ZDNet: Adobe ceases development on mobile browser Flash (via MG Siegler)
It was only a matter of time:

Our future work with Flash on mobile devices will be focused on enabling Flash developers to package native apps with Adobe AIR for all the major app stores. We will no longer adapt Flash Player for mobile devices to new browser, OS version or device configurations. Some of our source code licensees may opt to continue working on and releasing their own implementations. We will continue to support the current Android and PlayBook configurations with critical bug fixes and security updates.

I know. Adobe wanted to prove Steve Jobs wrong after Apple made their technical decision not to support Flash on the iPhone. Instead of seeing Steve’s point of view, they decided to act like a teenage girl, screaming and crying about this atrocity. In addition to all the money they pissed away trying to shoe-horn Flash onto Android phones, they took out full-page ads saying “We ♥ Apple”. Very cute.
Now here we are, four years after the debut of the iPhone and Adobe finally concedes defeat. Imagine all the money and resources they could have saved if they had managed things differently. Perhaps they could have avoided the 2,000+ layoffs they’ve had in the last 3 years.
I’m indulging in some schadenfreude at Adobe’s expense, but it doesn’t change the fact that Flash has been an extremely powerful tool which has allowed me and many other interactive designers to express ourselves and create truly immersive experiences and applications.
Even today, HTML5 still does not provide the level of granular control and fluidity that Flash does for desktop experiences.
It’s necessary we as interactive professionals keep up with technologies and frameworks like HTML5, but it’s also just as necessary companies like Adobe lower the barrier for entry by making tools that allow creative people to focus on creating experiences and not getting bogged down in the minutia of code.
The web is an amazing canvas to work on. If you’re taking away our Flash paint brush, you have to replace it with a tool of equal power for expression.

via AllThingsD

The box was a fascist symbol and the architecture of freedom and democracy needed something besides the box. So I started out to destroy the box as a building.
—Frank Lloyd Wright

via Analogue

A human would answer that question when asked. Tablets are a Windows phenomenon? Who knew?

Joe Frazier, dead at 67.

I originally wrote this piece back in 2009. With Apple recently introducing Siri, it is interesting to go back and read what I wrote:

The posting of specific product launches or reviews of these products is not something that deserves a spot on this site–we’ll leave that to the engagets of the world. So it is with some apprehension that I make a post specifically focusing on the new iPod Shuffle and what it represents not only to Apple, but to people in general. After all–it’s the people that end up using these products.
Apple announced its new iPod Shuffle with less media spectacle and usual hoopla that follows much of its product line. It has been a pattern that I have started to notice, and that is the fact that there seems to be a lot more to the products that receive less attention. There always seems to be a lot of things that go missed by the mainstream reviewers, and less thought into these patterns that keep appearing. There is more to this phone–oops, I mean iPod–than meets the eye.
This new iPod Shuffle is a culmination of many technologies that have been championed by Apple over the years. One of the key elements that is missing from this new device is a physical interface contained on the unit. This has now been placed on the headphone cord and now makes it very easy to control, using various clicking combinations. The other bit of technology to accompany this addition is the use of voiceover to alert people as to the name of track and artist that is playing in their headphones–this was something that was lacking in previous models of the iPod Shuffle. With all this said, there is a reason for it, and it’s not just to sell more units. This is one step closer to the perfect interface and the perfect phone–oops, I mean iPod.
This iPod demonstrates a device that is not only less intrusive to use, but it is a device that is completely accessible to visually impaired people. The use of the headphone controls along with the voice feedback on the device, make it something that opens up the doors to people who could not enjoy the full experience of the screen-based iPod. These people can now navigate tracks and receive feedback as to what content is playing, giving them an experience in a mainstream music device that has not been achieved before.
This furthers Apple’s quest for the perfect interface, the interface that doesn’t have somebody bound to the use of a screen, but can offer an experience that is just as enjoyable–or maybe even more enjoyable. Only time will tell, but I think this represents a movement into a realm never seen before.
For those of you that know me–you know that I have always talked about how I would like to see somebody put a screen-less phone to market. There have been attempts by some companies to do it, but nothing that has produced good results. I think Apple has an opportunity to do it, and to actually pull it off.
The addition of the voiceover technology makes me think about voice coming from the other direction. I don’t mean the lousy attempts by other companies to integrate voice commands into their devices, I mean a system that actually works. A system that would allow people to place calls through the use of their voice, along with being able to go through their address book and place calls. We may not be able to get rid of the phone keypad, but just imagine a phone/iPod that was contained in a pair of headphones. It may not be that far off.
Thanks for listening and keep on heeding.

the quiet place

The iPad has nothing on this:

From Candy Chang:

It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and forget what really matters to you. With help from old and new friends, Candy turned the side of an abandoned house in her neighborhood in New Orleans into a giant chalkboard where residents can write on the wall and remember what is important to them. Stenciled with the sentence “Before I die I want to _______”, the wall became a space where we could learn the hopes and dreams of the people around us. Before I Die transformed a neglected space into a constructive one to help improve our neighborhood and our personal well-being. It’s a question that changed her over the last year after she lost someone she loved very much.

Fucking beautiful. Just goes to show you the power of street art in the right hands.

I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.

—Michael Jordan
via Alex Rainert

The show itself was a huge success but a lot of crazy stuff happened along the way. The following videos are a very honest look at the highs and lows of the experience.