“For the first time ever, elementary and high school students will be able to replace twenty pounds of books with a one-and-a-half pound device.” —
Kyle Baxter - Apple’s Education Event
(Source: minimalmac)
Adobe Proto
Adobe® Proto, a new Adobe Touch App, lets you create interactive wireframes and prototypes of websites and mobile apps on your tablet. Communicate and share ideas with teams and clients using a touch-based interface.¹ Initially available for Android™.
Why Adobe has done it for Android first is beyond me. 50 millions iPad in the world and they believe that most interactive designers are on Android tablet.
(Source: wireframes)
Just go watch this video. There’s nothing I can add in describing what they’ve done.
I think iTunes not only brought back the single, but gave indie music a platform.
I think iBooks and iBook Author will do the same for publishing.
iBooks Textbooks, along with the iPad, will finally yank the education and education publishing industries forward about fifty years.
Thank you, Apple. Again.
Amen!
Amit is my hero. I follow him since a good while now without knowing him personally. I admire him for what he has done so far, and most particularly the greatest shopping experience of awesomeness on the net, but even more for what he would go through in his personal life the following weeks and years surrounded by his friends and family. Because we all know it: He would go through this.
I’m very happy that he has found a compatible donner with the help of everyone.
I wish you the best Amit from the bottom of my heart. You may not feel it or see it, but this is truly from the bottom of my heart. If you were here, you will have not choice of being hugged like crazy.
Peace.
Many of you have asked, so here’s what’s going on with me.
WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE
- 8/1979: Born. Grew up in CT, built a killer eraser collection, fell in love with computers.
- Left college to start a company. Fell hard. Fled to India for 3 months.
- Started 2nd company. Learned to be an adult. Fell in love with NYC.
- Moved to SF, discovered burritos & some of my fave people on Earth.
- 9/2011: Got diagnosed with Leukemia!
- Cried. Went through 3 cycles of chemo. Hurt. Thought hard about what I want out of life. Grew up a second time.
TODAY
… After over 100 drives organized by friends, family, and strangers, celebrity call-outs, a bazillion reblogs (7000+!), tweets, and Facebook posts, press, fundraising and international drives organized by tireless friends, and a couple painful false starts, I’ve got a 10/10 matched donor!
You all literally helped save my life. (And the lives of many others.)
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
Tomorrow, I’ll be admitted to Dana Farber in Boston for 4-5 weeks.
First I’ll get a second Hickman line to allow direct access to my heart (for meds and for nutrients if I’m not able to eat). Over the next week, the docs blast my body with a stiff chemo cocktail to try and eradicate all traces of cancer cells. In the process, the immune system I was born with, and my body’s ability to make blood, are destroyed.
Next Friday, I get my donor’s stem cells by IV. I start on immunosuppressants to prevent my body from rejecting them (I’ll be on them for 12-18 months). For these weeks I’ve no immune system, so I’m severely vulnerable to viruses and bacteria. My hospital room and hallway become my world.
Meanwhile, the stem cells make their way to my bone marrow and, with some luck, start producing platelets, red blood cells, and white blood cells. At this point, my blood type changes to the blood type of my donor. And my blood will now have my donor’s DNA, not my own.
This is science fiction stuff. I can hardly believe it’s even possible, and there’s lots of chances for things to go wrong. It’s frightening.
AFTER THE TRANSPLANT
Recovery to a new state of “normal” takes about a year, but there’s a few storm clouds hovering:
- My immune system is new, like a baby’s. I’m prone to getting sick.
- Just as with any organ transplant, there’s a chance of rejection. Except in this case, it’s my blood that’s the foreign body, and it touches every organ. They call it graft-vs-host-disease and it can cause health issues and organ complications for the rest of my life.
- Successful transplant or not, Leukemia can relapse. Stubborn mofo.
Overall, 75% of AML transplant patients survive year one, 50% make it through year five. My odds are a little better since I’m young.
THE GREAT NEWS
I’ve got a long road ahead. But I’ve got a donor & amazing family & friends. A few months ago I didn’t have many options. Today I have a plan.
I am alive. I start tomorrow. Wish me luck!
Thank you.
[video]
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Negotiations with the carriers -
John Gruber:
> Android handset makers: *Here are our phones. How would you like us to
change them so that you will sell them?*
> Microsoft: *Here’s $200 million.
Please sell our phones.*
> Apple: *Here is our new phone. It comes in black or white. We will let
you sell it.*
Marco Arment's SecondCrack Static File Blogging Engine -
It’s nothing new, there are plenty of other static-files blogging platforms, but Marco decided to build one because he is a programmer.
The FAQ alone worth to be read even if you intend to use his platform or not. It’s hilarious and truth to the bones.
Here’s a reprint of it for posterity:
FAQ
Don’t a lot of these static-file blogging engines already exist?
Yes.
Have you tried [existing solution]?
No.
Isn’t this reinventing the wheel?
Yes.
Don’t you have other things you could be working on?
Yes. (Don’t we all?)
This name isn’t unique.
You’re probably right. Neither the domain nor the Twitter username are available, and it’s probably trademarked in an industry I’ve never heard of.
Really, it’s a terrible idea to launch a major project with such an unavailable name. But this isn’t a major project, and I don’t intend for it to get widespread enough that those problems will ever matter.
I needed a name. This came to mind. It’s a coffee-roasting term for the moment in the roast that the bean audibly pops for the second time, indicating development of the strongest flavors and the point that you should stop the roast because it’s done.
You’re not entirely correct on that definition. And I prefer my roast to be [x] seconds (before|after) second crack.
I know. For the purposes of this FAQ, it’s not really relevant.
OK, back to the static-file blog engine. What have you done differently from [existing solution]?
A bunch of small things, probably. I don’t know enough about the other solutions to really say.
Why doesn’t it have [feature]?
Because I didn’t think [feature] needed to be there. Some anticipated frequent values for [feature]:
Comments: Use Disqus or Facebook comments. Or just go without comments. Do you really need them?
Stats: Use Google Analytics or Mint. (Or both.)
Widgets and dynamic page content: Use Javascript.
Dynamic rendering for automatic mobile layouts, etc.: Use CSS.
Why should I use this instead of [existing solution]?
I don’t know. You probably shouldn’t.
Will this make you, me, or anyone any money?
I doubt it.
So why did you make this?
Because I’m a programmer, and this is what I do.
Some people jog away from their house every day, only to jog back. Others walk on a treadmill, expending energy to get nowhere. In both cases, it may appear to others that they’ve accomplished nothing, but they’ve chosen to do these seemingly redundant activities on a regular basis to incrementally improve themselves. And it works.
That’s not a perfect analogy. Programming another version of something with lots of existing solutions is nothing like daily cardiovascular exercise.
I know.
“Reading, digesting, and understanding the objectives of each piece of content completely changes the way you work as a designer.” — Sarah Parmenter - What I Learned About the Web in 2011