Writing

Over the past few years, I’ve often meant to write about the location-based social network Gowalla. Recently acquired by Facebook and with closure imminent, now is my last opportunity to do so.

.net Magazine asked a group of experts what they find most delightful and most despicable about the social networking giant Facebook. This was my full response. An excerpt can be found in the March 2012 issue.

After enough subtle hints, I was happy to unwrap a copy of the Steve Jobs biography at Christmas.

I’ve always wanted to run a marathon, but shorter races were beset by poor training. Since taken running more seriously, I’ve become lighter, leaner and possibly even a bit faster. If I’m ever to achieve my dream of running a marathon, then this is the year to do it. An Olympic year too.

Ethan Marcotte asked me some questions about the design of my site. He was writing a round up of his twenty favourite responsive websites for .net Magazine and wanted quotes from each creator.

As 2012 gets into full swing, it’s time to enact the yearly tradition of setting some goals for the year ahead. By no means an exhaustive list, here are a few that have caught my imagination in the last few days.

Transcending America’s Pacific coastline aboard Amtrak’s Coast Starlight.

In the front seat of a float plane, I enjoyed a breathtaking view of Vancouver as I descended into its harbour. For such a densely populated city, I’d arrived somewhere small and friendly.

After eight days exploring North America, it was time to visit its more westerly extremities, starting with Saltspring Island.

Some cities are best arrived at by air, while some are best approached by car. Others are best suited to arrival by train. Toronto is one such city.

After Washington, it was on to another North American capital, Ottawa, a city with no end of ATMs unwilling to accept my debit card.

My North American adventure started in Washington DC, ostensibly to attend a conference, but it was also an excuse to see Shannon, who graciously planned a tour of the city.

Before I write about my most recent travels across Canada and the United States, I address the hypocrisy of taking such a trip.

I unfurl my seraph wings to proclaim peace on Earth and the importance of goodwill between designers and developers. It’s not the office Secret Santa that unites them, but constant contact and shared appreciation of different skills.

October has been a crazy month, and I’m not even done with it yet.

With three years of iPhone ownership I’ve become accustomed to the design and behaviour of iOS, yet at the same time ignorant of other smartphone platforms. Thanks to Clearleft’s new mobile testing environment, I can now spend a week or so with different operating systems to get a feel for how they differ. First up; Windows Phone 7.

Today I was told the sudden and unexpected news that one of my family’s pets, Sage, had been put to sleep. Unbeknown to us, his body was being ravaged by a cancerous tumour so aggressive, that it only made itself visible last weekend. He had days to live.

Having enjoyed the Edinburgh Fringe when I attended for the first time last August, I was determined to do it all over again. A long bank holiday weekend and a number of shows by comedians I’ve been longing to see, left few excuses not to return. Here are my thoughts on each performance I saw this time round.

This week Adobe revealed Muse, yet another web application but this time aimed at print designers looking to transfer their skills to the web. However this app has created some controversy, not only due the quality of the code it outputs, but also the claims made in the marketing videos.

Facebook’s continuing hoovering up of top design talent has been worrying me for some months. The shopping spree continued earlier this month with the acquisition of Push Pop Press, a promising start-up building an innovative digital publishing platform.

Some disappointing news today for fans of Formula 1. The BBC will only be showing half of next year’s races live, as a new deal means it will be sharing broadcasting rights with BSkyB.

Unless you’re viewing this in your RSS reader, you may have noticed a few changes to the site. It’s been well over two years since the last redesign, but I’ve been working on this update on-and-off for the last 12 months. I could probably continue tweaking and refining, but as a wise man once said, “real artists ship”.

Thoughts on Brasília, which I visited back in March.

Designed by Oscar Niemeyer, Brasília’s distinctive buildings feature a number of recurring design patterns and motifs.