The application model of the future is the web application model. The apps will live on the web. Mobile apps on platforms like iOS and Android are a temporary step along the way toward the full mobile web.
Now, that temporary step may last for a very long time. Because the networks are still limited. But if you grant me the very big assumption that at some point we will have ubiquitous, high-speed wireless connectivity, then in time everything will end up back in the web model. Because the technology wants it to work that way.
Did you know the Save icon in the Gmail app for iOS represents an old storage medium called ‘floppy disk’?
- How much young people will know what this icon means?
- How many of them will have had a floppy disk in their hands?
- How many of them will know that not even a single MP3 file will fit on 1 disk?
- How many of them know about the utter frustration of disk number 20something failing when trying to install a program?
Whoever uses social networks to find content, usually begins the web journey there and goes back naturally. We don’t need to be reminded of what network we use on the way. We know. We came from there.
Source: informationarchitects.net
Before, when your shift was done, you were finished. When the inbox was empty, when the forms were processed, you could stop.
Now, of course, there’s always one more tweet to make, post to write, words with friends move to complete. There’s one more bit of email, one more lens you can construct, one more comment you can respond to. If you want to, you can be never finished.
And that’s the dance. Facing a sea of infinity, it’s easy to despair, sure that you will never reach dry land, never have the sense of accomplishment of saying, “I’m done.” At the same time, to be finished, done, complete—this is a bit like being dead. The silence and the feeling that maybe that’s all.
For the marketer, the freelancer and the entrepreneur, the challenge is to level set, to be comfortable with the undone, with the cycle of never-ending. We were trained to finish our homework, our peas and our chores. Today, we’re never finished, and that’s okay.
It’s a dance, not an endless grind.
A wonderful post by Seth Godin about “Dancing on the edge of finished” that—I believe—all of us can relate to. (via SwissMiss)
Source: offscreenmag
We can’t keep designing as we used to if we want people to engage with our content. We can’t keep charging for ads that our layouts train readers to ignore. We can’t focus so much on technology that we forget the web is often, and quite gloriously, a transaction between reader and writer.
Source: zeldman.com
Facebook's numbers by Dustin Curtis
Dustin Curtis took a look at the raw numbers of Facebook in the course of their floatation. Every number of it is more stunning than the other. I’m still surprised to see that Chile, Turkey and Venezuela are the countries with the highest FB usage per head.
There are also some details about the revenue made by the FB team, coming from their users and a significant part from 1 single company:
- 82.42% Revenue from advertising
- 17.58% Revenue from payments (and other)
- 15% Revenue connected to Zynga
Walking Dead Kill count - 2nd screen app in UK App Store
Lets see if this will synch also with a web vid…otherwise mentionable for the concept alone.
Psychology of Farmville
Essential points to make games addictive and keep your users busy within your product. Applicable to any interactive media.
