"I can say that social sites do play an important role in today's society. The problem lies in the fact that some people use the digital medium not as an extension to who they are but as the basis for who they are.
I'm pretty happy with the social aspect of last.fm as it's lead me to much new music. Myspace even with its crappyness has gained me some new real life friends." - Adam Kazwell
how can I get FF to pull the image from this URL? - Adam Kazwell
If you use the bookmarklet, you can click on the image while the bookmarklet is on the screen and before you click the "Share on My FriendFeed" button. - Tudor Bosman
ah, thanks Tudor....wasn't using the bookmarklet - just the share something link at the top of each FF page - Adam Kazwell
"Apple's lead in design masks just how under-maximized design is. In other words, as good as Apple's products are, they aren't anywhere near the point at which customers are "over-satisfied" with their designs. It's not that the Innovator's Dilemma doesn't apply to design, it's that the "good enough" sweet spot isn't ripe for the picking." - Adam Kazwell
Clayton Christensen (author of ID) is on record as saying that the iPhone will have only "limited success". "The iPhone is a sustaining technology relative to Nokia...Apple won't succeed with the iPhone. They've launched an innovation that the existing players in the industry are heavily motivated to beat: It's not [truly] disruptive. History speaks pretty loudly on that, that the probability of success is going to be limited." - Adam Kazwell
Specs and features only go so far if the end user can't take advantage of them beacuse of poor design. Apple knows to make the core functions of a device as good as it can be. I'd much rather have a product that does a few things really well than one that does thirty things poorly or in a confusing manner. The iMac was laughed at intially for average specs but it was the all in one design that people loved. Every Apple product since has an awareness of usability that most tech companies can't compete with. - Jason Kaneshiro
I don't know, to say that the iPhone isn't disruptive is... short sighted, I think. Like it or hate it, Apple's control and experience with hardware, software, design and UI give them an advantage in the space. Where the other companies are still hashing out their functionality checklists, Apple is selling smartphones like there's no tomorrow. The Treo 650 has way more checks on that list than the iPhone, but I use my iPhone like way more than I ever used the Treo - because it does what it does *better*. - felix
We were talking about this at work today (unrelated to Apple though) - about Microsoft releasing software that is stable enough to throw out the door, but using their early adopters as "final beta testers"... in relation to Apple, it seems Apple sit on a design for a while and give it the extra polish before thinking about releasing anything. - Jonathan
As a European, I think the iPhone might be a bad example... on it's own it's a great product (minus the lack of changable battery which matters to me) but the whole pricing model and the way it's tied to a specifc carrier is a real anathema to European consumers, we're used to having reasonable phones (my current one is a Sony Ericsson K770i) for free - Andy Davies
A very useful article and comments, reminding us that fewer features, better executed is worth more than a bucket load of features. Something I'm taking to heart in our own development. - David Sim
The idea that apple only releases "finished" stuff is bogus. It is a perception, but a wrong one. The iPhone didn't have copy and paste! Had it been the SAME product from MS, that alone would have gotten it trashed. Reality is Apple initial releases are no better than anyone else, but their brand breeds elitism and strokes egos, so people overlook it. Point for point? They don't win much. - Soulhuntre via twhirl
Additionally, while in the past MS had stability issues (that was as much the hardware as anything) Vista and 2008 are incredibly stable and 2003 was as stable as bedrock since the day it was released. Just FYI :) - Soulhuntre
I agree with Felix, I think it's really interesting to see how analysts are handling the transition from feature list to "functional" features - which is where Apple really excels....the gadget world we live in is no longer a checklist contest - rather, it's a question of "of your available features, which are actually getting used" - Adam Kazwell
JCunwired - Just being honest. It's pretty common these days to slam MS (it's an easy way to get hits) ... but the facts are the facts. 2003 is incredibly stable. Vista is stable and 2008 is so far not only stable but has a great feature set for servers. I am all for people pointing out MS problems - but they should be real problems. Not XP holdovers. - Soulhuntre
"Most people who perform a job over a number of years will become experienced non-experts, not experts." Also like the idea of a mini-todo list where I can shelve ideas that popup. - Adam Kazwell
There would be a desperate, clinging love that had survived all the years, because it was based on shared experience and memories and goals, not so much any longer on passion. It would be a sad story, but a true one - Adam Kazwell
The BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) and the middle east, are quickly attaining economic purchasing power parity with the United States and Western Europe. - Adam Kazwell
