'20 Years a Lawyer'

David Sparks (aka "MacSparky") recounts his time as a lawyer over the last twenty years.

“Eventually, I started thinking about law school. Looking back, I really had no idea what it was like being a lawyer, what kind of law I wanted to practice, or even what types of skills I’d need to be successful at it. I just knew that I loved the debate tournaments more than engineering. I think part of the reason for this big move was my own delusion about what it would be like being a lawyer. Coming from a working class family, the thought of becoming a lawyer felt like something special. In hindsight, none of those delusions were correct.”

Great story.

"Imaginary Boogeymen"

This Salon piece about Obamacare was written back in mid-October, but it's a topic that's on my mind a lot these days because my wife and I are currently shopping around on the insurance exchange.

The backstory: journalist Eric Stern personally followed up with a group of people who had been guests on Sean Hannity's Fox News show, in order to fact-check them on their complaints regarding Obamacare. What he discovered shouldn't be surprising to anyone:

“I don’t doubt that these six individuals believe that Obamacare is a disaster; but none of them had even visited the insurance exchange. And some of them appear to have taken actions...based on a general pessimistic belief about Obamacare.”

Very revealing. Aside from what a bunch of Fox News talking heads have to say, why are people taking such a knee-jerk stance against something they haven't even researched?

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I don't think Obamacare is perfect, or even close to the ideal solution, but it's a certainly a step in the right direction. What I'd really like to see the US implement during my lifetime is a single-payer system (or something similar).

'A Dream of Flying'

Written and narrated by Neil Gaiman, A Dream of Flying is an excellent short film about a girl who can fly. Rather than experiencing true freedom through her abilities though, she is put into an institution with other gifted children, where the adults try to "cure" them and force them to become "normal".

Stories like this, no matter how beautiful, always aggravate me a little inside. If such gifted individuals were ever discovered, I'd like to think that we would celebrate them rather than react out of fear. But maybe I'm just naïve.

How would you react?

'The iPad Setup of Chris Gonzales'

Shawn Blanc interviewed me for The Sweet Setup about the ways I use my iPad for work and play. I tried to convey just how versatile this device is, and how I have almost no need for an actual laptop to get my stuff done. I absolutely love my iPad.

If you're interested in the wallpaper seen in the screenshot at the top of the interview, feel free to grab it from this link.

'You Weren't Meant to Have a Boss'

This 2008 piece by Paul Graham still feels relevant today, maybe even more so:

“I suspect that working for oneself feels better to humans in much the same way that living in the wild must feel better to a wide-ranging predator like a lion. Life in a zoo is easier, but it isn’t the life they were designed for.”“

"Conversions Are Not People"

Andy Beaumont explains why he created the awesome Tab Closed; Didn't Read Tumblr:

“This kind of belief in numbers is exactly what got us into this mess. [...] Analytics will tell you that you got more “conversions”. Analytics will show you rising graphs and bigger numbers. You will show these to your boss or your client. They will falsely conclude that people love these modal overlays.

But they don’t. Nobody likes them. Conversions are not people.”

I couldn't agree more. The modal overlay advertisement is currently one of the most user-hostile behaviors on the web, often appearing and requiring dismissal before the user even has a chance to check out the content they clicked through for. Who the hell would willingly sign up for your lame marketing newsletter before they even know what you're about?

Almost nothing will make me leave a site faster than these ads do, and I'm not likely to ever return. How's that for your analytics?

'Instant Gratification'

Daniel Jalkut:

“No more waiting for permission to share your thoughts, arts, or inventions with the world. And no more excuses for holding back. Got something to give? Put it out there and see what sticks.”

The slow extinction of 'gatekeepers' – publishers, record labels, banks, book stores, et al – is one of my favorite things about the web these days. It's never been easier to make yourself heard around the entire world, and all it takes is the press of a button.

It's both terrifying and liberating at the same time.

Behind the Scenes of a Nine Inch Nails Tour

Nine Inch Nails allowed a Vevo video crew to come film a behind-the-scenes featurette about the stressful process of developing their Tension 2013 tour. It's just under fifteen minutes long and definitely worth checking out.

Rob Sheridan, creative director for NIN and the guy behind some of my favorite wallpapers, described what it was like to be filmed this way:

“These features are interesting (and sometimes hard for me to watch) because they’re very honest. There’s no makeup, no interview prepping, no re-shoots, these guys were in our faces while we were trying to work, catching us off guard and capturing moments that we sometimes would prefer not be filmed. We didn’t script or plan these features, these guys were annoying the hell out of us during production rehearsals - but in the end it’s nice to have a document, however personally uncomfortable, of the work we put into something like this.”

I wish more artists would allow these kinds of fly-on-the-wall glimpses into their creative process.

'What Screens Want'

Frank Chimero wrote a sprawling, wonderful essay that reflects on the web as we know it, concluding that it has become too impersonal, cold, and calculating:

“We used to have a map of a frontier that could be anything. The web isn’t young anymore, though. It’s settled. It’s been prospected and picked through. Increasingly, it feels like we decided to pave the wilderness, turn it into a suburb, and build a mall. And I hate this map of the web, because it only describes a fraction of what it is and what’s possible. We’ve taken an opportunity for connection and distorted it to commodify attention. That’s one of the sleaziest things you can do.”

This is one of those pieces that I recommend reading on the web and not with Instapaper or Pocket. Frank created a special page just for this essay, and it's too pretty not to be enjoyed in its intended state.

The Sweet Setup

Two of my favorite websites for getting recommendations on great stuff are The Wirecutter and their sister site The Sweethome. Rather than focusing on the latest fads, they only concern themselves with finding the absolute best gear possible, the stuff that stands the test of time.

Today, I'm happy to say that a third site has entered this arena: The Sweet Setup, created by my buddy Shawn Blanc. It's not a site about gear, though — it's all about the best Mac and iOS apps in a wide variety of categories, as well as the, ahem, sweet setups of awesome people.

Just to give some examples, there are articles on the very best journaling app, their favorite alternative to Apple's Photo Stream, and the best general purpose weather app. These apps aren't necessarily new – especially not to us nerds – but that's exactly the point. Sometimes the most trusty apps are the ones with a little experience under their belts.

Head over here to get a brief tour of the site, then get to reading all the other articles. If nothing else, just take a few moments to really look at the site's design, because it's nothing short of gorgeous.

I'm really excited for Shawn, and congratulate him on the launch of what I think is the premier resource for app research. Go check it out.

'The Heist' One-Year Anniversary

Ben Haggerty — better known as the rapper Macklemore — reflects on the year following the release of his hit album, The Heist, and the insane amount of fame that came with it. I particularly dug this bit:

“Every song I’ve ever put out, I have believed in. But Same Love was different. It was a moment that was way bigger than us. Watching teenagers come up to me after shows, with tears in their eyes, gasping for breath in attempts to find the right words to explain to me that they came out to their family after hearing the song…that reaffirms everything. That. Right there. That is the reason why I do this. That is no publicity stunt. That is no calculated move. That is art affecting the quality of people’s lives, the way that other artists influence mine.”

This is one of those times where I wish I hadn't let such a great read linger in my Instapaper queue for so long.

Jony Ive Biography by Leander Kahney

Released just this morning, Jony Ive by Leander Kahney — editor of Cult of Mac — explores the early life and meteoric rise of Apple's famous product designer. It's not based on direct conversations with its subject in the way that Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs was, but it looks pretty interesting nonetheless.

Jony Ive is available from Amazon in both hardcover ($17) and Kindle ($12) formats, as well as from the iBooks Store ($12).

'Designing Great App Store Screenshots'

Dan Counsell of Realmac Software explains why it's so important for iOS app developers to use good screenshots:

“The simple fact is that a customer’s decision on whether they will download an app is mainly based on the icon, rating and screenshots. The name of the app and description [are] secondary, and most of the time not even taken into account. Potential customers look at these elements to try and work out if the app is worth their time and money, and this all happens in a matter of seconds.”

He goes on to give some excellent tips that may help them get a leg up on the competition. The bit about using all five screenshot slots is probably the easiest one to adhere to, and sadly there are developers out there too lazy to do even that much.

The Great Discontent's Interview with Merlin Mann

Here are two reasons I was super excited to read this interview:

1. I'm an unabashed Merlin Mann fanboy (Mannboy? Er...hmm.)
2. The Great Discontent is consistently one of my favorite sites to read, and was a big inspiration for my own interview series.

I just finished reading the interview, and it certainly didn't disappoint. I went back through afterward to find something I could blockquote here, but in true Merlin style, almost the entire thing is quotable so I'll just recommend that you go read it right now.

A Box of Otherworldly Notes

“Reddit user TramStopDan documented and shared his recent experience of unlocking and discovering the contents of a box which his friend found discarded on the street next to the trash. When he managed to open it, Dan found a mind-boggling collection of posters, illustrations, text, maps, technical drawings and personal belongings.”

Interesting story that takes a turn for the weird. Just goes to show that you never really know what kinds of curious things people will simply throw away.

Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling

There are a couple of animation studios that I consider to be the best in their field. One is Studio Ghibli, and the other is Pixar. So when Pixar's (former) Story Artist lays down some rules for great storytelling, people should pay attention.

Although I enjoyed the entire list, two rules in particular struck me as useful for any sort of creative work:

11. “Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.”

-and-

17. “No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on – it’ll come back around to be useful later.”

iOS 7 and Screenshot Status Bars

In some iOS app reviews – including my own – you may notice that the screenshots used throughout have clearly been taken at different times, with varying battery charges displayed between them. Not ideal.

A few days ago, Dr. Drang decided to take a crack at fixing these status bars so that they all match one another, not with a standalone app but with a clever Python script. Naturally, Federico Viticci started adapting the script to be used with the iOS app Pythonista so it would be possible to use it directly from within iOS rather than depending on a Mac app like Status Magic.

Now, Drang has posted the improved versions of both scripts for everyone to use. Disclaimer: before the iOS-only one can work, it requires that four status bar images be added to the OS via the hidden file system. Once it's set up though, it should theoretically work beautifully.

I'll be giving it a try myself soon, maybe next week since I'll be out of town again this weekend — not for a vacation this time though, but to assist my wife as she takes some of her Irish dance students to a competition in Illinois.

'Perfectly Unbalanced'

David T. Lewis reflects on work/life balance, and how it doesn't necessarily mean the same for creatives as it does for others.

“I had spent a lot of my 20’s trying to fight off these urges, now approaching 40 I can’t help but think that any – mild – success I have had comes out of this worldview. By embracing this idea I can stop apologizing for it, I can actually appreciate how lucky I am to be exactly where I want to be, doing exactly what I want to do.”

iOS 7 Keyboard Shortcuts

Federico Viticci of Macstories is compiling a list of new external keyboard shortcuts that work with iOS 7. As someone who primarily works with an iPad and a Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover, I can attest that some of these shortcuts are daily lifesavers for me.

Some others that have already been supported for a while and that I use all the time are these basic text-selection shortcuts:

• CMD+A: Select all
• CMD+C: Copy
• CMD+V: Paste

The App Design Handbook

Nathan Barry and Jeremy Olson have put together an excellent resource for anyone looking to get started with app design.

The full package – which includes 9 video tutorials, 9 video interviews, and a handful of resources such as Photoshop files and Xcode samples – is $199 for a limited time to celebrate the launch, and will go back up to $249 soon. The book can also be purchased by itself for $29 (soon $39) or as a middle-ground package that includes fewer resources than the full package.