Khoi Vinh's Blog, page 86
November 24, 2014
AT&T and SIM Cards
This fall I upgraded to a new iPad and a new iPhone, both with cell service from AT&T. We have five lines on our AT&T family account, so I am effectively locked into AT&T until I find the time and energy to switch to an alternative carrier. This means I’m more or less helpless when…
November 23, 2014
The Best Soundtrack for a Tech Video Ever
Having just gone through the exercise of finding the right music to accompany a product video for Wildcard, I’m terribly jealous of Big Spaceship’s production for this video for the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. It features the amazing Reggie Watts, and it’s like no other. +
November 21, 2014
Designing Wildcard
Thanks to everyone for the terrific reception and constructive feedback to Wildcard’s launch last week. As we start plowing ahead towards its next stage, I wanted to jot down a few thoughts about the app’s design. Team and Process Wildcard is roughly twenty-five people strong at the moment, and for the past year we’ve had…
How We React to Technology
Douglas Adams, in his book “The Salmon of Doubt,” wrote that “I’ve come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies.” The rules are: Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. Anything that’s…
November 20, 2014
Apple’s San Francisco Typeface
The mystery of the Apple Watch typeface was solved yesterday when Apple released WatchKit SDK. The typeface is called San Francisco, and, as Co. Design remarks, it was seemingly inspired by similar typefaces Helvetica and DIN. Twenty-three versions of San Francisco are available to download with WatchKit (though you can download it alone via this…
Remembering the Choose Your Own Adventure Series
R.A. Montgomery, the publisher of the Choose Your Own Adventure series of books, passed away earlier this month at age 78. That series debuted in 1976 and went on to terrific success. It also figured prominently in my youth, when its many installments were borrowed heavily from my school library and traded amongst my friends…
November 19, 2014
Material Design in Print
Google tasked San Francisco design studio Manual with interpreting its Material Design design language in print form. The results are beautiful, at least insofar as it’s novel to see digital design translated into tactile form. Which is to say, these are nicely done, but I’m not sure they would attract much notice apart from the…
November 18, 2014
Mattel Hates Women and Designers
The Internet is rightly furious at toy manufacturer Mattel for its new book “Barbie: I Can Be a Computer Engineer.” Despite its constructive-sounding title, the plot of the book actually has Barbie yielding her opportunity to actually do any kind of engineering to two boys, implying that the skillset is entirely foreign to her. It’s…
Hasbro Hates Women and Designers
The Internet is rightly furious at toy manufacturer Hasbro for its new book “Barbie: I Can Be a Computer Engineer.” Despite its constructive-sounding title, the plot of the book actually has Barbie yielding her opportunity to actually do any kind of engineering to two boys, implying that the skillset is entirely foreign to her. It’s…
Video of Steve Jobs at NeXT
This short documentary from 1985 shows Steve jobs at the start of NeXT Computer, meeting with designer Paul Rand to see the company’s new logo for the first time, brainstorming with the NeXT team on the kind of company they want to build, and, in an absurd bit of B-roll, pulling carrots on his hands…
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