High Gravity Consulting

The Case for TwttrSDK

Twitter hasn't had the best of months years. The platform is full of bots, its full of trolls and its most dedicated users are angry over changes to its API that degrade the experience for anyone using a client that isn't the one produced by Twitter. In short, if Twitter

Zero Tolerance Core

Cutting the cord

I hate mowing the grass. Its not the exercise or movement; its just a time-sink that you have to do many times a year. If my neighborhood didn't have restrictions on the presence of a green lawn of grass that is less than a specific height, I would just say

Rethinking Airplane Mode

One of the best parts about the forced confinement of a commercial airplane ride is that you have plenty of time to think about increasingly irrelevant things and wonder exactly why it is we still have them. The feature on our phones called 'airplane mode' has always seemed ridiculous to

People

People -> Ideas -> Software

They were scared. It wasn't that it showed in their eyes, they had become too good at hiding it for you to see it that easily, but the hesitation in their voice, the way in which they did not leap to embrace the idea, the way that they held back

Siri at the beach

Recently I posted an article speculating how a Siri API would function if it were to be announced at WWDC. Well, yesterday was keynote day and it was announced. This doesn't mean I have developed prescience but sometimes there is a fire where you see smoke. What made me most

WWSD - What Would Siri (API) Do?

As we approach WWDC 2016, a lot of posts have been floating around that imply Siri will have an official API in just a few short days. Given it will be almost half a decade since Siri was introduced and an API was speculated, its probably not inappropriate to give

Microsoft

Microsoft to release SQL Server on Linux?

I'm not going to lie, this makes me want to like Microsoft. They keep doing things like this and it keeps confusing the Mac and Linux guy that lives inside my head and my heart. I don't see why SQL Server would be something that anyone wants on Linux. Its

Productivity

The Real Meaning of "Minimum"

Mark Kawano writing for Inc: If a product in development isn't ready to be released, the deadline is pushed back. If an idea isn't perfect, or isn't considered truly magical and delightful internally, it's held back, revised, and the product given an entirely new launch date. A few years back,

smartphones

Ducking Autocorrect

Gideon Lewis-Kraus writing at Wired on the History of Autocorrect: Given how successful autocorrect is, how indispensable it has become, why do we stay so fixated on the errors? It's not just because they represent unsolicited intrusions of nonsense into our glassy corporate memoranda. It goes beyond that. The possibility

Mobile Payments

Apple's first step towards mobile payments?

From The Next Web: Apple has introduced a new service that allows users to add money to their App Store, iTunes Store or iBookstore account at its physical retail stores. No longer do you need to buy iTunes gift cards to add a balance to your iTunes account; you can

Apple

Apple + IBM = I never saw this one coming

From Apple's PR page: Apple® and IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced an exclusive partnership that teams the market-leading strengths of each company to transform enterprise mobility through a new class of business apps—bringing IBM’s big data and analytics capabilities to iPhone® and iPad®. That sound you heard was

Productivity

Rand's isn't the problem; I'm the problem

Michael Lopp on his Rands in Repose blog: We spend a lot of time asking too much of our tools when, in fact, what we really need is just good practices. I’m certain I could keep track of my individual tasks on a torn coffee-stained napkin reliably as long

Amazon

The problem is also the solution

Ben Thompson on the relationship between book publishers and Amazon: I’ve worked with publishers, and here’s the thing: Amazon is right. It’s not that publishers don’t add value,2 but rather that their economics are wholly incompatible with the reality of the Internet. If publishers are

mobile

Mobile Disruption from the bottom up

Clayton Christensen spends much of his time discussing his disruption theory. The central tenant of this theory is that distruption starts from the low-end, low-cost, low-margin part of the market and works its way upwards. I couldn't help but think about his words as I read through this article on

Design

Design as work

John R. Moran on Rampant Innovation discussing design: The core object of the Lean philosophy is waste. Quality is fundamentally about variability. And design is about intent. Intent means purpose; something highly designed was crafted with intention in every creative decision. Frank Lloyd Wright explained that intent drives design with

3D Printing

Casting the mold

Despite being 37--almost 38--years of age, there is one thing that thus far in my life has not yet happened to me. While its something most everyone deals with at some point in their life, its not one that I look forward to with any type of enthusiasm. Yes, its

forms

Building better forms

LukeW has been one of my favorite bloggers for years. Rich data, non-obvious ideas and excellent solutions, all in one place. His latest video, reprising some of the research he has presented at conferences over the last few years, is another great entry in a long line of entries. If

Social Media

An entrapment lawsuit waiting to happen...

From Ars Technica... According to information provided on their Blogger, Twitter, and Facebook accounts, the PGPD will be documenting the planned takedown with frequent updates during the arrests, tweeting photos and arrestee information. The planned takedown in Maryland will target johns, not prostitutes themselves, and will be set up using

drug use

My first "startup"

Fifteen years ago, my first job out of college was in tech support for a large printer "manufacturer." That job taught me a lot, both good and bad, but the best part of the job--by far--was the great people with whom I worked day in and day out.

Google Chrome

So long, farewell, good riddance

Today, a Canary build of Google Chrome removed something kind of important from the browser: the URL. Of course it still supports them, but the time where users actually see URLs is ending. With Chrome’s “Enable origin chip in Omnibox” flag, Location becomes a write-only field. Clicking there no

Mobile Payments

Mobile Payments and College Students

From Marketwired An April poll of 2,503 college students around the country revealed that 42 percent would "probably not" or "definitely not" make more mobile payments if they were widely available. The study, sponsored by Balance Innovations, showed that another 42 percent reported they would

Supreme Court

Lawyer loses his mind in front of the Supreme Court

From NPR: DuMont replied that people make a choice — they "choose" when they carry their cellphones with them — and thus they should have "no expectation of privacy" if they are arrested. Kagan, incredulous: "Are you saying one has to keep a cellphone at home to

credit cards

Credit card security in the hands of the consumer

I can't help but look at this solution and have two things... First, better in the hands of the user who knows when they are using their own card than in the hands of companies who are relying on imperfect algorithms. What an absolute pain in the ass. Ondot Systems,

Apple

The end of Apple's explosive growth?

Andrew Cunningham, writing for Ars Technica: Apple's past growth has been driven mostly by entering entirely new product categories, like it did when it introduced the iPod in 2001, the iPhone in 2007, and the iPad in 2010. The most persistent rumors involve TV (whether a new Apple TV set-top