Posted on Saturday, March 17, 2012
by
Zac Cichy
Macstories
I do hope that Readability can figure out a better way to manage its payment platform for publishers. I like and use Instapaper, and in my perfect vision of the software scene everyone would just work hard silently and strive to one-up a competitor, with class.
Really great write up from Viticci on the slew of new features in Instapaper 4.1.
I too like Readability, but question its motives. Anytime a great service is free, its worth being cautiously optimistic.
Instapaper has served me well. It does everything I need it to and these update are hugely welcome improvements. I especially like the new Proxima Nova font option.
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Zac Cichy
The Macalope
Besides, the fact that the company is still selling iPhones in numbers so large that it starts to give you a Carl Sagan-like sense of the boundless infinity of the universe should be a tip that Apple’s design is still OK.
That’s a great way to put it.
The problem with trying to predict Apple based on precedent is that what Apple has done and continues to do is well, unprecedented.
Posted in General
Posted on Thursday, October 6, 2011
by
Zac Cichy
Stanford, 2005
Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.
I will.
Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.
I won’t.
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
I know.
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
It is.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
I’ll do my best.
Thank you, Steve.
Steve Jobs
1955 – 2011
On October 5, 2011, Jobs died in California at age 56, seven years after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The cause of death has not yet been officially confirmed, but is generally believed to be pancreatic cancer.
At the time of his resignation, and again after his death, he was widely described as a visionary, pioneer and genius – perhaps one of the foremost – in the field of business, innovation, and product design, and a man who had “profoundly” changed the face of the modern world, revolutionized at least six different industries, and an “exemplar for all chief executives”. His death was widely mourned and considered a loss to the world by commentators across the globe.
via Wikipedia
Posted in General
Posted on Sunday, September 25, 2011
by
Zac Cichy
As of today, I am starting an experiment to see if I can write long form blog entries in short Twitter bursts.
The Problem
Due to the overwhelming amount of stress in my life, I don’t have time to sit down and write in large chunks. Interestingly, I am quite able to write, and remain focused – if in a somewhat rough form – by unloading my thoughts on Twitter.
Is it because of the 140 character limit? Is it the fact that Twitter is public, and that I like the idea that someone might be reading right now? Both, I suspect. All I know is that Twitter manages to get thoughts out of me that I don’t know that I would have had otherwise.
There is something about constraining single thoughts down to 140 characters at a time that I find liberating. I can write down complete thoughts very quickly and still feel as though I can let go, or come back at any time.
The Plan
I am going to draft my thoughts for blog posts on Twitter, copy and paste them into a writing app, do revisions and clean up as needed, and finally post right here on TechVessel. It’s kind of a batshit, crazy way of trying to solve a problem — but I do hope that you will come along for the ride and bare with me.
Restrictions often cultivate the discipline required to achieve even the most ambitious of goals. I know there are bound to be a lot of issues with this plan that I’m sure I haven’t thought of yet. But what do I have to lose?
We’ll see how this goes.
Posted in General
Posted on Tuesday, September 13, 2011
by
Zac Cichy
Ed Mcnichol, Seattle based Producer, Editor, Trainer, and Workflow Consultant on whether or not Final Cut Pro X is too easy to use:
But it seems that some of those that have rode these technological advances want to close the door behind them. They stormed the castle walls and overcame serious obstacles to get a foot in the door. Yet they seem to have grown quite comfortable in their throne and would prefer that the industry remain closed to newcomers.
This is what makes me perceive the “It’s too easy” backlash as protectionist whining. I’ll address the iMovie comparisons separately, but when was easy ever wrong?
I agree completely.
While I believe that Apple possibly mishandled customer expectations upon FCPX’s release, I can’t help but feel that the majority of the FCPX dissent is coming from a vocal minority that is impatient, hates change and are generally afraid of tools that could do for prosumer video what DSLR and Photoshop Elements did for prosumer photography: Democratize access.
Read the rest of Ed Mcnichol’s great piece here.
Further reading on TechVessel: FCPX: Risk, & The Democratization of Accessibility
Posted in General
Posted on Tuesday, August 2, 2011
by
Mark Hernandez
When analyzing any company’s success, there seems to be a growing gap between the traditional measures of success and the expanding list of “intangibles” that are directly responsible for that success here in the second decade of the 21st century. Things have evolved considerably.
By tangibles I mean things like market share, unit sales, stock price, customer satisfaction, market cap, etc. We gather these numbers from all the competitors and use it as a means of comparing their relative performance.
By intangibles I mean all the other things that are involved with success that cannot be quantified, and thus we can’t use them as a basis for comparison. For instance, we can’t say that Apple’s “Advertising Effectiveness Quotient” is 12.5 % higher than it’s nearest competitor.
I can think of a couple-dozen intangibles that are directly responsible for Apple’s success. Most of these you’ve heard of, and some you haven’t. Let’s take a look at a few of the interesting ones and see if we can draw some conclusions as to what we might be overlooking.
Of course, discussing these fuzzy interacting variables which are difficult to characterize and categorize is not going to be easy, but it won’t stop us from trying. Continue reading →
Posted in General
Posted on Wednesday, July 27, 2011
by
Zac Cichy
Tonight, I asked a question on Twitter: “Anyone still using optical? – if so, what for?”
I ended up with a few responses, but this one just nailed it:
A large-ish (but shrinking) percentage of people still burn photos and movies to disc for friends, family and business – but what about the majority of consumers?
We rip stuff.
@GGlick’s tweet is a perfect summary that adds a lot of weight and context to Apple’s notion that optical media is on it’s way out or – already dead.
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Zac Cichy
It’s always been interesting to me that there is debate as to what the “i” prefix on Apple products means. If you do a quick Google search, you’ll have a hard time finding anything beyond Internet. But as you can see in the above image, the “i” stood for more than just Internet – and while it’s not something Apple has ever revisited, I believe that the above slide is what the “i” still means internally to Apple. It was all right there in the introduction to the iMac in 1998. Continue reading →
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Posted on Tuesday, July 26, 2011
by
Zac Cichy
Rumors are flying around today that Apple is going to give their “Pro” laptops the MacBook Air treatment very soon. Not that I question sources on these rumors, but I do wonder about timing. If you listened to the last Build & Analyze with Marco Arment – you know that Dan and Marco spent a good deal of time toward the end of that podcast discussing Marco’s prediction for the unification of the MacBook line. If you haven’t already, listen to it here. It’s worth your time. Continue reading →
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Posted on Thursday, July 21, 2011
by
Zac Cichy
Word came earlier from Bloomberg that Apple is potentially in talks to buy Hulu. Normally, I wouldn’t put much stock in such a claim. Buying Hulu would be a very un-Apple move… Until you think about it. CNET ran the same story, but included this bit:
During Apple’s Tuesday earnings call, Brian Marshall from Gleacher and Company asked why iTunes didn’t have more TV and movie titles available and what Apple was doing to expand its offerings.
Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer responded, saying that the selection of movies and TV shows was “very, very broad,” especially in the U.S., and that the company was adding more in other countries each quarter.
“Look for some more content later this quarter across the various stores,” Oppenheimer said. “We have some neat stuff coming.” Continue reading →
Posted in General