I read this article a few times this weekend and think it’s a complete piece of bliss.
It struck a chord with me, as I’ve been contemplating similar things like: is my blanket high personal availability killing my productivity and peace? I think it is.
It’s why I dropped using AIM as a communication platform, it’s why I don’t always answer my phone when it rings. It’s why my email isn’t open every time I’m in front of the computer.
Why? It helps my productivity, helps my brain focus and it helps me get a good flow going for my work so I can give more to my clients, myself and those I love.
Of course, that’s not to say ignore everything. The point is to prioritize everything.
Today, I’m announcing that I’m stepping down as Twalkin’s Creative Director. It was a great service to build. It was lots of fun planning and putting into practice the things I’ve learned about good user interface design. Now it’s just time to move on to new startups and projects.
Living in LA it’s especially true. Both major highways usually are going no more than 20MPH—when they’re moving. So a 5 mile trip takes an hour or more. Even leaving early I find that there’s usually construction or some crazy dude sitting in the middle of the street to further delay my trip.
Make your clients happy and show up early. If you’re going to be late, give them as much notice as you can.
Happiness is an email from Google stating the following:
…Over the course of 2010, we will be phasing out support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 as well as other older browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers.
They’re still going to support things like IE7, Firefox 3, Chrome 4.0 and Safari 3.0+. Still though, happy to see a really major blow dealt to probably the most problematic browser possible. I hope it’ll be a quick death for IE6. And a little painful.
What I find really interesting is in about 90% of presentations I’ve seen is that they break about every one of these rules. It’s good that I found this list—I really hope to use it next time I present something, even in a private, off-stage setting.
Fraser Spiers published a brilliant article on how the iPad (and iPhone OS) are a complete revolution in computing, and how some of the nefarious geek elite have their days numbered.
“It’s just a big iPod touch” is the new “less space than a nomad”. The Mac had a great run, but this is the end of the desktop OS.
I don’t generally agree with such grandiose statements on principle, but I tend to agree here—it feels like it is the beginning of the end for the desktop OS. Will I be typing updates on a desktop 5 years from now? Totally doubt it. For most folks, I’m sure this is going to be a great replacement for their desktop. For pixel geeks like me, we’ve got a bit of a wait ahead of us.
