Disqus - Latest Comments for buzzandersen

Re: http://prosume.tumblr.com/post/6517981476

buzzandersen — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 09:04:42 -0000

Key thing that recipe should mention about egg white drinks: always dry shake the ingredients first to froth up the egg white, then add ice and shake again to chill and dilute. I couldn't figure out why my egg white drinks didn't turn out like the ones I got in bars until I learned that trick.

Re: Oh, Tellme Your History

buzzandersen — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:01:23 -0000

One of my co-workers who hired me at Apple (and I later worked on some other projects with) was an ex-Tellme person. It's interesting to see what a long shadow they cast through the startup world.

Re: http://perpetua.tumblr.com/post/576334484

buzzandersen — Thu, 06 May 2010 11:49:28 -0000

I think you just elucidated exactly what's been bugging me about "geek culture" for a long time now. It's become so self conscious and affected, which is exactly the antithesis of its origins. If you go around telling everyone what a nerd you are, you most definitely are not a nerd. If everyone's a geek, nobody is.

I guess the thing that has always kind of left me a bit cold about "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," and many other things like it, is that it seems so calculatedly, self consciously nerdy. Zombies are such a nerd trope, Jane Austen is such an obvious high culture target. The marriage of the two doesn't seem to stem from some essential insight into the surprising parallels between Austen and George Romero or something like that. It's just kind of a one joke thing targeted at people who want to think of themselves as in-the-know geeks.

Re: III: Botany

buzzandersen — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 11:41:06 -0000

Minor pedantic nit: coffee brewed a cup at a time isn't exactly unheard of in New York these days. Plenty of Manhattan places (Third Rail, Abraço, Mailino) offer pour over, Chemex, Clover, etc. That said, all of this is a relatively recent West Coast import brought to New York via Brooklyn, so I'll concede your point :-).

Re: http://log.scifihifi.com/post/472438873

buzzandersen — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 23:18:38 -0000

That's an excellent point, Pete, and it's funny you should say that because I've considered writing a blog post about that very subject before. That was definitely one thing interesting about working on STP: usability was about more than discovery/untuitiveness--it was also about making something fast for someone who does the same thing over and over all day.

It would be interesting to see how much that concern was at work here.

Re: http://log.scifihifi.com/post/464327347

buzzandersen — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 10:37:08 -0000

Yeah, I'm familiar with the argument that "UX research is for the details, not the overall vision" (as expressed, for example, in this Ryan Freitas presentation), and I thought about addressing that in the post, but I felt like I was getting too unfocused and didn't have time to pull the whole thing together.

I recognize that some level of understanding your users is very important, and that companies like Twitter have had great success evolving their products based on user behavior. I guess what I'm reacting against is that a lot of people I know have become quite dogmatic about "user centered design" as a complete worldview, and, in my opinion, their insistence on it (and their dismissal of traditional design talent with the derogatory term "genius design") is a way of trying to assert the dominance of the rationalist engineering methodology they're comfortable with over the messy emotional and aesthetic aspects of design that they uncomfortable with. I almost said all of this in the post, but, again, I worried about becoming too unfocused and vitriolic.

Re: http://christmasgorilla.com/post/399453756

buzzandersen — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:59:19 -0000

So jealous of this. I took a road trip from Denver to New Mexico after I left Apple in 2007, and it was a memorable experience.

Re: TaskPaper for iPhone beta 0.3

buzzandersen — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:02:31 -0000

Excited to discover that this is in the works! Of all the Mac apps I've wanted to see make the transition to iPhone, Taskpaper is at the top. Looking forward to it!

Re: I'll tumblr 4 ya

buzzandersen — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:39:36 -0000

I think Neven Mrgan would appreciate attribution for this image: http://mrgan.tumblr.com/pos... :-)

Re: Sci-Fi Hi-Fi: Weblog: The Twitter app to use on Android, I’m told, is...

buzzandersen — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:19:14 -0000

Well, you're right that I'm probably generalizing without having an extensive knowledge of Android apps. And you're also right that not all iPhone apps are well designed. Fair enough. I still maintain that Apple, and in general Mac/iPhone Apple developers, take design far more seriously, and are better at it, than anyone else in the industry, and Google's engineering-led design culture is no exception.

Re: Sci-Fi Hi-Fi: Weblog: The Twitter app to use on Android, I’m told, is...

buzzandersen — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:26:27 -0000

Yes, yes, I've seen the Louis CK clip too :-).

Look, I'm no stranger to being annoyed at user entitlement. I sell a pay Twitter app that is fairly expensive by App Store standards, so believe me, I get my fair share of "it's inexcusable that you charge $5 and your app doesn't do such and such" or "You hate your users if you don't do X." I know how difficult software is, because I've lived through several very grueling development cycles on complex applications, and I know the tradeoffs that must be made to ship an app. I'm a one person development shop, so I'm very aware of the ways people can have unrealistic large company expectations of small-time devs. And I get just as annoyed as you at the haughty moralistic tone people take with regard to Twitter or other social networking sites' features or lack thereof.

However, I don't think I'm guilty of user entitlement here. I don't use Android or Twidroid, I have no interest in using them, and I'm not demanding anything out of their developers. I'm merely commenting on what I think is the reason Android will never acheive anything other than a commodity, Windows-like user base, unlike the iPhone: because its developers don't take design seriously.

You're probably right that it's unfair to pick too much on Twidroid since it's a free app. However, if you read the rest of Andre's post, he's using it as merely one example to a kind of, shall we say, relaxed approach to design and quality that pervades the entire Android OS.

As for the implication that I'm a shallow, entitled white male, well, I'm commenting on what I do for a living. I take pride in my life's work, and I take design and software engineering seriously. Perhaps my soul would be purer if I had to worry about where my next meal is coming from, but this is what fate dealt me.

Re: copycatr

buzzandersen — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:09:54 -0000

You know, Favrd didn't invent the term "Leaderboard." It comes from sports. Sure, Favrd may have used it first in this type of app, but arguing that Tweeteorites shouldn't use it as well is a bit like arguing that Microsoft needs to call their trashcan "Recycle Bin" because Apple had a trashcan first.

That said, you have some solid, well-expressed feedback--unlike most of the people who have been sniping at Tweeteorites. I have to say I've been a bit taken aback by the outrage that someone would dare infringe on Favrd's sacred domain. I think there's a lot of cool stuff to be done with favorites that Favrd simply isn't doing (you didn't even mention OAuth support, for example, which allows you to fave directly from Tweeteorites), so I think there's room for some others in the field. Sure there are some things that need to be tweaked, but I think you'll find the dev (who, full disclosure, is a good friend of mine) is pretty hardworking and open to feedback, so keep an eye on it.

Re: venomous porridge - Oh, that’s just me mocking Tweeteorites on their...

buzzandersen — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 10:57:19 -0000

Well, I guess *I* was a little knee jerk. I assumed you were using the old "How dare you use my precious tweets on a t-shirt/in a book/whatever" saw when you said "I made a site with stuff about you on it."

As for the "Hi @tweeteorites..." thing--I didn't realize that was automated (I've just been set up on the site for awhile). I thought people were just asking manually. I'm not sure about the reasoning behind that decision, but I do agree with you it's probably not how I would have done it.

Apologies for flying off the handle, then--I definitely see your points.

Re: venomous porridge - Oh, that’s just me mocking Tweeteorites on their...

buzzandersen — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 10:29:47 -0000

I understand your complaint about the "timeline enabling" process (although due to "#fixreplies," nobody who isn't already following Tweeteorites is going to see your request anyway, assuming you do it as an actual reply), and I understand people love Favrd, but isn't this reaction just a little knee jerk? Isn't your complaint about the site having "stuff about you on it" equally true of Favrd (and Favrd has ads too, remember--it's not a charity)? If you dislike Tweeteorites for some legitimate reason, say so, but don't try to drag it down it with accusations of spamming and intellectual property theft.

Re: Awkward Cheese - Oakland! (via killingmylobster) I do heart...

buzzandersen — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:36:58 -0000

I think this video is kind of the Zachary's Pizza of humor. It's funny, I guess, but I can't help resenting it a bit because, to me, it comes off a bit too smug and knowing. It also seems a bit provincial in its outlook, which I'm starting to realize is something that annoys me about San Franciscans.

Anyway, not intended as a knock on you at all Nicole--I've just been seeing this around and you happen to be the last one to post it.

Re: Updated iPhone Keychain Code

buzzandersen — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:03:36 -0000

Thanks much for the review, Jens! I'll look at that stuff for the next revision!

Re: Introducting Symbly: The Future of Social Networking/Micro-blogging

buzzandersen — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 11:11:52 -0000

I think even Symbly is a bit passé now. You should check out *my* new picoblogging service, Bittler! Updates on it are restricted to a binary state, a 0 or 1.

Re: What We Can Learn From MacHeist

buzzandersen — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 10:59:20 -0000

Ah, yes, you know I debated that very distinction when posting, but Yelp had it listed as Wicker Park so I went with that :-). Changed in the post.

Re: What We Can Learn From MacHeist

buzzandersen — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 10:00:32 -0000

Fair enough, maybe I don't actually know enough about how it actually works. I've never given it more than a look, really, but I think their presentation is great, and whether or not it's a real game, I still think they've dressed the whole thing up in a pretty nice experience that has a lot more pizazz than the usual software buying routine.

As for the metaphor with the shirts, frankly, I think people are trying to take it a bit too literally. I wasn't trying to argue that the economics of the T-Shirt Deli are exactly like MacHeist. I was trying to argue that we can all learn something from the way both MacHeist and the T-Shirt deli take a mundane, fairly commoditized experience and make it exciting.

I recognize that the devaluation of software is a bad thing, and I'm no happier about it than you, but I also get pretty annoyed at how sanctimonious people get about that subject. I guess I just look at us as all being in a market we have to adapt to, and it's a little silly to expect everyone to say "OK, if we all toe the line we can keep our prices up." Software is increasingly commoditized, and I think the people who provide exceptional marketing/buying experience are the ones who will be able to succeed long term. This, BTW, is the exact same opinion I have about the App Store.

Perhaps Panic is a better example of what I'm talking about--they actually manage to provide a T-Shirt Deli-like experience without sacrificing prices. Frankly, sometimes I guess I just like to play devil's advocate when there's a blogosphere pile-on like the one on MacHeist, and, while I've acknowledged over and over that they may not be an ideal model, I still think it's worth trying to see if there's anything we can learn from their success.

Re: Sci-Fi Hi-Fi: Weblog: Yes, it’s true that a team at Google couldn’t...

buzzandersen — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 10:36:22 -0000

Fair enough--you're right, that's kind of a weak argument. However, as I said, I do know some designers at Google, so, while I don't have direct experience myself, I do have the anecdotal experience of my friends.

Re: Sci-Fi Hi-Fi: Weblog: The ambition of every pack follower is to be the...

buzzandersen — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 18:57:07 -0000

Well, the problem with this post, and I think another one of the reasons I've stopped myself from posting this sort of stuff in the past, is that as I read back over it, I realize how riddled with contradictions it is. I suppose you could make an argument that I'm being a bit zealous in my anti-zealotry, for example.

I guess in some ways I'm still not exactly sure what I'm railing against other than a strong personal beef with a haughty blogging tone that I see around a lot these days, which probably is not a good reason to be writing my own haughty toned blog post (again, a bit of a contradiction, considering that I say I'm trying to consider my motives). I also have trouble reconciling the fact that I end up sounding as though I'm arguing against people having strong opinions, which I definitely don't think is a bad thing at all.

I guess the positive way to spin all of this is: I can think of many examples of people who I think are very smart, interesting bloggers whose opinions I very much want to hear, and I might even *agree* with, but who completely turn me off with the way they state those opinions. A little humility goes a long way (something I constantly need to remind myself).

Re: Sci-Fi Hi-Fi: Weblog

buzzandersen — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 08:25:20 -0000

None that I know of. If anyone out there knows, please tell me!

Re: Sci-Fi Hi-Fi: Weblog: A human being should be able to change a diaper,...

buzzandersen — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 10:03:57 -0000

Your comment actually made me laugh out loud :-).

Re: Sci-Fi Hi-Fi: Weblog: When I talk to each person about these behaviors,...

buzzandersen — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 10:03:11 -0000

Ha, funny you should mention that, because right after I posted that it occurred to me that I should use the NYT site as an example of how overriding an ingrained behavior like that can be annoying. I had noticed the same thing myself.

Re: Sci-Fi Hi-Fi: Weblog: (via bradleyallen) If it looks like a...

buzzandersen — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 15:21:14 -0000

Yeah, and I don't necessarily argue that any form of them is bad. I think where they become worrisome is when they introduce a lot of competition into the system (which is what I would argue Twitter does by showing the number of followers so prominently).