suratl - Tumblr blog

[suratl]

Driven by a desire for complete control and ensured longevity, I recently transfered this blog to Wordpress, and a new URL (subdirectory, yay!). It was also the impetus for a new design and an about page. The RSS feed changed, and if you've been following only on Tumblr, I invite you to subscribe.

Since I made the switch, I've continued to write and share. Here are some good posts that you may have missed: “Lucky” Naming your blog: eponymous or not? Car-free in Brussels Pomodoro in the Mac App Store: Ugo Landini’s freemium experiment (interview) The effect of Apple’s App Store policy: an inferior experience for users Lion is the future With Lion, Apple has made the concept of spaces accessible to everyone

Thanks for following, and let me know what you think of the new design and the new site.

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Stephen M. Hackett's excellent interview with Aaron Mahnke on writing, design, creativity, the Read & Trust Network, how publishing is changing and of course, getting stuff done.

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How much does it cost to manufacture a hit song? Using Rihanna's latest album, which began in a song factory "writing camp" — where "a record label hires the best music writers in the country and drops them into the nicest recording studios in town for about two weeks" — NPR estimates $78,000:

The cost of the writing camp, plus fees for the songwriter, producer, vocal producer and the mix comes to $78,000.

That's before the "roll-out," which includes marketing, flying the artist around, and getting cozy with the "radio guys." The roll-out is by far the most expensive part, at about $1 million. And all that — $1,078,000 — only sets the song up for success, which, at least for now, still can't be bought straight-out.

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[Oliver Miller](http://thefastertimes.com/news/2011/06/16/aol-hell-an-aol-content-slave-speaks-out/): >AOL is a billion dollar corporation, and the foundation of its current business model is words. No, the foundation of its business model, like many modern media organizations, is pageviews. Words are just a means to an end. Words are meant to be beautiful and wonderful, to create something special, but AOL and others like it have bastardized them and diluted their value for profit. *Real* value exchanged for the fleeting and ersatz value of money. (This is not to disagree with Miller's point-of-view — I think we agree.)

[suratl]

Apple revises in-app purchase policy for the iOS App Store

I've been an outspoken critic of Apple's strict policy on in-app purchases and subscriptions, which was to require all content available for an app to be offered through Apple's in-app purchase system, with Apple taking a 30% cut. Furthermore, prices were required to be set at equal to or less than those of the same item outside the app (like content available from a publisher's website). So I was happy to see that Apple recently revised its stance, allowing purchased or subscribed content to be read by an app without it being offered through the in-app purchase system. However, all in-app purchases must still go through Apple's system, and buttons or links to purchase content in any other way are not allowed. The relevant section of the App Store Review Guidelines now reads:

Apps can read or play approved content (specifically magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music, and video) that is subscribed to or purchased outside of the app, as long as there is no button or external link in the app to purchase the approved content. Apple will not receive any portion of the revenues for approved content that is subscribed to or purchased outside of the app

While this is an improvement, I still contend that a nonnegotiable 30% fee, regardless of the type of app and type of purchase or subscription, is draconian and anticompetitive. It excludes companies that rely on a margin of profit below 30%, like eBook sellers and music subscriptions services, from using Apple's in-app purchase system.

The fee was recently blamed by BeamItDown Software for leading them to shut down their company and discontinue their iOS-exclusive eBook app, iFlow Reader. In an interview with CNET, the company's co-founder Dennis Morin said, "the In-App Purchase model makes it impossible to comply with the requirements of the [eBook] agency model, which was created by Apple." While using the in-app purchase system is no longer mandatory, much of the complaints leveled at Apple by Morin and BeamItDown Software still stand. Besides, certain apps should not be excluded from taking advantage of in-app purchases (which forces them to build beyond the iOS ecosystem) only because they can't afford to give up almost a third of their revenue. iFlow Reader co-founder Philip Huber says the revised policy doesn't change the plight of his company:

Apple still prohibits us (or anyone else) from having an in-app bookstore without giving Apple 30%. Apple also still prohibits anyone from providing a Buy button or even a link from our app to bring up Safari in any convenient way to purchase content.

Apple has (warning: sarcasm ahead) graciously allowed applications to read content purchased elsewhere. That works fine for the big companies like Amazon and Google who started with a web presence and most people already purchase that content on the web.

For a small company like ours, we foolishly built our sales platform on Apple thinking that most people would prefer to buy either from their device or computer. Apple knows this all too well, which is why they're restricting convenient ebook purchases on your devices to be made within iBooks. This is pure and simple greed on Apple's part. Their PR department can and will spin this, but the harsh reality is that the eviction notice is still effective.

[suratl]

Good reasons

[Marco Arment](http://www.marco.org/2011/06/14/twitters-pr-fail) on Twitter's recent PR shortcomings: >In most cases, there are very good reasons why a company the size of Twitter does or says something, but for *other* very good reasons, they usually can’t say exactly why. The key aspect in this equation is, good for whom? Any "reason" is highly subjective, and "good" is often only a matter of perspective. In most cases, especially with a company the size of Twitter, whatever they do or say is driven by what's good for them (as it should be). I think this is certainly true of Twitter's recent PR statements, like [Ryan Sarver's declaration](http://groups.google.com/group/twitter-development-talk/browse_thread/thread/c82cd59c7a87216a?pli=1) that developers should not attempt to imitate the "mainstream Twitter consumer client experience" or the [sudden change to apps' access to direct messages](http://daringfireball.net/2011/05/twitter_shit_sandwich). Ideally, what's good for a company will align with what's good for everyone else (users, developers, derivative businesses). And, especially with Twitter, that's where "good reasons" can start to fall apart.

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Wisdom is around us already

Today I was sitting in the driver’s seat of a parked car at page 22 of Patrick Rhone’s Keeping It Straight, marveling at how profound only the first few essays had already been. Each ended with a wonderful observation or piece of advice, wise and relatable to my life.

“Can I interrupt for a moment?” asked my mom from the passenger seat. She began to talk about a conversation we’d had earlier. Wisdom poured out.

And I realized something: the kind of wisdom that impressed me in Keeping It Straight is all around us. It may not always be as cogent and polished. It may not be as well-said. But if you’re looking for wisdom in a book or online, you’re looking in the wrong place. Wisdom’s value resides in its personal relevance, and what source is more personal than our own lives?

Wisdom is all around us, in experiences and relationships. Wisdom can be found in conversations and in moments of reflection. Wisdom surrounds us, if we only take the time to recognize it.

[suratl]

Brent Simmons on good writers, good developers, and where the computer meets human nature

I’ve always thought of it this way: a good writer reads a lot of books. They see how other writers solve problems. They pay attention to what’s happening now as much as they pay attention to the classics. Good writers are readers first, but eagle-eyed, careful readers.

I think good developers are the same: they look at other apps. They “read” those apps, the problems they have and how they solve them. They notice trends, they notice new solutions, they notice when things work and when they don’t.

Not every developer does that. Some do, but pretty much limit themselves to Apple apps, which means they’re missing some interesting things. And some developers try but haven’t yet developed the close eye it takes. (It just takes practice.)

There may still be some developers who say there’s no place for style and fashion in UI, that usability is usability and that’s that. They’re mistaken, because part of human nature is to get tired of things and want fresh things, and UI is where the computer meets human nature. Human nature is not going to change on this matter. And I’m glad about that."

-Brent Simmons, in an interview with John Gruber, Daring Fireball, June 3, 2011

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♥ Notational Velocity

Chris Martucci on what makes Notational Velocity great:

Notational Velocity encapsulates a new era in text-editing. In just a matter of hours, I moved most of my documents to the application, getting rid of bulky folders. Even the word “folder” seems archaic now — similar to the way I feel about the word “windows.” These “folders” and “windows,” they involve a sort of dis-integration — a lack of cohesion between multiple components. Today’s users want an integrated whole, not a hodgepodge of disconnected parts. Notational Velocity unifies the text-editing experience — makes it whole and coherent. Everything you need is right there.

I feel the same way. Notational Velocity brings all my text together, whether thoughts, lists, goals, ideas, quotes, notes or blog posts, and makes it all instantly available and searchable, with the input of new text being immediate and effortless. It's a space for disparate thoughts and ideas as much as structured writing and quotes. It's how I capture and organize my mind.

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"The internet, is becoming this thing, where it's just people, trying to become successful on the internet by showing other people how to become successful on the internet. It's this unbelievably fractal Ponzi scheme. It's very Escher. It's a terrible, terrible ghetto of information out there. It's like a snake masturbating its own tail. It's miserable."

Merlin Mann, in his video announcement of the Inbox Zero book, August 18, 2009.

The amount of content online continues to grow, and it shows no signs of stopping. So when you contribute, it's important to contribute — to provide something of value — not merely to add and recycle carelessly.

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Kevin Lipe, on finding a text editor as simple and uncluttered as Word 5.1:

The truth is, there’s a solution now that’s most of the way there: Markdown and a good text editor. That’s the new Word 5.1. Think about it: a program like TextMate has almost no window chrome, and opens almost instantly. You start typing, and that’s all you have to do.

I do almost all my personal writing in Notational Velocity, formatted in Markdown. It's a nearly perfect combination.

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Hardware, software and the user

Sayz Lim on upgrading computers:

The computing process consists of the interaction and combination of software, hardware, and human. Achieving the best result requires these three things to perform at their best. However, most people only pay attention to two of them which are software and hardware.

Give the best desktop computer to an ignorant user. Without enough knowledge, he’ll install all the crap he finds, run 10 apps at once, mess up the system startup items, scream for help, and complain about the slow performance of his powerful desktop computer. Not even the best software can help him, unless software controls the computer in his place.

Give an average desktop computer to a smart user. He’ll know which software works, configure optimal settings, use the computer resources efficiently, and execute tasks within the ability of the hardware itself. He knows what he can do with this device, thus not complaining when the device doesn’t do what he wants.

Sayz Lim makes an excellent point: software and hardware are only useful to the extent that the user understands and utilizes them. Ideally, as I see it, software should minimize the friction between the three.

Great software puts a device's capability to good use without the user needing to do much. From a user perspective, it should be simple and effortless, and the interaction with the hardware and other software should be invisible and automatic. The user understand the software, and the software understands everything else.

It's the developer's job to make it so that the user doesn't need any specialized knowledge for the software to do exactly what it's supposed to do — the simpler the software, the more the user can accomplish without needing extensive knowledge of the inner workings of the software and hardware.

That's one reason Apple products, especially the MacBook Air, work so well: for the average user, maxed out specs don't mean much. But a computer that starts up fast and just works does.

Perhaps more effort should be put towards educating the user, instead of pushing the hardware further. Sayz continues:

To bring out the best of the computing experience, the users themselves need to upgrade their knowledge. It’s not enough to upgrade the system alone. To upgrade the system, you need money. Gaining knowledge doesn’t require as much money as upgrading the system.

It doesn’t apply solely to computing. Cars, tools, gadgets, and everything you use can be more effective if you try to learn more about it. Perhaps what you need is a little effort to study and learn about your system.

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Chris Martucci adds some great advice to my post on working in coffee shops:

And so, to avoid throwing out the baby with the bathwater, I would like to highlight the importance of allowing a routine to become predictable before switching it up. [...] I would merely like to discourage people from thinking that they may arbitrarily visit their local coffee shop and expect to experience a noticeable gain in productivity. This may be true for some, but not for others.

Ultimately, the goal is to find a routine that works well for you, make a habit of it, and once it gets a little too boring, go ahead and switch it up.

[suratl]

Apparent Software's got a pretty impressive productivity bundle for $30. It comes with [TextExpander](http://www.smilesoftware.com/TextExpander/), [Path Finder](http://www.cocoatech.com/), [Socialite](http://www.apparentsoft.com/socialite), [HoudahSpot](http://www.houdah.com/houdahSpot/), [Today](http://www.secondgearsoftware.com/today/), [Blast](http://www.apparentsoft.com/blast), [Keyboard Maestro](http://www.keyboardmaestro.com/main/), and [Mail Act-On](http://www.indev.ca/MailActOn.html). I've been wanting to buy a text expander app for a while, and since TextExpander alone costs $35, this bundle was a no-brainer. I've heard great things about TextExpander (and it seems to be the standard app of that kind), and Path Finder and HoudahSpot seem interesting as well. Full disclosure: If you buy the bundle from this link, I may get it for free. But, I'm posting this because it really does seem like a good deal, and if anyone else has been waiting to buy any of these apps, now may be the time.

[suratl]

Working at the coffee shop: the right environment and the right distractions

Conor Friedersdorf has an interesting piece on [why people are increasingly heading to coffee shops](http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/04/working-best-at-coffee-shops/237372/) to get work done. He discusses four theories: that it's "just enough distraction," which forces one to semi-consciously tune out those distractions and focus; that "the weight of hours is lifted," and having only a couple hours in the coffee shop can actually be beneficial; that it seems less like work than an office environment, and more fun; and from an academic paper, that being alone in the presence of others encourages one to have a purpose, and look busy. When I head to a coffee shop to get something done — work-related or not — the main benefit seems to be that I'm there with [intention](http://blog.suratlozowick.com/post/4832983589/how-to-succeed-dont-start-without-intention). I'm there to work on something specific, and so that's what I'll do. The same is true of an office, but I think, as theorized in the article, that the environment has a significant impact. An office seems sterile and forced, while a coffee shop is fun, relaxed, and spontaneous. And most importantly, I'm *choosing* to be there for the purpose of work, whereas working in an office is simply what one does in an office. Perhaps the presence of others also has a positive effect on adhering to my purpose, because it does feel good to be in a coffee shop accomplishing something, even if I'm the only one who knows. There's also the element of change. Patrick Rhone [mentions](http://minimalmac.com/enough#ep20) on [The Minimal Mac Podcast](http://minimalmac.com/enough) how simply changing his work location can significantly revitalize his attitude and productivity. Compared to an office, a coffee shop can be a welcome change. And unlike an office, the coffee shop experience is [not always the same](http://hughgarry.typepad.com/hugh_garry/2011/04/cafes-creativity-and-serendipity.html). The overall environment may be consistent, but there are many different seats to choose from and different customers every day. A coffee shop is continuously changing, while an office remains largely static. As for distraction, the distractions in a coffee shop are generally pleasant distractions, and I think when they're not obnoxious, some distractions can be better than none at all. In an office (or at home), when we're having trouble focusing, we create our own distractions — surfing the internet, eating, chatting, etc. That seems more disruptive than pleasant distractions provided by the environment, which we can easily tune out. It's not *just enough* distraction as much as it's the *right kind* of distraction. Time definitely plays a role as well. A couple hours in a coffee shop seems like plenty of time to get lots done, whereas a day in the office can seem longer than desirable. Less time encourages better use of it. Creativity does not exist in a vacuum; experiences, conversations, reading, writing, the constraints of time and the distractions of life are just as important as quiet moments of focus. And conveniently, the coffee shop is there to provide them.

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Experience, just another tool

The problem that most people have is that they see their experience as a valuable tool, which it is, but they use it as a hammer and everything is a nail. Everyone is guilty of this at some point. Recognizing experience as only a tool is important in avoiding unnecessary bias. Experience also needs to retain its context in order to be truly useful... The current application may not be similar to your previous experience, so your bias is actually getting in the way of solving the problem.

-Rob Diana, "Acknowledge Your Bias And Succeed," Regular Geek, May 8, 2011

Experience is a valuable asset. But it can also be a trap, if not applied judiciously.

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The "evidence of work"

How tightly organized should I be? Enough to pass a white glove test? No. That’s not going to happen, and imposing that ideal on myself is actually counter-productive. So, I stay organized enough to achieve my goals. Today, I achieve what I’m after, stacks and all. I’m OK with it. I have things I love around me, like photos, drawings and Disney Vinylmations. It’s working and, more importantly, I am.

When I was young my grandmother’s house was kept like a museum. It was gorgeous and sterile. My office is a working space. Stuff gets done, and dust is raised. Detritus is strewn about. Like a potter who goes home with clay on his jeans, I get messy when I work.

But the result is beautiful.

-Dave Caolo, on not feeling guilty about an untidy workspace.

The idea behind sites like Minimal Mac is finding what's right for you. Being willing to make changes and try new techniques is important, but trying to force something can also be counterproductive. If piles, clutter and remnants work, there's no reason to revamp. Your technique doesn't have to be cool or trendy or minimal. It just has to work.