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• Link: Predictions for the future that will inspire you [Futurism] http://t.co/rRcEfOKw #
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The best response I have to this question is "it depends." Depends on the organizational culture, the amount of design rationale you have to back up your design decisions, the personalities at play in both sides of the conversation, and the roles and responsibilities of the team members.

If you are working in an organization that doesn't respect UX then you may end up struggling with everyone, not just developers.  You'll need to expend extra effort convincing stakeholders and decision-makers that your designs and/or ideas have merit and should be listened to. This can be very frustrating, and it may take several design "wins" to get enough "street cred" to help you in your pitches.

If you come into a situation with designs and not a lot of background reach and design rationale you may experience some challenges. Many people are critical by nature and will approach any design with skepticism. Having research, usability test results, and a solid design rationale will help explain why the work you have produced Is the right direction.

If the developers, or whoever receives the output of your design activities, are hyper-critical and/or disrespectful, then you have a personality issue to overcome. You need to approach such a challenge with professionalism and try your best. If it's a systemic disrespect shown towards UX design and designers, you may need to find another place to work.

If you are in a large group and many of them are critical or expect you to rationalize your work, you may need to look at the roles and responsibilities of the members of the group. Everyone has an opinion… You need to look at the "deciders" and focus on them. One way to approach it is to get that approval and ignore everyone else, and let the stakeholders you have convinced make your arguments for you.

One final thought: should you justify every choice you make? No, you need to present your work with confidence and push back against an attempts to rationalize everything. If you fall into that trap, you may be focusing on trivia instead of the core aspects of what's important.

See question on Quora

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  Needs to find another job.
  EYAAAAAAAH!!!!
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I recently went to a conference where several sessions focused on analytics, and what analytics could provide to businesses of any size. Having some background in analytics myself, I definitely agreed with several sentiments these speakers expressed.. but I also think that too much of a focus on analytics can be a big mistake.

Analytics is great, in that it gives you lots of data telling you what people do and where they go in a system. It can also give you very useful results when you use it in processes like multivariate testing, comparing different versions of the same design. It adds value… but it can be misread and misused.

I remind you of an obvious fact: Users aren’t data, they’re people… and they are not easily broken into trend maps and analytical patterns. Knowing what people do is useful – knowing WHY they tend to do certain things is vital. As a UX Architect, I focus on creating designs that align with their mental models and their needs, and analytics can’t provide that. I’d rather know what drives users a lot more than what a huge homogonized group of them tends to do. The former provides insight and understanding, the latter is sometimes no better than an access log of page hits. Anayltics are reactive – user research is proactive and (in my experience) generates ideas a lot better than a spreadsheet fileld with data does.

Analytics, aligned and combined with user research and user center design processes, are a fantastic way to implement a great designs for customers. The user-centered design allows you to gain the insights that produce effective designs, and the analytics can help you refine and tune the design after the work goes “live.” And that’s another important point, because analytics only provide results after a design is launched it can’t help you in the early days of creating a concept or fleshing out ideas.

We should also be mindful that analytics should be used to reinforce decisions, not to replace decision making. The designers and the product owners should be the one making the calls, not ceding the decision making to the “wisdom of crowds.” Use the data as an input, not the “tie-breaker” that provides a thumbs-up or thumbs-down.

Designers should use all the inputs they can to make decisions, but should also never lose fact of the one input that provides exceptional value – our gut. We should always follow that instinct far more than data, as the creative ideas that often come from our “guts” are the ones that make a real difference in the world.

Not for the easily offended, 1977′s The Kentucky Fried Movie was the first cinematic outing from the writers who brought us Airplane!, David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker. Composed of a series of vignettes that take on, well, almost everything, the movie feels like Saturday Night Live writ large… boisterous and free of television network censorship. With copious nudity and bad language, The Kentucky Fried Movie shocks as much as it entertains (if you have a delicate sensibilty).

I, of course, have no such sensitivity, and think it’s quite funny… though, as a film, it’s wildly uneven and the humor is definitely low-brow. There’s a sense of “We can’t believe we’re getting away with this” to the whole proceeding, and they throw gags at the audience with no restraint. The highlight of the film is an extended segment that is parodies 1970s Kung Fu action movies called “A Fistful of Yen.” It’s great, and a trial run for the type of extended genre parody that the ZAZ team did so well for over a decade (though the jokes mocking Asian accents were tired even way back in ’77).

The Kentucky Fried Movie was also the second film directed by John Landis (the poster for his first film, Schlock, appears in a theatre window in an early scene). We can see in this film an early preview of the type of minimalistic directing that became his signature (he locked his camera down more often than not). It is also the first film that features his runnng joke, the film-within-a-film “See you next Wednesday” (here presented in ‘feel-a-round’). Landis also cameos as a morning-TV show producer who tries, unsuccessfully, to restrain a gorilla played by Rick Baker. Other notable cameos include Bill Bixby, Henry Gibson, George Lazenby, Donald Sutherland, and the Zucker brothers themselves.

Is it coincidence that I followed up revisting Psycho IV (which features an extended Landis cameo) with this film? Actually, yes, it is… but the coincidence makes me think about his filmography, and what might have been… He followed up this film with Animal House, The Blues Brothers, An American Werewolf in London. and Trading Places… all fine films. Then, the helicopter accident happened… the accident that killed Vic Morrow and two children on the set of Landis’ Twilight Zone: The Movie. After that (and for a long while) Landis spent more time in court than he did making films, and the movies he did make during and after that time were… well, to be kind, let’s just say they didn’t match the quality of his previous work.

Heavy thoughts when reviewing such slight fare such as The Kentucky Fried Movie, but the mind goes where it goes… and I can’t help but hope that we still have one good film yet to come from the mind of John Landis. At any rate, The Kentucky Fried Movie is an amusing work that is a fine waste of time. If you haven’t seen it, seek it out.

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• OK, folks, what movie should I revisit next in my Neglected Cinema series? The list is here: http://t.co/CK7sIBo3 #

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It seems that nowadays everyone on the Internet has been posting a list of their favorite films. I blame Roger Ebert, who recently updated his top 10 list in a much-viewed column. Since I’m a lover of cinema (and also hate to be left out), I’ve compiled my own list. It is, like all such lists, a personal one, as it should be – movies that provoke a strong reaction, whether it’s love or hate, often doesn’t have a broad appeal. My list contains some “obvious” choices and some not so obvious ones… As I said, it’s my list and I like different things than you.

20. Scrooge: A movie I will be revisiting in my Neglected Cinema series, Scrooge is a musical adaptation of A Christmas Carol and I absolutely adore it. It features the amazing Albert Finney in the title role, and he pulls off one of the best performances of the role ever. Even while singing!

19. Blue Velvet: Oh, where to start. It was this movie that introduced me to the universe of David Lynch, and it was the perfect way to start. It is one of the great films of the last century, and one that haunts me still.

18. 2001: A Space Odyssey: A perennial favorite, 2001 was the first movie that I studied, and I still have a ragged copy of the Making of 2001 paperback I must have read a dozen times. As Blue Velvet sparked my interest in the films of David Lynch, 2001 made me a rabid Kubrick fan, and for that I am extremely grateful.

17. Vertigo: I love this film, and I think it’s the best movie Hitchcock ever made… Though as you will see I prefer a couple of his other films more. Jimmy Stewart’s performance is a marvel, an acting studio into itself.

16. Casablanca: My favorite “studio” film, because it just works so perfectly. The script, the acting,the cinematography, the directing… It’s just a fantastic reflection of a system long gone.

15. Star Wars: No, not Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, it was Star Wars when I saw it in 1977 and it will forever be Star Wars – the one, the original, the imperfect blockbuster that changed everything. It took SF out of the B-movie ghetto and made it respectable for top talent to play in this “space”.

14. Psycho: I just love this movie, the first true slasher film, and the way that Hitch pulls together all the moving parts with such aplomb… It looks effortless.

13. The Ruling Class: Peter O’Toole plays the heir to an English estate, a man who will soon inherit immense royalty and prestige. He’s also mad as a hatter, and thinks he’s Jesus Christ. Another movie I will be revisiting soon, The Ruling Class is a dark comedy so black it borders on the ultraviolet. It’s also a musical!

12. Manhattan: Woody Allen’s masterpiece. The best written, best directed, best acted, and best shot film he ever did.

11. Goldfinger: It’s THE Bond film, the template that was replicated and imitated so many times over the past four decades. It’s the movie to pull from the time capsule in a thousand years to reply to historian’s when they ask, “Why was the world so crazy about James Bond?”

10. North by Northwest: Hitch has three movies on my list, and my favorite of the three has to be North by Northwest. It just crackles with energy, and modern blockbuster directors should be forced to sit and watch this film before they start work on any movie. It IS the modern blockbuster, only it’ what the blockbusters SHOULD be – filled with great characters, dialogue and acting. And speaking of blockbusters…

9. Die Hard: The best Christmas action movie ever made, Die Hard is another movie that should be viewed by every director in Hollywood at least once a year. “You want to do an action movie, pal? This is how ya do it!”

8. Singin’ in the Rain: When I think of the word “joy” I think of this movie. Depressed? Down on your luck? This movie will lift your spirits by the time the credits roll.

7. Alien: The most simple premise ever – a haunted house in space – became a classic film, thanks to the fantastic performances, the brilliant directing of Ridley Scott, and the incredible design work of Syd Mead and H.R. Giger.

6. Raiders of the Lost Ark: I have nothing to say except I just love the film, flaws and all.

5. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: Star Trek is a special love of mine. Not all of it, mind you… I love the original series, and some of The Next Generation… And that’s about it. The pinnacle, the best Trek ever… Well, that was KHAAANN!

4. Chinatown: “Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown.” The best script ever written, the best performance Jack Nicholson ever gave, and one of the best movies ever.

3. Citizen Kane: No, it’s not #1, like in so many other top 10 film lists, but it’s close. A masterpiece, a film school in a box, and the best thing (unfortunately) Orson Welles ever did.

2. Jaws: If I had to choose only two movies to watch for the rest of my life, Jaws is definitely on the list. Immensely rewatchable and incredibly entertaining, Jaws just works flawlessly.

1. The Godfather: Some say that Apocalypse Now is Coppola’s masterpiece, and I disagree – Apocalypse has always left me… Well, cold. The Godfather, however, is the film that put him on the map and the film that I consider my personal favorite. I have run out of superlatives, but I don’t need any anyway. The Godfather’s greatness is self-evident and undeniable.

So, there you go, my favorite films. I have plenty of runner-ups, including Network, The Dark Knight, The Incredibles and The Shawshank Redemption… And I reserve the right to revise my list from time to time.

Now, some useless trivia:

My favorite studio: Paramount, with five in my list (4 of my top 6)
My favorite director: Alfred Hitchcock, with three films in my list
Favorite film decade: The 70s, with eight films in my list released in that decade.
Favorite genre: Drama
Number of best picture winners in my list: 2
Number of films my list shares with Roger Ebert’s (current) Top 10 list: 3

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• First #BreakingBad season 5 promo video is such a tease: http://t.co/AJtFJJqd #
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• Back from seeing The Avengers.

  Dear Joss: please use your new status as hugely successful director to bring back Firefly.

  Thanks! #

• Dear Hollywood:

  You see what Joss did with The Avengers? How it had good story, dialogue, & characters? Do more of that, please.

  Thanks! #

• Being a Joss Whedon film, I'm surprised

  SPOILER!

  only one prominent character died. Oh well, there's always the sequel!
  #theavengers #

• The new Amazing Spiderman trailer just leaves me cold. I have no interest in seeing this reboot at all… and I own hundreds of Spidey comics. #

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I’ve worked on several design projects that resulted in “dead ends,” situations where what we created didn’t really work. I always try and learn something from these experiences, and a key lesson I’ve learned again and again was that benefits that seemed obvious to my design team weren’t obvious at all when the work was tested with potential customers. We were too close to the work, and had convinced ourselves that we were adding value and solving problems… When we really weren’t.

I don’t look at these projects as failures, because it’s better to “fail fast” than to go all the way to implement something… that then fails after investing hundreds of thousands of dollars making it real. This is one of the key reason to test your designs – the budget you save may be your own.

Unfortunately, not every company or development shop shares this approach. There are multitudes of computer and mobile apps that are… well, they’re a solution looking for a problem. Some are very slick and quite beautifully designed, but you look at them and wonder, “what were they thinking?” These applications are all sizzle, and no steak… really cool and utterly useless. These programs provide no benefits to anyone.

And I have found that this is a key differentiator between success and failure: Benefits. What value is being provided by the application or offering? Why would anyone use it? What do they get out of it? And are these benefits obvious, within seconds of use? When starting on a design project, put yourself in the user’s place and ask yourself the above questions. If you don’t have a clear and simple response to each, you either are overcomplicating things or need to think about it some more.

The importance of a “benefit case” varies depending on what is being designed, but if you dig deep enough you can identify a clear benefit case for most of the programs we repeatedly use in our lives. From e-mail to web apps to games… You can even make the case that the clearer the benefits the more successful the offering has been. This is why many companies still advertise their products or services with bulleted lists of features – each bullet explains a benefit that, hopefully, will appeal to an interested buyer.

The thing about benefits are they often are in the eye in the beholder. I use Twitter to engage and share with a group of people I like to chat with… Other people use it to promote their “personal brand” or to sell products. Other people think Twitter is a huge waste of time. I think the best offerings have an “extensible” benefits case, malleable to different usage patterns and interpretations. The more something can be personally beneficial (emphasis on the personal) the more responsive the person is to the application, product or service.

Finally, always remember that people are different. The more you know about your intended customer the better you can understand (and message) the benefits you are creating for them. And, because people are different, also be understanding if some people during testing bluntly tell you they would never use what you have created… because they don’t see how it would benefit them. When you hear that more often than not, though, you probably need to revist what you are trying to do… and clarify your “benefit case”.

• Doing lots of planning, writing and "foundational" stuff today… #
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• New at http://t.co/DF1rrqwB, The future, predicted: How #Apple can "own" mobile payments http://t.co/qopo82qD #
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One of the domains I pay particular attention to is person-to-person and mobile payments (I’ve also done some design work in this space). Right now, there is a lot of discussion/debate/chatter around near field communication (NFC) technology and how it can be intergrated with mobile devices to support payments “on the go.” Several mobile hardware manufacturers have already integrated NFC chips in their shartphones, and Google has an active strategy around integrating NFC and mobile with their Google Wallet product.

This is all well and good, except the 800-lb gorilla in mobile, Apple, has not presented their mobile payments solution yet. I think that they will reveal it soon, though… in September, with the release of the iPhone 5. I suspect that Apple will present a complete integrated solution at that time, and if they leverage assets they aready have effectively they could very quickly dominate the space.

Here’s what I think Apple is going to do, based on years on following the company as well as some other research.

Apple will zig, instead of zag: It won’t be NFC

Apple tends to define their own path, so they can “own” it. NFC is what everyone is talking about… so I think Apple will go in a different direction, and adopt the low-energy bluetooth protocol. Not just because it’s different, but because of some of the benefits that the protocol provides that NFC doesn’t… primarily compatibility and security. More on “compatibility” in a moment…

They’ll provide an complete end-to-end solution

Apple will not put out half a solution, they will roll out a complete infrastructure to send, recieve and process payments. How? Through all their products: the iPad, the iPhone, and the MacBook. Apple can quickly push software updates and apps through their app stores to allow all these programs to securely send payment information to each other, using bluetooth. They can also provide simple accounting and reporting apps for small businesses, allowing for analysis and easy transfer of payments recieved into business accounts. An iPad is a lot cheaper than a dedicated point of sale system. Personal payments can be transferred to customer’s checking accounts… or converted to credits that can be used on the app store.

They can leverage a huge user base

There is no need for Apple to ask customers to setup an account to make these mobile payments from… They already have customer’s credit cards on file, through their iTunes accounts. Millions of customers. That “default payment method” will be all that most customers need to use the service, and the setup process will be as simple as installing a new payment app and logging in to authorize the app (and probably agree to some new terms and conditions).

They’ll purchase Square

Square provides a great payment system with integration with iOS and Android devices. I expect Apple to buy it, for its talent and technology… and to remove a competitive solution from the marketplace.

Apple will emphasize security and guarantee transactions

Apple already has the “find your iPhone” service, and offers remote wiping, and I’m sure that they will emphasize this when they roll out their mobile payment process. One of the main fears customers have of mobile payments is losing their phone and someone using it to buy things with it. Apple can easily “force” a PIN login is required if you have activated mobile payments, as well as additional gurantees that can alieviate customer concerns.

The End Game

Why does Apple want to get into mobile payments? Primarily to prevent the competitors from dominating the domain… and also to sell more devices. Easy mobile payments would be a huge value-add to motivate many users to buy Apple hardware. They can structure the “rules” to get a chunk of every payment made with such a service. And if Apple wanted to they could “lose money” on such a service for years in order to dominate the channel (they only have $100 billion on hand, after all). It’s the razor-razor blade scenario – lose money on the razor, make money on the blades. They can lose money on each payment made through such a system because it locks customers into the Apple hardware ecosystem… an ecosystem with very high-margin devices.

Apple has already started testing a mobile payment system… in their Apple stores. If you download their Apple Store app, you can buy items in the store right now… scan a barcode with the iPhone camera and the app will charge your iTunes account for whatever you want (again, using the credit or debit card you already have on file). Expect their mobile payment to leverage the camera in a similar way.

Finally, customers love Apple and hate banks. Apple has incredibly high customer satisfaction numbers, much higher than most financial institutions have. Therefore consumers will be a lot more open to a payment system that comes from Apple than from a bank. This will help Apple get to a “critical mass” with users… and change how people do things. Again.

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• I've learned there is a limit to the number of times you can listen to Europe's "The Final Countdown" on repeat.

  Eleven times.

  Trust me. #

• The Time Groucho Marx Did the Charleston on Hitler’s Grave http://t.co/gOgxAvbp ME: This. Is. Awesome. #
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• Now Is The Time To Buy Farscape: The Complete Series – $69 bluray! $49 DVD! http://t.co/FOU838dT #
• For my Neglected Cinema series, I'm watching Psycho IV: The Beginning, featuring @mfrost11's dad. #
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I remember when I first read they were making a sequel to Psycho, I shook my head at how wrong-headed the idea was. Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho was an amazing, ground-breaking film that started the entire slasher genre. The fact that the next slasher film wasn’t released until ten years later (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) just reflected how ahead of its time Psycho was. How could they make a sequel?

When Psycho II came out, it got average reviews but did enough business to spur yet another film, Psycho III. I caught both films on home video, years later, and was unimpressed. Both Psycho II and III had their moments, but the gas had clearly run out by the time the credits rolled on the third film.

So, why did they go ahead and do a Psycho IV? Because they had a pretty good script, that’s why. Written by Joseph Stefano, the screenwriter of the original film, Psycho IV presented the back-story of how Norman became Norman, with a well-cast Henry Thomas playing the young Norman Bates. It pretty much ignores the two earlier sequels, and I think it works as a far better sequel to the original than both those films combined.

Produced for Showtime, the film has a TV-movie budget that feels limiting, but the performances are what makes the film noteworthy. Anthony Perkins plays Norman today, as he recounts his past to a radio show host doing an episode focused on patricide. Warren Frost, noted character actor best known for his role on Twin Peaks (and father of writer/producer Mark Frost) plays the psychiatrist character from the original film who is a guest on that program… after he treated Norman he became somewhat of an expert on mother-killers. Both Frost and CCH Pounder, who played the radio host, did solid work here. And Perkins, who by this point in his career had no other work than playing variations of Norman Bates, gives his all in one of his last performances.

The real standout work here, though, comes from Thomas and Olivia Hussey, who played Mother Bates. Thomas plays Norman like a tensed muscle, and when he loses control he is more than a match for the elder Perkins. And Hussey is beautiful and disturbing at the same time… abusing and loving Norman almost simultaneously.

It’s far from perfect, of course… A subplot with Bates planning to kill again doesn’t work very well, though one can see why it is necessary to rachet up the drama. Seeing Henry Thomas in the “Mother” outfit so often is… well, it just doesn’t work for me. And the violence in the film is unsubtle and gory, where some finess would have more appropriately reflected the “classic” Psycho aesthetic.

Three more things to watch for: First is the extended cameo by writer/director John Landis as the producer of the radio show. Second is the absolutely wonderful set decoration that makes the Bates house look brand new in the flashback sequences – it never looked better. And third, Norman’s alias as he calls into the radio show – “Ed” – is a great in-joke for fans who know the inspiration for the original Robert Bloch novel.

As I rewatch this (ironically, on the anniversary of Alfred Hitchcock’s death), and note that Hollywood is not only making a movie about the filming of the original Psycho as well as a new anthology TV series called “Bates Motel” (featuring a young Norman Bates), I am once again reminded that the entertainment industry has seen more original days. That they are again revisiting Psycho reflects just how iconic this story and the character of Norman Bates is… but after watching Psycho IV, I wonder what more, if anything, can be brought to the table.

Psycho IV: The Beginning ends with hope… hope that Norman can find some peace in his old age. I think that is the right way to leave things. Let Norman Bates rest in peace.

As we have seen, from this unique look at his life story… he’s been through enough already.

A week ago I was able to take a day off from business travel and visit Alcatraz Island, also known as “The Rock.” Here’s pics I took of the historic site:

These are high-level, but I think still specific enough to be actionable. These are principles to apply to a design project, and good UX design is reflected in these principles.

Know your users. Have a firm and clear "target" in mind for who you are designing for. Get such insights by conducting user interviews, studying the domain you are designing in, and working with your business stakeholders and subjetc matter experts to identify the audience for what you are designing.

Identify what you are NOT designing. Knowing what you are NOT doing is as important as knowing what you are doing. Define a crisp and short list of what you are going to do and don't get distracted from it. Do two or three things well, instead of eight or nine badly.

Focus. Design with a purpose, and take all distractions out of your view as you work.

Iterate. You aren't going to get it right the first time. Refine, test, iterate.

Simplify. If you think something is too complicated, then the users will probably feel even more so. Strip out everything that is unnecessary and then, after testing it with users, add only things that help and support the experience – not distract from it.

So, to summarize: A good UX deisgn reflects how users think, is simple and focused, and has been refined and tested before implementation.

See question on Quora

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I used to code. And when I say “code,” I mean write HTML, JavaScript and active server pages – not full desktop applications. This was close to a decade ago, and while I have taken some software development classes since, I haven’t used any coding skills in any meaningful way since then. It’s not that I don’t want to code, I just I don’t need to do so in my job. Additionally, and to be frank… I think software development is much harder than it should be, and the varying levels of quality in the software development tools out there doesn’t help.

That may soon change, dramatically, and this change may come from an unexpected place: Apple.

Last month a patent application from Apple for “content configuration for device platforms” detailed specifications for a basic WYSIWYG tool to build apps. Now, Apple patents a LOT of stuff, and many of their patents have historically ended up going nowhere… but I think this one isn’t such a case. I suspect that Apple is working to change how software for their platforms are created, to open up their platform to… well, everyone. It’s a huge shift in the traditional approach of working with software developers that aligns with both Apple’s history, it’s aesthetic, and it’s growth strategy.

Apple has a long history of taking complicated tasks and making them easy and obvious for customers. It started with desktop publishing, with Apple making the first consumer computers and printers that provided accurate typography and page layout tools (Apple didn’t create Pagemaker, the first successful desktop publishing app, but produced the first Macintosh that made such an app possible). Though it wasn’t there first, Apple produced software that made video editing accessible and easy, with Final Cut Pro and then iMovie. It created software to make producing DVDs as simple as dragging and dropping content (not used much now, but at the time iDVD was a very popular app for creating content). It made music production accessible to the masses through Garageband, multi-media presentations dead simple with Keynote… And so on and so forth, with the most recent effort, the iBook Author tool, focused on supporting the creation of multimedia eBooks.

Software development requires specialized knowledge that most people don’t have… just like like video editing and desktop publishing used to be. The eccentricities of a particular language, the processes of doing software builds, the specific functionality that exists in the development environment being used… all of this requires a learning curve, and for many people it’s a steep one that is discouraging and frustrating. Apple can remove a lot of this complexity by releasing a program exactly like the one they detail in their patent – an app that allows for simple object-oriented programming that lets users compile and run apps without having to know how to call APIs, create preference files and deal with stuff like memory managment and database calls.

Would this be a solution for the professional developer to use? Probably not. It would be like iMovie for apps… the pros can still use XCode or their preferred development environment to custom build their own apps. But just as iMovie has allowed people who have never heard of SMTPE timecodes to quickly edit a short movie together, an “iMovie for apps” would open up programming to the masses, allowing people who are intimidated by the prospect of coding the ability to creating simple apps they want and need with a minimal effort.

Such an app would also support Apple’s growth strategy. The more apps that are created and available, the more desirable it makes the devices that run them… devices that are all sold by Apple. Since Apple gets a cut of every app sold, the more apps in the marketplace the more money they make. And the “App maker” or whatever Apple calls it will only work on… yup, you guessed it, Apple hardware. Will many of the apps created by such a tool be… well, crap? Yup. But many of the apps available in the app store today aren’t very good as well… the quality apps will usually rise to the top.

Will Apple reject a huge number of apps submitted? Yes, but consider this: Apple can develop this new “App maker” program in a way that lets users distribut their own apps on an ad hoc basis… imagine if a small business could roll their own integrated inventory app for their staff? Apple might not make money off every app sold in such a scenario, but such a feature could motivate many companies to buy iPhones for all their employees… Which is a perfectly satisfactory result for Apple and thier growth strategy.

I may be reading too much into a patent application, but to me it makes sense that this is something Apple would do, for the reasons cited above and for one more thing: It would be a bold move, something that would differentiate Apple’s OS from Android and Windows in a huge way… especially if such an “App maker” allows users to create apps that work on ANY Apple device – Mac, iPad or iPhone. Apple has a history of making similar bold moves, and making them work. I can see no reason for that stopping now.

• Newt plans to end his run for the White House. And he was doing so well… #
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• Apple, it's also been two weeks since I submitted my new book to iBookstore. Still under review. Use some of your billions to HIRE PEOPLE. #
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  "Don't! Especially if it's not a singing frog! They are worth millions!" #

• Just had to yell at my dog Yugi, who tried to eat a frog.

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I’ve gone to the Disney parks a lot. And when I say “a lot” I mean “over 20 times.” I’ve hit the parks on both coasts, and hope to someday visit the parks outside the US. When comes to least pleasant aspects, I have some examples that I think are worth noting.

First off, there is definitely a drop-off in quality if you stay at one of the value (i.e. cheap) resorts at Walt Disney World. One of the last trips my family took we stayed at a value resort, and the quality of service and the cleanliness of the room left a LOT to be desired. Walking barefoot on the floor of my hotel room left my feet pitch black after a few steps. The staff at the value resorts also tend to not provide as much “disney magic” (i.e. friendly, positive service) as what you get from staff at the moderate and deluxe results. While Disney would like you to think that all their resorts are superb… well, there is a class system at work, and if you pay more you get better service – period.

(Yes, I know that many of you reading this will have had great experiences staying in value resorts, and that’s fine… I have too. I’ve just noticed the difference between the “little-s” service you get at the value resorts and the “capital-s” Service you get at the pricey Deluxe resorts. It is what it is.)

Second, Disney has structured their tickets and vacation packages in a way that is absolutely ingenious… ingenious in getting Disney as much of your money as possible. After their three day tickets, the price of adding extra days are neglegible… less than $10 a day per ticket. This is brilliant, in that it leads many people to extend their vacations and locks them into Disney… why spend $100+ dollars on tickets to Universal Studios or Sea World, when you can go to another Disney park for less than $10? A day that you will be spending money on food, toys, drinks… money that all goes to Disney.

Disney’s Magical Express, which (for free) picks you up from the airport and takes you straight to your resort, is another part of that same strategy. It’s something that you can view as an absolute positive… until you realize that you’re “trapped” on Disney property your entire vacation (unless you call a taxi or buy a rental car).

Third, if you go in summer… be prepared to sweat, especially at Walt Disney World in Orlando. That, and the huge crowds, make a “pleasant” experience nearly impossible. As big as the Disney park is, you are going to have uncomfortable experiences and situations happen if you go to the park at “peak season.” You’ll also pay more for the privilege.

Fourth, if you want to get the most out of a vacation at a Disney Park, you MUST PLAN your days. You need to make your dining resverations months in advance (seriously – the most popular restaraunts book up over 60 days ahead of time) and you need to try and hit all the most popular rides at “rope drop”, otherwise you will probably not get to ride them because of high demand. Many people want a vacation to be… well, a vacation. Disney ain’t like that. To get the most out of a Disney vacation, you need to structure your days and your nights and schedule things out. I’ve gone with family members who had NO IDEA how hard it was to get last-minute dining reservations and to get onto their favorite rides, and because of that they spent a lot of time in lines and eating extremely average counter service meals (that still cost a pretty penny).

Finally, in every resort and throughout their parks Disney promotes the Disney Vacation Club, which is a VERY expensive timeshare that makes Disney a lot of money, with (in my opion) very little value provided to the buyer of said timeshare. Try not to get trapped into a conversation with a DVC salesperson… you’ll end up potentially losing hours away from your vacation trapped in a sales pitch.

See question on Quora

LinkedIn, like Google and Facebook, benefits from the more it "knows" about you. As I and others have frequently mentioned, you are not the user of such services… You are the product that the service "sells." In LinkedIn's case, the more information they have about their users makes the paid services they sell more desirable to those who choose to use them (especially recruiters). How they weigh the information in profiles to get to 100% is (if they are smart, and I know they are) based on getting the most valuable information entered by their users.

The LinkedIn UI design that urges users to get to 100% complete in their profile, by the way, is a very good example of "gamification." We all want to "win" and when we see something is incomplete we are motivated to do what it takes to get to 100%… and so we fill out the missing information.

See question on Quora

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I hate narration in movies.

It’s usually completely unnecessary, and in those rare occassions when it works… well, that these occassions are rare is proof enough. The Two Jakes, the 1990 sequel to the film noir classic Chinatown, starts out with narration. Jack Nicholson as Private Investigator JJ Gittes tells the audience what he does as he photographs a couple in the act of lovemaking over the opening credits. The dialogue has that same crisp writing style that screenwriter Robert Towne brought to full bear in the original. But here… It’s telling the audience things the filmmakers think they can’t figure out by themselves… which is the exact opposite of how the original worked, with that brilliant clockwork plot that unwound elegantly.

I rewatched Chinatown last week, excited over a new bluray remaster that made the movie look brand new. It’s frequently listed by film critics as one of the top 100 movies of all time, and justifyably so. It’s a fantastic film, and the script by Towne and the directing by Roman Polanski is pitch-perfect. Revisiting the original film made me wonder about its 1990 sequel, the film that left me cold the one-time I saw in in theatres in 1990. The film left me cold back then, but that was a long time ago… could it have been better than I remembered it? A revisit was in order.

Now, after having watched it again, 22 years later (!) I can definitively say that it is better than I remembered, but it still leaves me cold. It’s a film without drive or a reason to exist.

Unlike the original, this film is directed by Jack Nicholson, and, while Jack does his best with the material he is given… he’s no Roman Polanski. His shots have no energy, and even scenes that are supppossed to be dynamic and exciting are aloof. He directs the movie like he acts – super-cool and detached from it all. To his credit, though, his performance in the film is nuanced and subtle… a big difference from the majority of his work in the 90s.

The plot involves real estate, oil, murder, and a ghost from the past… a ghost in the form of Katheryn Mulwray, the daughter of Faye Dunaway’s character from Chinatown. It is as convoluted as much as Chinatown was linear and crisp… And that is the main problem that The Two Jakes can’t overcome. It’s not Chinatown. And everytime it invites comparisons to the original in its plot and tone it rings hollow.

A key reason for my response to this film for is something very personal. When Chinatown ended, it ENDED. There is nothing after that ending that makes me want to see what happens to any of these characters later, because it was absolutely satisfying. Tthe story has been told, and nothing else needed to be said. It’s the same reason why Gone With The Wind didn’t need revisionist sequels, or Citizen Kane 2 was never made… Great drama is like that, it’s self-actualized and complete. To follow up Chinatown… Well, The Two Jakes is a story that doesn’t really need telling, much like The Godfather III, a movie Paramount released that same year.

Like Gittes’ interrupting narration… The Two Jakes is unnecessary.

When I was watching Chinatown last week, I had the horrible thought that someone would come up with a prequel based on the hints that Towne drops in the film, a movie about what happened to Gittes when he was a cop in Chinatown doing “as little as possible”. In today’s remake and sequel crazy Hollywood, such an act would tempt me to burn the whole place down. The Two Jakes is the best arguement against such an idea, and one of the movie’s core concepts is, ironically, both the perfect evidence and an accurate indctment of itself as well.

The past is best left alone.

Some images from the film:

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