I think most people find Google easier than going to the direct website.

—comment from a client

via Instagram

A Science Lesson For Whoever Wrote the New iPhone 5 Ad

via Museo del Prado via Open Culture

There was a time I can remember when the common term for mapping a route on the computer was to “MapQuest it.”

I’m talking about the mid 1990’s until a few years after Google Maps came out in 2005. At some point after Google Maps had been around the ‘switch’ happened, and everyone started to gradually migrate over from MapQuest. Google Maps started out as the Student, and had become the Master.

Now, here we are in September of 2012 and Apple has ditched Google Maps for it’s own solution. The problem is, for some people in some parts of the world, this “solution” isn’t a solution at all.

In response to the backlash to the new Maps application in iOS, Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, has issued an apology and has recommended we look to some third-party applications for help as they fix their maps. One of the services Cook recommends? MapQuest (via The Loop).

I find that so surreal.

Is that the Backstreet Boys I hear on the radio?

I’ve added new rewards to my Kickstarter project, Faster Horses. There’s now a third poster design set I’m calling ‘Asymmetric.’

People wonder how I know every line from some movies. It’s because I’ve watched them over and over and over again.

To me, a great movie is the same as a great music album.

My question is, why would you not want to watch a great movie again?

via parislemon

Seth Godin brings our attention to the Weber-Fechner law:

The more stimulus you’re getting (light, sound, pressure, delight, sadness) the less easily you can notice a small change. That seems obvious, but it’s worth saying.

If you’re entering a market filled with loudness, it’s harder to be noticed, even if the incremental benefit you offer seems large to you. If you’re trying to delight existing customers, the more delighted they already are, the more new delight you need to offer to turn heads.

This brings to mind the Blue Ocean Strategy.

Joshua Irish practices the same philosophy of iPhone cases as I do—he goes naked.

At my desk next to me sits a 1.5-year-old iPhone 4. I have not had a case since I bought it. It’s been dropped a bunch of times, it has some scratches, but it still works and looks great.

I wrote about this back in 2008 and used a car analogy (big surprise):

As useful as a bra is to protect a car’s front end from oncoming debris, it also does something inversely damaging – It masks the beautiful craft and design of the car.

The same goes for all this crap people use to protect their iPhones.

Take it off people! Unless you’re going rock climbing, your iPhone doesn’t need all that protection. It’s not the delicate flower you think it is. It can handle everyday use. I know mine can.

Or as Jerry Seinfeld says, “Why don’t you walk around with a helmet on too?”

I’ve wondered if Windows 8 and the Microsoft Surface are half-baked.

Now I’m wondering if they’ve even been put in the oven.

People are seduced by Apple’s products, partly because they can touch them. I’m not sure Microsoft knows seduction.

via thisisnthappiness via Coudal