Michael Lopp's Blog, page 40

Godzilla Revealed

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Her Soundtrack Released?

Back in January, Kottke reported that the soundtrack for Her would be released in some form at some point. We’re not talking the music inspired by Her, we’re talking the full Arcade Fire soundtrack full of strange, wonderful ambient tracks.

I’ve been checking every month or so and was delighted to find what appears to be this soundtrack on Grooveshark last night. It appears legit, but after a cursory search of the internet, it appears to be the only copy of the soundtrack available.

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Crayola Color Chart, 1903-2010

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Elon on the Future of Humanity

Via Aeon:

‘If you look at our current technology level, something strange has to happen to civilisations, and I mean strange in a bad way,’ he said. ‘And it could be that there are a whole lot of dead, one-planet civilisations.’

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Put the Laptop Away

Clay Shirky on Medium:

People often start multi-tasking because they believe it will help them get more done. Those gains never materialize; instead, efficiency is degraded. However, it provides emotional gratification as a side-effect. (Multi-tasking moves the pleasure of procrastination inside the period of work.) This side-effect is enough to keep people committed to multi-tasking despite worsening the very thing they set out to improve.

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What Coke Contains

Kevin Ashton on Medium:

Like every other tool, a can of Coke is a product of our world entire and contains inventions that trace all the way back to the origins of our species.

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The Song of the Introvert

You are a threat.

It’s a strong word. I don’t mean that you intend pain, injury, or damage. But I’m an introvert and you – as a new unknown human – are a threat to me. I don’t know what you want and you most definitely want something and until I figure that out, you’re a threat. See…

I have control issues.

I am mostly calm when I am alone in my Cave. My stuff is where I expect it to be, the furniture is how I like it and the walls are blood red – they surround me completely. There are rarely surprises in my Cave and that is how I like it, thank you very much. My Cave is where I avoid the chaos and…

You are chaos.

You are disorder and confusion. I haven’t figured out an eye contact protocol with you yet, and I don’t know what you want so I don’t understand what motivates you so you are unpredictable. You are an unknown, which means you are full of surprises and surprises aren’t the spice of life, they are new data that don’t yet fit in my system and…

I am addled with systems.

My love of calm predictability has come at a cost. I write everything down in a black notebook – no lines. There are boxes next to items that must be tracked, there are stars for ideas that must be remembered. A yellow highlighter and a .5mm Zebra Sarasa gel pen accompany me everywhere because the presence of this notebook is part of my well-defined system of never missing anything. See, paradoxically, while I would likely prefer to be hiding in my Cave, I also love signal and…

You are high signal.

I am fascinated by how you punctuate your sentences with your hands. You pause for as long as it takes to makes sure you are going to say something of value. Sometimes these pauses are maddeningly long. You are fiercely optimistic and state outlandish impossible things. You are fearless in giving feedback to strangers. You are less fearless, but you can deliver the same feedback with a momentary glance. It’s fascinating how all of you have built all of your systems to get through your day. I am fascinated because…

I am insatiably (quietly) curious.

My curiosity is a defense mechanism. I am desperately trying to get back to my Cave where the surprises are scheduled. I have learned the faster I can learn about you, the faster I will figure out what you want, and that will tell me what motivates you, and when I know what motivates you, I will better understand how to communicate with you. I am not trying to manipulate you, I am not trying to pander to you, I am trying to understand you because…

I am an introvert.

Not a Hobby

Apple TV the beloved stepchild of the Apple product line-up has continuously been dubbed a hobby since it’s introduction. The label gives Apple optionality. The label allows Apple to say, “Well, we’re serious about this, but we’re not sure about it.’”

While I use my Apple TV every single day, my opinion is the reason Apple calls it a hobby is because it’s a derived product. It’s a bit of iTunes, a little bit of iOS, there’s some hardware there, too, but it’s hardware you shove into a corner and never see. With all respect to the Apple TV team, there was nothing “Apple hard” in Apple TV’s design – that important innovative work has been done elsewhere.

The Apple Watch is not a hobby.

The Big Bang

Apple’s traditional move when entering a new market is to find a sweet spot, innovate the hell out of that sweet spot, and then leverage success there into expanding the product line. Both the iPod and the iPhone started as a single form factor product and with time designed different form factors for different market segments and price points.

In what for me was the biggest surprise of the launch event, Apple released three different product variants targeting different consumers. Why? Apple’s prior design cycle with the iPod and the iPhone allowed them to first release a single product, gauge reaction, and then quickly iterate on the next iteration. Over time, once they’d established a strategic beachhead, they’d diversify. Why the big bang of three products at once? My initial theories:

Apple is getting really good at knowing what is going work. All the prior work on iPod, iPhone, and iPad has given Apple well earned instinct about what is going to work in a new product category. They understand what is and isn’t going to work and are finally using this experience to make not just one big bet, but multiple ones. When you combine this experience with Apple’s limitless cash reserves and their awe inspiring supply chain networks, why not release a flushed out product line?

Apple is tired of being copied. One of the benefits of releasing Watch, Sport, and Edition as well as the dizzying array of bands at the same time is that Apple isn’t playing a single design card – they’re playing all of them. They’ve established design mindshare for the casual, sports, and high end watch consumer all at the same time. The Apple Watch will certainly be copied, but in a single event Apple has a define a major larger design space that it wants to own – now.

Watch refresh cycles are going to be longer. Another thought is that Apple has done the research and knows that the refresh cycle for a watch is going to be much longer than other devices. The number of buying opportunities they have is lower which means they have to appeal to a much larger audience right out of the gate. As an emerging watch enthusiast, my observations is that watch owners have a completely different relationship with their watches than their phones. I suspect this is why Apple keeps using the words “intimate” and “personal” around their watch messaging – a phone is a tool, a watch is part of who you are. I am aware of no one who has a gorgeous cherrywood box with a glass top on their dresser that displays their various smartphones.

It’s just one product with different attributes and accessories. The major differences between the three categories (which each come in two sizes) appears to be the case and the displays. The internals of the watch, I’m assuming, are exactly the same. This makes it less three products and more a single product with three significant variants and a crap ton of available bands. Even though I’m proposing this theory, I’m not buying it. I’m not a hardware engineer and I’ve never done a smidge of industrial design, but I’m certain that the seemingly minute differences between the categories represent significant engineering challenges and the fact the chipset (which, remember, needs to come in two sizes) is mostly the same and runs a single (brand new) operating system makes these categories more different than alike.

One More Thing

The Apple Watch deserves the introduction of “One More Thing…” because it is the first post-Steve Jobs new product category for Apple. There are many familiar aspects to this launch whether it’s the amazing attention to detail on the hardware, the small delightful moments afforded by the software, and being left with that annoying anticipation, “Dammit… I just want to touch it… just for a second.”

It isn’t a hobby. It’s a new product line – all at once. It’s a large step towards technology becoming fashion, but it’s also classic Apple. My wife said it best last night when we watched the stream, “I feel like I’m watching the future arrive.”

The Fringe Benefits of Quitting

Question: what are three large tasks on your to do list that have been there forever that you should choose – right now – to never complete?

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The Wolf

You’ve heard of the 10x engineer, but I am here to tell you about the Wolf. They are an engineer and they consistently exhibit the following characteristics:

They appear to exist outside of the well-defined process that we’ve defined to get things done, but the appear to suffer no consequences for not following these rules.
Everyone knows they’re the Wolf, but no one ever calls them the Wolf.
They have a manager, but no one really knows who it is.
They have a lot of meetings, but none of them are scheduled. Inviting them to your meeting is a crap shoot.
They understand how “the system” works, they understand how to use “the system” to their advantage, they understand why “the system” exists, but they think “the system” is a bit of a joke.
You can ask a Wolf to become a manager, but they’ll resist it. If you happen to convince them to do it, they will do a fine job, but they won’t stay in that role long. In fact, they’ll likely quit managing when you least expect it.
Lastly, and most importantly, the Wolf generates disproportionate value for the company with their unparalleled ability to identify and rapidly work on projects essential to the future of the company.

The Wolf moves fast because he or she is able to avoid the encumbering necessities of a group of people building at scale. This avoidance of most things process related combined with exceptional engineering ability allows them to move at speed which makes them unusually productive. It’s this productivity that the rest of the team can… smell. It’s this scent of pure productivity that allows them to further skirt documentation, meetings, and annual reviews.

It’s easy to hate the Wolf when you’ve just spent the day writing integration tests, but it’s also easy to admire the fact that they appear to be dictating their own terms.

In my career, I’ve had the pleasure of the working with a handful of Wolves. They appreciate that I have identified them as such and we have interesting ongoing conversations regarding their Wolf-i-ness. Two times now, I’ve attempted to reverse engineering Wolves and then hold up the results to other engineers. See? Here is a well-defined non-manager very technical track. Both attempts have mostly failed. The reason was the same both times: the influence earned by the Wolf can never ever be granted by a manager.

The Wolf doesn’t really need me. In fact, the Wolf is reading this right now and grinning because he or she knows that I’ve done an ok job describing them – there is a chance this description may help inspire future Wolves, but what really matters… is what they’re working on right now.