First, the cover:
Now, the story.
Month: May 2009
A peek into the world of iPhone app development
Just about everyone I know who’s been around an iPhone flashes on a great idea for an iPhone app.
But only a few of those folks go on to actually create an app and get it sold on Apple’s App Store.
One of those folks is Hasan Edain of NPC Ulimited. A long-time game developer for the Mac platform (Germ Patrol), Hasan has started creating some affordable apps for the iPhone and iPod touch. While the Bouncy Ball app (now with soccer and basketball options) is a diversion, Confidence and Affirmations move into the growing field of “lifestyle” apps. AppCraver.com recently interviewed Hasan about his approach to iApp development.
As a new and rapidly growing field, iPhone apps present intriguing marketing opportunities. I’m currently working on some marketing projects with Hasan’s team and finding it fascinating.
Will people scroll to read “below the fold”?
this article by UI expert Melissa Tarquini sheds light on how people read online.
Yes — if what you’ve put above the fold has engaged their attention.
Thanks to milhaus12 for pointing me to this article by UI expert Melissa Tarquini on how people read online. Apparently if you place an image on the fold so that only half of it is visible, people are more likely to scroll down to resolve the image and read on.
Open sauce, open source, and more
Seth Godin has some interesting remarks about “open”-ness, based on a list developed by Michal Migurski at Tecznotes.
A few years ago, CEOs and marketing directors were handing me non-disclosure agreements to sign at the end of our first meeting. Now the attitude seems to be more relaxed.
Seth Godin has some interesting remarks about “open”-ness, based on a list developed by Michal Migurski at Tecznotes covering various types of open from “open architecture” to “open sesame.” Though I’m surprised both of them missed “open mind.” Always an important element!
Hand me the envelope
There’s one device in our home offices we’ve come to revile. Chances are it’s sitting under your desk, or in a closet where you can avoid thinking about it. You know what it is: The printer.
We love our laptops, our smart phones, and our little Flip video cameras, but there’s one device in our home offices we’ve come to revile. Chances are it’s sitting under your desk, or in a closet where you can avoid thinking about it. You know what it is: The printer.
Ah, but neglect it at your peril!
For when you need that printer, the ink cartridges will be dried up, the print heads clogged, the paper trays jammed, and the buttons and movable parts — their labels and directions embossed in off-white on off-white or printed in 5-point type — unreadable.
You won’t be able to remember if the the paper goes face up in tray one or face down in tray two, but never mind because wherever you load envelopes, when you hit Print, it’ll grab paper from the other tray instead of the one in which you placed the envelopes. Once it finds the envelopes, it will print on them in every orientation except the one you wanted. And — guaranteed — if you ask it to print your return address, the address will not be printed the .125 inches from the left edge of the envelope that your software specified. It will be mangled and cut off:
en Anderson
4 35th Avenue
ttle, WA 98107
I have three printers networked to my Macs and today, when I went to print one measly addressed evelope, not one of them worked adequately. And, as a result of the 20 minutes I spent trying to get one of them to give me even the faintest satisfaction, the most expensive of the printers (though not the one on which I spent $200 replacing ink cartridges that, while full, stopped functioning when I replaced the print heads) is now utterly jammed.
I ended up addressing the envelope by hand, which, of course, I should have done in the first place.
They have my money, but not my trust
Consumer trust in financial institutions is at an all-time low. A mailing I got today from the company that handles one of my former employer’s retirement funds helps explain why.
Consumer trust in financial institutions is at an all-time low. A mailing I got today from the company that handles one of my former employer’s retirement funds helps explain why.
It begins: “Securities and Exchange Commission regulations require all securities firms, including [name of firm] to maintain certain information about their clients. We are writing to confirm that we have accurate information on file.”
They then proceed to ask you to confirm or correct some information. And, of course, some of it is the expected information — your name, your address, and your phone number. It makes sense they’d need this to get in touch with you about disbursements, fees, or change of investment options. And that they’d want this information if they are reporting gains or distributions to the IRS.
But then, the fun begins.
They want your occupation, your annual income, and your “net worth exclusive of primary residence.”
If the SEC requires these people to keep track of my net worth, I’ll eat the contents of my safe deposit box (at another institution).
So, here is a company I’m hoping and praying I can trust with my retirement funds in these iffy times, and they are trying to intimidate me by invoking the SEC while they phish for information that will allow their marketing department to pester me in a more targeted fashion.
The little “A Note on your Privacy” at the bottom of the form is a perfect coupe de crass.