The Secret to Success

The secret to success is no secret at all. Its about knowing your goal, keeping that goal in mind, and performing the steps necessary to reach that goal.

April 18, 2013|Permalink

Why You Should Always Be Testing Your Assumptions

How do you know if your beliefs are true? This is a story about challenging those beliefs and finding out that sometimes they are just flat wrong.

Feb 24, 2013|Permalink

Social Patterns: The Communication Loop

Its no surprise that lots of software apps these days are integrating more social features. Its easy to spot some of the basic patterns which make them work. One common patterns is the "communication loop."

August 19, 2012|Permalink

Expandable User Interface For Dynamic Content

Designing a user interface for user generated content can sometimes be a challenge. You just never know how much space to allocate a section before slapping a 'more' button at the bottom. The following demo is a potential solution when user generated content blows out a design and you don't want a clumsy 'more' button.

June 10, 2012|Permalink

Social Networks Killed the Content Providers

Anyone who creates content should have some sort of control in how its shared. I'd like to propose the concept of a personal digital asset. A personal digital asset (PDA) is owned by its creator. When creating an assets you decide where and how it will be shared and any service that consumes/shares assets must abide by the rules of sharing designated in those assets.

May 20, 2012|Permalink

Fotoblur Labs: HTML5 Magazine

What is Fotoblur Labs? Think magazine. Its a playground for enjoying great photography in an innovative user interface. It pushes the browser into new territories and opens up doors for new and exiting ways to present information.

April 6, 2012|Permalink

Greetings from Uninterested Person

I never hear about you from any friend or relative nor do I remember reading about you in any one of my favorite blogs or websites. I also didn't actively find you in a search nor have I ever seen or heard an ad from you in any place or publication I trust.

Feb 4, 2012|Permalink

Startup Minutia

Haven't read much on Hacker News about the daily minutia of running an online side business / startup at a "one man" shop.

But does this list of activities sound about right to you?

Jan 21, 2012|Permalink

Fotoblur Badge

This holiday season I've been spending some time developing some new features for Fotoblur. This widget allows any member to display a portion of their gallery on their own blog or website.

Jan 1, 2012|Permalink

How Startups use Propaganda

It can be difficult for start ups, competing in the same space, to differentiate themselves. I've always been fascinated by the tactics employed by some to do just that. This article reviews the use of card stacking, a propaganda technique that seeks to manipulate audience perception of an issue by emphasizing one side and repressing another.

Dec 19, 2011|Permalink

Why is StumbleUpon Stealing Your Google Analytics Data?

Something is wrong with this picture. StumbleUpon badges send your Google Analytics cookies back home.

Check out what I found when looking at the JavaScript dropped by StumbleUpon's share button.

Oct 27, 2011|Permalink

Social Interaction Tells Us We Exist

In our world, like it or not, we need each other to validate our own existence. We need to tell each other our ideas, our fears, our problems, and our occasional triumphs. It gives us reassurance and validation that our ideas are real, that we are real. Without this social feedback we lack the capability to understand our own existence.

Oct 25, 2011|Permalink

Hey You, Don't Waste Your Life

You won't get today back ever...EVER! Really think about that. Don't lie dormant. Your days are limited. Maybe you've got a week, a month, a year left. Then, life moves on without you.

Oct 14, 2011|Permalink

What Do You Stand For?

Apple inspires us to Think Different. Nike urges us to Just Do It. Sony says Believe that anything you imagine, you can make real. The common thread is successful companies believe in more than just creating stuff! They have a mission.

This story is how I came to learn the importance of having a mission.

Oct 7, 2011|Permalink

People Matter More Than Stats

Bragging about your website's stats, or how many new members you've signed up this week, or your latest press articles is cool, right?

I'm of the opinion that a website's traffic stats and member counts don't matter much unless you change people's lives. Change people's lives and you've made a difference.

Oct 5, 2011|Permalink

Laws of Productivity

If you think crunch times are a great idea, and working 12+ hour days plus weekends is commendable, then you might be interested in what corporations and scientific studies have reported on the subject.

Laws of Productivity: 8 productivity experiments you don't need to repeat

Sept 13, 2011|Permalink

How to Successfully Procrastinate

Work, work, work. Everyone I know is obsessed with it. People today are too concerned with how they can become more productive. What they really need to learn is how to successfully procrastinate.

Sept 3, 2011|Permalink

Attention to Detail

When details are perfected, a user experience can be quite enjoyable. For example, Apple's laptop sleep indicator mimics the rhythm of breathing which is psychologically appealing. Fine dining restaurants replace silverware between each course. Car dealerships wash your car after an oil change. Starbucks baristas remember your name. Attention to detail is everywhere.

July 28, 2011|Permalink

What You Don't Do

Sometimes it is what you don't do which defines you. It is the negative space that shapes your life.

It is the things you don't say, the decisions you don't make, the actions you don't take.

These things can set you apart from those that do.

July 20, 2011|Permalink

Followers are Paralyzed by Inaction

Few things feels worse then when your competition does something you recognize as a good idea. Possibly a worse feeling is when you had the same idea but didn't act on it.

We all have great ideas which break from the norm. However, for one reason or another, we usually don't act on them.

July 11, 2011|Permalink