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amazon

What happens next?

by Bill on May 11, 2010

There are few things as frightening for the creator of something than, “What happens next?” This is because the next thing had better be good – at least as good as what preceded it. That’s what the audience expects. That’s why they ask, “What happens next?” A great recent example of this in action is [...]

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Seduction and the security of diversification

by Bill on April 26, 2010

We have a crazed and almost bipolar relationship with very big technology companies. We hate them as we love them; love them as we hate them. They seduce us, we know we’re being seduced, but we love the seduction even as we think, “Oh, this is going to end very badly.” Only human beings could [...]

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Satisfaction vs. success

by Bill on April 12, 2010

Given a choice between satisfaction and success, I’ll take satisfaction every time. Why? Because of the difference between the two. One is focused internally and the other externally. We often speak of satisfaction as a negative thing. When we say we’re satisfied we often mean, “It’s okay. I’m satisfied.” Something is good enough, not great. [...]

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Web sites and vertical vs. horizontal

by Bill on April 2, 2010

I came across a discussion on LinkedIn where the question was asked, “Why do we still design web sites that are vertical?” In the responses, I saw some examples of pages that were horizontal — you scrolled left to right. The question went on to muse about how our monitors are more landscape oriented and [...]

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Algorithms and the quest for happy accidents

by Bill on November 29, 2009

If I understand (not likely) the way Google delivers search results and the way Facebook delivers its feeds, using algorithms to present what it is we’re looking for or what is of most interest to us, then I have a question. Why not have an option to turn it off? Why can I not get [...]

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The morality of free: ‘Let them eat cake!’

by Bill on July 5, 2009

We’re only in it for the money – Frank Zappa Chris Anderson has a new book out July 7th and that appears to have resuscitated the question of “free” as it applies to digital stuff, like news and other content (what use to be known as literature, pop culture, art, music and so on). The [...]

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Why do Internet companies manage communication so badly?

by Bill on May 13, 2009

It seems ironic but the very companies that provide methods of communication on the Internet manage communication terribly. We see it time and again. The latest is Twitter and changes they made in how Reply works. For a good summary of it, see Dave Winer’s Lessons from the changes in Twitter. Whether the changes were [...]

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