TRST_Blog is Home to a Professional Person Thing

Mobile Phones as our Outboard Brains

Even searching a suspect's house could never yield a full inventory of that person's friends and acquaintances, the entire record of their voice and text communications -- and all the web pages he'd ever looked at. Now, law enforcement or a government official can have all of that in two minutes and physical access to one's cell phone.

I don't believe that I have given as much thought to the subject of mobile security as I should. While I similarly employ the, "I don't have anything to hide" mantra, there is the fear (a legitimate one) that this level of information can be accessed by anyone. Scarier still, as mentioned in the article, the manner that this information is utilized by law enforcement is incredibly undefined, therefore your entire life could be logged as evidence without discretion.

(via Ben Brooks)

Carving Pixels

Don’t settle on the first draft, or the second, or third…iterate until the product begins to feel right, focusing on one thing at time. A good design will only get closer to being “right”, and there are a hundred “rights” that will all work.

A very poetic and beautiful analogy of the difference between "font-end" and "back-end" work. A very inspiring and easy read.^[1]

It may speak to me personally because my creativity, at least in the design sense, has been largely untrained, therefore I am predisposed to the written words of others. Also, something about romantic prose gets me every time. ↩︎

You're Breaking the Code

Nic Lindh:

Yes, ads cost money. That’s because they’re a fair trade: your money in exchange for somebody’s attention. What you’re trying to do is hijack people’s attention without paying for it. Which is offensive.

This exactly analogues my own thoughts on the subject. I think many companies are using social media in an ineffective and upsetting manner because somewhere down the line the concept behind Twitter^[1] (as a mechanism for conversation) became conflated with the concept behind a mailing list. Like Nic, I want to talk to people and not be talked at by a brand. The system only has value when all of its constituents recognize the conventions in force and the convention here is that we all take turns bringing value to the conversation.

P.S. You can actually talk to me on Twitter.

I must take care to say that it is my own view that Twitter is about conversation, a sentiment that I suspect many others also share. ↩︎

myYearbook and Pornography

I had no idea the kinds of measures needed to reduce the "dick-sighting" risk on live video chat systems. I have to wonder why anonymity so commonly leads to public masturbation via webcam? A mystery for my generation, perhaps.

We All Want to be Magicians

An oppinion piece about a certain twitter client, which Dave Wiskus has magically turned into a thoughtful critique of himself and the design community at large. I sincerely enjoy this level of introspection. Be sure to read the entire post but I'll leave you with a teaser:

As magicians, we’re not just observing their moves and misdirections, we’re studying them. And while I can’t speak for anyone else, it seems to me that the irritation is not that the tricks aren’t well-executed, it’s that they’re very by-the-book. We’ve seen these tricks before.

(via Brent Simmons)

The Sharing Economy

I read this article and I was inspired by this article. I have yet to fully collect my thoughts on why, so for now I will merely include my whole-hearted recommendation for this piece and I will omit my feelings for the time being.

April 23, 2011

Supporting Writers

Ads are whack. I hate their intrinsic obtrusive nature but I understand exactly why they are needed. Producing content takes work (in the Elaine Scarry sense of the term). People who produce content do so, typically, because they love sharing their experiences, and/or to explore their own insights, and/or to learn and contribute to the creative community. This content costs time, further making this content accessible costs even more time, effort, and capital. This is why ads are relevant.

I want to support content producers but at the same time I block most ads (with the exception of some tastefully done advertisement groups, like Fusion and The Deck. How then does a person support all of those creatives that I am so dutifully indebted? The answer is a combination of Instapaper and Readability.

I read as much as I possibly can on a daily basis, almost all of this reading is done through Instapaper (a service that truly deserves to be fostered and supported, the latter is something which I also began doing recently). When I started exploring the service a little fuller I noticed that it could be linked to Readability, another service which I could only recall making the content on websites more accessible through a javascript bookmarklet. Being a little out of the loop, I decided to investigate why such an incredible service like Instapaper would link arms with a bookmarklet.

To my surprise, a lot has changed. The service now offers a scheme to pay content producers simply through reading! I instantly pledged money and set up my site for the service. I revelled in the fact that what now happens when I read your delightful work is that I recognize that YOU deserve money for the work you do and that YOU are supported because of it. All in a completely subtle and fluid process. Significant to the process is the fact I am investing in your well being because you are insightful, impressive, and worthwhile. Being a romantic and an idealist I like to believe that when I registered my own content that I didn't register myself in hopes of merely cashing in, instead I similarly assume that if YOU find my work deserving that I may be so lucky to have your support.

It's a warm and fuzzy feeling to contribute, to help one another, even if it only amounts to a few pennies here and there. We exist only in what we do, and what I am doing is supporting others (A play on a quote from Federico Fellini).

April 23, 2011

Quick Tip - Replace Markdown with Markdown Extra in staticDimension

Update (2011-04-28): I have added more information on a better file encryption method within the footnotes.

I love markdown but not having some extra features, like footnotes, bums me out a little bit. However, if you are using staticDimension like I am there is an easy fix. I'll list the steps but please consider testing this locally before you change any files on a live setup. With that out of the way here's the details:

Backup your entire staticDimension site and keep the archive somewhere safe. If you're really keen keep a local backup, an external hard drive backup, an encrypted^[1] copy in your Dropbox (recently there has been some lively discussion about the security of Dropbox, for more information see: The Next Web, Miguel de Icaza, and the official statement from Dropbox) and a backup on another service like Backblaze.
Download Markdown Extra to your local machine.
Fire up whatever program you use to access your remote server (I use Transmit, it is totally worth the money, but I digress).
Navigate into your "controlPanel" folder.
Navigate into the "classes" folder.
Rename the "markdown.class.php" to something like "markdown.backup.class.php".
Upload the "markdown.php" file you received when you downloaded Markdown Extra.
Rename the "markdown.php" file to "markdown.class.php".
Enjoy Markdown extra and while you're at it get in touch with both Mike Watts (the creator of staticDimension) and Michel Fortin, so that you may express your gratitude for their hard work. Consider donating a small bit of change for their causes if you so please.

Update: Recently I have been evaluating TrueCrypt as a part of my file encryption process. The amount of security offered (potentially) is far beyond the capabilities of the simple encrypted DMG file that is baked into OS X. ↩︎

Fanny Wang Social Headphones

All "fanny" and "wang" jokes aside, the idea of social headphones is intriguing. Letting a friend in on my "outstanding" musical tastes without having to plug in one of my disgusting headphones seems so obvious that I am almost ashamed that the thought had never crossed my mind. Although simply including another 1/8 inch headphone jack shouldn't warrant a $170, unfortunately named and rather loudly designed set of cans. According to the commenter "messianicomplex" there are other options available like the Urbanears Plattan, which appear to be cheaper and are more modestly designed, although they probably lack the relevant sound quality.

Merlin Mann's "Cranking"

It's such a funny thing. Threats--like hurricanes and rectal exams--are only scary until they arrive. Once they're over, they're just the basis for funny stories. But, you do nearly always survive them. And, if you didn't survive? It wasn't because of a lack of fear.

This piece deserves your attention.

Andrew Kaufman on Content Farming

I don't pretend to have any great insights into how to fool-proof your content strategy or how to avoid the wrath of an angry search engine, but I do have enough experience to know that, in the end, it really is just about the value that you provide your users. As soon as you start compromising on quality and oversight in an effort to maximize profits, you open yourself up to the possibility of a severe backlash. You might get away with it for a while and it may end up making you money in the short term (or allow you to stop eating Ramen for every meal), but it won't keep you full forever.

It seems that nearly everyone is ready and willing to tell you the value of producing quality content but to hear this same advice from a person well versed in the opposing doctrine is rather gratifying.

(via Danny Sullivan)

April 22, 2011

Cheap Laptop Batteries

Image Unavailable: 0% Battery

It has been reporting 0% battery life for the last fifteen minutes. I have absolutely no idea how long this can go on for, moreover I am paralyzed with fear, I don't want to start or work on anything important in case the axe drops soon.