.
I’ve heard good things about Disqus before, but I’ve been wary of moving to a service where I didn’t have full control over the comments that were posted to my blog. Now that Disqus allows seamless integration, it’s looking more and more appealing.
So what do you think?
Should I be using a system like Disqus? Would that bring more benefits to you, my readers? After all, in the end, it’s all about what works best for you.
Last week, everyone’s favorite social bookmarking service Delicious, redesigned their site and re-branded themselves, dropping a few full-stops in the process.
While I really like the new look and appreciate the new approach Yahoo! is taking for its social bookmarking service, I have to ask the question:
Is bookmarking relevant anymore?
Let’s face it: when most of us are looking for information, we usually search for it, or ask someone we know might have access to that information. Managing a collection of bookmarks — whether in a messy browser system or on a tag-based social web system — is a tedious task and quickly becomes unwieldy.
Tools like Twitter, Google Reader, Tumblr, and Evernote all make bookmarking systems like Delicious obsolete. They offer easy access to collected information through searching, sharing, and questioning rather than a rigid system of taxonomic organization.
The new Firefox 3 Awesome Bar is going to do even more to kill bookmarking: instead of needing to remember URLs, users can simply remember what the page is about and type that into the address bar. The browser now “remembers” for the user. Brilliant.
I stopped using Delicious about sixteen months ago, finding the practice tiring and tedious. Was that a bad idea? Am I missing something here?
Do you still use a social bookmarking service? Has your use declined over the past months?
I’ve wanted to rave about the Apple keyboard before, but I was afraid of being branded an Apple fanboy. Not that I’m not already branded that way, of course, but I like to keep some kind of semblance of impartiality.
But now that people like Jason Kottke, Tim Bray, and Rafe Colburn are all chiming in on how much they love this device, I think it’s only fair that I add my voice to the choir.
The Apple keyboard is actually the best product — apart from my Macbook Pro, of course — I’ve bought from Apple. Ever. Even better than the Macbook I bought my brother, better than my iPod Touch, better than my (gasp!) cinema display.
This is especially significant when considering that the other major Apple peripheral, the Mighty Mouse, is an excellent example of how good ideas go bad. The Mighty Mouse packs a lot of features and interesting design decisions into its small package, but what it fails to do is fit seamlessly into the way people use their computer mouse.
With the Apple Keyboard, however, the experience is remarkable. Not only is the keyboard perfectly sensitive, but the tactile response is exactly what you’d expect from a high-quality peripheral. Best of all, the buttons are all in the right place. As Tim Bray explains:
The larger [keyboard] includes the useful cluster with arrow keys, page up/down, home/end, “fn”, and the real “delete” key. The “control” key is large, at the lower left, and by some physical-mechanical equivalent of Fitt’s Law, is real easy to get to.
In addition to the detail around key placement and tactile response, Apple has also made the keyboard really easy to clean. (In fact, its construction makes it even harder to get crumbs and debris stuck between and underneath keys.) While this might seem insignificant to many keyboard manufacturers, it is certainly significant to consumers.
Now let’s see if Steve Jobs can get the keyboard guys to help out the Mighty Mouse designers. I’m in the market for a new mouse, after all.
I’ve played with advertising on Eloquation and Squandrous in the past. While all my advertising experiments have been a relative success when it comes to making money, I really didn’t feel as though the Google Ads (or even the few ads bought directly) did much to enhance the experience on my site.
My rationale to get rid of advertising was based on the fact that the money I gained from advertising wasn’t worth the time and energy I put in and impact they had on my sites.
The real reason I don’t have advertising on my site? I’m not cool enough.
Ad networks are becoming new status symbols on the web. All the cool kids are part of some network, and those sites wear their ads like badges of honor instead of an attempt to make some money.
Tight Network
I came to the realization that ad networks are the new cool kid cliques after reading a post on Jonathan Snook’s blog where he introduced SidebarAds. SidebarAds, like The Deck, is a closed, invite-only network of sites that provide advertisers a targeted and engaged audience.
The advantages to the publisher are obvious, and the monetary advantages to the publisher are clear as well. The hidden advantage, however, is the prestige that comes from being part of an elite club. Slapping an ad on your site that is “Via The Deck” or “by SidebarAds” means that your site holds a certain value, a cachet, that is not only prized by advertisers, but also fits in to the ethos of the network — a type of badge of honor, let’s say.
As much as I love the money I’ve made from them, Google Ads serve as the exact opposite indicator. While the elite ad networks serve as markers of distinction rather than cash-grabs, Google Ads seem to say, “I need to make a few quick bucks from this site. Please click on these ads as much as possible.”
Larger Reach
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying everyone needs to be part of a network and stop using Google Ads. Everyone should use the tool best suited for their needs.
I’m definitely not complaining about the existence of ad networks like The Deck or SidebarAds. I think they’re genius, actually.
What I would like to see is more of these niche advertising networks that are as well executed and tastefully implemented as The Deck and SidebarAds (and are invite-only), but reach different niches than the tech-savvy crowd. Bigger blog networks (where people can apply to become members) like BlogHer and Federated Media are great for making money and still holding some cultural cachet, but I feel that there’s more room in the market (but only a little, nobody wants market over-saturation) for the smaller, elite networks that are prestige badges as well as revenue streams.
After all, everyone likes being a part of the cool kid clique. Making some cash on the side is just a bonus.
These days, hating on PowerPoint is just like making fun of Paris Hilton: they’re both popular tools that everyone uses but nobody really likes.
Okay, so maybe that was uncalled for. (But true.)
Being a Keynote user for years, I’ve been known to throw a snide remark to PowerPoint users from time to time. After all, if Edward Tufte (read: genius) doesn’t like the tool, then why would anyone really want to use it?
Little did I know that it wasn’t the tool (PowerPoint) that was creating the horrible presentations, but it was the tools (clueless executives) using the tool (Powerpoint) that created the presentation atrocities.
Sleeping with the enemy
In my new day job, I sit in a cubicle and stare at a machine that uses Windows 2000 and a (very buggy) install of PowerPoint 2000. So when I recently found out that I had to make a presentation at a meeting, I was tempted to drag my Macbook Pro to work and use that instead.
I ended up using PowerPoint to make my presentation. And while it wasn’t as easy to do as it is with Keynote, I managed to create a presentation that had a narrative embedded into its images and information.
The presentation went well. I had immediate buy-in and the discussion focused on the essential message of my content rather than the specifics — mainly because I hadn’t put many specifics in the presentation but instead circulated them later in a handout.
I had used PowerPoint, and I had won. Sure, it was a bit of a battle, but using PowerPoint for another purpose than creating bulleted lists is not only possible, but the right thing to do.
If PowerPoint is not the enemy, why are so many presentations still so horrible? (Hint: the answer has everything to do with the people creating these presentations.)
Friends. Enemies. Same thing.
If you’re in a work environment that requires you to use bulleted lists in your presentations, and requires you to post all your content in your slide deck, maybe you need to ask yourself if that’s the right work environment for efficient communication.
In the end, it’s all about making that emotional impact, whether using Keynote, PowerPoint, or a whiteboard. As Seth Godin says it:
You put up a slide. It triggers an emotional reaction in the audience. They sit up and want to know what youâ’re going to say that fits in with that image. Then, if you do it right, every time they think of what you said, they’ll see the image (and vice versa).
It doesn’t matter what you use. Just use it right. (Get some tips on how to do that over on the amazing blog Presentation Zen.)
Of course, if you use Keynote (or 280 Slides?), chances are you’ll get it right more often than not.
Got some examples of great Powerpoint presentations? Please share them! (Because it’s much too easy to find examples of bad PowerPoint presentations.)
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