Because the Valley doesn’t understand, um, people.

Umair asks, “Why is the Valley Afraid of MySpace?” And the answer is simple: because “the Valley” doesn’t understand people. They barely understand products. They understand engineering and technology. It’s actually very much related to another post of Umair’s, where he writes, the very definition of the term innovation is shifting to a class of [...]

Wherein I Don’t Attempt To Win Any Friends

NextD, the journal for “ReRethinking Design,” just posted a conversation between me and one of its principals, GK Van Patter. Starting off fairly tame, it becomes a no-holds-barred discourse on design, designers, design thinking, anthropology, voice advocacy, and, of course, turkey dinners. I don’t mean to discourage you, but it’s long. The conversation came out [...]

It’s my blog, and I’ll bitch if I want to.

Would you follow this man’s lead? Being a Warrior fan is a remarkably trying experience. One thing that I don’t understand is why the fans and the media aren’t calling for Coach Montgomery to be fired. I just watched an ESPN bit on Byron Scott and the great work he’s done with a young Hornets [...]

Design of Service

Yesterday, in between job-oriented chats with CMU design students, I attended a session that Shelley Evenson gave on service design. Shelley herself made clear that there’s not yet a single definition of service design. Dan wrote about this a year and a half ago, and his take is pretty much the same as mine: Service [...]

Adaptive Path Turns 5!

Yep. It was on March 2, 2001 (scroll down) that Adaptive Path launched. It’s been a great 5 years, and to celebrate the occasion, on March 2, 2006, we’re having a party, and you’re all invited!

Samsung – Talking Design isn’t Doing Design

Luke comments on Samsung’s Design Vision, which spurs me to rant. Because Samsung has gotten a lot of press lately about how they’ve embraced design. Yet, if my experience with the P777 is any indicator, all those designers in their employ aren’t doing squat. Investing in design, talking up design, even engaging in thoughtful design [...]

“Elite Design Agencies” and “Web 2.0″

A few weeks ago (I’ve been behind in my feedreading), Niti posted an email she got that from Douglass Turner, where he marvels at how the “elite design agencies” don’t seem to get “Internet 2.0.” Take a moment to read it, and her responses. Okay. You back? So, I feel obliged to join this discussion, [...]

Ticket Purchased – Heading to the IA Summit

In the interest of managing some of the outstanding details of my life, I’ve also booked my ticket to Vancouver for the IA Summit. Year in and year out, the IA Summit is my favorite conference. The content is consistently good and the people are great. This is the one event that all other obligations [...]

Tickets purchased: Heading to SxSW!

For the first time since 2002, I will be attending the South by Southwest Interactive conference (as I like to think of it: the best web conference with the worst web site!). I am moderating a panel on Sunday morning, currently titled What’s Hot in Web Applications. It currently features folks from three companies–Meebo, Zimbra, [...]

It doesn’t take much

Bradley Horowitz, whom I admire for being a staunch Alameda advocate, inaugurates his blog with a post on Creators, Synthesizers, and Consumers, which includes the thesis, “we don’t need to convert 100% of the audience into “active” participants to have a thriving product that benefits tens of millions of users.” I’ve spent the last 30 [...]

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Links, thoughts, and essays from Peter Merholz