The blog of James Whittaker http://jameswhittaker.com Most recent posts at The blog of James Whittaker posterous.com Fri, 27 May 2011 01:46:00 -0700 TweetDeck is acquired by Twitter http://jameswhittaker.com/tweetdeck-is-acquired-by-twitter-2 http://jameswhittaker.com/tweetdeck-is-acquired-by-twitter-2

Tweetdeck_twitter
Well it's all out in the open now, we are now part of the Twitter flock. TweetDeck was acquired by Twitter this week which is fantastic new and a credit to Iain and the rest of the team here in London.

I along with the rest of the team will continue to work on our killer clients but with the backing and support of Twitter and the team in San Francisco. I'm super excited to be working for such a groundbreaking company that is defining how we communicate in real time across the world.

Twitter has some really talented designers and engineers but they have just acquired the best team I have ever work in. I'm still blown away by the products and features we have produced across desktop and mobile given such a small team and limited resources.

There is something special about working at a startup. It's the atmosphere, the drive and determination to create an awesome experience for the users of our products. Some UX people will be shocked at this but we never used or created any persona's for our products. The reason was simple we are our target users and that has always been the philosophy right from when Iain created TweetDeck - he built it to scratch his own itch. TweetDeck is for the high end userbase someone who might be managing multiple accounts for a brand or company to the user managing his streams from thousands of users and everywhere in between. But the clients were always friendly enough that if you had a single account you could use the apps to manage your social interactions easier.

News reports

The official announcements can be read from Twitter and from us at TweetDeck. Lot's of sites and newspapers ran the story and here is a small selection:

The rumour mill has been in full swing over the last few weeks surrounding TweetDeck and a possible acquisition. I'm not going to comment on those previous rumours, however the whole experience has made me very aware about how inaccurate tech news can spread across the web like wildfire. Always take everything you read on or offline with a pinch of salt.

Celebration

We had a celebratory lunch on Wednesday with the team.

History

I worked with Iain back in 2007 / 2008 when we were both in the financial sector prior to his starting TweetDeck. Iain finished his contract and I left to join Nokia Music but we both stayed intouch. I took a trip down email memory lane and found the first email from Iain regarding TweetDeck and an invite to the very first 'secret beta' version. That was the 26th June 2008.

Tdemail

The future

In the space of just under three years TweetDeck has gone from a personal tool for Iain to manage his Twitter stream to a userbase of millions across the globe. Being involved in this has been a fantastic experience both professionally and personally and looking at where Twitter is heading there is plenty more to come.

A new chapter begins...

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/396006/jmwpic-large.png http://posterous.com/users/36p2cdo24n6h James Whittaker James James Whittaker Mon, 23 May 2011 12:36:00 -0700 Get inspired with Stefan Sagemeister http://jameswhittaker.com/get-inspired-with-stefan-sagemeister http://jameswhittaker.com/get-inspired-with-stefan-sagemeister

If any of you have ever attended the fabulous Flash on The Beach (@FOTB) conference in Brighton, UK then you'll be familiar with the inspire sessions John puts on every year. These sessions are a chance to let go of the techy talks you might have seen during the day and just kick back and get inspired. 

Last year's was possibly one of the best yet with Stefan Sagmeister, so prepare to get inspired:

From the video this is the list what he has learnt in his life so far (see the talk for context). There are a few on here I really empathise with:

 

Helping other people helps me.

Having guts always works out for me.

Thinking life will be better in the future is stupid. I have to live now.

Starting a charity is surprisingly easy.

Being not truthful works against me.

Everything I do always comes back to me.

Assuming is stifling.

Drugs feel great in the beginning and become a drag later on.

Over time I get used to everything and start taking for granted.

Money does not make me happy.

Travelling alone is helpful for a new perspective on life.

Keeping a diary supports personal development.

Trying to look good limits my life.

Material luxuries are best enjoyed in small doses.

Worrying solves nothing.

Complaining is silly. Either act or forget.

Actually, doing the things I set out to do increased my overall level of satisfaction.

Everybody thinks they are right.

 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/396006/jmwpic-large.png http://posterous.com/users/36p2cdo24n6h James Whittaker James James Whittaker Thu, 19 May 2011 08:41:44 -0700 The British Empire was built on cups of tea http://jameswhittaker.com/the-british-empire-was-built-on-cups-of-tea http://jameswhittaker.com/the-british-empire-was-built-on-cups-of-tea
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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/396006/jmwpic-large.png http://posterous.com/users/36p2cdo24n6h James Whittaker James James Whittaker Wed, 11 May 2011 04:00:00 -0700 TweetDeck hackday 3 http://jameswhittaker.com/tweetdeck-hackday-3 http://jameswhittaker.com/tweetdeck-hackday-3

Last week marked the third TweetDeck hackday. It's where we all take a day away from the usual daily project work of keeping your favourite Twitter clients updated with the latest and greatest, too dig deep try an idea that has been easting away inside or just an excuse to try and develop away from your comfort zone.

A day of solid heads down coding by the dev team with a quick break for lunch and a few coffee's resulted in another array of outstanding demoable work.

My concept

Taking a few cues from @Aral's feathers app I wanted to expand the compose box inside @ChromeDeck so that you could create UniCode art and of course add in a plane character for that all important travel tweet.

Thanks to some upcoming work on scheduled tweets in ChromeDeck I was able to quickly adapt the UI and get something working. So thanks to the filming skills of Mr Dodsworth here is a quick video of my hackday project:

Previous hackdays

I wanted to build a UI in @ChromeDeck that could be used at conferences or on TV (TweetDeck is used by a number of new organisations). The focus would be on cycling through tweets in a selected column updating as new tweets came in. The key difference would be on only displaying a single update on screen.

A leader board system was also implemented, to count how many times a user had tweeted since the display system was activated. This could be used for running competitions at conferences or events.

No video this time but some stella shots from Iain:

Tdhackday2 Tdhackday3
See the full gallery on Posterous

Read the TweetDeck blog posts to see the other team members hack day projects in full glory.

 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/396006/jmwpic-large.png http://posterous.com/users/36p2cdo24n6h James Whittaker James James Whittaker Tue, 26 Oct 2010 08:53:00 -0700 Adobe Flex 'Hero' for building mobile AIR apps http://jameswhittaker.com/journal/adobe-flex-hero-for-building-mobile-air-apps http://jameswhittaker.com/journal/adobe-flex-hero-for-building-mobile-air-apps

Yes finally we can start using the Flex SDK to build mobile AIR apps. Yes Flash has been on the mobile for quite a while however the many Flex dev's out there have been waiting to use the SDK for mobile. The latest version of Flash Builder "Burrito" has now been released on Adobe Labs it's currently a preview version as not everything has been completed yet. Details on Labs about mobile Flex development. Mobile development with Hero & Burrito.

Here are a couple of intro videos covering a basic app from build to deploy on an Android device.

Beginning A Mobile Flex Application

Part 2 Navigation & Lists

Part 3 Debug & package app for device

Currently this is only available for Android due to the packager that creates an APK file however more will be added before final release. Checkout the sample apps (Android) on your device including a Tour de Mobile Flex app! So what have you got to loose get started on mobile Flex development. UPDATE: I'll be adding more links in here to tutorials on how you can get started in Mobile Flex development. First up session slides & code from hands on lab at Adobe Max 2010.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/396006/jmwpic-large.png http://posterous.com/users/36p2cdo24n6h James Whittaker James James Whittaker Tue, 19 Oct 2010 19:50:00 -0700 Web Apps - a new beginning http://jameswhittaker.com/journal/web-apps-a-new-beginning http://jameswhittaker.com/journal/web-apps-a-new-beginning

Apps is the big word again as web apps make the transition from being just webpages in your browser to being more integrated with your machine and workflow. Google earlier this year announced the Chrome Web Store at Google I/0, even demonstrating a very early TweetDeck concept prototype too. The idea is simple, your browser now has the ability to install web applications that you start from your home screen. These apps have local storage, more integrated API's like notifications and drag and drop. These apps can contain code locally on your machine whilst communicating with external web services. Now you can see how Google's Chrome OS is making a whole lot more sense. From a development standpoint this is very exciting. It means that web developers like you and me can use both HTML5 & Flash when building for the Chrome Web Store. Karl Freeman has a great intro for Flash developers on how to package up your app for the Chrome Web Store. HTML 5 apps are just as simple to build and deploy take a look at the Google documentation. Well today Mozilla has thrown their hat in the ring with Open Web Apps. A very similar concept to the Google offering but they say will sork across different browsers. Mozilla do have a habit of announcing projects on their labs site yet they fail to execute on them properly, Prism anyone? Also my initial concern is that by supporting older browsers too these apps are going to be lacking the very cutting edge HTML 5 & CSS 3 capabilities of the Chrome browser. I guess time will tell. Full technical documentation is here and this is the overview video: This app trend is only going to get bigger and the way we interact with the web is changing forever. Now just to get that big idea! What do you think? Will you be developing for the Chrome Web Store, HTML 5 or Flash?

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/396006/jmwpic-large.png http://posterous.com/users/36p2cdo24n6h James Whittaker James James Whittaker Thu, 07 Oct 2010 18:07:00 -0700 Adobe Agency Debate - "Death of the Web" http://jameswhittaker.com/journal/adobe-agency-debate-death-of-the-web http://jameswhittaker.com/journal/adobe-agency-debate-death-of-the-web

At Flash on the Beach this year I took part in a debate hosted by Adobe on the subject of "The Web is Dead". Originally posted by Wired magazine, the article discusses how the web is no longer fulfilling our daily needs as apps take over. As is usual with some of the Wired editorial it's purposely designed to spark debate and readership but when you look under the surface it's quite an important issue to discuss. So sit back and enjoy the highlights of the debate. The panel was adjudicated by Adobe Evangelist Mike Jones with myself plus: Richard Leggett - Valis Interactive Dave Bedwood - Lean mean fighting machine Flo Heiss - Dare Digital London Bill Scott - EasleTV

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/396006/jmwpic-large.png http://posterous.com/users/36p2cdo24n6h James Whittaker James James Whittaker Sat, 02 Oct 2010 15:48:00 -0700 Portenzo iPad case review http://jameswhittaker.com/journal/portenzo-ipad-case-review http://jameswhittaker.com/journal/portenzo-ipad-case-review

There is a huge range of iPad cases available. How do you sort the wheat from the chaff? Well all the chatter has been about cases that look like Moleskin notebooks. I love Moleskin notebooks and quickly purchased a DODOCase which was all over Twitter and included 'celebrity' reviewers like Kevin Rose and Tim Ferris. Well simply put I fell for the hype.

The case took over 3 weeks to arrive here in the UK, ontop of the $25 delivery cost I was then hit with a £13! ($20 USD) import duty. The case had lots of issues from the corners not sticking and falling out even before my iPad was placed inside. The attention to detail & craftsmanship was just not there. Very disappointing. So I longed for the look of a Moleskin case and luckily the guys from Portenzo reached out to me on Twitter about their iPad case. A couple of conversations later with Darin from Portenzo was enough for me to give their iPad Notebook case a try. Wow I'm so glad I did. Delivery was super quick and immediately the quality and craftsmanship showed through, even the packaging was superb. Check out my review here: I'm now a week into using my iPad in the Portenzo case and it's just wonderful. The sounds ports that are machined into the bamboo case appear to make the sound better from the iPad. Although the big winner for me is the design of the rubber mounts in the corner of the bamboo - they work extremely well unlike the Dodo which comes unstuck very easily. They also offer a host of options for your case from different coloured insides to the totally cool Ostrich case. Find them on Twitter @Portenzo

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/396006/jmwpic-large.png http://posterous.com/users/36p2cdo24n6h James Whittaker James James Whittaker Thu, 18 Mar 2010 10:09:40 -0700 Interactive motion magazine concept for iaPad http://jameswhittaker.com/interactive-motion-magazine-concept-for-iapad http://jameswhittaker.com/interactive-motion-magazine-concept-for-iapad A look at how publishers are beginning to explore mashups of still life and motion to really captivate the user, taking them on a journey through the articles. 

Here is the behind the scenes video explaining how they are adapting their workflow for new digital devices like the iPad and iPhone.

"Motion allows us to enhance the experience" - I totally agree.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/396006/jmwpic-large.png http://posterous.com/users/36p2cdo24n6h James Whittaker James James Whittaker Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:46:40 -0800 Penguin Books iPad vision http://jameswhittaker.com/penguin-books-ipad-vision http://jameswhittaker.com/penguin-books-ipad-vision This is what people are going to love. Taking new technology and interactions like the iPad and combining that with existing knowledge of learning & books.

They have not just taken a book and turned it into a static ebook, they have totally thought about what people want and it's looks great, video after the jump.

But there is a problem. The ePub format will not allow them to deliver this flashy content they so desire to. So in the mean time they are going to be delivering these interactive 'books' via apps. interestingly in the following video it's mentioned that these apps will be HTML? Not sure if this is correct or not but only time will tell.

Penguin CEO:

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/396006/jmwpic-large.png http://posterous.com/users/36p2cdo24n6h James Whittaker James James Whittaker Tue, 23 Feb 2010 07:55:02 -0800 Grooveshark on Palm WebOS http://jameswhittaker.com/grooveshark-on-palm-webos http://jameswhittaker.com/grooveshark-on-palm-webos You don't see many Palm WebOS apps around.

This one looks quite interesting and shows the use of Palm's WebOS in a custom built app.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/396006/jmwpic-large.png http://posterous.com/users/36p2cdo24n6h James Whittaker James James Whittaker Mon, 22 Feb 2010 05:42:00 -0800 iPad mockup for 1Password http://jameswhittaker.com/ipad-mockup-for-1password http://jameswhittaker.com/ipad-mockup-for-1password

More UI mockups and concepts are emerging around the web. I'm quite surprised at this because many developers are probably keeping their designs close to their chests until they launch.

1Password have released a couple of initial concepts in both vertical and landscape modes for the iPad version of their software. Looks nice, I think the split vertical look is going to be rather popular with iPad apps. 

Ipadvert-1pass Ipadhoriz-1pass
See the full gallery on Posterous

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/396006/jmwpic-large.png http://posterous.com/users/36p2cdo24n6h James Whittaker James James Whittaker Wed, 17 Feb 2010 03:40:03 -0800 Video of UI using Adobe AIR 2.0 http://jameswhittaker.com/video-of-ui-using-adobe-air-20 http://jameswhittaker.com/video-of-ui-using-adobe-air-20 Nice UI built using Adobe AIR 2.0 from SQLI Agency for a French rail company.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/396006/jmwpic-large.png http://posterous.com/users/36p2cdo24n6h James Whittaker James James Whittaker Tue, 16 Feb 2010 06:44:08 -0800 Balsamiq Mockups now has iPad components http://jameswhittaker.com/balsamiq-mockups-now-has-ipad-components http://jameswhittaker.com/balsamiq-mockups-now-has-ipad-components Balsamiq mockups is a really good UI & Interface wireframe design tool. You can very quickly create wireframes for web, desktop, iPhone and now iPad applications.

Media_httpwwwbalsamiq_rjbck

Balsamiq is an Adobe AIR application that you can get from here, it's not free (demo available) but well worth the cash if your serious about UI mockups. 

So head on over to http://mockupstogo.net/ipad-controls and get yourself the iPad controls which as you will note is heavily inspried by the guys from TeeHanlax.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/396006/jmwpic-large.png http://posterous.com/users/36p2cdo24n6h James Whittaker James James Whittaker Tue, 16 Feb 2010 05:13:01 -0800 iPad UI templates & tutorials http://jameswhittaker.com/ipad-ui-templates-and-tutorials http://jameswhittaker.com/ipad-ui-templates-and-tutorials UI templates and tutorials are starting to emerge for the iPad. If your starting to design apps for this device then here are a few links to help you get started:

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Get the iPad Photoshop GUI here http://www.teehanlax.com/blog/2010/02/01/ipad-gui-psd/ - it's a good start but does not contain everything. The best thing is the Photoshop layer styles that you can create your own missing pieces for your app visuals.

If your a Omnigraffle user then you could try this set http://informationarchitects.jp/ipad-stencil-for-omnigraffle/ , I'm not an Omnigraffle user so can't comment on how good they are.

Looking to create your own iPad in Photoshop then this tutorial is for you! http://www.blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/tutorials/how-to-create-a-detailed-apple-ipad-icon-in-photoshop

You can also grab a fullsize complete Photoshop PSD of the iPad and also an icon template at the correct 72px x 72px size from here: http://www.larkef.com/goodies

A full writeup of some iPad related graphical stuff can be read here http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2010/02/a-collection-of-free-ipad-icons-tutorials-and-psds/

To finish off is this great blog post on the iPad UI. The writer offers some opinions on what works and what he feels does'nt 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/396006/jmwpic-large.png http://posterous.com/users/36p2cdo24n6h James Whittaker James James Whittaker Tue, 16 Feb 2010 03:22:57 -0800 Don Norman on happy design TED Talk http://jameswhittaker.com/don-norman-on-happy-design-ted-talk http://jameswhittaker.com/don-norman-on-happy-design-ted-talk Some TED talks are great some are total tosh. Anyhow Design guru Don Norman talks to us on 3 ways good design makes you happy.

If you have not read Don's book the Design of everyday things then you must go and get a copy now. It's not a new book (was originally titled the psychology of everyday things) but is still very relevant to design, process and thinking about users. It's not specifically software related but a good read none the less.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/396006/jmwpic-large.png http://posterous.com/users/36p2cdo24n6h James Whittaker James James Whittaker Tue, 16 Feb 2010 03:05:19 -0800 iPad hands on videos http://jameswhittaker.com/ipad-hands-on-videos http://jameswhittaker.com/ipad-hands-on-videos If like me your thinking about designing an app for the iPad then you will need to get as much info as you can on this device, ah wait a second no one has one!

So I've been trawling YouTube to find some of the better videos to help with your iPad UI quest, so here goes:

Apple's own announcement video

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/396006/jmwpic-large.png http://posterous.com/users/36p2cdo24n6h James Whittaker James James Whittaker Tue, 16 Feb 2010 02:54:06 -0800 iPad UI Conventions a set on Flickr http://jameswhittaker.com/ipad-ui-conventions-a-set-on-flickr-0 http://jameswhittaker.com/ipad-ui-conventions-a-set-on-flickr-0 After pondering over many a picture and video to get a feel for the iPad UI, this flickr set is very helpful.

Also spotted you can get iPad shaped notepads, ideal for sketching out that next amazing app UI (they also do iPhone too).

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/396006/jmwpic-large.png http://posterous.com/users/36p2cdo24n6h James Whittaker James James Whittaker Tue, 16 Feb 2010 02:43:22 -0800 Gesture based computing http://jameswhittaker.com/gesture-based-computing http://jameswhittaker.com/gesture-based-computing The film Minority Report from 2002 was a futuristic marvel. But what was different in this movie was the technology was all viable and the movie studio employed futurologists to who are experts in there related fields.

The gesture interface as used by Tom Cruise stood head and shoulders above anything else as the next generation of interacting with computing devices. 

One company called Oblong Industries that was started out of MIT is doing just that with it's g-salt interface work.

Here is some early work from 2009 on the g-salt interface:

Moving on to 2010 the latest video shows some fantastic improvements:

Looking at the MIT page for g-salt there are some great interaction diagrams showing available gestures.

Considering almost ALL Apple products have a camera when are we going to see some gesturing support inside OSX? COme on Mr Ive you know it's the way forward!

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/396006/jmwpic-large.png http://posterous.com/users/36p2cdo24n6h James Whittaker James James Whittaker Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:09:22 -0800 My thoughts on the Apple iPad http://jameswhittaker.com/my-thoughts-on-the-apple-ipad-2 http://jameswhittaker.com/my-thoughts-on-the-apple-ipad-2
Like everyone else I was very excited to see how Apple was going to revolutionize the tablet device. Rumors came and went with people trying to second guess the features, specs and price. 

So after the hype the iPad appears to be on only half of what I was expecting from Apple.

  • Where is the camera? iChat or Skype (even Skype HD) would be great on this device.
  • What no USB? How can it be great for Photos when I can't get them onto the device? 
  • Multitasking? Oh come on now I really miss this from my Nokia N95!
As no one has really had hands on experience with the device I can only speculate as to the UI & UX on the iPad. There will be the usual Apple OS slickness and tiny little touches but what about that bevel around the outside? I know you have to hold it but why is it that big?

Also the home screen just looks wrong. I know there is the HCI reason that they have kept to only showing four icons across but they just look lost. Surely there must be a better home screen UI on it's way. It's a different device to the iPhone similarities are good, a plain copy for something that is double the size I don't think is right.

If your travelling light the iPad would be such a fantastic tool. Unlocked so you can get a PAYG Sim from any country you happen to be travelling  in and get online. They really missed a trick here. I could have read iBooks on the flight, saved movies and had a web browser when I needed it (Flash plugin aside for a moment).

Below is the video I'm sure you have all seen about the design of the iPad.

It has become clear that Apple is being driven more by sales in an App Store and less by a compelling user experience which is a great shame.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/396006/jmwpic-large.png http://posterous.com/users/36p2cdo24n6h James Whittaker James James Whittaker