- Here’s to the anti-perfectionist (i.e. the literary cousins of imperfectionists) who go by the motto: whatever works. In a culture where we worship the perfectionists (Steve Jobs, for instance), it is refreshing to see a contrary viewpoint which speaks a cold hard truth: in 95% cases, just going with ‘whatever works’ is far better than finding the perfect solution. I can relate to this because I come from a country where ‘jugaad’ – a Hindi term which roughly translates into: “made of odds and ends, but in working condition” – is the norm. If you can punch it out quickly, perhaps not only will you have the time to revise future iterations, but might also learn from user experience. Famous example of a site that was punched out in days? Facebook.
- Google+ pages are out, and they look exactly as you’d expect them to look: bland. Facebook’s pages are one of the chief marketing weapons in its arsenal, so it was only a matter of time before Google+ tried its hands at it. The results are oh-kay, not very inspiring, and not too different from Facebook. Here’s an example page: Angry Birds. Meh.
- “Siri, who is your competition?”
“I think non exist”
Sorry to break it to you Siri, but you do have competition now. Pioneer just launched Zypr, a free to use voice control platform for online mapping, searching, navigation, social media, etc. which developers can plug into their apps. Not nearly as polished as Siri, but from the looks of it, with enough developer support, it should give the tech media’s current darling a tough challenge. But once again, the pattern repeats: Apple changes the game, others still learn the rules.
- The man who deliberated on the colors in the Google logo, also took an equal amount of time to figure out what washing machine to buy, reveals the New Yorker in yet another article about Steve Jobs. This one is well written, and a cozy read. But come on, mainstream media, stop with the articles already! How about a piece on Dennis Ritchie instead?
- Bad, bad news for startups and anyone else who uses cloud storage (which would be everyone else): as you might have heard, Thailand is facing its worst flood in history. And dozens of hard drive manufacturers have massive factories in Thailand. Put two and two together and you can see where this is going: yup, those hard drive producing factories are flooded with up to 2 meters of water. What this means: your hard drive prices will shoot up, way up, as supplies dwindle. Western Digital, for instance, will see a 60% reduction in production. This should impact any service that uses a lot of hard drives, like Amazon S3. ExtremeTech has a more in-depth report.
- Computer programmers like their programming dens darker than the Dark Knight. But looking at a computer monitor in pitch darkness isn’t going to earn you a call from the Air Force for your impeccable 20/20 vision. What you need is “bias lighting” – some indirect lighting that helps your eyes adjust from the darkness of the room to the brightness of the monitor. Sounds simple enough, and when you read this blog post by Jeff Atwood, you’ll realize that its even easier to implement.
- How to save $175,000 by creating your own text-books.
- Josh Green, co-founder of Panjiva, urges American entrepreneurs to rise out of a bubble, but not the kind of bubble you’d think about. This is the bubble of catering to the American middle class, and Josh rightly says that the real target for entrepreneurs should be the rising global middle class. I’m doing some research on the Indian startup scene, and by some accounts, the Indian middle class will rise to more than half a billion in the next decade or so. Same for China. Isn’t that a tantalizing prospect?
- Question on StackExchange today: how can a bright non-programming person learn programming quickly? Brilliant discussion all around with some excellent answers. Non-programmers hunting for a technical co-founder: just pull up your pants and read that discussion in its entirety. Then implement the solutions.
- And finally, your feel good moment of the day(I’m just going to copy-paste from the YouTube description):
The Myrtle Beach Seahawks scored a convincing 64-16 win over Hilton Head in the first round of the class 3A playoffs. On the final play of the game, Hilton Head’s Chip Mullen, a senior with Down Syndrome, scored on a 75 yard touchdown run on the final play of his high school career. Myrtle Beach joined the Hilton Head players in the end zone to celebrate Mullen’s score.
And here’s the video:
