Nate Bird

"One of the surest tests [of the superiority or inferiority of a poet] is the way in which a poet..."

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:38:17 -0400

“One of the surest tests [of the superiority or inferiority of a poet] is the way in which a poet borrows. Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different. The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different than that from which it is torn; the bad poet throws it into something which has no cohesion. A good poet will usually borrow from authors remote in time, or alien in language, or diverse in interest.”

- Eliot, T.S., “Philip Massinger,” The Sacred Wood, New York: Bartleby.com, 2000.

Good Artists Copy, Great Artist Steal

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:37:52 -0400

Good Artists Copy, Great Artist Steal:

This quote has made the rounds but its origin will surprise you. The actual context in which Steve Jobs used it may even be more surprising - or make more sense, depends on which team you are playing for.

Photo

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 16:43:28 -0400

Death and Taxes

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 07:47:18 -0400

Death and Taxes

Pundits still don't understand Apple's success

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 08:45:52 -0400

Pundits still don't understand Apple's success:

The only way pundits can justify the amazing success of the iPhone 4S is to call its buyers zealots. Sad.

Expectations

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 10:02:05 -0400

Now the Apple has officially announced the iPhone 4S and the tech world is officially let down (again) I’d like to discuss how Apple handled the expectations for this event. First, I don’t think they did enough. There were a couple planned leaks to their normal crew at the WSJ but it obviously didn’t have as much of an impact as the cases being thrown around by Chinese case manufacturers.

Apple, as usual, officially said very little about the new iPhone. It was a single line phrase a week before the event stating, “Let’s talk iPhone”.

The problem is the Apple didn’t shoot down or at least drown out the case leaks. Most of the reviewers were expecting an iPhone 5 and they received an iPhone 4.5 (see what I did there? The 4S looks like 4.5… never mind).

The 4S looks great. I really like the iPhone 4. It is really beautiful. It is the best smartphone I’ve ever seen. The 4S is even better not only with better hardware but also with exclusive new software (Siri) as well.

I don’t think the tech press is ever blown away by Apple events immediately. It always takes time, hands on reviews, and quarter after quarter of seeing Apple sell phones faster than they can ship them. However, I do think Apple PR didn’t level expectations for this event as they should.

The Crazy Ones narrated by Steve Jobs

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 07:50:13 -0400

The Crazy Ones narrated by Steve Jobs

"Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make..."

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 07:15:55 -0400

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

- Steve Jobs (2005 commencement address at Stanford)

thanks steve

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 20:41:45 -0400

thanks steve

Excellent customer service in crisis

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 10:30:44 -0400

What to tell customers when dealing with a crisis.

Here is what happened…
This is what I did to fix the issue…
The fix will be available in time frame…
Here is what I’m doing to prevent it from happening again…
If you want a refund/restitution…

The New Delicious

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 10:10:00 -0400

The New Delicious:

Most of the stacks I browsed contained a lot of spam. I hope it gets better.

Smartphone profit share

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 08:28:05 -0400

This is an update on profit share in the smartphone market. In 2010 I posted that Apple had 2.8% of mobile market share yet 39% of the operating profits. Fast forward and in the first half of 2011 Apple captured 66% of the operating profits in the mobile industry. See Horace Dediu’s post at Aymco for details and pretty graphs.

Tablets Before and After the iPad

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 09:37:22 -0400

In light of the recent ruling banning the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany it is important to remember what tablets looked like before and after the iPad. Also remember that the ban is based on a design trademark and not software patents. Thanks to ReiVersuri for the image.

Droid Bionic with 4G

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 09:01:38 -0400

Josh Topolsky reviews the Droid Bionic:

…this is the first phone to come preloaded with Google Talk video chat, which was great when I could get it to work (it still seems a bit buggy).

Even though the Bionic has a larger battery than every other LTE device on Verizon, I don’t see most people getting through a full day without a recharge or a spare battery, especially if you’re making lots of calls.

As far as auto-focus lenses on phones go, this seems to be one of the slower models.

You know you can expect some significant software tweaks. That’s certainly true for the Bionic, where you’ll find a mishmash of previous Moto customizations atop Android 2.3.4

To simply place an icon on your homescreen, you must open your application launcher and then long press on the app you want. This brings up a contextual menu asking if you’d like to place the icon on your homescreen or add it to a group. If you choose homescreen, it places the icon in the first available position on your page — meaning you have to long press again to move it into the location you want.

Elsewhere in the OS, there are graphical inconsistencies that make the Bionic’s interface feel thrown together.

Let me just say that any money spent on any of the Webtop devices is essentially money wasted. The quasi-PC interface which Motorola provides (based on Ubuntu and little more than the Firefox browser) is largely useless. The browser itself is sluggish and there are no other applications aside from a window into your phone on-screen.

This is not the killer handset that I think a lot of people were expecting it to be…

Sounds like a winner.

Compromise

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 16:35:31 -0400

John Gruber posted about a MS article on Windows 8’s new “no compromises” design. While Steven Sinofsky goes to great lengths to reinforce the point of “no compromises” the fact is they are making compromises - you have to compromise something.

Microsoft may continue to tout “no compromises” but who said compromising was a bad thing? You want to see what no compromises looks like? Then look to the new Windows Explorer 8. That is “no compromises”.

Improvements to Windows Explorer in Windows 8. And by...

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 21:01:30 -0400

Improvements to Windows Explorer in Windows 8. And by ‘improvements’ they mean ‘fugly’.

Steve Jobs Resigns as CEO

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 08:40:00 -0400

Having grown up using a PC from middle school to college I didn’t know much about the history of Apple but I had heard of Steve Jobs. He co-invented the personal computer back in the early 80s (ok, technically 70s).

After college I worked for a small design firm where all we used were Macs. That was 2005. I was amazed at the state of OS X and the company behind it. I read articles about Apple and of course Steve Jobs was always mentioned. He is credited for leading Apple from the brink in 1997 to the most profitable company in the world in 2011. John Gruber stated yesterday:

Jobs’s greatest creation isn’t any Apple product. It is Apple itself.

This is what intrigues me most about Steve. He isn’t directly responsible for any of Apple’s current lineup of products. They were all built by teams at Apple and released at the right time. Job’s magic is about putting together amazing teams of people who can create tightly integrated hardware and software products like the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. It isn’t about the products - it is about the organization behind them. The driving force to obliviate their current best seller because they have created something better. That is company culture and I believe it is Apple’s greatest asset. They aren’t stuck protecting the past - they are looking forward to the future and creating the next big thing.

As a fledgling entrepreneur I thank Steve Jobs for creating a company culture where innovation thrives and amazing products are created and shipped regularly. Thank you Steve.

Android malware surging

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 08:25:50 -0400

Android malware surging:

I bet the reason iOS has 0 malware is only because they have small marketshare…

The first item of business for HP…

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 13:31:17 -0400

… should be to fix their URLs. Seriously.

http://h30261.www3.hp.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=71087&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1598006

Guess what that is - a link to the press release of their acquisition of Autonomy.

And this one? A little easier… but really?

http://h41112.www4.hp.com/promo/webos/us/en/tablet/touchpad.html

Let’s see what a url should look like.

http://apple.com/ipad/

Yeah. Not the only reason the iPad is successful but the culture behind these decisions is what creates successful products.

Responding to Google's Acquisition of Motorola

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 08:03:00 -0400

It has been fun to read some of the articles about Google’s buyout of Motorola. It is a very interesting story indeed. First thing yesterday, Dan Lyons (of Fake Steve Jobs fame) posted an articles, suck on it applesoft, which immediately prompted MG Siegler and John Gruber to respond with “Defending Android” and Balls.

I am very much siding with Siegler and Gruber as they actually presented facts and not a hastily written piece based on seemingly nothing other than Dan’s dislike for Microsoft and Apple.

From my article yesterday you can see that I believe that Google is in trouble. This is Larry’s first big move as Google’s CEO and while I think this partially fixes Google’s patent problems they didn’t come out much better in the end. They now have an unprofitable 3rd rate Android handset maker and 20,000 more employees to manage along with a 12.5 billion dollar price tag, which as Gruber explains is over 2 years worth of profit for Google.

So now what? That is the question everyone is trying to answer. Will Google now make better hardware for their Nexus phones? Will they actually create a Google TV that someone other than a 40 year old living in their parents basement would actually use? Will they use Motorola’s patents to “defend” Android by going offensive (I know, they said they wouldn’t do this but…) after Microsoft and Apple?

I’m not sure, but from a business point of view, this deal solved one problem and creates many others for Google. They just became a much more complicated company and that in and of itself creates problems. I wish Google good luck but I won’t be surprised to see this blow up in Larry’s face.

Update: Horace Dediu agrees with me.