Media-minded web developer with a strong meteorological bent based in Charleston, SC. More at jaredwsmith.com.
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Video: The power of the low-level jet stream
We had a break in the clouds earlier today and I was able to get a little footage of just how fast the puffy cumulus clouds (forming fairly low to the ground) were racing by. You can also see some altocumulus coming into the frame from the right (and more from the south and southwest), indicating wind shear which will be supportive of strong to possibly severe storms later tonight.
Reality distortion field remains strong with Steve Jobs after antennagate
From the same people who brought you the Tiger Woods animations comes the best explainer video about the iPhone 4/Antennagate controversy ever.
50 Powerful Time-Savers For Web Designers - Smashing Magazine
Lots of great tools in this Smashing Magazine article. My favorite, by far, is Support Details (pictured) -- this will save me a lot of time asking "what browser and OS?"
Geeked for WordPress 3.0? I am.
How to create a custom post type
Custom post type [sic] are an incredible step forward for WordPress, because it will allow developers to create post types according to their needs.
It's fascinating to watch the question change from "WordPress or Movable Type?" to "WordPress or Drupal?" 3.0 is sickeningly powerful.
QuirksBlog: The iPhone obsession
Let’s break these sales stats down by continent. Asia excluding Japan first:
- Nokia: 75%
- Apple: 8%
- HTC: 6%
- RIM: 4%
- Samsung: 3%
- Motorola: 2%
Western Europe:
- Nokia: 48%
- Apple: 20%
- RIM: 15%
- HTC: 10%
- Samsung: 5%
- SonyEricsson: 1%
Finally North America:
- RIM: 51%
- Apple: 29%
- HTC: 6%
- Palm: 5% (probably includes PalmOS devices)
- Nokia: 4%
- Samsung: 2%
- Sharp: 1%
Apple is second in every market, but the least difference with the market leader is 22% in North America.
Source: Morgan Stanley Mobile Internet Report (48Meg PDF) p. 160
North Americans are parochial in their choice of a smartphone. One more reason why the North American market has zero predictive value for the rest of the world.
Oddly, Europeans buy relatively more Asian smartphones, while Asians buy relatively more European smartphones.
The Japanese market is so very different from all the others that I left it out. Besides, a full 20% of Japanese smartphone sales fall in an unspecified “others” category. Apple is fourth with 10% of sales.
The Japanese are even more parochial than the Americans when it comes to selecting a smartphone, but that’s partly caused by the unique shape the mobile space has in that country. None of the Western manufacturers has truly created an inroad in the most advanced mobile market in the world.
Incidentally, the Japanese market does have predictive value for the rest of the world, but it’s sometimes so advanced that it’s hard to understand.
Blazing commentary on QuirksBlog. Good perspective, too -- few people I know even know that Nokia still has a market in the U.S.
Coding Horror: The Opposite of Fitts' Law
This one got me thinking about just how much bad UX we deal with on a day-to-day basis.
Design a Prettier Web Form with CSS 3 | Nettuts+
Some cool CSS3 techniques on display here, including the gradient technique, which before this article I didn't even realize existed...(!)



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