Brian Dorsey's lab notes

Apr 27 2010 ∞

Quotes from Voices That Matter iPhone 2010 in Seattle

Last weekend, I attended the Voices that Matter iPhone conference. Here are some comments which caught my attention:

“Assuming you already have a bunch of iPod touches, that’s the affordable solution.” - Aaron Hillegass, regarding an application built for a client.

“I hope that’s documented… Pretty important.” -Jonathan Rentzsch, regarding the trick for making parameterized model based requests in Core Data.

“Not everything Apple does is correct.” - Suzanne Ginsburg, regarding user interface design. (Specifically, methods for customizing icons on a tab view controller.)

“Things become more intuitive as you use Core Animation.” - Matt Long

“The hand isn’t the next greatest thing, it’s the greatest thing.” - Kyle Kinkade, regarding multitouch user interfaces.

“When you design for a multitouch device, you’ve got reality working with you” - Kyle Kinkade

“It seems ridiculous to put labels on things like that.” - Kyle Kinkade

“Apple is our abusive boyfriend.” - Erica Sadun

“Charge what it takes to develop and support your app.” - Tom Woods

“If you want to sleep at night, don’t release a free app.” - Brent Simmons

http://iphone2010.crowdvine.com/talk/presentations

Apr 18 2010 ∞
“ I’m embarrassed to actually use the iPad for anything. I’m leaving it under my seat because I don’t want to attract any attention. This reminds me a lot of when I bought my iPhone. When the iPhone first came out they were so rare and exotic for the six months or so that every time I’d pull it out people would be like, ‘Woah! Is that an iPhone?!’ And so using my iPhone in public felt like bragging.
— Shawn Blanc. I have the same issue. I won’t take out my iPad on the train unless another nearby passenger has one. (via marco)

76 notes

+ ∞
“ If you are creative, create. Otherwise, strive to find a strong-willed Jobs figure gifted with good taste, and become his loyal servant.
— Loper OS » Non-Apple’s Mistake - Where are the next great computing interfaces going to come from? It’s probably not going to be another big company. 

Apr 05 2010 ∞
“ The iPad is probably one of the coolest ways to show presentations to someone while sitting at a bar.
— Smitten by the iPad: thoughts and complaints. » Harper Reed: Tech, Mobile, Yo-yoing and Death Metal

Mar 20 2010 ∞
“ At first, I was shocked. How could she possibly not know her own boyfriend’s telephone number? It must have been the trauma of being hit by a car. But then I thought about it for a few seconds, and I realized that – without pulling out my iPhone – I don’t know her telephone number either.
— My Head is in the Cloud via Daring Fireball

Mar 06 2010 ∞
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

This is the song Glenn “Pops” Freeman sang.

+ ∞
Glenn “Pops” Freeman Met Glenn “Pops” Freeman on the streets of Seattle. He sang me a song. It was an excellent experience.

Glenn “Pops” Freeman

Met Glenn “Pops” Freeman on the streets of Seattle. He sang me a song. It was an excellent experience.

Mar 05 2010 ∞
“

Print is dying.
Digital is surging.
Everyone is confused.

GOOD RIDDANCE.
— Books in the Age of the iPad — Craig Mod

Dec 06 2009 ∞
“ Just an idea: next time you see something you like, write the person who made it a note telling them so. Even better, explain why.
— Favrd. - Sadly, I didn’t write a note to him. I’d like to claim it’s because there was no contact info on the page… but being honest… I don’t know if I would have written something if there was contact info.

Dec 04 2009 ∞
“ IT pros always and without fail, quietly self-organize around those who make the work easier, while shunning those who make the work harder, independent of the organizational chart.
— Opinion: The unspoken truth about managing geeks

Dec 02 2009 ∞
Inspired by Marco Arment’s mention of the Canon S90, I decided to get one. It’s an amazing little camera.

Inspired by Marco Arment’s mention of the Canon S90, I decided to get one. It’s an amazing little camera.

+ ∞
“ In other words, though camel case may have been spurred by recent technology, its effect is regressive — in fact, medieval.
— On Language - Against Camel Case - NYTimes.com

Jul 07 2009 ∞

Beginning iPhone development

I got an iPhone a few weeks ago. This week, other plans fell through, and I found myself with some extra time. I decided to see if I could make a basic iPhone application in a week. But, I’ve never done any desktop GUI programming, don’t know Objective-C, and have never done any mobile dev. Should be interesting. ;)

First two days of iPhone dev. OK so far. Given where I’m coming from, I’m feeling pretty good. The first day doesn’t really count, just a bit of preparation, installing the SDK & signing up for a developer key, lots of hoops to jump through, but it’s been easier than I expected.

I also put out a call on twitter for newbie iPhone recommendations and got several good ones:

  • Scott Blanksteen and Aviel: Check the Stanford iPhone App programming class: http://bit.ly/rsPQn
  • Dave Peck: pick up Dave Mark’s beginning iPhone book by Apress. Also: read apple’s overview guides and crank through their sample code.

I grabbed a copy of Beginning iPhone Development: Exploring the iPhone SDK. It seems perfect for me. If you already know GUI dev, interface builder, Objective-C, etc, you’ll find it slow. But for a newbie like me, it’s perfect. (Looks like there is an updated version of the book coming out soon: Beginning iPhone 3 Development: Exploring the iPhone SDK)

Big thanks to the Walk Score guys who were gracious enough to host me for a day of co-working at Front Seat HQ today. I worked through the first few chapters of the book. Thanks to Dave for helping me out with newbie questions.

It’s pretty uncomfortable fumbling around as a beginner, but it’s good for me, and I’m enjoying myself so far. Looking forward to tomorrow!

Apr 25 2009 ∞

Presentation Camp Seattle 2009

I went to Presentation Camp Seattle a few weeks ago. It was pitched as: PresentationCamp is an ad-hoc gathering of passionate folks who want to share, interact and spread the love around the topic of presentation design and delivery. It’s for anyone interested in public speaking, pitching and presenting.

I had a great time. I’m a big fan of these topic specific ad hoc events. It’s always amazing to me what people bring when you provide a space, a specific time to meet and then step back to see what happens. Huge thanks to Kathy Gill for organizing and everyone who helped make it happen.

It was an unconference, so the exact schedule got worked out that day, but I think this is pretty much what happened: Schedule

Here is the path I took through the schedule:

Why your talk sucks: and what to do about it.
(Video: Part1 Part2 Part3)

Scott is a bestselling author and pro speaker currently writing a book about public speaking secrets. He’ll cover the mistakes even pros make, how to avoid them, entertainingly explain the last research on public speaking fears, and how to make great presentations every time. Scott Berkun

How “Ignite Seattle” became a worldwide phenomenon - Brady Forrest (Video)

“(presentation + networking + viral content + economic development + diversity engine)”

Telling Ain’t Persuading (Video)

“Case studies in controversial/Socratic presentation methods. How books like Ken Bain’s “What the Best College Teachers Do” and the ASTD’s “Telling Ain’t Training” showcase proven ways to present more compellingly.

Presentation Catastrophes - a conversation (Audio)

“A conversation with a few people about their personal presentation catastrophes and what we can all learn from them.”

Apr 01 2009 ∞

PyCon linkdump

If you’re not into Python, skip this.

Here’s a huge pile of things I ran into or was reminded of at PyCon this year. All are things I plan to go back and check out at some point.

  • Dowser: a CherryPy app that displays sparklines of Python object counts, and allows you to trace their referents. This helps you track memory usage and leaks in any Python program, but especially CherryPy sites
    http://aminus.net/wiki/Dowser
  • The Status is Not Quo - We are a group of developers, primarily using the Python programming language, who are interested in making the world a better place through software.
    http://www.thestatusisnotquo.com/

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