“More expensive and less functional.” That was the recommendation I had for a friend’s startup. Why? The free version of the company’s product works too damn well. You’ve probably heard of Freemium. There’s also Previum and a dozen other variations I’m sure. The exact differences aren’t really worth getting into because all share the same truth: Something’s gotta break. [...]

…or “Why You Need a Graphic Designer” The book’s title caught my eye instantly.  ”Visual Literacy”  Intriguing.  I took it home, and over the next few days, I learned just how blind I was to the art of visual communication. Completely illiterate. The book begins with exercises: “By using four black squares of the same [...]

Good interfaces should be designed around an economy of clicks. Or in the case of the iPhone, an economy of taps. Put simply: apps should allow users to achieve key goals with as few finger taps as possible. Exit Strategy NYC’s extremely simple interface asks only three key pieces of information: 1) What subway line [...]

Every week the New York Times seems to run an article about Foursquare, the redhot mobile game. Most has been technology press, but one NY/Region piece stood out as especially interesting. Beyond Twitter: An App That Lets You Truly See City is written by a non-technology columnist and describes how the ‘tips’ feature of foursquare opened the writer’s [...]

Lions, Tigers, and Spyware on Phones, Oh My! Mobile spyware is the focus of the tech media’s latest frenzy. It started when a hacker discovered that the Pre sends back location data about users to Palm.  Next, a blogger ‘discovered’ that certain iPhone apps also phone home.  The frenzy came to a head when ReadWriteWeb [...]