01.17.14 |
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The Coen brothers are, in my opinion, the most consistently strong directing force in cinema today. There are misfires like The Ladykillers and (arguably) Intolerable Cruelty, but the rest of their output ranges from very good to great. It’s especially incredible when you consider their range, from surreal farces to noir thrillers and westerns.
That genre hopping is exactly why Nelson Caravajal’s latest Press Play essay on the brothers’ output is so interesting; anyone who’s seen their works is probably familiar with many of the scenes, but the way Caravajal edits them together, you can see thematic links among the material.
01.16.14 |
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Michael Lopp, writing in his Rands in Repose blog:
This New Year, I wish you more blank slates. May you have more blank white pages sitting in front you with your favorite pen nearby and at the ready. May you have blank screens in your code editor with your absolutely favorite color syntax highlighting. May your garage work table be empty save for a single large piece of reclaimed redwood and a saw.
Turn off those notifications, turn your phone over, turn on your favorite music, stare at your blank slate and consider what you might build.
01.15.14 |
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Emanuel Maiberg over at Kill Screen talks to Ubisoft about their commitment to “companion apps” for smart devices on their big AAA games like Assassin’s Creed 4. I came into the whole concept pretty skeptical, but admittedly seeing a full, real time AC4 map on my iPad as I’m gaming on the PS4 is pretty cool. Far from revolutionary, but it’s a nice touch. Looks like Ubisoft is in it for the long haul:
In fact, Early said Ubisoft’s so committed to the companion app concept that any game being pitched today within the company has to describe its companion app before it’s greenlit.
01.14.14 |
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As a front end developer I find myself tweaking easing functions a lot, especially when I’m fine tuning web UI before launch. There’s no substitution for testing the final product but this easing function cheat sheet gives you a nice starting point. Besides, it’s virtually impossible to remember the animation details between many easing functions like easeOutBounce and easeInOutBounce.
01.13.14 |
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Mikael Cho writing at Medium:
I came across a study by psychologist Kevin Larson. Larson has spent his career researching typefaces and recently conducted a landmark study at MIT about how font and layout affect our emotions.
In the study, 20 volunteers- half men and half women- were separated into two groups. Each group was shown a separate version of The New Yorker- one where the image placement, font, and layout were designed well and one where the layout was designed poorly.
The researchers found that readers felt bad while reading the poorly designed layout.
Good design and good typography are more than just fluff. They make us happier.
01.09.14 |
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I’ve been a fan of Will Smith and the whole Tested crew for a while. And Will tells it exactly like it is from his first day on the CES show floor:
It’s an endemic problem at this show–the vast majority of products being shown here are absolute garbage. I’m talking about products that no one in their right mind could want.
01.08.14 |
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I use Safari as my primary browser with Flash disabled. But occasionally I’ll run into a site with Flash enhancements or video which is better run in Chrome, which has full Flash support. Before Alfred 2 I’d just manually copy my current URL and paste it in Chrome, but this relatively simple workflow makes it a lot easier. Now I just fire up the Alfred launcher and start typing ‘openinchrome’. After a few keystrokes it’s ready to go.
You can also read the original thread on Alfred Forums where there’s several similar workflow alternatives.
01.07.14 |
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I’ve always been a fan of Vimeo, especially their video player, which I’ve found historically more HTML5 friendly and more responsive than Youtube’s. So it’s impressive for them to launch a new player today that’s rebuilt from the ground up. I haven’t spent too much time with it, but so far it feels a lot speedier on startup time. Nice web integration improvements as well as noted in Vimeo’s blog post:
No more toggling into the HTML player — now everyone who has an HTML5-capable browser gets the HTML player. And when you’re in a modern browser, even if we can’t fully use HTML5, there’s a good chance you’ll get HTML controls.
01.03.14 |
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The Dissolve is one of my favorite new web sites from 2013. You’ve got a powerhouse group of film writers, many plucked from the A.V. Club. A classy site design with strong typography, easily digestible articles and clear navigation. So it’s fitting that their list of the top twenty films of 2013 is excellent. I don’t agree with all the selections (I’d rank Upstream Color far lower), but it’s a good place to start for films to catch up on you may have missed from last year.
01.02.14 |
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Federico Viticci over at MacStories knows his iOS apps very well. The guy oversees and has written hundreds of posts for MacStories, so we shouldn’t be surprised given the high quality of writing over there that he’s very well qualified in his opinions.
If you’re looking for some fresh apps to start the new year I can’t think of a better list to start from.