via Secret

Great piece by my friend Jory Kruspe on ‘The Bleed’:

We are starting to see a renaissance in the world of design for the web. Some may call it a trend, but from the perspective of a designer in the profession for many years, much of the current designs are being informed by an approach that has been in place for quite some time now. The approach is one that maximizes the available space in the browser and is usually characterized by the use of large photography or video. The term I will use in identifying this approach to web design is ‘Full Bleed.’
He’s absolutely right.
Since we decomissioned Adobe Flash from the heavylifting job of building websites, the combined powers of HTML5, Javascript and CSS have come a long way.
These new ‘cutting edge’ HTML5 sites use full screen video/image backgrounds and custom typography—things we were using 12 years ago in Flash (yep, I’ll be that crabby old bastard talking about the good ol’ days).
I make this point not to strip praise from all web designers doing great work today, but to point out the precedents on which today’s work builds.
Know your fucking roots.

As someone who appropriates the imagery of others in his artwork, I keep a close eye on cases like the one between Richard Prince and Patrick Cariou:

The appeals court ruled that of the 30 works by Mr. Prince in question, 25 were permissible under the fair use exception because they manifested “an entirely different aesthetic” from Mr. Cariou’s pictures. Five works were sent back to the lower court for a determination. The terms of the settlement concerning those five works were not disclosed in court papers filed Tuesday, but the documents make clear that none of the paintings will be destroyed – an option that the federal judge in the 2011 decision had made available to Mr. Cariou.
We don’t mind stealing from others, until they steal from us.

Google is now in the wearable OS game with Android Wear.
The Google voice assist is a great feature, but the same weather, time and text messages on your wrist just isn’t compelling.
When you compare what Google and Samsung are doing with wearable tech to what Apple is working on with detailed health-tracking, it puts things into perspective.
Am I missing something?

Horace Dediu:

Indeed, since the launch of the iPhone the net profits earned by the collection of protagonists shown was $215 billion. 60% has been earned by Apple, a newcomer to the market. That figure is also consistent on an ongoing basis, having reached 60% as early as 2011 and remained in a band around that figure since.

The fact that this happened without corresponding dominance in units shipped shows evidence of something startling: Consistent value creation.

To earn profit is hard, to do so in an outsized way is very hard and to do so with consistency shows a defensibility of market access that is rarest of all. The only cases where this typical is in a monopoly or protected market situation (aka cronyism.) Apple’s lack of market monopoly coupled with a (near-) monopoly in profits can only be explained by disproportionate value creation.
Value creation is one of those things Wall Street has a problem with because they can’t quantify value beyond the tangibles like the quality of manufacturing.
Apple perplexes analysts because they create different types of value, the most elusive being emotional value. “You can’t put a number on emotional value,” they say.
Meanwhile, Apple continues to do just that.

Zack Epstein is absolutely correct.
The best part of iOS 7 is the overall speed improvement. When I say it’s faster, I’m talking about motion transitions, time for apps to load, swipe-to-deletes in Mail, everything.
In reality each interaction is probably “only” fractions of a second faster, but you add them all up and it’s huge.

Unexpected 3-D with CSS. Pretty cool.
Say what you want about skeuomorphism being passé. Bullshit.
As someone noted recently (who’s blog post I’ve forgotten), Apple didn’t get rid of skeuomorphism at all in iOS 7—it’s layers and layers of UI behaving like semi-transparent/frosted glass, and the simulated physics of animations continue to be refined (like when you drag iMessages up and down with your finger).

Google removes underlined links – I’m saving this post for an upcoming essay on ‘authentic digital experiences’ (spoiler: having or not having underlines on your links doesn’t make your digital experience any more or less authentic).
Amazon Prime price jumping to $99 in the US – I’ve been a Prime member for a few years now. I’m fine with the $20/year hike. Still a great deal.
A message from 1996:

IDC predicts that by January 1997, up to a fifth of America’s top 500 companies boasting Web sites will have either closed them down or frozen their growth. Although more people are expected to peek at the Web this year, many will cancel their subscriptions and go back to watching television.
Neil Young launched a Kickstarter for his Pono Player – As I write this it’s at 9,261 backers with more than $3 million dollars. This would be considered a failure for Apple or Samsung, but this is great news for Neil. Niche music, technology, films, etc can exist in this world. Not everything has to be a blockbuster.

Armin Vit on Reebok’s new logo:

It’s probably not fair to keep comparing Reebok to Nike or Adidas but since no one ever said design blogging had to be fair I shall continue: I don’t think the previous Reebok logo ever achieved the same ubiquity or memorability as the Nike Swoosh or Adidas’ stripes. Before writing this post, if you had asked me to draw the Reebok icon from scratch I wouldn’t even have known where to start.
I’m with Armin, I couldn’t draw the Reebok logo before I read his blog post. For some reason, I think of Asics when I think of Reebok.
Maybe because they’re both forgettable brands.

Bitcoin continues to sound fucking awesome:

A bitcoin bank has been forced to close after hackers stole 896 bitcoin, worth £365,000, in an attack on Sunday.

The company shut its website and posted a statement on Tuesday morning detailing the loss.
Sure, greedy banks that default and get bailed out with taxpayer money suck balls, but I’m not converting my money to Bitcoin any time soon. This is a shit show.

Jesse James Garrett:

The interesting thing about galactic collisions is that because galaxies contain so much room between the stars, there’s very little actual colliding going on. The galaxies just sort of flow into one another, individual stars finding new places in the larger system developing around them in a process unfolding over billions of years. From the vantage point of someone living in one of these galaxies, even if you lived long enough to see the constellations shift and change around you, you still might not be aware of exactly what was going on.
A great metaphor for what’s happening with customer experience, service design and user experience design.

It wasn’t enough that Apple ‘virtually’ imitated rich Corinthian leather in iOS 6.
Samsung had to go a step further and do it in the physical world.
Notes app, iOS 6 (2012):

Samsung’s new Chromebook (2014):

Stay classy, Samsung.