Clippings

Type-System Criteria · ongoing by Tim Bray Cri­te­ria Let’s call them the Bánffy-Bray cri­te­ria for se­lect­ing be­tween sta­tic and dy­namic type sys­tems. Sta­tic typ­ing’s at­trac­tive­ness is a di­rect func­tion (and dy­namic typ­ing’s an in­verse func­tion) of API sur­face size. Dy­namic typ­ing’s at­trac­tive­ness is a di­rect func­tion (and sta­tic typ­ing’s an in­verse func­tion) of unit test­ing work­a­bil­ity.

As a general rule: with IAPs, go big or go home. Jeremy Olson (via Yep, paid apps are dead « Tapity )

How to Change the World: Guy’s Golden Touch “How can I get people to evangelize my product?” The short answer is called “Guy’s Golden Touch.” You might think this means, “Whatever Guy touches turns to gold.” If only this were true. The actual definition is, “Whatever is gold, Guy touches.” “What are the characteristics of a great product?” Think: DICEE Deep . A great product is deep. It doesn’t run out of features and functionality after a few weeks of use....

How to Steal Killer Sales Copy Straight from Your Prospects' Mouths What’s in these 2 warehouses? Pure copywriting gold. … Also known as “customer reviews”. Warehouse #1: Amazon Reviews Most services are tied, in some way, to products. So if you offer a service, read the related product reviews, and steal from there. For example: If you offer a project management service, mine reviews for books about how to manage projects If you offer a directory of professionals – like AnyFu or Sortfolio – pull from reviews of biographies of the legends in those professions If you have a deal-of-the-day site, spend a little time on Amazon reviews for every product you host every day If you’re an unknown fashion designer on Etsy, pull from clothing reviews that highlight the things people want when they don’t care about big brands and labels If you’re a freelance graphic designer, find new ways to express your value by reading the reviews for Adobe Photoshop and for books on DIY design Warehouse #2: AppStore Reviews If you’re in the mobile app, digital product or game business, the AppStore is loaded with customer reviews that will help you write sick copy that resonates with prospects....

LinkedIn networks: webMethods AMS Solid Reason Inoveno bpost Lisbon tech scene Polo Aquático Personal (via LinkedIn Labs | InMaps – Hugo Ferreira’s professional network)

The future of sustainable app development is to give away as much value as possible and empower those who receive more value to pay more for it. David Barnard (via Blog: The Sparrow Opportunity )

Flexible Muscle-Based Locomotion for Bipedal Creatures (by John Goatstream ) We present a muscle-based control method for simulated bipeds in which both the muscle routing and control parameters are optimized. This yields a generic locomotion control method that supports a variety of bipedal creatures. All actuation forces are the result of 3D simulated muscles, and a model of neural delay is included for all feedback paths. As a result, our controllers generate torque patterns that incorporate biomechanical constraints....

Joseph Campbell’s classic “hero’s journey” brings the whole world of myth, sales, and Hollywood into renewed focus. (via Joseph Campbell was right. (Frodo, Harry, and Luke prove it.) | DanRoam.com )

Online interactive resources to learn programming: Learn | Code.org — Beginners (concepts), HTML/CSS, JavaScript, Python, Codecademy — HTML/CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, PHP, Python, Ruby Learn Code The Hard Way — Python, Ruby, C, SQL, Regex, CLI Try Ruby: learn the basics of the Ruby language in your browser

Origins of Common UI Symbols They are road signs for your daily rituals — the instantly recognized symbols and icons you press, click and ogle countless times a day when you interact with your computer. But how much do you know about their origins? Power Command Bluetooth USB Play Pause Sleep At FireWire SBBOD (spinning beach ball of death) Ethernet See also The Secret Histories of Those @#$%ing Computer Symbols | Wired....