bobby blogging

Adobe Flash Developer Says iPad's Flash Allergy Due to Hovering, Clicking Cursors [Flash]

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:02:24 -0500

Adobe Flash Developer Says iPad's Flash Allergy Due to Hovering, Clicking Cursors [Flash]

Adobe Puts Secret Hold on HTML5 Spec

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 11:46:12 -0500

Adobe Puts Secret Hold on HTML5 Spec

Happy St. Valentine’s day, everyone.

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 11:04:31 -0500

Happy St. Valentine’s day, everyone.

Hulu coming to the iPad?

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:48:46 -0500

Hulu coming to the iPad?

Yo Gabba Gabba! makes it into the Superbowl ad fray. Sign of...

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:56:11 -0500

Yo Gabba Gabba! makes it into the Superbowl ad fray. Sign of mainstream awareness?

"To swear off making mistakes is easy, all you have to do is swear off having ideas."

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 10:42:07 -0500

“To swear off making mistakes is easy, all you have to do is swear off having ideas.”

- Leo Burnett

"You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you..."

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:31:48 -0500

“You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.”

- Steve Jobs

From the Wall Street Journal. So, over three hours of coverage...

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:25:00 -0500

From the Wall Street Journal. So, over three hours of coverage and 11 minutes of action — and people have the nerve to tell me that soccer is boring.

New from Joanna Newsom. ‘81, to be released February 23rd.

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:55:47 -0500

New from Joanna Newsom. ‘81, to be released February 23rd.

Capistrano recipe for Jekyll

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:50:59 -0500

Capistrano recipe for Jekyll

Yo Gabba Gabba! Live is coming to The Aronoff Center in...

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:33:47 -0500

Yo Gabba Gabba! Live is coming to The Aronoff Center in Cincinnati. We saw the show in Chicago and had a great time.

(Photo via Octal Khan)

Stunning concept for blinds — but sorta defeats the...

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:42:07 -0400

Stunning concept for blinds — but sorta defeats the purpose. Better views blinds via Gizmodo

How To Remove a Git Submodule

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 11:24:00 -0500

How To Remove a Git Submodule:

git rm --cached /path/to/submodule
rm -rf /path/to/submodule

Freemium Bait and Switch

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:39:37 -0500

I’ve been stung twice in the past few weeks by web services introducing paid plans to their formerly beta (free) apps. Obviously, I understand that the developers need to make money to build and support these apps — and I am more than willing to pay. I drop almost $100 per month on a handful that save me time and keep me organized.

However, I think it’s a bit underhanded to start off with an unlimited plan and no mention of paid plans (and their associated cost), only to introduce paid plans afterward. I was not afforded the opportunity to do a cost/benefit analysis on the service before putting my eggs in the basket.

The target of today’s rant is Hoptoad. Here’s an excerpt from their freemium announcement:

Today we’re excited to introduce paid plans for hoptoad – but first we want to make it clear how much we’ve appreciated the feedback from our current users – as long as you stay at your current project and user usage, you will never be charged.

I’m sure writing that paragraph made them feel very generous. A veritable frog in a Santa hat. However, one of the main selling points is combining all of your notifications into one place, and I’m planning on launching 5 projects in the next few months. The net/net for me is I have to start paying $15/month or move back to my completely adequate exception_notification plugin. I never would have signed up for this “free”, “time-saving” service if I had known the consequences.

The Takeaway
If you’re building an app, you owe it to your customers to set expectations up front. Do your due diligence. Help your customers make an informed decision about your shiny new toy. It’s like handing a sweet new Yo Gabba Gabba! toy to my 3-year-old in Target only to tell her 15 minutes later we can’t afford it.

BlueprintCSS Bookmarklet

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 13:59:00 -0500

This is turning out to be the week of the bookmarklet. In our second installment, I hope to improve your CSS framework experience via a nifty button with which to toggle visibility of the BlueprintCSS grid pattern. Drag this link → (Toggle showgrid) into your browser toolbar and start clicking.

Campbox Slideshow

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:29:00 -0500

Campbox Slideshow:

Drag this bookmarklet → (Campbox Slideshow) into your browser toolbar and click on any Basecamp message page to create a slideshow out of the uploaded images.

Check out the source (maybe help improve it?) on Github.

If you want me to log in with my email address, please...

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:30:24 -0500

If you want me to log in with my email address, please don’t label the field “username”.

The girls wanted a WALL*E-inspired pumpkin for Halloween this...

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:16:04 -0500

The girls wanted a WALL*E-inspired pumpkin for Halloween this year.

Bobby’s Roasted Mojo: The jalapeños in our little garden...

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:35:00 -0500

Bobby’s Roasted Mojo: The jalapeños in our little garden have been popping off all summer and it’s been tough to keep up. I have made this a few times along with grilled chicken thighs and mexican rice — simple and tasty.

4 Garlic cloves (roasted over the grill)
4-6 Jalapeños (roasted over the grill)
1 Handful of cilantro leaves (stems as well if you like)
Juice of 2 limes
Juice of 1 orange
½ Cup of olive oil

Whizz in you blender. (Photo by cuoche dell’altro mondo)

Forcing 37signals' Open Bar to Update

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:25:30 -0400

As you add, remove, or update accounts of 37signals products and use their Open Bar to hook it all up you may notice that it can easily become stale. I have only found one way to force the bar menu to update: simply turn off OpenID login for an account (the bar will disappear) and then turn it back on.