Youtube user waxonaxon has created quite an interesting time-lapse, it’s 20 years of Apple.com.

You can watch the video on YouTube, or directly below:

The one thing that intrigued me, was the whole process of simplifying the design, and comparing the 1996 site to the current version.

A few things happened recently, so I thought I’d put a small update here.

What I’m Doing Now

After seeing Matt Gemmel’s Now page, and reading more about the /now page movement, I created one of my own.

I will update this regularly with what I’m currently doing, so that I don’t need to repeat myself, or even forget anything!

Stickers

I ordered a test batch of stickers from Sticker Mule a while ago, and they just arrived. I think they look pretty good!

Hopefully in the future I can give them out, sell them, or just stick them everywhere myself?

T-Shirts

Something else I’ve always wanted to do for my blog, create a logo tee. My problem with things like TeeSpring and Cotton Bureau, is that they don’t ship until a set amount has been ordered.

Luckily I found TeeMill, who will let you purchase designs straight away!

So I’ve made a basic white tee with the Radical Thinker logo, that is available now!

Jean-Mark Denis has just released a set of super high quality wallpapers for your mobile and desktop. They are beautifully minimal and black.

As he puts it:

A wallpaper series using shapes and lights.
High resolution rendered using Cinema 4D, for your phone and desktop.

There are six designs, with two of them coming soon. The one you see above this post is #1, and I currently have #2 set as my wallpaper on my mac.

Who would of thought such simplicity could look so good?

Check out “Black” on Jean-Mark’s website.

There’s another trailer for the upcoming Planet Earth II series! It’s amazing.

Check it it on Youtube, and make sure you set it to 1080p!

Some more exciting news, it will feature an original score by the Hans Zimmer!

As many of you will already know, Relay FM is home to a whole bunch of awesome podcasts, and people!

So it only makes sense that they bring some of the humour, artwork, and personality to your devices via iMessage Stickers!

When considering the next update to our app, we didn’t have to look any further than Myke’s sticker-covered laptop and iPads.

You can now cover your iMessage conversations with artwork inspired by your favourite Relay FM podcasts. Bringing jokes from the shows into your conversations is easy as a tap and drag on your iPhone or iPad. – Relay FM Extras

So in the latest version of their app, you get 40 stickers, which includes things like #mykewasright, and the Viticci Seal of Quality. Some of them have cool animations as well!

So if you already have the Relay FM app, the stickers will be in your Messages app already, otherwise download it from the App Store for free!

P.S. More Relay FM Sticker Packs are also on their way!

Over at MacWorld, Jason Snell has written about how his MacBook has become secondary to his iPad:

For the past year I’ve been traveling with a 12.9-inch iPad Pro and leaving my MacBook Air home whenever possible. Traveling with only an iPad can feel freeing and it can also feel confining, depending on what you need to accomplish. This week I took a trip and brought my laptop along like the old days, and was reminded about what the iPad does well and where the Mac still has the upper hand. – MacWorld

This is the closest opinion piece about iPad/Mac that matches mine. I also love my iPad (I have an Air 2), but there are some things that it just can’t do. Like hacking around in the Terminal, manage files better, and also programming – It’s possible on iOS, but it’s massively better on the Mac.

My Mac will always come first, but in the scenario of travelling, my iPad usually comes out on top. Because it’s mostly work that makes me use my Mac.

I’m getting back into programming, and I’m messing around with PHP and MySQL to create a sort of upload manager for myself.

I just want a place where I can quickly upload an image/video, and then be able to share it with people on Twitter.

So far I’ve got a working database with a file viewer, and a few extra bits. I guess I just need a dashboard for myself, and it’s a working project.

Anyway, check it out on GitHub!

After 10 years since the original television series, Sir David Attenborough is back with Planet Earth II!

I can’t wait for this to begin, he is one of my favourite people in the world, and Planet Earth was just amazing.

Last week I shared my thoughts on being late to the party in regards to launching a new product/service, and what that means. pockets).

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This is something that happens to a lot of companies, that release a new product, when there are already multiple competitors already out there. The situation that made me think of this article was the new messaging app by Google, Allo.

There are tons of different messaging apps out already, with the most notable being Apple’s Messages, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Twitter DM’s, SnapChat, and loads more. And with all of these, they come with a basic foundation of features.

This is the problem with Allo, as it’s a new product, that clearly has competitors on the market already, but it hasn’t really done enough to become a worthwhile replacement. Because even if you’re using a certain app/service, if a new rival comes out with something functionally the same then you’re most likely not going to swap. And if the new product has a lower level of functionality, then I’m pretty sure that number will be a lot lower. Sure you can send fun messages with stickers, emojis, and cool effects. But what you don’t get is at least a basic level of privacy and security, support for devices like the iPad, Mac, and PC, and anything special to make a switch worthwhile.

I think this is down to being late to the party, in that this app may of been a decent messaging competitor a few years ago, but now the common level of features have grown so much, there’s a higher standard needed for new products.

I think you narrow the main things a new product/service needs to be successful are:
Include the basic level of features that the current competitors have.
Add something special so that you stand out, and actually provide a different experience.
Ensure that the switching process is as smooth as possible.
These obviously won’t make something successful, but in my opinion they are three rules you have to follow, in order for your product to not be unsuccessful.

Sometimes you look at a certain market, or a type of product and you think “I can do this much better”, but normally all you’re doing is branching off a mainstream product and creating a more niche experience.

It’s all down to there being loads of people around the world making great products, and with so much quality competition, the hurdles for a newcomer are far greater. So as products evolve, the quality of user experience increases, and generally as users do things differently, it means new products have to do so much more, and take a lot longer to develop than before.

You could even relate this problem to my column from last week, “Diversity in Tech”, where I wrote about the lack of choice in mobile phone technology. And this could be down to the fact that the current devices are of such a high quality, and the services they come with have matured to be stable and also relied upon, that the cost of switching is always increasing.

"Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."