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What are your thoughts about today’s show? We’d love to hear from you!
Life was great, before all the messaging. You’d be able to drive from A to B, without people constantly distracted and staring at displays - okay, you had people putting on their make-up or shaving using the rear-view mirror, instead, but there weren’t as many of them.
Also, I’d get in the company car at the office at 7 in the morning, drive 4 hours to the customer and be refreshed, when I got there. No interruptions, no phone calls, no messages, no satnav nagging to take alternate routes into the wilderness, just driving and listening to the radio. You knew how the traffic would be, you had alternate routes in mind, in case there was a traffic jam.
Although I got caught in the last half mile to the Severn Bridge and there was a chemical tanker that overturned on the middle of the bridge, I spent two hours laying on the bonnet of the car, reading a book, waiting for the road to re-open. A tour bus a few cars further up had an impromptu picnic on the side of the motorway.
These days, the little electronic nagger is constantly beeping at you. In fact, when I get in the car, I usually silence the phone (message tones) and stick it in my travel bag, behind my seat, out of sight, out of mind - I have it connected to the radio by Bluetooth and it is usually playing an audiobook or a podcast and I ignore all incoming messages. If it is important, they will call.
When I read this, a Wes Anderson movie started rolling in my mind. Everything beautifully shot and very soothing - maybe staring Owen Wilson or Adrien Brody. A different time, a different vibe. I think there’s a story to be told and lessons to be learned here how going from the olden days to the digital days have changed much, but how a seasoned mind finds the best answers to disregard and insulate from modern disturbances and annoyances.
#NoNotifications
Is there an article somewhere that talks about employee retention at places like Apple and Microsoft? I was somewhat surprised to hear that the Microsoft of today is pretty Darwinian in terms of whether employees stay or not. I can definitely believe that of the Microsoft of the previous decade (2001-2010) or even the 90s, but within the last 10 years - it seems like that kind of mentality has been replaced by a better culture.
Really enjoying Rene’s and Andy’s commentary in this episode!
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“I just want it to work” – Alex Lindsey, regarding app stores on iOS
So don’t enable side loading! We just need Gatekeeper on iOS and then the 0.01% of users like me who are begging for this freedom will shut up.
Here’s another point to consider - when you show a user 2 options to install an app, with one being dramatically longer than the other, which will users pick? Apple’s 1-click install will win out practically every time.
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