jasonSeney();

OFFROADCODE: How we use feature based development to give better quotes

Fri, 18 May 2012 18:28:00 -0400

OFFROADCODE: How we use feature based development to give better quotes:

Ever since we started Offroadcode we’ve taken the stance of never giving fixed price quotes for projects. Some people think this is crazy but allow us to explain why it makes sense for clients and ourselves.

Intuitively, this seems like it would work out as a great strategy for some design/development agencies. It is a more formal approach of my own ideas about agency proposals:

Inverting structure to budget first, features second
Working closely up front with the client to define and prioritize their goals
Allow for a flexible and efficient development process

Two hurdles that could make this difficult to implement:

Need to educate the client on the advantages of this approach
Trust in the agency’s willingness to fit in extra features as time allows

However, examples of success on previous projects and from other agencies can help make this a viable strategy.

A Mathematician's Lament

Tue, 15 May 2012 17:35:46 -0400

A Mathematician's Lament:

In fact, if I had to design a mechanism for the express purpose of destroying a child’s natural curiosity and love of pattern-making, I couldn’t possibly do as good a job as is currently being done— I simply wouldn’t have the imagination to come up with the kind of senseless, soul- crushing ideas that constitute contemporary mathematics education.

— Paul Lockhart

This essay completely explains my struggles of learning (and lack of enjoyment in) mathematics. It wasn’t until a computer science graphics class in college that I was able to re-discover geometry and see the wonderful side of mathematics.

Download the full essay from Mathematical Association of America

fuckyeahjapanandkorea: 雨后的小巷 (by 眼中的日本 1st)

Thu, 10 May 2012 14:04:05 -0400

fuckyeahjapanandkorea:

雨后的小巷 (by 眼中的日本 1st)

xharekx33: The Oatmeal, as usual is right on the money. Fuck...

Thu, 10 May 2012 13:54:21 -0400

xharekx33:

The Oatmeal, as usual is right on the money. Fuck having to give access to my Facebook data to be able to read articles.

+1000! I don’t even bother to Google, if I see that nonsense I just SKIP and move on.

Understanding the Git Workflow

Wed, 09 May 2012 16:55:53 -0400

Understanding the Git Workflow:

Summary:

If you’re fighting Git’s defaults, ask why.

Treat public history as immutable, atomic, and easy to follow. Treat private history as disposable and malleable.

The intended workflow is:

Create a private branch off a public branch.

Regularly commit your work to this private branch.

Once your code is perfect, clean up its history.

Merge the cleaned-up branch back into the public branch.

Full article by Benjamin Sandofsky here.

RX-7 FD , WedSport

Sun, 06 May 2012 14:24:37 -0400

RX-7 FD , WedSport

attentionindustry: I like Gumroad. It solves an actual problem,...

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:09:31 -0400

attentionindustry:

I like Gumroad. It solves an actual problem, has a revenue model, and has multiple use cases.

The thing I find most interesting about it is that you could sell pretty much anything digital on this platform in nearly no time. This doesn’t just change the actual sales process, it changes the expectations of what you can sell.

For instance, there are a TON of bloggers and writers who, if they were selling a PDF book or presentation, functionally a longform blog post, I would shell out $5. There’s a larger group of people who could charge me $0.99 very easily, for video or images or behind the scenes content.

If Gumroad works, it could conceivably facilitate a fourth model of internet sustainability [after Ad Support, UGC, and Patronage (including Crowdfunding and Branded Support)].

Definitely keeping an eye on this, and don’t be surprised if I start trying to sell thinking in digital formats.

Temporary Home Office #2 (Taken with instagram)

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 13:11:20 -0400

Temporary Home Office #2 (Taken with instagram)

ceteris paribus: Tumblr to ePub

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:37:22 -0400

ceteris paribus: Tumblr to ePub:

paleochallenge:

I’ve been looking for ways to generate a real live book from a Tumblr log. The only thing promising I found was www.feedfabrik.com which, while pretty cool, doesn’t have the level of customization I want. It also doesn’t handle lists at all, which is a deal breaker.

So I registered for…

Know Your Customers and How They Decide | The Intercom Blog

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 14:00:06 -0400

Know Your Customers and How They Decide | The Intercom Blog:

(via Instapaper)

Photo

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 14:00:06 -0400

How Basecamp Next got to be so damn fast without using much client-side UI - (37signals)

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:00:05 -0400

How Basecamp Next got to be so damn fast without using much client-side UI - (37signals):

(via Instapaper)

‘Paper’ for iPad

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 12:49:00 -0400

‘Paper’ for iPad:

cameronmoll:

There are so many things right about this app. The lovely watercolor, miniature sketchbook icon. The marketing site. The “take this everywhere life takes you” video above. And the undo gesture: Place two fingers on the screen and draw a circle counter-clockwise to undo and clockwise to redo. (Though the number of undo/redo steps are limited.)

Download the app for free, and then purchase additional brushes for $1.99 or the entire set for $7.99. But I bet you’ll be really impressed with the calligraphy brush, which comes with the free app. Handwriting and sketching have never looked so good on iPad.

/via @gt

Yield Thought: I swapped my MacBook for an iPad+Linode

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 14:00:05 -0400

Yield Thought: I swapped my MacBook for an iPad+Linode:

yieldthought:

On September 19th, I said goodbye to my trusty MacBook Pro and started developing exclusively on an iPad + Linode 512. This is the surprising story of a month spent working in the cloud.

It all started when I bought my first MacBook a couple of years ago. Frustrated by the inconsistent…

Interesting approach, although I do wonder how much time was spent getting this all setup. Definitely wouldn’t work for a web developer, but might work for other types of programming. +1 for CLI + VIM!

Photo

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 14:00:05 -0400

Every solution is great in some circumstances and terrible in...

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 15:36:00 -0400

Every solution is great in some circumstances and terrible in others. Design debates are best settled by inviting everyone to present their solution, but also explain under what circumstances their solution is terrible. Finally they’re asked to explain under what circumstances their colleague’s solution would be better. This is what Bill Buxton refers to as walking on “both sides of the street”.

(Source: Intercom Blog)

Having the reduced syntax as optional is nice, and I can use...

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 15:00:05 -0400

Having the reduced syntax as optional is nice, and I can use only the small number of features I need without converting all my CSS files. I’ve been avoiding LESS for awhile, but might give Stylus a shot in some new projects.

Check out some examples on the Stylus Page on GitHub

xharekx33: A quick list of problems I see with with tumblr’s...

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 14:00:00 -0500

xharekx33:

A quick list of problems I see with with tumblr’s latest interface changes:

There’s too much padding between elements. They feel disconected, not part of a common set of actions

They attract too much attention. I understand that tumblr wants to encourage people to reblog and check the posts notes, but they’re too noticeable (I guess the novelty is part of the reason, but still). Too large. Too dark. That distracts from the actual content. Not good.

The look isnt consistent. If tumblr wants to start using more flat icons (as they did with the top menu) they should do it with all the actions and not mix text and images randomly. They could use an X icon for the delete action and a little pen or gears for the edit action.

In case they want to use text and images instead of plain simple icons for every action… they should still keep text consistent. If the number of notes is inside a box to make it more iconic, “edit” and “delete” should be too.

The neat row of icons (like, reblog, reply, photo reply) you get on other people’s post is, in contrast, just awesome. I would just use a slightly lighter color to make it perfect

Agree on all these points. I also wish they would change that “hidden” corner earmark permalink. I can’t imagine how long it takes new users to figure out how to hover there then click that.

I feel the order should be consistent too, if you look at the buttons a on post page, you notice how it goes reblog, edit, delete.

Red Teams: Crude Steganography with command line

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 11:44:11 -0500

Red Teams: Crude Steganography with command line:

redteams:

Jason’s post reminded me of another neat trick to have: using cat as a steganography tool to hide a RAR archive inside a simple jpg image.

The following will work on any Unix, including Mac OS X (for Windows see at the end of the post):

Step 1

Create a file with the data you want. Create a file with the data you want. You can use Jason’s trick to create an encrypted file…

"I thought maybe VCs had access to some brilliant new software that evaluated prospective investments..."

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 14:00:05 -0500

“I thought maybe VCs had access to some brilliant new software that evaluated prospective investments in startups. But no. What we’re talking about is good old fashioned experience, which is what you get to call induction when you’re making money and what you say you earned instead of cash when you were losing money.”

- — Alex Payne - On Business Madness

A great article, and hat tip to pattern matching reference in programming.