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Subtitle: The greatest second act in the history of business.
A book for Steve Jobs, a book he turns down. This is an effort to depict Job’s personality through several events in his life.
First of all I have to say it is a book easy to read. It was written to become a best seller and it did become a best seller. The authors of the book take the story from the very beginning: the birth of Jobs, his childhood, his growing up, how Apple was born, how Jobs became a king, how he was pushed away from Apple and his great return of course.
The book is breathtaking. You can’t stop reading. Sometimes you feel you are an invisible guest of the story and you see it happen right in front of your eyes. Nevertheless, this book is not a Jobs’ colophon. Page by page we see a man who is raw, angry all the time, someone who gets what he wants by crying, an egomaniac. We can also see some of his virtues, but not too many.
What I expected to find but I didn’t was a real portrait of Jobs’ character. Instead there is a detailed description of the background of crucial events which made him be an idol. For me this wasn’t enough.
So if someone wants to read a book during his summer vacations, iCon is a perfect choice. If he wants to find out more about Jobs he will have to dig deeper into other resources.
The recent announcement of Steve Jobs about the new Safari browser for Windows was the most juicy issue of the WWDC07. It was even more important than the preview of Leopard, if we consider that it is about a browser ready (?) to be used in a different OS. Actually, Safari is in beta stage and the truth is that it is completely raw. It provides nothing but a simulation of MacOS environment so far.
I am sure that Safari will work smoothly in Windows pretty soon. (Right now it just doesn’t work.) Jobs said that Safari aims to increase its usage percent among the other browsers. That must be the truth. Maybe not the whole truth but a part of it only.
Playing away from home
Safari is an incredibly fast browser in MacOS. It doesn’t do more than Firefox or new Camino, but you can’t imagine how fast it is. It is a tool which can’t be ignored.
Safari has to confront mostly Firefox and Opera, not Internet Explorer. Why? Because it is certain that many users can’t leave IE behind. If people were eager to ignore IE, it wouldn’t have been used by a 78%. Despite the fact that Firefox is faster, more secure and supports more features it is still far behind IE. Why should people move to Safari if they can’t move to Firefox?
As a result Safari targets to the 22% which is left and it affords people who don’t care to play a little with their browsers. Of course this 22% is going to grow by time. Nevertheless I am not sure how large is going to be.
A way to overcome Firefox and a Trojan Horse
So the question is how Firefox could be overwhelmed by Safari. It might, if Safari was a much faster browser. The first impressions of Safari show that it is slower than Firefox and Opera. This is a problem. Shouldn’t Apple care about this? Absolutely. Shouldn’t Apple create a stable browser? Of course. Yes, but right now a user can’t find a reason to switch.
When a browser is not fast and stable then it can’t be good enough. As simply as that. There is only one possible feature of Safari which can turn the tide. The name of it is iPhone. This multi-gadget can be the Trojan Horse of Apple.
If iPhone will change the industry the way iPod did, everything can be different in the future and Safari can become an indispensible tool for every user. I don’t know how, but Jobs and his fellows should. Remember that iPod changed the way we treat music. Wouldn’t be possible for iPhone to do the same in the way we treat computers and mobile phones?
Right now people in Cupertino have some time to launch iPhone the best possible way and cover all the caveats of Safari. What we can see now is only a tiny part of the story. This war is too harsh to end so soon and future is too near to be so obscure. The game has just began.
The following post has to do with designing the skeleton of a website either in Photoshop or Illustrator. It is not a comparison between them. A comparison is impossible anyway since each software does different things.
Any website requires certain work before you start doing the markup. Such work could include gathering of content, information design, mockups in paper etc. The moment you decide to move from paper to the screen you select the appropriate software. This is the issue of this post.
I admit Illustrator was a strange land for me for many years now. Arguably most of the Adobe family products work similarly. After some decent efforts I managed to used it quite effectively. I am not saying I know everything about it but I can now create my mockups there.
My experience shows that there are two main reasons why Web designers don’t use Illustrator:
Because Photoshop lets them slice images and transfer them later to the final design
Because they never learned how to use it
I personally don’t do any slicing in Photoshop. It is an old fashioned approach which works well when a designer works with tables in HTML. So I don’t take it.
Not taking some time to learn something which may be valuable was bothering me. This is why I decided to change.
Some thoughts on the design procedure
Photoshop is an outstanding tool. You can do numerous things with it. The detail level is exceptional. For example the Bevel and Emboss tool is fascinating when applied in text. The way layers work can save you a lot of time and energy when creating e.g. a logo.
However Photoshop focuses in detailed work. Designing a web page is not that easy, you soon realize you are confronted somehow. Illustrator provides freedom and easiness. You can do a lot of things without caring about the layers structure. You can have many different versions of the same design and detect them all in seconds.
Most of all I like Illustrator because it goes beyond conventions. You can do almost anything there. Of course you can’t put everything on a real Web page, but it doesn’t matter. Some experimental work done in Illustrator may be good for the website too.
All in all Illustrator is better for me for the specific use. Apparently the better a Web designer uses both programs the more profitable work he produces. For me both of them are great design weapons and to take the best of them depends on us.
This book by Andy Budd was published in 2006 but only lately I had the opportunity to read it. Each time I see such a book I wonder whether I should buy it when there are so many good sources online. This time the answer was pretty easy: you should buy it because it is an exceptional book.
CSS Mastery has to do with several ways which make a designer’s life easier and more profitable. The book covers both beginners and experts but my opinion is that if ine wants to take the most of it he shouldn’t be a starter.
The book is full of examples and techniques on several design issues. It can be read anytime with any order. It ends with two excellent case studies written by Simon Collison and Cameron Moll which include all said at the previous chapters.
I personally found very useful the chapters about round corners and CSS hacks, which always trouble me. During the reading you realize that you can apply all the techniques explained before because what is written is valid and precious.
Such books reduce the need of research on CSS, a research which can be proved to be time consuming and tiring. Of course I highly recommend this book.
This is the way things go. The road to fame is long and takes your energy. But once you become famous you enjoy it.
Or: a small step for man, a giant leap for mankind.
It is official. This is the first post from my new MacBook. It will propably take me hours since I don’t know even the basics but it is OK.
I wanted it for a long time now. I had three serious reasons to buy it.
My old computer was really difficult to deal with. After 6 years of use anything more than the basics was difficult to run. I did my best not to wore it out but it was impossible. Now it is not going to retire but it will surely take a rest.
I believe an Apple system is going to make me better in my profession. It doesn’t have to do with new tools but with aesthetics. I can’t describe it correctly. I just think that working with a better tool is better for you too. I know it is going to happen.
It is something which makes me feel good. I worked hard to buy it and now I am going to enjoy it. I ‘ve learned the Windows world. Now it is time to move on, see the other side of the moon and exploit it.
First impressions
If this photo (edited in iPhoto - obviously I need to learn how to use the tool) shows a portion of what you see when you open the box, it is still impossible to reproduce the smell of a new product made by Apple. It is equally difficult to describe how slick this thing is. It lifts you up.
When you turn it on it takes approximately 3’ to start working with it. What has been said about the easiness of Apple systems is absolutely truth. You just register the product and set the language. That’s all.
My router was detected by the system at the time I put the cable in. The same hapened with all external devices. Drivers? What is this? OS was updated automatically. Everything works the way it should from the very first moment. By the way the Help funtion works, which means that it really helps you.
You don’t need special knowledge or experience to surf, work or entertain yourself. You learn by playing with the new toy.
What makes the difference…
...is apparently the philosophy behind each system. MacOS looks like a charm and works like a charm.
PC (a.k.a. Windows) can also work well but everything in it is more complicated and it consumes your energy. It is not elegant, it sometimes looks like a blind giant who doesn’t know where he’s going.
OK, now it is time to turn my PC on and continue transfering files to the MacBook. The thought of it depresses my but I think I ‘ll handle it :o)
Transparent people are vulnerable. They are less stylish than the people who don’t talk much and keep things for themselves. They are no mystery.
Transparent professionals are even more vulnerable to the danger. “Why should I tell you the way I work, what I can do or what I can’t do for you? Everyone is going to eat me alive.”
Two scenarios
Well, all these are nonsense. We grow up learning how to hide things or ourselves. Why? When someone is hiding he either has done something bad e.g. being illegal or he realizes he is weak to certain aspects.
I don’t care about the first scenario. All my life I ‘ve been honest in my work. Others have cheated me, I didn’t cheat anyone. The only thing I should care is to take precautions. Apart from this, I don’t give a damn about those people. They caused troubles and they should find a way to solve their own problems.
Let’s focus on the second scenario: “I am not good in this and that. If I reveal my weak parts, I will lose.” Fair enough. But show me someone who ‘s good in every thing he does. There isn’t such a person. Here it is the difficult part. Covering up things will give you some time. It is your choice how you will use it. You may use it to become better and gain some more time. In order to become even better. And so on.
On the other hand you may use this extra time to rest and try to leave everything behind. In reality you can’t leave anything behind. It will come back. And then what? I used to follow this approach for some years. I realized it wasn’t an effective way to evolve. So, I changed.
Switch to transparency
This “learn and evolve” thing is more than it looks. It changes you. You find no peace, you become egoist, you become tough and you ruin the weekends of the people around you. You don’t realize it until you live into that mode. But when you do you become transparent.
Transparency means trust. I don’t hide from you. I don’t know everything but there are two or three things I do know well. It is my knowledge which makes me an egoist. You can count on me. You know that I ‘ll find a way to help you, because your problem is mine too and I don’t avoid problems anymore. On the contrary I rush them. I tend to be tough at certain moments because above all I am tough to myself.
I have a huge ego and thousands of weak moments. My ego exists because I am good at what I do. My weaknesses spring from the fact that I learn new things every day and I need some work to do on them. What you see is what you get. It’s your choice.
Subtitle: The greatest second act in the history of business.
The recent announcement of Steve Jobs about the new Safari browser for Windows was the most juicy issue of the 
Photoshop is an outstanding tool. You can do numerous things with it. The detail level is exceptional. For example the Bevel and Emboss tool is fascinating when applied in text. The way layers work can save you a lot of time and energy when creating e.g. a logo.
Most of all I like Illustrator because it goes beyond conventions. You can do almost anything there. Of course you can’t put everything on a real Web page, but it doesn’t matter. Some experimental work done in Illustrator may be good for the website too. 
This book by 
It is official. This is the first post from my new MacBook. It will propably take me hours since I don’t know even the basics but it is OK.
If this photo (edited in iPhoto - obviously I need to learn how to use the tool) shows a portion of what you see when you open the box, it is still impossible to reproduce the smell of a new product made by Apple. It is equally difficult to describe how slick this thing is. It lifts you up.
...is apparently the philosophy behind each system. MacOS looks like a charm and works like a charm. 
This “learn and evolve” thing is more than it looks. It changes you. You find no peace, you become egoist, you become tough and you ruin the weekends of the people around you. You don’t realize it until you live into that mode. But when you do you become transparent.