The WSJ created an interactive guide to selecting a wireless provider based on the number of lines, data, and messaging you need. It looks pretty handy if you’re able to shop for a new phone and plan.
I meant to share this when it was first published but better late than never… In Focus creted a series called America in the 1970s and kicked things off with New York City.
Molly Crabapple wrote about Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba:
Camp X-Ray has been abandoned for over a decade. Birds nest on the razor wire. Vines have overtaken the cages. With the breeze and butterflies, one could think it is just a still-standing reminder of a shameful past. For the current prisoners who passed through X-Ray, it is still part of their reality. They may have left, but they are not free.
In X-Ray’s interrogation huts, and later in the permanent prisons of Camp Delta, Americans practiced short-shackling, stress positions, dry-boarding (stuffing rags down a man’s throat and taping his nose and mouth shut), and sexual humiliation. Female interrogators molested detainees and smeared them with fake menstrual blood, according to Inside the Wire, a book written by a former sergeant who witnessed the incident at Gitmo. Former detainee Ruhal Ahmed described being chained in a squatting position and left for days to defecate on himself while dogs growled in his face. A memo by JAG (Judge Advocate General Corps) lawyer Diane Beaver, “Legal Review of Aggressive Interrogation Techniques,” describes water-boarding, using extreme heat and cold, beatings—termed “non-injurious physical contact”—and convincing the detainee that his family was in danger of torture or death as totally A-OK once approved.
Shameful and sickening.
Jeff Rock on how iOS 7 is forcing him to rethink his UI designs:
I was unsettled at first, but now I’m pretty happy about it. I’ve traded in all those rich techniques for freedom. I don’t fret about customizing tab bars anymore, or wonder if the noise filter on the background is too pronounced. I work in shape and color. I’m back to focusing on information architecture and interface design instead of finish work and filigree. I’m finding that I’m able to interate faster and edit with less hesitation. My PSDs hierarchies are flatter. Views are more purposeful and content is amplified.
Designing for iOS 7 is realigning my design priorities and forcing me to exercise some of those parts I’ve let atrophy. It’s forcing all designers to think harder and focus on deference and intent. And that might be the greatest thing Apple achieves with this redesign, both for you and for me.
I’m running the latest beta of iOS 7 on my iPhone 5. It’s not installed on any other of my iDevices I use for work or the ones my wife and son use. After getting used to the changes (which took about a week), I’m excited to see the next generation of apps use the new UI for inspiration. With 95% of developers saying they plan to update their apps, this can only be a good thing.
via @Jury
Vespas and CitiBikes are overrated. If you want to be “vintage” or different when getting around, you need an adult sized Big Wheel.