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Trouble for HipChat.
Well, crap. I don’t know how Apple came to this design. Do I think they copied us? Probably not (but as a designer, I’ll take the compliment). Regardless of how Apple arrived at this design, one of us has to change. It’s really confusing for our users, and they’re really all we care about.
It was actually the first thing I noticed when I was playing around with Apple’s new Message App yesterday: Both HipChat’s and Apple’s icon look really, really similar.
It is, as Curley notes, a tough time for HipChat:
Brands are hard to create, and apparently easy to crush.
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Timehop is a service I enjoy quite a bit lately. By surfacing the content you put on various social networks exactly one year ago, it acts as a nice, personal time machine. Take the e-mail they’ve send me today: Apparently the Egyptian revolution was in full swing a year ago – and BankSimple still remained US only.
2012 feels a lot like 2011.
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6 hours ago:
Announcement! Double Fine and 2 Player Productions will use Kickstarter to fund an Adventure Game + documentary! Whoa. doublefine.com/news/comments/…
— Tim Schafer (@TimOfLegend) February 9, 201215 Minutes ago:
$407,470. I love you, world. Double Fine fans are the greatest fans in the whole world. Your gonna make me cry. :) :) :)
— Tim Schafer (@TimOfLegend) February 9, 2012I’m always amazed of how fast these things can spread and reach the right audience. And there are a few things that make me really happy about seeing things like this:
1) It’s an amazing time for Indie Games. You can do great things – even in a niche like Adventure Games – when you talk directly to your fans and supporters. This changes a whole industry. I think we’ll see more and more success stories like Minecraft and this Kickstarter project soon.
2) It’s a real boost for the community. There are so many people who love innovative and unconventional games. Most of these titles wouldn’t be touched by a single publisher since they won’t reach the critical mass of titles like Battlefield of CoD. But with tools like Kickstarter and all the usual Social Networks fans can help the game designers to bring their projects alive – and even more important: Connect with their peers.
3) It’s easier than ever to get started with things like that by your self. All the tools are just a click away, technology can be picked up faster and simpler by the minute and costs are at an all time low. So it basically boils down to the most important thing to have: A good idea.
To make a long story short: We live in amazing times.
(Oh, and I backed this project of course – you should, too.)
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↪ Skyrim Creation Kit Out, Along With High Res Textures Pack
Oh, and while we are at the topic: Hig-Res Textures! That’s quite epic.
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just recently I came across a sapid and noticeable jazz trio from up north. splashgirl combine vibrant and colourful jazz music with distinct field recordings, electronic and acoustic sounds and patterns - and just the right susceptibility for a well-balanced mix of all that. their music alters between thouroughly composed ensemble pieces and massive and rather obfuscating noise sculptures, between pulsating time and ambient, moonily sound scapes.Splashgirl is indeed quite awesome! You should check them out – and of course read the full review on Simon’s blog.
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8-Bit Sand People? Low-Res Bounty Hunters? Come on, it doesn’t get much better than this.
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Kevin Systrom talks about his life, Entrepreneurship and Instagram. Oh, I was really looking forward to this episode of Kevin Rose’s “Foundation” series.
I’m especially thankful for one of Systrom’s comments about competition and about how much harder it is to build a company and not ‘only’ a product.
“I don’t worry day on and day out about someone launching a competitive product with filters. I really don’t. I worry about our ability to build the products that realize the vision I just described. That’s the hardest thing. It’s the hardest thing to build a company.”
Make sure to watch the whole thing. Totally worth it.
