posted February 18, 2016 #
Today, we officially launched our
API over at
VHX. While this may not seem like a huge deal to the majority of readers, it really opens up the capabilities of the platform to be extensible to almost any situation where video is being served. Our
apps are already being powered by this API and we've had some early developer users diving in and creating their own integrations with ease.
We setup a great
example site that uses public domain films to show just how easy it is to get a site up and running with the pre-made API Libraries.
Node JS,
PHP and
Ruby are ready to go.
So, if you've got a client that wants to sell and serve videos but you want to develop it all in house,
come see us. If that's not your thing, just upvote us on
ProductHunt.
posted February 18, 2016 #
Jed steered me towards this Jesse Kriss article -
Anti-capitalist human scale software (and why it matters) and I can't thank him enough for it. Aside from the somewhat scary headline, it's a great read about making sure to put
people as your bottom line. The simple example of that is Twitter pushing out a feature that is destructive to the way people use the service. The more intense example is Apple refusing to
bust their encryption. People should be at the core of good decision making, not just pleasing investories and juicing the numbers (I realize these are important but if you can please users, the others will likely follow).
I particularly loved this bit entitled
Scale is a trap.
So much of the complexity of web engineering comes from questions of scale. But why do we need scale? If we are trying to build humane software, there are significant benefits to keeping things smaller and simpler. If you want to run something for hundreds of people - or even thousands - that is entirely sustainable on a single cheap shared server.
I can personally attest to finding massive success with smaller groups of users.
Whiskerino grew to a scale of just 500 users and that was
plenty. In fact, growing beyond that was a large reason to not continue it. The intimacy would have been lost.
I realize much of this is aspirational and not entirely practical but it's a good mindset to ponder and gravitate towards when decision making.
posted February 18, 2016 #
is asking for an upvote frowned upon? Probably.
posted February 17, 2016 #
.@vinylHBO whattup? ? #MyDayInLA #vnyl https://t.co/vAAWz6htBk
posted February 17, 2016 #
I love it when people include their email address in their email signature.
posted February 17, 2016 #
Standing in line outside in the cold isn't so bad because my hatred of other people warms me so.
posted February 17, 2016 #
Y?all have read this, right?
https://t.co/k5RsCS8Pj5
posted February 17, 2016 #
Something about this Austin Knight essay,
Good Design is Humble, really struck a chord with me. It runs through the importance of putting your ego aside in order to be a better design - as that will allow you to be open to feedback both from users and from your peers. It's not rocket science but it's a healthy reminder.
Personally, I feel like I struggle with Imposter's Syndrome and faking my way through the day. I'm sure many people do but often that fear reveals itself as defensiveness or guarding an idea to prove your worth. Being humble also helps to shed some light on the fallacy of "unicorns" and "rockstars" (horrible terms in and of themselves), as those people probably aren't team players or listening to what's best for the end design.
It's not a excessively long read but it's a nice palette cleanser to start your day - going in with an open mind to any new undertaking.
posted February 17, 2016 #
The
New York Public Library has their own
Labs department with a variety of experiments and tools available for
anyone to use. They recently launched over 187,000 images from the public domain onto their site and the Labs
visualized the entire thing. So, it may not be much to look at upon first glance - just a sea of tiny thumbnails - but it's an absolute goldmine of a resource. Looking for handwriting samples from the 15th century? They
got you. Beautiful Sea and plant life samples from the 1800's?
Yup, no problem. 1930's photos from the Farm Security Administration project?
Oh yea.
It's obviously a lot to comb through but it's also amazingly pleasant to browse.
HT
Rachel Briggs.
posted February 17, 2016 #
I came across the work of
Owen Davey because he's largely responsible for the map art found inside
Two Dots but his work spans a much more varied client roster on the whole. Take some time to dive through his colorful portfolio and encounter a
Ski'ing Yeti,
Seasonal Beer Headers or this
Facebook Award - all finely textured and peppered with the right amount of details.
posted February 16, 2016 #
Does the average Snickers consumer know who Willem Dafoe is
posted February 16, 2016 #
Charlie Kaufman is a prophet
posted February 16, 2016 #
Succinctly put, @benthompson. https://t.co/pB7Ybl8zA8 https://t.co/8eqKYbnRKT
posted February 16, 2016 #
"History" from Tower Defense's upcoming EP Stay Inside, coming 3/25/16 on YK Records.
posted February 16, 2016 #
I am extremely happy to announce the forthcoming release of the new EP from
Tower Defense on my own
YK Records. The release, entitled
Stay Inside, is an EP of high energy, bass-driven, postpunk rock. The members of the band have been friends for over a decade and their closeness shines through in the enjoyability of the recordings.
You can listen to the first preview track, "History", on
Soundcloud,
Bandcamp or
Youtube. It's the final track on the limited edition 10" green vinyl that will start shipping at the end of March.
In the meantime, go follow the band in all the usual spots -
Facebook,
Twitter and
Instagram.
posted February 16, 2016 #
I've been a fan of the
VSCO photo editing app for some time and always wondered how they were going to boost themselves beyond just being a suite of plugins. They have a great set of Filter Upgrades and even launched their own version of a Photo Stream with
The Grid but I imagined they had more up their sleeve.
Turns out, they do! They recently launched
VSCO Originals, exclusive editorial content to keep you coming back to the site and app. The topics range from
live music to
fine art to
science. Just dive into
one example to get a feel for it - large scale images, typography and a bit of education to boot. It's well worth keeping an eye on as they continue to grow it out. Very happy to see them continuing to try new things.
posted February 16, 2016 #
I watched the 58th Annual Grammy Awards last night (and
tweeted quite a bit of it) but I couldn't help but feel struck by a feeling of irrelevance as I watched it. My knee jerk reaction was to think 'this could not matter less' and - in the grand scheme - it clearly doesn't matter. But was it a bad awards show? It did it's best to appeal to a wide range of audiences by having performances by Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd, The Eagles, Lady Gaga doing a Bowie tribute, Beiber, Alabama Shakes, Hollywood Vampires and even Pitbull. That's a wide swath of interests!
So why did it feel so out of touch? Possibly for the exact same reasons - it appealed to such a wide swath. It's always felt ridiculous to pick "Album of the Year" when there are thousands of records getting zero nods. It's an echo chamber for a handful of artists and in a world where there's so much music available for so many tastes, it feels too insular. At least that's how it feels as someone who Internets all day.
In the end, we
do get this explosive
Kendrick Lamar performance and that makes up for the three and a half hours of slog that surrounded it. It's clear that Lamar was the only artist that really had a message or anything to actually
say at all, an attribute that every other performance was lacking.
posted February 16, 2016 #
"How do we show we're in touch?"
"a long talk about streaming killing the industry, get old guys to make a new band & close it with Pitbull"
posted February 15, 2016 #
How much do you think the Hollywood Vampires have collectively spent on hats in their lifetimes?
