Social Media
People aren’t understanding it
How can something be so popular and widely discussed and visible, and yet people aren’t understanding it? Noah Glass, Twitter’s Forgotten Cofounder, on what could be improved
Internet
What “identity” means
it’s ambiguous in most discussions what “identity” means Twitter founder Evan Williams, on Online Identity (Wayback Machine)
User experience
Rather than rethinking the icon, we should abandon the concept
rather than rethinking the icon, we should abandon the concept of explicitly saving files. Tumblr & Instapaper founder Marco Arment, on Replacing the “Save” icon
Apple
Apple benefits Google
Apple benefits Google by creating user experience innovations which Google can rapidly copy. Google benefits Apple by […] crippling the profitability (and thus the ability to innovate) of Apple’s direct competitors. Horace Dediu, Apple (biased?) analyst, on his view of Google and Apple as mobile co-belligerents
Cloud computing
The need for a computer called “server”
It’s entirely possible to run a 20-man office without ever even considering the need for a computer called “server” somewhere. 37signals on The end of the IT department
Cognition
At any given moment, our most complicated machine
At any given moment, our most complicated machine will be taken as a model of human intelligence Adam Gopnik explains, in The New Yorker, How the Internet Gets Inside Us
I fear the Internet is doomed to fail
I fear the Internet is doomed to fail, to be replaced by tightly controlled gardens of exclusivity. Don Norman, I Have Seen the Future and I Am Opposed
Design
If you can’t find the button
if you can’t find the button to use the camera on the phone, it doesn’t matter how many megapixels it is Adam Greenfield, a former head of design direction at Nokia, Interviewed by NYTimes.com
Temporary as any social gathering, nightclub or party
social media is itself as temporary as any social gathering, nightclub or party. It’s the people that matter, not the venue Douglas Rushkoff, on why the Facebook hype will fade (Wayback Machine)
Our rational brain
our rational brain is [...] a computer operating system that was rushed to market Jonah Lehrer, Neuroscientist and author, as cited in Myth #29: People are rational on UX Myths
Run someone off the internet
If it’s OK for a democracy to just decide to run someone off the internet for doing something they wouldn’t prosecute a newspaper for doing, the idea of an internet that further democratizes the public sphere will have taken a mortal blow. Wikileaks and the Long Haul « Clay
Net Neutrality
Telecommunications carriers
every time and in every way that the telecommunications carriers have had power or control, we the people wind up getting screwed Apple Co-founder Steve Wozniak on net neutrality, in his open letter to the FCC: Keep the Internet Free