Test like there is no tomorrow

Why have a series of meetings, when you can set up a test in minutes or seconds?

Why is it so scary to let go, and test your way forward?

Robots and calculators all around

Mitch is asking marketers to let their ego go;

What if everything you have been bringing to the table could be debunked with a simple multivariate testing regiment?

taxi, taxi driver - drive me a story tonight

The result - a "moving" piece

Sometimes the simplest question begets the most amazing results. And this interactive represents one of those cases.

The background (as retold to / on Source) was simple enough, but represents a novel twist on the "and why should I care" conundrum;

My goal was to give the reader the experience of being down $120 and needing to earn that money back

How do you do that? Well, step by step is a nice starting point - and having a "running" meter beneth the map is a great way to connect the real world taxi with the visuals in the story

     var line = new Polyline();
        requestAnimationFrame(function() {
          var point = getNextPoint();
          line.addPoint(point);
        });

And here-in lies the beauty of the simple done good enough:

Speaking of judgment: this code is super duper non-optimized. It could be several orders of magnitude faster by throwing in some clever tricks and caches. But the fact is it works, and it works across platforms. That’s the most important requirement you face in a newsroom!

Everything could be made better, re-factored  generalized. But often times having that luxury would take time away from the functionality at hand. Just like a piece of journalism generally reads differently from a novel, and a studio produced movie looks better than a snap of a goal in a football match. Given the right time and resources everything can be polished, but often good is good enough. And something new every day is even better.

[src, via Source]

Kindle Reads? Good Fire?

The post on Open City, and thinking a bit more about openness, insights and sharing lead to this little wish list. Namely, how I'd love for Amazon and Goodreads to play together - for my reading, sharing, exploring and remembering pleasure.

Idea 1: wish shelf

Having the option of syncing each wishlist with a shelf, so one for non fic want to read, one for general genre fic, and one for darker tales.

Ideally books bought would move to another shelf, or into the "to read" mode.

Idea 2: my good

kindle.amazon works like a charm for looking up highlights, and for quickly updating the status of purchased books. It should be opened up or merged into Goodreads. Perhaps in an IFTTT kind of way, opening up the API for other stores as well.

Idea 3: wish buy

Not really related to Goodreads directly, but I find it really hard to understand why Amazon at all times neglects my purchasing behavior and signaling intent by using wish lists. 9 of the last 10 books bought have spent time on my wish list prior to the sale.

Then it would make sense to use that list as a basis for recommendations  It works that way for the regular cart.

But Kindle books don't play nice with the cart. Which is in a way another minor gripe, as I often buy 2-3 at once; why separate check out and receipt mail, not to mention separate debits of my card?

Idea 4: good app

Reading with the Kobo app can be a lot of fun, because it binds together the social, the metrics and the reading. It is no big deal, but having charts like Runkeeper for books and pages read, quotes shared and discussed would be nice. And pushing it into Goodreads with an open API would make even more sense, since readers are a small niche to begin with, the more the merrier.

What would you like to see? #kindleGood ?

- ...and the sun was away as this got underway, a small evening shower on Monday (still doing that schedule thang, and loving it) - but still warm enough by far to sit outside on the balcony letting the thoughts flow ...

Data viz - it is taking shape

A summary of the post "A Conversation with Data Visualization Experts" - simply the subheadings, as a jumping off point (and not intended a full repost as IFTTT did - the risks of automation!)

• Which came first, the question or the data set?
• Visualization as tool vs. visualization as art
• Data visualization is an iterative process; seek feedback
• The right tools for the job
• Good questions, iteration, and feedback

Bostock confirmed that his team at the Times does this as well, using a git repository to track all of the iterations the visualization has been through…sometimes as many as 250 changes to a single piece. 

[Source]

Love the idea of using git to track iterations during testing and ideation - that way you also have a backlog to play around with next time a similar dataset or question comes up. Been using svn and saving major iterations (ie when something works...) but taking it a step further makes sense. Just need to automate and simplify the flow a bit more than "right click, type, enter, close"

Then onto the ideas or discussion points themselves;

It seems that some of the better works come from the question "how can we do this differently" - taking a trope to the next level, like the 512 paths interactive. That piece is a functional artwork (ht A. Cairo) - it is great to look at even before you dig into the options and understand the underlying data. But it is most of all a storytelling tool - because all the paths were not created equal, and that (in my mind) was the main point of the story. You could dream up all possible iterations, but only a very limited set lead to something other than the actual outcome.

The time to iterate, and getting the culture in place for it seems like one of the most challenging parts of getting data viz going. At least in a smaller organization where there isn't room for a dedicated team, you need to get people comfortable doing a crit on something they don't really understand how came together. In that sense D3 is a great tool, because it is relatively easy to "live change" a sample; 

• Could it be green to pink? Swap the colors, reload and discuss. 
• How about bar vs column? Swap X and Y and you'll have an idea at least. 

And now with tools like Vega and the playground you can do a bit of up-front mocking in minutes. Personally I still love doing ideas on a whiteboard, but it does take a bit of 'translation' to get new people up to speed - that's where a digital first makes more sense.

Push it out - pebble coming

Pebble started off with a rather humble kickstarter page - then it went truly viral and ended up with a "slight" over-signup:

$10,266,845
PLEDGED OF $100,000 GOAL

So much so in fact that they had to limit the number of backers for all the regular levels, meaning that in order to get a single watch you had to get in reasonably early. I almost missed it, thinking that there would surely be enough time before the deadline. But as I saw the numbers dropping of free slots it was a race against time. In the end I probably ended up with on of the five or so last slots on the table.

Now I'm looking forward to getting one, not sure if I will make my own tools or apps, but will surely skim the code - like they said in the video, the sub/pub style connections seem easy enough to set up and get (pun intended) running.

Already swapped from Motion GPS to Runkeeper for my bike trips, in anticipation of getting a proper "hud" feeling over the summer. Says a lot, happy enough with Motion and the data there, but playtime trumps pure utility.


On a side note there is a bike mount on its way from Deal Extreme so the phone will be getting a bit of an airing on its own prior to the pebble arrival



- ...and the sun shone for most of the day keeping it warm - but a steady wind up to 10 m/s gave a bit of wind chill...

You make what you measure

C.S Penn piece with the snappy title; What cake can teach you about metrics:

The next time someone insists that they need a simplified, single dashboard metric of all your marketing performance, remind them that they are far more comfortable with 5-6 metrics (cups, teaspoons, inches, temperature, ounces, etc.) for a simple cake.

It is almost sad that the mantra "you get what you measure" is so little understood. Focus on call times and everybody will escalate or 'try this then call back'.

Not because people are evil (...) but because we are good at adapting. And at learning how our rewards work. If we can adjust our behaviour easily we will. As long as the cost of change is less than the imagined (or subconscious) reward, there will be an effect.

So take the time to find the balanced overview, take the time to dig into the factors - and think about what you would do yourself if the goals changed.

Just look at measuring a website

Users?
Pageviews?
Bounce rate?
Time on page?
Engagement, actions?
ARPU?
Frequency?
Recency?

There is a reason for tools like Google Analytics having all this and more. One nail does not a house build. The interplay, to consequences and the trends. Not the actual number as of last night. Either the number the last five seconds, then the last 30 minutes. Or the last month.


...and if you need more specifics on all that jazz - there is no one like Avinash. Read. Do. Learn.

Magazines go web?

Several concepts and developments so far this year, in bringing a more flexible set of tools for presenting content on the web, in the browser.

Adobe is really pushing the boundaries and working hard to maitain a position as both tech and thought leader. Issue #3 of Appliness just came out, and as both a tech demo and a reference the first two were solid. (Even if the site has bugs in the archive links on the blog, and lacks links for the authors listed...)

And the work on text flow inside containers first released as a special version of webkit? Stunning. Took some time but it made it into a few builds.

Looking forward to hear if there is any further enhancement in the iOS 6 package. It is listed as "partailly" supported in the upcoming Safari 5.2. Thankfully the specs are moving ahead independently of the test cases.

Shame can't get the demo to run properly now in v19 [woops - forgot the about:flag - has to be enabled manually for now...] - here is the  announcement and link from back in november 2011:

Corlan provides a demo page that enables you to see text reflow in action (assuming you've the latest release of Chrome, naturally)

Netmag piece on Chrome support

- ...and the sun is fading in the sky as this is written - had to pump up both the screen and the backlight from 1 to 3. Still not putting on the lights. Summertime. When the living is easy...

Flashing design

Yes, another minor design tweak for the blog (shouldn't affect the RSS feed to much ;D)
Figured it was time to try out some webfont use, and to push up the font size a bit - ease of reading being a major point with me after using the iPad (and now the iPad2) for 3/4 of a year
Still using one of the predefined templates as a base - content is king here, I'll do my coding and CSS tweaking at work instead

Remember that book, the feeling, the ideas?

n Defense of the Memory Theater, Solid and interesting piece thanks to arts and lettere daily, in itself a great break from the normal rss streamlined focus or cluttered pages.

Books are more than just the content, they are an experience, reflecting both the writer and most importantly the reader and the corcumstances.
That is one of the things that Impersonally found quite good about iBooks, the bookshelf interface with the ability to trigger ideas and memories just from the covers. The latest kindle update (on the actual kindle) with collections goes a long way towards the same increased value of the books over time. And the online annotation site for kindle is also quite nifty - almost a hidden secret... And it also seems to be taking a fe w steps in terms of ease of use and design.

As I look over my own shelf, I see my life pass before my eyes. The memories grafted onto each volume become stirred and awakened by a glance at the spine, which presents itself to be touched, opened, and explored. Without the bookshelf’s landscape to turn to, that manifest remainder from a lifetime of reading, how would one think? What would one write?

So keep the improvements coming, and maybe i'll even get around to "digitizimg" my offline library, care of services like goodreads - might be fun to contrast and compare

Going for broke, atomic or bust

There is room for one more test, this time after updating the blogger editor (now it actually says that it cant handle compose mode...) - and using the Atomic tabbed browser as the means of multitasking across the way of the web.

VeryShortStory It never really seemed right killing perfect strangers, but having come from a small family, I'd run out of options.

- twitter ultra short stories, and even automated thsirts over at the website

Another fun source of content is the twaiku, using twitterto send haiku poems around the world

So far the fans here in atomic actually do seem a bit smoother than the dual view of duet, especially with a custom search box for instant wikipedia goodness

digital paper - for real?

Plastic Logic Product: "foray into the market will begin in the second half of 2009 with pilots, and trials with key partners."

Sound almost to good to be true - size of a normal document, thinner than a lot of power point decks if printed, wired and wireless access.

A very thin Wikipedia entry, but at least the foundation from Cambridge does seem sound enough in terms of tech know-how, not to mention giving a time frame rather than just a "prepare to be dazzled" type statement boost the probability a bit.

There is definitely a solid niche for a "professional iPod" - something light and portable (in your pocket vs in your hand), able to give you a broad set of content for use (music and videos vs doucments and magazines) and stay updated (mail, twitter etc)

Personally i'd love to play around with a kindle 2 or dx - mostly in order to buy books instantly, read them and then avoid taking up shelfspace afterwards. Lots of business books and paperbacks that really only need one read, bordering on disposable entertainment - and chances are if the need to re-read is there in a year or three, the device will still be around

A lot of consumer electronics don't burn out, but fade away under a layer of dust - still useable but replaced by the new toy on the shelves.

There is still a Visor stuck in the closet downstairs - "The Visor Deluxe had the option of translucent colored models, and had eight megabytes of onboard memory. " [wp]
Light blue and with an expansion slot for endless opourtunities...
Now I have a touch with 16gb of storage here, and a cell with a gig sd card downstairs. And both the app store and online access for quite a wide array of tasks.

...and the sun keeps it nice and light late, late into the evenings - summer is just about here...

Beta'est

Not a word yet? Well, it should be when you need to describe Google - always another beta and labs around the corner. The latest one I just got a heads up about when posting the last post, was Blogger in Draft: "the official blog for Blogger in draft"
- so I'll be swapping my dashboard over and hopefully having as much fun and use from that as from the labs extensions to Reader.

First up? Geotags and learning more about GeoRSS.


Impressions;
snazzy new toolbar for the compose tab - easy to add in location, hopefully it will have a default/common list along the way to avoid searching each time. Increase the textfield - is that new or draft? Nice anyways for those longer posts


Impressions 2:
reverting the code for the widgets also fixed up the impressions widget, and got the location span in place - but it "killed" my tag-cloud edits to the frequent labels. Oh well, there should be a backup nearby.

Bit by little bit

What is next and now in terms of streaming video? The Adobe Media Player looked really neat when it arrived, playing up CSI episodes full screen even over here in Norway. But now it seems to be a bit quiet on that side of the aisle.

Several companies are working on changing the underlying logic, much like bittorrent did for distirbution of files. Here are some notes and thoughts on tow of them - BitGravity and Move Networks.

Bitgravity caught my notice due to a nifty "multiview" experiment one of their people put up, and I think it was CC who tweeted it.
They got a bit of funding back in august (2.5m)- and uses a flash interface making them at home on most computers;
"challenged conventional methods for delivering content" - "automatically detects end-user bandwidth quality ... adjusts the stream’s bitrate to optimize it for the user" - sure sounds nice and comfortable.

Move on the other hand got their hands on quite a bit of funding this spring (46m), they have a solid roster og clients ( ABC, FOX, ESPN, the CW, and Discovery.) - but have been based around a dedicated player.

However, there was talk of the solution becoming a part of Silverlight (v2 most likely?) - and MS also put up some cash. But little readily available info on what has happened since march. A good sign that they are doing a solid job, or another case of times moving on?

With MS partnering with Akamai; "Smooth Streaming (SmoothHD.com) from our partner Akamai. Smooth Streaming will be available in a public beta in Q1 2009. " - and that ties into the Open Player initiative.

...and the sun, oh the sun...

Customer first

"Similar to Apple’s own ‘Remote’ app for iTunes, Sonos today released a free download that turns an iPhone into a wireless controller for the company’s Multi-Room Music System." - from post over at Last 100 (including a video clip demo)

Wonderful move, making it easier for their customers to both enjoy and show off their cool system to friends and visitors. And giving them serious insight along the way. At almost no cost.

Score another point or five for the Touch - a true multipurpose tool for the digital age.

Don't play inChrome?

At least not if you intend to do any changes to your blog on Blogger. Because adding in new gadgets to the page, is a one way process in the Google browser. The "remove" button doesn't work. Which is kind of strange, considering how they touted their huge base of test-pages, you would assume they made sure their own actual services worked without major hitches.

Makes me not want to risk posting with Chrome, which was supposed to be on the agenda after doing some layout adjustments. Reminds me of when they added in the first version of the spellchecker - and it didn't include blog or Blogger... the joys of division of labour

Who is surfing you?

Well, for a specific value of "you", namely the participants in the official Norwegian benchmarking - TNS Metrix - you can now have a better idea of some of the basic demographic variables. A new solution [direct flash link] - gives charts and data for comparing up to three sites at once (or two against the total).

So, how old or young, how male or female - and how educated is your audience?

...and the sun should really be shining outside, it feels like spring but doesn't look it...

Look at the time

Another nice new discovery - the SIMILE Timeline - looks like a really good tool for making a timeline, be it for a real-life historical event, for a planned conference or for a more "virtual" use. It is licensed under BSD license, and the code is available - so read the tutorial and get playing!

...and the sun only shines for a few hours during the workday this time of year - no need to pull the drapes ...

Content wants to be?

Live reporting mashup - during the recent demonstrations in Denmark, a local company did a nice "live" coverage - mixing input from text messages (and some mobile images) with Google Maps [from Poynter]. A nice and new way to use the pop-ups, even if it probably had to be done manually based on user input. With more mobile phones getting gps - this might make for some really interesting coverage of both current events and travel advise down the road.

Pay to see it all - "If you pay for the highest quality of service, you will get unimpeded service for digital TV delivery" a CNet piece on the next-gen network from NTT in Japan, brings up some interesting possibilities - especially if it was able to offer instant changes, say $2 extra for high(est) quality during an important football match. Or differentiation for different channels - I'd pay for full quality for certain niches (disney and discovery... geeky? And proud of it!), but the rest are just time sinks and could just as well be low fi.

Or get paid - another good piece from the C3 blog, on future models for VOD (video on demand), with both ads and general subscriptions as possible viable business models. And it makes a lot of sense - VOD is changing from a small niche offering into a way of watching video content in general - so why shouldn't the two main models for television as we know it be applicable? Advertisers want attention, and targeted groups. And we as consumers want television at a reasonable cost - be it in terms of time (ads) or money.

Pass it around - the assorted "convergent" web offering such as Joost and the new Adobe player represent a new niche for content large and small, with very different approaches to the "guy with a camera" market. Azereus (10 mill d/l) is opening up - while Joost (50k/weekly unique) opens the API but not the content flow. (And here I'm talking about convergent in a tech sense, mixing streaming and p2p, downloads and subscriptions, into something new and different)

And share with a friend or 500 - the Facebook express (350k in Norway, of 4.6 million people) is still gaining speed and attention, with "over 350 million installations across 5,268 applications on the site" [SFN] for their application development program. Not to forget that online useage is often done with TV in the background anyway

Now combine the new options for video with the options for broad business models - and things might start to look a lot different. The main question is how many more years it will take. Probably more than we expect now, but less than it seemed when we look back...

...and the sun brings out the colors of fall on the trees...

Tinted new

And now this blog has also joined the "brave new world" of layouts, page elements and advanced design gui to support the template coding. For now it remains mostly based on the blogger offering, but I'll try to get a more suitable image in the header and do some minor tweaks.

On a side note the new archive function does a running tally - so last year really was a bit slow, about half the number of posts compare to the two years previous. With eight months all but gone, it looks like 07 will top in around 60 some posts, but the number might be enough to get stuff up one bit at a time and even on a more regular basis.