Time has not affected people in a way that everything feels different. Where concerns and the burden of life has shifted the dynamic.

It's a pleasure to know these people. That after so long you carry on like it was only yesterday.

A friendship where time stands still. It's one of the most calming things in life I've ever had.

It takes less time than to buy it, I don't have to deal with the broken Live login system, and the BitTorrent downloads are faster. I only know this because I had to download an ISO after one of my discs became unreadable, and Microsoft refused to replace it. Why can't I just enter my product key and download an updated ISO with slipstreamed service packs? Why do pirates have a better experience than customers? If I want to reinstall my system, or upgrade my hardware, or switch between bootcamp and virtual machines, I will.

That's how I feel. But what's critical is this:

Why do pirates have a better experience than customers?

The user experience exists at many touch points for any given product. The Windows user experience improved with Windows 7, yet here exists a failure to delight the user just to install.

Don't think about just your software. There are a multitude of interactions with your user before and even after. Expand your vision to encompass everything and you'll have a brand that is loved because it understands its users.

Just because something has always been so doesn't mean it's the best experience. It's an artefact of time and adjustment by users. Stating that things are the way they are because it's what has always been is a cop out to me.

There's always a better way. From the start & all the way to the end.

What's most amazing is that the manner in which Wikipedia blacks out pages, or perhaps it's just the people, that has resulted in a mostly sad collection of tweets.

@herpderpedia

To me. It's that simple emotional response. I need some information for . When I can't get it, I get pissed off. Habits for most people are probably tied strongly with Wikipedia. Finding facts are as synonymous with it as searching on the internet is with Google.

Unfortunately a paragraph is too long and the critical information of why and when will services be resumed is the last sentence. I wonder if that line was first, big and bold it would have a reduction in complaints. This is will probably never be known as I'm hoping SOPA gets shutdown and there's no need to protest freedom online again.

Imagine a World
Without Free Knowledge

For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia.

iOS 5 has some new built-in APIs to make it really easy to read and write JSON.

He's right.

I've done half of the tutorial using the public Twitter timeline (JSON) instead. It's available for download here.

Perhaps the coolest part I've left out are the categories that extend the classes to make life even simpler.

@interface NSDictionary(JSONCategories)
+(NSDictionary*)dictionaryWithContentsOfJSONURLString:
  (NSString*)urlAddress;
-(NSData*)toJSON;
@end
 
@implementation NSDictionary(JSONCategories)
+(NSDictionary*)dictionaryWithContentsOfJSONURLString:
  (NSString*)urlAddress
{
    NSData* data = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:
      [NSURL URLWithString: urlAddress] ];
    __autoreleasing NSError* error = nil;
    id result = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:data
      options:kNilOptions error:&error];
    if (error != nil) return nil;
    return result;
}
 
-(NSData*)toJSON
{
    NSError* error = nil;
    id result = [NSJSONSerialization dataWithJSONObject:self
      options:kNilOptions error:&error];
    if (error != nil) return nil;
    return result;
}
@end
 

There's lots of things about having goals and all that shit. I'm starting to think it's mostly bullshit to make money for people. The most important thing I've learned and have begun to understand where I missed out is not being in the present.

Those moments where you're too consumed thinking about the past or the future. Where something amazing passes you by. Every time I reflect back I cringe because I made that mistake and that I keep searching the past instead of being collectively in the now.

I can't believe the amount of stuff that gets thrown at you. How to live your life, what defines success. That begins to wear you down. You start to believe that you are really doing badly. But how can you? It's your life. You should live it as you choose.

As long as your happy within your own terms. That's the marker of a successful life.

Getting caught up of the next stage of being an adult. That never ending water fall of things to achieve. Throw that away.

Focus on the now. If you're happy doing what you're doing right now smile and continue on. If you aren't then stop what you're doing and choose to let yourself enjoy being who you are for that one moment.

Life, for most is a long, long time. Building things so you're set up for the future may make you miss out on the most fantastic things. There's always time to do the serious stuff. As long as you aren't on the cold streets at night, you're doing okay.

Give yourself more credit to achieving where you are right now. Give yourself the right to do what you want and not what anyone else says. Live life at your own pace and not what anyone else tells you.

What works for me, may not work for you. I'm not going to tell you otherwise. As long as it's your decision. That's what matters.