Pop Software

Guy English:

The thing is these people don’t buy Applications, they download Apps. “Software” is dead, don’t bother putting that word on a sell sheet. Have you written “a program” recently? That’s nice, find a place in line behind all the other nerds but try not to step on the Coke-bottle glasses they tend to drop. “Oh … you’ve developed an application … is it something my doctor would know about”? People, lots and lots of people, people who have no idea what software even is, will download Apps like they’re snacking on potatoe chips. What’s my proof? Well, two million downloads of an App in a week supports that and I’d argue that a total of three billion Apps downloaded backs up my argument too. Also, I spell potatoe with an ‘e’, as God intended, so you know I’m right about this.

“Apps” is fun. It’s fun to say, it sounds unthreatening, it’s a word sufficiently abbreviated that it takes on a life of its own without dragging to the forefront of peoples minds the more sterile and technical sounding “application”. Apps are not Applications – they are their own things. They are smaller. They are more fun. Apps are treats atop your technological sundae. They are not potential time sinks. They are neither burden nor investment. They each represent a nugget of fun, of fleeting amusement. Apps are gobbled up in the millions by people who would never rush so willy nilly to buy desktop software. Apps are Pop Software writ large in blinking neon lights.

Dear Air France,

On my Jan 8th ‘10 flight from GVA to SFO with layover at CDG, I was scheduled to take off at 7:30 on the GVA-CDG segments. That 50min flight was late / delayed by almost an hour.

Once arrived at CDG, my connecting flight segment CDG-SFO was further delayed by several hours. It was scheduled to take off at 10:40, but only actually left at 14:00, over 3 hours late. I had to spend over two hours sitting in a minuscule seat while the plane remained by the gate.

While boarding, my initial boarding pass (REQ107) for the CDG-SFO segment, which had been printed at check-in in GVA airport, would not let me through the gate. Air France personnel had to print me another boarding pass (REQ283), after having me wait by the gate for over 10min.

With the new pass, my seat was changed from seat 45F, an aisle seat by the back of the plane which I had selected for its ease of access and movement, to seat 30A, an uncomfortable window seat above the wing. Even though I asked your staff if they could help me with my situation, they were unable to do so.

Additionally, during much of the flight, the entertainment system was not operational.

I consider myself a loyal Air France customer, having chosen you (or your SkyTeam partners) for over 10 long-range international flights spanning Europe, the United States, Japan and South Africa over the past two years.

You usually come across as a company that cares about its customers, and in previous occasions you were always willing to help when my travels did not go as smoothly as they should have.

In light of these events, and in the hopes that you have not lost your great corporate ethos, I would very much appreciate either a refund for my flight, or alternatively a miles credit to make up for this experience. Should you be so kind as to indulge me with the second option, might I suggest a credit of the remainder miles necessary for me to achieve Flying Blue Silver status, a goal I have been working towards since I signed up to the program last July.

Best regards,
Kenneth Ballenegger

A beautiful snowy sunrise at home in Switzerland.

Minim 2.0

Minim 1.0 was released over 3 years ago in November 2006. Since then it received just 2 updates, version 1.1 and 1.2. It suffered right from the start from my inexperience, not only at coding, but at creating a product that can sell. Since then I’ve released 2 successful products and become a much better developer.

So when it came to working on Minim 2.0, it made sense to treat it as an entirely new product. I used the experienced I’d gained over the past 3 years and re-designed and re-coded it from the ground up. I added some new features that weren’t in 1.x and took several features out that weren’t particularly useful. I made sure to justify everything that went into the app, rather than just saying “Well that would be cool” as I did with 1.x.

When it’ll ship, I could say pretty much the exact same thing about Exces 2.0.

Martin, congratulations on shipping! Minim 2.0 looks neat.

Housorama by SeoxyS

This is a house mix I made a while back. I’m kinda happy with how this one came out.

Tracklist:

Pornorama (Leggz & Femi B Club Mix) - The Mousseketeers
Slip And Slide (Original Mix) - Micha Moor
Fire Burning (Dave Aude Club Dub Mix) - Sean Kingston
Freaky Girl (Jay Style & Jeremy Hills Remix) - David Vendetta ft. David Goncalves
Don’t Call me Baby (Bootleg Mix) - Clint And Swood

Drawing 1 final project. 20” * 30”

(Sorry about the terrible picture. iPhone camera sucks.)

Intro to Graphic Design final project.

The brief was to design a poster for an design exhibition. We were each assigned a well-known designer or artist and had to create a poster that would display his or her style, without using any photography or direct reference to his or her work.

Intro to Graphic Design project 4.

The brief was to design a book cover for a book which had been assigned to us. I personally am not too happy with the result of this project either.

Intro to Graphic Design project 3.

The brief was to design a CD cover for a single. I personally don’t like the outcome of this project very much, and neither did my instructor: she only gave me C+ for this.