First, the most heartfelt thing about App.net I've read all week. Thank you, Pete. :-) Continuing with my examination of viable business models for App.net, I think it's worthwhile to examine the questions of value and price. Pricing a product—one-time good or ongoing service—is one of
App.net
Apologies to Jamie Smyth [http://alpha.app.net/jamiesmyth] for failing to credit him for the catchy portmanteau "SNAASty"! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thought-provoking essays on ADN from Jason Irwin—Alpha Needs an Owner [http://jasonirwin.ca/2014/05/08/alpha-needs-an-owner/]—and Brianna Wu—Social Media is a Human Problem, not an Engineering
reboots
I love superheroes. Unabashedly, unreservedly, completely free of cynicism. Even as I recognize that they are corporate properties and merchandising cash cows, even as I am disappointed by both the comics and the films adapted from them, the concept of the superhero remains alluring to me. I also love science
I've thought a lot about work, career, vocation, calling over the last year. I've started a business, narrowly avoided taking a job, taken on contracts with most of the constraints of a job, dealt with a downturn in the business (and started using the phrase "deal flow" a lot more)
Netflix
Blame TV. Animation in the US began as an adult medium, interstitial films that ran between the A and B halves of double-feature presentations at theaters as far back as the 1920s. Suggestive themes were commonplace—plenty of early Betty Boop [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Boop#As_a_
Grantland's Andrew Sharp turns a sober and measured eye to the case of Marcus Smart, a college basketball player who turned down the NBA draft to return to school, has struggled this year, and, in a moment of frustration, shoved a heckling fan this past weekend. The thing that still
Animation
On his Animation Anomaly website, Charles Kenney asks: [I]s the animation industry being held back by existing, established, players? Consider the car industry and the fact that it wasn’t a manufacturer that made the biggest breakthrough in driverless cars, it was Google. Is animation similarly hamstrung by studios
Mac
The original Apple Macintosh personal computer turned 30 years old recently, unleashing a tidal wave of retrospection across the Internet. One piece in particular caught my eye: Linus Edwards' On First Thought, a look at how groundbreaking Apple products such as the Macintosh computer were reviewed by technology journalists at
About a month ago I heard about a relatively new podcast, only 7 episodes in, that stayed within the software/technology subject sphere but wasn't just ruminating about what Apple did or should do. Intrigued, I checked out the website and found descriptions that made me quite excited to listen
The last year has been an interesting one. My career has hit several speedbumps, and I find myself trying to figure out exactly what it is I want to do with the next 20-odd years. I'm broke, but I'm finding out that's not so bad :-) Most importantly, I've been
Pardon the dust, I'm still renovating around here. Going to redo the entire powder room, put some wallpaper up—something with texture. Bold, bright colors, but modern shapes, maybe some art that suggests mathematical structure? Still, I'm happy with how this is coming together. I wanted to pull the trigger
Animation
I am archiving older pieces I have written on other sites, making this the definitive home for all my work. Enjoy! Two and a half years ago I had the opportunity to take some animation classes at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. I’d been drawing again for