I still print things… Unfortunately when I proofread, I just can’t do it on my monitor. It’s a mental block I guess. But getting my eyes mere inches away from the content, and running my fingers over it helps me.

The iPad has the same intimate feeling for content as paper. I think it’s a great opportunity for a mac developer to build a plugin to the OSX print dialog for iPad output via bluetooth. Not only is it a great way to share documents with yourself right before heading out, it’s a placebo for paper in those few times we still need it most.

The internet has been awesome lately. It’s a great time to be a reader.

The shop I want.
This article cuts to the heart of ecommerce better than all the old “long tail” articles ever did. The real problem of online retail is how to take a commodity and make it precious. When everything is mass produced, and can be shipped anywhere cheaply you have only two options. Carry exclusive products, or curate your product selection so that people rely on your opinion. No more coasting. Having the product is not enough anymore. Keep Reading

Jumpchart, Staction and Paprika are all geared toward simplicity. But with simplicity comes a lot of feature requests, and proclamations that “if it just had this one feature, it would be absolutely perfect!”

We continue to make updates as the internet, and our users evolve, but we’re stubborn in a big way: we’re sticking with simplicity. We feel this mentality is what makes our apps useful to the majority of our users in the first place. Keep Reading

“Ideas don’t happen because they are great- or by accident. The misconception that great ideas inevitably lead to success has prevailed for too long. Whether you have the perfect solution for an everyday problem or a bold new concept for a creative masterpiece, you must transform vision into reality. Far from being some stroke of reactive genius, this capacity to make ideas happen can be developed by anyone.” – Scott Belsky, Making Ideas Happen. Keep Reading

We’ve had a new app up our sleeve for a while now, and we’re ready for you to take a look!

Paprika is a text-based organization tool that integrates assigned todos, team communication, hash tags and more. If you like Jumpchart, Staction, and lists you can check off as you go, we think you’ll love this.

Sign up for the beta here!

“People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. The goal is not to do business with anybody who needs what you have. The goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe.” – Simon Sinek via Bobulate

This is so true. I think it’s especially true for someone who really loves your app, and doesn’t know how they ever did without it. For example, lovers of Jumpchart have to appreciate simplicity, and organization. Lovers of Staction have to understand the importance of communication with a minimal amount of clicks, and want the ability to do things quickly. We create apps as extensions of ourselves, knowing (hoping?) that others like us will get a kick out of them, and find them really useful.

“I believe remote development represents the future of work. If we have to spend a little time figuring out how this stuff works, and maybe even make some mistakes along the way, it’s worth it. As far as I’m concerned, the future is now. Why wait?” – Jeff Atwood, Coding Horror

I love the honesty, and transparency of the process he describes here. Working remote isn’t easy- we know, but that could be where we’re headed as an industry, so we need to buck up and get really good at it.

Read the whole article here.

“One problem with approaching your work purely in terms of “getting more clients,” is that it means you will always have to get more clients. If you don’t work, you don’t have billable hours, so you don’t get paid. Time off will always feel like money down the drain. If you’re not careful, you’ll find yourself on a treadmill, unable to get off. Spend too long on the treadmill and you’ll risk burning yourself out. Keep Reading

I’m beginning to have a weird “thing” for Frank Chimero. I’ve never net him, but I dig him. He says things like:

“ Once the tools are understood, understanding why to do certain things becomes more valuable than how to do them.” Keep Reading

You’ve always been able to attach files to a page. You’ve always been able to leave comments on a page. Nothing’s changed there.

We’ve discovered that when people use Jumpchart, they want to go into a little more detail with the comments they make, or a file they upload. Being able to trace files back to their creator/uploader can help cut down on confusion later in the project.

We decided we could help out.

Now you can attach files to your comments. With this new feature, you can connect your name to a file you’ve uploaded to a certain page so everyone knows who added it and where it came from. Or you can use a chart, graph or other image to help get your point across.

We think this new feature will make your Jumpchart experience a little more productive- we hope you like it!