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Archive for October, 2010

Ex-Apple CEO Gives Away Steve Jobs’ Product Strategy

14 Oct

Remember John Sculley? You know, the ex-Pepsi guy who helped run Apple and eventually forced Steve Jobs out of the company. Yeah, that guy.

Leander Kahney, editor of Cult of Mac and a former Wired.com news editor, has an exclusive interview with Sculley who offers an intriguing explanation of Jobs’ methodology for building great products.

Some of Jobs’ key strategies include beautiful design, minimalism, looking at a product from the customer’s perspective as opposed to relying on focus groups, hiring only the best and rejecting bad work, Sculley told Kahney.

“Steve said: ‘How can I possibly ask somebody what a graphics-based computer ought to be when they have no idea what a graphic based computer is? No one has ever seen one before,’” Sculley said when explaining Jobs’ refusal to use focus groups. “He believed that showing someone a calculator, for example, would not give them any indication as to where the computer was going to go because it was just too big a leap.”

Sculley provides rare insight into Apple’s extremely secretive CEO, who only speaks to a handful of mainstream journalists on occasion. Catch the rest of the interview over at Cult of Mac.

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Photo of Sculley on a cruise boat: Edyson/Flickr.com

 
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Ex-Apple CEO Gives Away Steve Jobs’ Product Strategy

14 Oct

Remember John Sculley? You know, the ex-Pepsi guy who helped run Apple and eventually forced Steve Jobs out of the company. Yeah, that guy.

Leander Kahney, editor of Cult of Mac and a former Wired.com news editor, has an exclusive interview with Sculley who offers an intriguing explanation of Jobs’ methodology for building great products.

Some of Jobs’ key strategies include beautiful design, minimalism, looking at a product from the customer’s perspective as opposed to relying on focus groups, hiring only the best and rejecting bad work, Sculley told Kahney.

“Steve said: ‘How can I possibly ask somebody what a graphics-based computer ought to be when they have no idea what a graphic based computer is? No one has ever seen one before,’” Sculley said when explaining Jobs’ refusal to use focus groups. “He believed that showing someone a calculator, for example, would not give them any indication as to where the computer was going to go because it was just too big a leap.”

Sculley provides rare insight into Apple’s extremely secretive CEO, who only speaks to a handful of mainstream journalists on occasion. Catch the rest of the interview over at Cult of Mac.

See Also:

Photo of Sculley on a cruise boat: Edyson/Flickr.com

 
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How it feels to be crushed at the center of the Earth [Earth Science]

14 Oct
At the center of our planet, heat and pressure are so tremendous that even the structure of iron is transformed. Now, using lasers and diamonds, researchers have reproduced those conditions in the lab. And discovered something they'd always suspected. More »
 
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Where on Earth do these extraterrestrial toadstool trees grow? [Madgeography]

13 Oct
The Socotra archipelago is an isolated island chain in the Indian Ocean. One-third of the flora on Socotra grows nowhere else on the planet, including these curious dragon's blood trees (Dracaena cinnabari). More »
 
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Create Automated Website Tests with Ease

12 Oct


This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Name: Fake

Quick Pitch: Fake is a new browser for Mac OS X that makes web automation and testing simple.

Genius Idea: Inspired by Apple’s Automator, Fake is a tool that lets web designers and developers create graphical workflows that can be run again and again, without human interaction. These workflows can be saved, shared and edited at ease.

Fake is the creation of Todd Ditchendorf’s Celestial Teapot Software. Ditchendorf is the guy responsible for Fluid, one of our favorite single-site browsers.

Whereas Fluid is a great tool that can appeal to a wide array of users, Fake’s target audience consists of developers, web designers or people that have to perform the same automated tasks repeatedly. That is to say, if you aren’t doing a lot of website testing, unit tests or debugging, Fake might not be for you.

However, if you are a web designer or developer, Fake is just awesome. I’ve been using this app for the last month or so and I have to say, the ability to create workflows to perform rudimentary tasks like capturing a screenshot or filling out a form or clicking on a link is just really remarkable.

A common workflow I utilize is taking screenshots. Oftentimes when I’m writing a post, I’ll need a screenshot from lots of different sources. Rather than taking each screenshot individually, I can just enter in each URL into Fake and have it repeat the “capture screenshot” action for each site. That way, while I’m writing in the background, my screenshots are being captured and saved to a folder of my choice.

For testing purposes especially, the fact that Fake has assertions, assertion failure handlers and error handlers makes it really powerful. It’s often hard to get a real sense of how a site or web app is going to perform under certain conditions. User testing is great, but it can be expensive and time consuming, especially if you need to test various alternating aspects of a site.

The great thing about saving workflows is that you can modify or rerun the workflow against other content. So for people doing A/B testing, you can set up the same set of “fake” interactions for each version and compare results.

Fake is $29.95, but you can download a free trial to see how you like the app. The trial doesn’t let you save workflows and limits you to eight actions at a time, but it’s a great way to determine whether you need this kind of app.

Check out this video to see Fake in action:

Designers and developers — what types of tools do you use for unit or automated testing? Let us know.

Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark

BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

Reviews: fluid

More About: automator, fake, fluid, mac apps, single-site browser, software, unit testing

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Google Just Lost a Potential Ally in its Legal Tussle with Oracle

12 Oct


The battle between Oracle and Google over Android’s use of Java just got a lot more interesting. That’s because IBM has announced that it will be collaborating with Oracle to work on the OpenJDK project.

This means that IBM will no longer be part of the Apache Software Foundation’s Project Harmony, the project that provides Android with the components it needs to run Java code. With IBM leaving the project, Harmony is basically dead in the water.

Although Android wasn’t mentioned in the announcement, this is all interrelated to the Oracle lawsuit. Google responded to the lawsuit last week, claiming that Oracle, which got Java out of its purchase of Sun Microsystems, was acting in bad faith.

For the non-Java savvy out there, here’s an abbreviated rundown of how and why all of this stuff matters:

Apache Harmony is an open source implementation of Java. The goal in creating the project was to unite all of the various free software Java implementations together under one banner.

The project had a lot of early support, the only problem was that Sun (and then Oracle) never offered the project with a Technology Compatibility Kit (TCK). The TCK is needed to prove that Harmony is compatible with the Java specification and can be seen as a certified Java independent version of Java. When Sun first open sourced aspects of Java in 2007, it said it would provide the Apache Foundation with the necessary TCK for certification.

Sun never made good on those assurances and when Oracle took over Sun, the new company wasn’t interested in sharing the TCKs, instead wanting to focus all of its efforts on the officially sanctioned open source Java implementation, OpenJDK.

IBM’s Bob Sutor discussed the decision on his blog, writing:

“We think this is the pragmatic choice. It became clear to us that first Sun and then Oracle were never planning to make the important test and certification tests for Java, the Java SE TCK, available to Apache. We disagreed with this choice, but it was not ours to make. So rather than continue to drive Harmony as an unofficial and uncertified Java effort, we decided to shift direction and put our efforts into OpenJDK. Our involvement will not be casual as we plan to hold leadership positions and, with the other members of the community, fully expect to have a strong say in how the project is managed and in which technical direction it goes.”

This is a big blow to the Harmony project and by extension, to the libraries and classes that Android implements from Harmony in Android. Without big backing like IBM behind the project, it’s not likely to survive.

For now, the Harmony implementation of Java is fine. The problem will be when future versions of Java are released and Harmony can’t keep up in terms of features.

In Java, staying compatible is key. Interestingly, InfoWorld notes that Google has more developers working on OpenJDK than Oracle. So why choose Harmony for Android?

We think it’s because Google wanted to do an end-run around Sun’s licensing requirements. In essence, getting to take advantage of Java SE on mobile devices (something that Sun explicitly forbade without a license), but not having to pay for it.

Long before Sun’s sale to Oracle, others pointed out the potential licensing and IP quagmire that Google was entering with Android. The reality was, Sun didn’t have the power, the funds or the industry clout to really do anything about it.

Oracle does. In fact, Oracle’s clout and power is underscored by IBM’s decision to join up. IBM may be making its decisions for pragmatic reasons, but in the decision shows that IBM is not willing to side with Google in this elongated fight.

At this point, Google’s only real recourse is to sensibly settle and pay Oracle, or countersue and drag the fight out even longer. By fighting back, Google risks alienating its Java-base of developers.

While we question how important having a strong base of Java developers really is to Android’s success in the long term, it doesn’t mean it’s worth risking the future developments of the platform on a legal gamble.

Oracle is out for blood and IBM just provided the syringe.

Reviews: Android, Google

More About: android, apache foundation, Google, harmony, IBM, java, lawsuits, legal, oracle

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Sure-footed bighorn sheep take a stroll on the face of the Buffalo Bill Dam

12 Oct

Image002

The dam is located

Image003

on the Shoshone River

Image001

in Cody, Wyoming.

[via Joe Peach]

................................

Correction and amplification here.

 
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Internet Advertising Hits New Revenue Record

12 Oct


Online advertising is thriving in the U.S., according to figures released in the latest IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report.

Businesses and individuals spent approximately $12.1 billion on online advertising in the first six months of 2010, up 11.3% from the from the first half of 2009 and 13.9% from the second quarter of 2009. In fact, this was both the highest first-half and second-quarter revenue ever recorded.

Search advertising continued to monopolize the greater share of online ad dollars, having attracted more than $5.7 billion in spending between January and June this year — a year-over-year increase of 11.6%. Display advertising, which includes banner ads, digital video, rich media and sponsorships, garnered more than $4.4 billion in the first half of 2010, a 16% increase over the same period in 2009.

Digital video recorded the greatest growth of all. More was spent in video advertising from January to June than in any other half-year period before, an increase of 31% from the first half of 2009.

IAB’s SVP of Industry Services Sherill Mane cited growing online advertising budgets among consumer packaged goods and pharmaceutical companies for the growth.

“While the recession clearly affected short term growth in 2009, with double digit growth in both search and display during the first six month of 2010, the long term prospects continue to be strong,” added David Silverman, PwC Assurance partner.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, tforgo

Reviews: iStockphoto

More About: advertising, MARKETING, online advertising

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lostworldsfairs.com/moon/

12 Oct


This is the “Moon” website or page from the Lost World’s Fairs website project designed by Jason Santa Maria.

I love this design for “Moon”, the visual depth is really nice. I also love the movement as you scale your browser window down and then back up. The little illustrations are sweet too. It’s really hard to believe this is done with web fonts.

 
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Cosmic strings are super-massive, ultra-thin cracks in the universe [Mad Astrophysics]

12 Oct
Cosmic strings are theoretical fault lines in the universe, defective links between different regions of space created in the moments after the Big Bang. And they might be theoretical no longer - distant quasars show the fingerprints of these strings. More »
 
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