Ajax Blog

Innovation requires a fascination with wonder

“Whenever we initiate change, even a positive one, we activate fear in our emotional brain. If the fear is big enough, the fight-or-flight response will go off and we’ll run from what we’re trying to do. The small steps in kaizen don’t set off fight or flight, but rather keep us in the thinking brain, where we have access to our creativity and playfulness.”

Larger design businesses don’t allow good design to happen

“The problem is that the structures of most larger design businesses cannot effectively facilitate the the transmittal of ideas. They don’t allow good design to happen, because they are overburdened with the organizational overhead of running a business: org charts, jurisdictions, inconsistency, poor communications, etc. All the complications that large groups of humans create for one another when they work together, complications that are not about doing design.”

Pixar’s Brad Bird on fostering innovation

“Steve Jobs basically designed this building. In the center, he created this big atrium area, which seems initially like a waste of space. The reason he did it was that everybody goes off and works in their individual areas. People who work on software code are here, people who animate are there, and people who do designs are over there. Steve put the mailboxes, the meetings rooms, the cafeteria, and, most insidiously and brilliantly, the bathrooms in the center—which initially drove us crazy—so that you run into everybody during the course of a day. [Jobs] realized that when people run into each other, when they make eye contact, things happen. So he made it impossible for you not to run into the rest of the company.” [via JK]

Must-see photo project examines death and dying

“This exhibition features people whose lives are coming to an end. It explores the experiences, hopes and fears of the terminally ill. All of them agreed to be photographed shortly before and immediately after death.”

A new spin on the RSS reader

“Instead of treating news like email (as most RSS readers do), Times presents you with headlines and photos from a variety of sources all in one place, letting you more easily discover the news you want to read. Like your own personal newspaper, you can put feeds into separate areas, create pages for different subjects, and more.”

Success = sustainable execution

“I’m not suggesting that scale equates success. A business that can do a million in revenue per year and live comfortably in that range to me is just as successful as Google is. The scope of execution is unimportant. The sustainability of that execution is what I consider success.”

Turn your $60 router into a user-friendly super-router with Tomato

“There’s a lot you can do now that you’re running Tomato on your router, but let’s go straight to one of the sexiest tweaks supported by Tomato: Wi-Fi signal boosting. Just click on Advanced -> Wireless in the Tomato sidebar and find the entry labeled Transmit Power. The default transmit power is 42mW, but it’s capable of transmitting at up to 251mW.”

Fear and America

“Fear, in other words, is a tax, and al-Qaeda and its ilk have done better at extracting it from Americans than the Internal Revenue Service…Never before have so few terrorized so many with so little.”

Art exhibit: “Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy”

“Through fashion and the superhero, we gain the freedom to fantasize, to escape the banal, the ordinary, and the quotidian. The fashionable body and the superhero body are sites upon which we can project our fantasies, offering a virtuosic transcendence beyond the moribund and utilitarian.”

Louise Fili design

Specialists in the design of restaurants & food packaging. Beautiful typography.

Source: Signal vs. Noise
Original Article: http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1019-sunspots-the-small-steps-edition

Flickr, Viddler, Qik, Pownce and Revision3 are the first services to support oEmbed, an easy way to allow embeding media from a certain URL in a third party site.

From the oEmbed site:

oEmbed is a format for allowing an embedded representation of a URL on third party sites. The simple API allows a website to display embedded content (such as photos or videos) when a user posts a link to that resource, without having to parse the resource directly.

This means that if you for example find a nice photo on flickr, you can take the URL and easily turn it into embed-able data:

Original URL: http://flickr.com/photos/codepo8/2475016321/

oEmbed URL: http://flickr.com/services/oembed?url=http://flickr.com/photos/codepo8/2475016321/

Result:

You can define the output format and the maximum width and height with URL parameters:

oEmbed URL:

http://flickr.com/services/oembed?url=http://flickr.com/photos/codepo8/2475016321/&format=json&maxwidth=200

Result:

Supported formats for responses so far are photo, video, link and rich.

Source: Ajaxian
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ajaxian/~3/286763082/oembed-makes-embedding-third-party-videos-and-images-a-breeze

John Resig has completed 7 months of work to produce a port of Processing, the “programming language and integrated development environment (IDE) built for the electronic arts and visual design communities”, which aims to teach the basics of computer programming in a visual context, and to serve as the foundation for electronic sketchbooks. One of the stated aims of Processing is to act as a tool to get non-programmers started with programming, through the instant gratification of visual feedback.”

Processing.js uses Canvas and obviously JavaScript to get the job down in the browser.

John talks about the two pieces of the puzzle:

The Processing Language

The first portion of the project was writing a parser to dynamically convert code written in the Processing language, to JavaScript. This involves a lot of gnarly regular expressions chewing up the code, spitting it out in a format that the browser understands.

The language includes a number of interesting aspects, many of which are covered in the basic demos. Here’s a brief selection of language features that are handled:

• Types and type casting - Type information is generally discarded, but becomes important in variable declaration and in casting (which is generally handled well).
• Classes - The full class system is supported (can be instantiated, etc. just fine).
• Method overloading and multiple constructors - Within classes you can have multiple method (or constructor) definitions - with the appropriate methods being called, based upon their signature length.
• Inheritance - Even classical-style inheritance is supported.

Note: There’s one feature of Processing that’s pretty much impossible to support: variable name overloading. In Processing you can have variables and functions that have the same name (e.g. float size = 0; float size(){}). In order to support this there would have to be considerable overhead - and it’s generally not a good practice to begin with.

The Processing API

The second portion of the project is the full 2d Processing API. This includes all sorts of different methods:

• Shapes drawing
• Canvas manipulation
• Pixel utilities
• Image drawing
• Math functions
• Keyboard and mouse access
• Objects (point, arrays, random number generators)
• Color manipulation
• Font selection and text drawing
• Buffers

Congratulations to John, and I look forward to seeing some fantastic visualizations in the browser thanks to this work.

Source: Ajaxian
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ajaxian/~3/286603730/processingjs-port-of-the-processing-language-to-javascript-and-canvas

Sometimes the only way to get new products out the door at a big company like Yahoo is to launch it far away from HQ. That’s what happened with Yahoo Glue, a new way to present search results more visually that Yahoo is experimenting with on its Yahoo India site. Much like Google’s Universal Search that brings in results from images, videos, maps, news, or other sources as appropriate. It is also similar in appearance to Ask since its redesign last summer.

Yahoo Glue only works for certain categories of searches (sports, travel, entertainment, health, stocks, and tech), but it does produce a more satisfying experience than the traditional list of blue links. The only issue is that the results take a little bit longer to load. But humans are visual creatures and we respond better to the visual display of information. Yahoo Glue brings in results in three different panes, both from Yahoo and elsewhere. They can be images, videos, Wikipedia entries, HowStuffWorks entries, sports stats, and news, and results from other sources.

Search for the “Taj Mahal” and you get pictures and videos of the Taj Mahal, and a link to the Wikipedia entry. Search for “Halle Berry” and you get a bio, pics, YouTube videos, news, and results from Yahoo Answers. Search for “soccer” and you get league tables. The traditional link results are still available in the narrow left-hand column, but you almost ignore them.

This is not just a random project in India. Expect to see Yahoo Glue imported to the U.S. sometime this summer, says one industry source.

Combine it with Yahoo’s SearchMonkey project, which allows developers to change the way search results are displayed, and Yahoo Glue starts to get interesting. Yahoo doesn’t have to create the templates for every single search category. Developers can do that and, in the process, make Yahoo Glue a truly sticky app.

(Photo by Will Fuller).

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/286595481/

The tagging and link-sharing market has no shortage of competition, but that doesn’t seem to be deterring many developers. Mento, which has just launched in an invite-only beta, is the latest to arrive on the scene, sporting a very well designed site and a number of options that make sharing links a breeze.

Beyond the features typically found on tagging sites, Mento strives to simplify sharing links with friends by allowing users to import and interact with their Facebook contacts. The site also differentiates itself by keeping track of how many times a link you’ve shared has been clicked, and which members have clicked it.

Mento can be used either with bookmarklets in your browser’s toolbar or as an extension that appears as a button (available for both Firefox and IE). The extension isn’t intrusive, but it doesn’t seem to offer much extra functionality over the bookmarklet at this point (though this will likely change in the future).

Mento’s main goal is to provide a lightweight solution for easy sharing, bookmarking, and tagging. After clicking on the bookmarklet, a small browser window pops up, asking if you’d like to Send, Save, or comment on a page. The Send form features a handy autocomplete for your contacts, though you can manually enter email addresses. The Save form leaves a bookmark and description of the page on your Mento profile page for future reference.

Mento facilitates link sharing by allowing you to publish links to del.icio.us, FriendFeed, Magnolia, Tumblr, and Twitter. There’s also a Facebook app that allows friends to view and comment on links without having to install the application themselves (a rarity these days).

Mento’s CEO Gregor Hochmuth is quick to acknowledge the obvious comparison to del.icio.us, explaining that Mento takes the del.icio.us model and improves on it by including robust sharing support. In practice, the sharing functionality does work well, especially when you’ve imported your friends from Facebook. But a number of other sites, such as Zigtag and Yoono, have very similar offerings. Only time will tell if Mento will melt under the pressure, or if it’ll stay fresh, cool, and full of life.

You can get one of the 500 invites here.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/286553000/

Erick appeared on Fox Business last night to talk about the recent $3.2 billion WiMax deal between Sprint Nextel and Clearwire that’s expected to go through.

He tries to discuss the questionableness of the deal from a business standpoint despite the promises of WiMax as a technology. However, there’s clearly some frustration that Cavuto would rather talk about the future of mobile devices in general, and his daughter’s technology habits in particular, rather than analyze the viability of the deal.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/286511816/

Microsoft is taking one of its options off the table in its on-again, off-again pursuit of Yahoo. It has told members of the alternate board of directors it had lined up for a possible hostile proxy battle over Yahoo that it won’t be needing their services. The news was delivered to each alternate in a short e-mail this morning from Microsoft’s law firm, Sullivan & Cromwell, according to the Wall Street Journal

Yahoo’s shares have been rising most of this week, after taking an initial hit on Monday. The relative strength in the shares have been partly fueled by hopes for renewed negotiations between Yahoo and Microsoft.

This action represents an important new data point in the battle of wills between the two companies. Is Microsoft really no longer interested in acquiring Yahoo, or is it just trying to signal that it has lost interest to drive down Yahoo’s shares and thus strengthen its negotiating position?

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/286412771/

Shawn Fanning, best known for founding Napster, has a new job. He will be working at Electronic Arts, which is about to buy his social-network-gaming startup Rupture for $30 million, according to sources with knowledge of the deal. His co-founder Jon Baudanza will also join Electronic Arts. We first heard of a possible deal back in February, but did not know who was the buyer. Rupture’s first product was a social network for players of the online video game World of Warcraft, but it only came out with a beta version and kept delaying its public launch.

Electronic Arts is buying the company for its technology, since it doesn’t have a lot of users (it was only ever in beta) and never launched the second version of its service. Presumably, creating social networks around massively multiplayer video games is a key component of its online strategy. The company has not yet officially announced the acquisition, but it is expected to do so soon. [Update: The closing of the deal is imminent, but there are still some papers to sign].

Rupture had previously raised only $2.5 to $3 million in an angel round last summer from investors including Ron Conway, Joi Ito, Reid Hoffman, and Baseline Ventures. Although this is not Fanning’s first startup, it is his first real payday. Napster helped change the music industry, but it went bankrupt doing so. And although he just sold his second startup SnoCap to Imeem, that was more of a mercy acquisition. It is doubtful that he made more than a few pennies on that sale. You know what they say. Third time’s the charm.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/286383021/

When early adopters sit at their computers, what applications and websites do they use the most? The answer: Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Office, and MSN Messenger—just like most everyone else. At least according to data from RescueTime, the productivity app that monitors the amount of time a user spends on every application on his desktop. The Y Combinator-funded startup has given us an exclusive look at the usage data they’ve compiled from over 30,000 users (most of whom are early adopters). This data represents real-life usage on a huge scale, totaling 475,190 man-hours.

Gmail, Facebook, and Skype make strong showings, but still lag behind Microsoft’s desktop apps. Microsoft Websites, however, are nowhere to be seen. All of this suggests that among early adopters, desktop apps still rule, but Webtop apps are gaining ground in terms of what they use every day. After Outlook and Word, Gmail is the third most-used application, Facebook is No. 6, Google search is No. 10, iTunes is No. 11, and Skype is No. 16.

If you add up all of Google’s apps and sites, they take up 17 percent of the time this group spends on their computers. But Microsoft’s apps collectively take up 41 percent of their time, so Google still has some catching up to do.

Here’s the disclaimer: This data is by no means scientific. It represents mostly early adopters, but these are the people who are supposed to figure out what’s useful before the rest of us do. They are the canary in the coal mine. The data also has an international slant, with only 40% of users in the US (a total of 60% are English-speaking). About 35% of the users are on Macs, a rate over three times higher than the international estimate of 10% Mac market-share.

Here’s a breakdown of the top 20 applications and Websites, ranked by the overall time spent in each.

The Top 3

The top of the list is dull. Outlook stands tall with 12.4% of all the time spent on a computer, with MS Word(9.4%) and Gmail(6.6%) rounding out the top three. No surprises here.

Chat

In the battle for chat-client supremacy, MSN Messenger comes away with a whopping 4.14%, more than twice as much as the next leading client. Adium’s high performance is indicative of the high proportion of Mac users (it is easily the best client on the Mac).

Websites

Facebook holds a surprisingly strong lead over other websites, with nearly three times as much usage as Wikipedia’s English site. Also notable is Twitter.com’s usage (this is the site itself, not the API, which reportedly sees ten times more action). Digg is more popular among this group than the NYTimes.com, and gaming site Kongregate makes a strong showing as well. TechCrunch comes up right behind YouPorn (NSFW), which isn’t such a bad place to be in.

In all, RescueTime users spent 44.6% of their time using communication services, beating out work-related apps by a large margin. The trend is probably much worse for the typical user, as RescueTime users are more likely to try to stay on task (in theory, at least).

We’ve included the full spreadsheet below, and would love to see further analysis in the comments.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/286359461/

We’re fast approaching our super fun CrunchNetwork Prague Meet-up and we’re prepping the pivo and knedliky for the big night. We’re going to have some surprises coming up so watch this space but until then feel free to RSVP by email or on Facebook.

Remember the event is on Friday, May 23, 2008 from 7pm until 1AM. That’s right. 1AM.

Special thanks to Jack DeNeut who is assisting in the planning for this event and extra special thanks to all these sponsors:

Nelso - Multi-language local search for Europe

Geewa - Multiplayer games for PC and mobile

Newstin - Connecting people through news to create global communities
of interest

Wirenode - Simple-to-use tools that allow anyone to create a mobile website

GoodData - A complete, on-demand business intelligence platform

Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/286377448/