This is a tumblelog, kinda like a blog but with short-form, mixed-media posts with stuff I like. Scroll down a bit to start reading, or a bit more to read more about me.
What we told current Journalism majors about working at startups.:
If you want a cool job working with cool people, you have to make things. You will not network or interview your way into this job. You have to put yourself out there and do cool things. Blog. Make videos. Organize people. Start a business. Ship product.
(Via BitMethod - Blog)
CoffeeCompany WiFi headlines.
Holland’s largest chain of coffee shops is called CoffeCompany. They wanted to attract more students, so they installed WiFi in some of its stores near universities. The problem is, lots of students just come into the store for the WiFi but hardly look at the menu.
So CoffeeCompany decided to move the store’s menu into the WiFi menu of customers’ laptops. They periodically changed the wireless network name from the normal “CoffeeCompany” to hard-selling headlines. So as students looked for a network, they found menu lines such as “mmm….YummyMuffinsOnly1,99″
This is beyond awesome.
Perfect example of working with tech, not against.
Recently, we released the Android version of Meridian, our platform for building location-based apps.
We didn’t use one of these “Cross Platform!” tools like Titanium. We wrote it, from scratch, in Java, like you do in Android.
We decided it was important to keep the native stuff native, and to respect each platform’s conventions as much as possible. Some conventions are easy to follow, like putting our tabs on the top. Other conventions go deep into the Android Way, like handling
Intents, closing oldActivities, implementing Search Providers, and being strict about references to help the garbage collector.Now, our platform leverages HTML5 (buzzword, sorry) in many places for branding and content display, so we got a fair amount of UI for free. But there was much platform code written in Objective-C that needed translation into Java, such as map navigation, directions, and location switching.
So, we rolled up our sleeves, downloaded the Android SDK, and got to work.
Very interesting findings for a typeface easier understood by dyslexics.
(via Dyslexie - ett typsnitt för dyslektiker | Feber / Pryl)
The empty can rattles the loudest.
This old proverb recently shared to me by a friend and mentor, Weblinc co-founder Darren Hill says it best. Most people in Philadelphia don’t know about Weblinc, though it employs over 60 people and delivers a world-class e-commerce product that powers companies around the world. If you are active in the tech community, you probably know about Darren and his siblings’ other very successful business: National Mechanics.
My point is – both of Darren’s businesses are contributing far more to the technology and business ecosystem in Philadelphia than most of the “clanky cans” that we hear about in the news, and yet, very few people who consider themselves industry insiders even know they exist.
Dropbox - Terms - Simplify your life
A big FUCK YOU from Dropbox to its loyal customers.
Dan Shipton is the ceo of BitMethod and leads the team for its iPad point of sale platform, Change.
