What’s next for Better Bird?

We’ve got a few hundred folks using Better Bird, my Chrome extension for fixing the Twitter web UI, and I’m thrilled. ..

The inorganic app

It occurs to me, as I look at my Google+ stream for the first time in two months, the reason I never use it: it never had a chance to grow on me. ..

A failure of empathy

Consider for a moment the logic of the leading paragraph of this article: Research suggests that consumers spend only about one second looking at nutrition information when making myriad choices. A parent dashing through the grocery store aisles with kids in tow has to decide, in that one second, which is better: Triscuit vs. Saltines vs. Wheat Thins vs. Ritz? This is why Americans need a simple, standardized and truthful label on the front of all packaged foods. ..

C# should be truthy-y

While “truthy” values in JavaScript can cause no small amount of heartache, one must admit they help readability. For objects anyway, it’s very nice to say if (object) {…} and get on with business. If the object is null or undefined, “false” strikes me as a perfectly legitimate behavior in that context. ..

Nobody cares about “channels”

There are rumors afoot that Apple will offer TV channels as apps in an upcoming release. This might work as an interim idea, but it has no legs long-term. ..

Suspension of disbelief

You watch a movie. In order to get something from it, you have to enter the world that it presents. You must suspend disbelief. ..

Try “Better Bird”

I created a Chrome extension to fix what I think are some rough edges and poor choices in the Twitter web app. Have a look: ..

Craigslist can help fix the NYC apartment market

As I’ve written in the past, there are several unique inefficiencies to the Manhattan apartment market. Many can’t be helped in the short term, owing to an endemically tight market. ..

Owning a data type, or, be the switchboard

I was chatting with my colleagues at Stack Exchange the other day and we wondered what it means to “own” a data type. ..

Disrupting the NYC rental information market

The Manhattan apartment rental market is unique, as anyone who has experienced it will tell you. The very low vacancy rate (high demand) allows for behavior that other markets don’t bear. ..