Youtube Coverage

You’re probably reaching Youtube saturation this week, but some of the best coverage I’ve seen of the whole thing has been on the Utube Blog which seems to be picking up every major news story and trimming the fluff, which usually leaves a good sentence or two. I’ve subscribed there and I’m just skipping most blog posts I see about it. 🙂

Boxely Gone

I blogged about Boxely a few days ago, it seemed like a neat framework. I’ve been thinking more about the desktop the past month or so, hence my blogging around it. Joe has updated saying “Well, that was fun while it lasted. AOL has taken down the site already. Apparently not all executives in the company were aware of the release, and ordered it removed when they caught wind.” On the other side of the web Jason Calacanis is waving the AOL banner, yet a company that stifles innovation like this and flip-flops releases isn’t one I would invest in. Is this a continuation of Nullsoft-style rebels inside of AOL fighting to make a difference? Update: It’s back!

You might remember a few years back I talked about why Automattic has a creed, and shared ours. Here it is again:

I will never stop learning. I won’t just work on things that are assigned to me. I know there’s no such thing as a status quo. I will build our business sustainably through passionate and loyal customers. I will never pass up an opportunity to help out a colleague, and I’ll remember the days before I knew everything. I am more motivated by impact than money, and I know that Open Source is one of the most powerful ideas of our generation. I will communicate as much as possible, because it’s the oxygen of a distributed company. I am in a marathon, not a sprint, and no matter how far away the goal is, the only way to get there is by putting one foot in front of another every day. Given time, there is no problem that’s insurmountable.

One of the parts of Automattic that has grown the most over the past few years is our design corps, now over two dozen people. This group, led by creative director Dave Martin, has come up with a supplemental Designer’s Creed for followers of their craft at A8C:

I take pride in my craft. I ensure that everyone — regardless of ability or device — can use my designs. I routinely ask for feedback, even when it’s uncomfortable. I regularly watch people use my designs, because testing leads to clarity. I will never stop at “good enough.”

You can read more about it on Dave’s blog. »

 

One theory I have is that there’s some secret “developer full-time employment act” that means these programmers have to do something even if it’s just replicating work that’s already been done. Kind of like New Jersey where every gas station is full serve (that had to be some full employment gambit back in the day).

Sounds like something that could be written today about Vox, Buzzfeed, Gawker, or any of the quixotic CMS projects at Washington Post, NY Times, Conde Nast, et al, but it was actually written in 2007.