Notes From Andy

The smack-talking is not over. The co-CEOs of RIM had this to say:

Apple's attempt to draw RIM into Apple's self-made debacle is unacceptable. [...]

CrackBerry is hosting a poll which they say refutes Jobs's claims:

Update: Well, after a few thousand quick votes it seems some 86% of us BlackBerry Bold 9700 users think El Jobso's evidence is a big pile of BS. As for the 14% who think it may hold water, well, I'm sure some of those must be legit… but the numbers speak for themselves. Sorry Steve – it seems you became part of the media you like to beat up on with this one… making a story where one doesn't actually exist.

Let me see if I understand this paragraph correctly.

1. If a vast majority of users don't have a problem with your phone, there is no real problem and it's irresponsible to drag that phone into a media circus. More importantly, this logic doesn't apply to the iPhone, only to BlackBerry phones.

2. If a minority doesn't agree with your predicted poll result, they're probably lying, but the majority voters in your self-selected audience are, it goes without saying, beyond suspicion.

Got it.

(Via Gruber.)

I just realized the RSS link on this page was for my other blog. Oops!

On another note, I'll be uploading files from last night's CocoaHeads in the next day or two — I want to clean up some things.

Daniel Jalkut on saying "yes":

When someone asks me to speak at a conference, write an article, give a toast at a wedding, attend a conference, or just to have lunch, my gut reaction is to refuse.

Almost every public thing I do that pulls me away from my computer and out of my house, comes from saying yes when I want to say no. I psyche myself up, remember that this life isn’t going to drive itself where I want it to go, and step up to the plate.

Saying "yes" has been a recent theme for me too, though maybe in a different way. A couple of months ago I had a flurry of social engagements. It was an atypical time for me because generally I don't get out that often. At the time I thought it would be good when things quieted down because I would finally have time to get things done. But looking back, I see I got quite a bit done during that time. And when things did quiet down I gradually got more inert and inactive, and less got done than when I was running around and squeezing work and errands between social outings.

I still believe I am an introvert and time alone to refuel — blessed solitude — is absolutely crucial for my mental health. Being left alone is also a professional necessity: as a programmer, I need long, quiet blocks of time to feel productive and satisfied. But I also need "yes" activities to bounce me around sometimes. Otherwise, like a pinball that never hits any bumpers, I tend to roll down the drain. So I'll try to look for more of those opportunities, and accept more of them when they come my way. I'll also try to recognize which kinds of events tend to energize me rather than drain me.

John Gruber links to some non-busy alternatives to the wallpapers that come with iOS 4. They're nice, but I just took a picture with my finger over the camera lens and used the resulting solid black as my home screen background.

Previously I was using the blackboard one (the fourth option in the top row) and it was non-distracting enough, but now for some reason (maybe the folder icons) I feel the need for something even less distracting.

Nik Fletcher, in reference to an alert in iOS 4 that says "Click OK to confirm…":

As pointed out by Brandon Walkin this still isn’t great: using ‘Click’ on a touch-screen device is flat-out wrong…

Yeah, "tap" would be better, but I don't think it's any worse than using "dial" for touch-tone or touch-screen phones.

This disagreement aside, I do like all the little things Nik noticed.