Intriguing talk by Maciej Cegłowski on Website Obesity.
In the age of Netflix and youtube we take for granted that internet and data is free/unlimited for everyone. Actually that isn’t true at all. From where I come, data is very expensive given most of it is via the mobile phone and loading a 3mb site from the 1gb/month of data plan is just expensive and not to mention that it is sometimes painfully slow depending on my cellular service.
We don’t prioritise optimising the (bytes) size of our websites for those users who are from the developing countries where data might be at a premium.
User experiences are important, but not at the cost of your users. The talk is an eye opener for anyone who works in UX/Web experience. Do ponder for a moment if anything you create worthwhile needs to be resource heavy (dig at resource heavy apps Slack 🙂 )/costly. Cross platform and ease of development etc needs be considered yes, but taking the easy route always isn’t the right/best path for the longterm. Remember that there are a static/simple HTML sites still out there that still get the job done with out any issues.
The text version is here for your use if you wish not to view the video. Now back to working on how to reduce the size of my website. 🙂
I got the Apple Watch last year and I have been using it for every day ever since and I love it. Below is a brief review after using the watch for over an year.
tl:dr I love it and it is totally the best smart watch you can get. (You may want to wait a few months as apple watch 2 might launch in Oct 2016)
Pros:
- Works great as fitness tracker. It has tracking for most common workout needs you may have.
- Notifications on the watch have been a huge time saver. Huge time saver while driving or in meetings. Some times you can take a step forward and acknowledge messsages (A quick reply is just a tap away).
- A plethora of apps have evolved. They help with tracking productivity and reminders etc
- Siri works well.
- Bling aspect is still true as was when it launched.
- Watch faces and the interchangeable bands help suit the mood/trend/fashion.
Cons:
- Was too slow. (Not any more, watchOS 3 fixes it and the speed increase is phenomenal).
- Battery life wasn’t great. I8 hours wasn’t great in comparison to the fitbits and Garmins that last for a week. Not much of a deal breaker for me.
- Sleep tracking isn’t part of the watch at all. The pillow app fixes this. I wish the watch had native tracking like the Fitbits do.
Watch OS 3: It is a phenomal update that would be coming to the watch soon. I am testing it on my watch, it isn’t stable yet, but it opens up the watch in a multitude of ways and adressess most of the complaints and restrictiveness it had.
You may think, I am just an apple fan boy and hence my fanatcism with it. Actually I have tested the Fitbit Surge (still own one), Fitbit Flex and a Garmin Vivofit as my daily activity trackers/ smart watches. So far, the most satisfying experience has been from the Apple watch and hence my recommendation above.
Life never stops, only you can stop. Like it or not or you are part of the journey and you have to live through it. Not that I am complaining, actually infact, things have changed and it has changed for the better.
I feel I am at a point in my life I feel I have the control of how my future can be and I can do pretty much everything I can wish for. May be all the fun & experience at my new office is making me be exuberant with joy and confidence (over confidence? 😜). My work environment is contagious in a positive way. Sometimes it evens feels like I am invincible (I know for sure that it isn’t the case). May be I am exaggerating, but at this time
This piece from Dave winer is a great reminder to stay level headed and humble.
I think we all need a struggle, I think that’s where our creativity comes from. We need something that feels unattainable, but actually is not. But the struggle to rise above our humanity, that’s not going to happen for any of us. And the desire to have it robs your very human life of any value.
Joe had it right. Live a gentle human-size life. Go for a walk in your middle-class neighborhood and run into a friend of a friend and share what you see, and influence their life for the better. That’s the kind of thing a human can do. And it is, imho, where happiness comes from.
