Mouli's thoughts and musics over two decades
Apple had this design philosophy that, apply simplicity to the level that makes sense. Taking it too far has its own disadvantages. The current proposed twitter redesign is a classic example. The older logo of twitter had this cute chirpy blue bird and it made so much sense. The new logo looks like a bird only after someone explains it to me. Gone too far in my opinion.
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(img src: same link as above)
Does resonate with what Apple believes in.
(via daringfireball)
Nice profile at Forbes on the Rags to Riches story of Whatsapp.
Through their Yahoo network they found a startup subleasing some cubicles on a converted warehouse on Evelyn Ave. The whole other half of the building was occupied by Evernote, who would eventually kick them out to take up the whole building. They wore blankets for warmth and worked off cheap Ikea tables. Even then there was no WhatsApp sign for the office. “Their directions were ‘Find the Evernote building. Go round the back. Find an unmarked door. Knock,’” says Michael Donohue, one of WhatsApp’s first BlackBerry engineers recalling his first interview.
Cheeky take on what else FB could have bought with the money it spent on Whatsapp.
(via Mashable)
Nice article on TNW hypothesizing what if Apple bought Tesla. There are several similarities. Steve Jobs did want to build a car and take on Detroit (he had made that comment to a NYT reported before he died). Tesla is loaded with elegant technology. Elon Musk dreams big – really big – kind of like Jobs. Tesla sells only through its own stores. And well, Apple very well has the cash to buy the car company. There is one more nice point made in the article – if this does happen, there is a risk to Tim Cook – a good chance that the investors might want to replace Cook with Musk!
Read the full article here. [link]
(image src: flickr)
Wow. This is what happens when you take the hit Disney soundtrack of “Frozen” and pass it through Google Translate and retranslate that back to English. Hilarious. You can notice how the singer tries very hard to suppress her smiles. But, besides all that, a very gifted singer indeed.
This is a time when there is a tussle between the residents of SFO and the tech workers, the so-called gentrification of the city, and the google buses problem etc. The start-ups are struggling to keep a balance between keeping their knowledge workers close at bay vs keeping the cities in which they are located happy.
FastCo has a great “imaginative” article on how this could be handled if the tech giants took matters into their own hands. What if they built apartments for their own workers in what is now their parking lots.
Makes some sense. But could introduce a variety of other problems. Read the full article here. [link]
When sections of the Bay Bridge (Oakland to SFO, CA) was reconstructed (because of structural damage caused due to a 1989 earthquake), this bay area resident felt so strong about the bridge, that he bought part of the bridge that was slated for the scrap yard. He plans to build a house with it. And most likely, a part of it may be an AirBNB location.
Read on more here. [link]