City Room looks at how New York City Transit uses Twitter to post service updates, information on weekend maintenance, and even trivia about the nation’s largest subway system. On the agency’s account, @NYCTSubway, service advisories and updates are posted frequently during morning and afternoon rush hour, and customer questions are answered by staff. Supporting an…
After a week driving cross-country with an iPad, here are some thoughts on its usefulness: Car Charging – We had an iGo Car Charger and an Apple USB to iPad cable, but neither one was able to charge the iPad, probably because the car’s power sources (cigarette lighter and USB port) didn’t provide sufficient wattage….
Hello from Nevada, on day two of a cross-country road trip from San Francisco to New York. This is the first entry here written entirely on an iPad. So what convinced me? TSA Friendly – According to the Transportation Security Administration blog, the iPad doesn’t have to be removed from luggage at airport security checkpoints….
From The Guts of a New Machine, the 2003 New York Times article that profiled Apple just as the iPod was becoming recognized as a cultural phenomenon: ”Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like,” says Steve Jobs, Apple’s C.E.O. ”People think it’s this veneer — that the designers are…
What’s in the health Care Bill? Nancy-Ann DeParle, White House Director of Health Reform, outlined some of the main benefits Americans will start to see this year: This year, children with pre-existing conditions can no longer be denied health insurance coverage. Once the new health insurance exchanges begin in the coming years, pre-existing condition discrimination…
The story of the London Underground typeface is important to urban history because it set the standard for identity and communication in railway systems around the world. It starts with Frank Pick, publicity manager for the London Underground. Pick himself was not a designer, but he understood the importance of good design: Corporate Design, Pick…
Apple retail chief Ron Johnson, speaking to an investment group in 2006 about the company’s philosophy on store location: If you want to enrich their lives, you can’t be in a parking lot, off a highway. You gotta be where they live their life. You gotta be right where they work, where they play, where…
Anyone who does anything with information these days should know this entire quote. Many people know the famous short version: “Information wants to be free.” but the rest of the quote makes those first five words sound naive and utopian. The rest of the quote is what industries from the obvious – media and publishing…
Joshua-Michéle Ross writes that while there’s no shortage of good ideas to address the decline of the newspaper industry, those ideas can’t go anywhere until media companies address the larger problem hindering their progress: institutional resistance to change. John Puchalla of Moody’s Investors Service published a report in June that illustrates this in terms of…
This is from Matt Wiseley of EditMe, a company that offers an excellent combination of a powerful hosted wiki and affordable professional services to customize it to meet your needs. I wrote a few months ago about keeping the chaff out of your site with a regular Wiki Spring Cleaning. This is just one in…
Gerardo Méndez, quality manager at Geometrica, wrote to tell me about the company’s effort to use a wiki to document their new quality management system. Geometrica designs, manufactures, and installs domes and space frame structures for sports venues, environmental protection, houses of worship, industrial plants, and educational assembly halls. The company is based in Houston,…
Earlier this week, a 10 year-old Sussex Spaniel won Best in Show at the Westminster Kennel Club. Stump, as he’s known informally (his official name is Ch. Clussexx Three D Grinchy Glee), made history twice on Tuesday night – he became both the first Sussex Spaniel and the oldest dog to win Best in Show…
In Slashing by Necessity, Marci Alboher talks about building a slash career – one that involves multiple different roles. A slash career can be a full-time job with some part-time or freelance work on the side, or a combination of part-time, contract, or freelance work that can be as part time or full-time as you…
November 4, 2008. This is a moment to remember. I remember wondering when I would see that day that America would have its first black president. Now, this day lives in history as one of the most important in American history – not just modern American history, but the entirety of our nation’s history. “An…