Why did Apple go with a 3.5″ display when most newer Android devices are moving to 4″ screens? Here’s one explanation from blogger Dustin Curtis:

I have realized another huge downside of larger screens: when holding the phone with one hand, I can’t reach the other side of the screen with my thumb.

Touching the upper right corner of the screen on the Galaxy S II using one hand, with its 4.27-inch screen, while you’re walking down the street looking at Google Maps, is extremely difficult and frustrating. I pulled out my iPhone 4 to do a quick test, and it turns out that when you hold the iPhone in your left hand and articulate your thumb, you can reach almost exactly to the other side of the screen. This means it’s easy to touch any area of the screen while holding the phone in one hand, with your thumb. It is almost impossible to do this on the Galaxy S II.

This makes perfect sense and fits in with how Steve Jobs did things. And it also shows how brilliant Apple is when it comes to designing products.

LESSON: When creating products, don’t give in to spec sheet envy when you know the right answer is something different.

#1 Oklahoma beat #10 Texas 55 – 17 today. OU looked great and Texas looked very ordinary, primarily due to inexperience at the quarterback and corner back positions. The Longhorn QBs turned it over and the CBs gave up big plays. Not a good combination. Next up is OSU. Hopefully Texas can step it up.

Steve Jobs changed my life in many ways. But it started with the the first time I saw a Macintosh SE/30 in college.  Before that, other computers just weren’t worth the hassle to learn. I was still typing papers on a typewriter. Needless to say, I fell in love with the Mac. The following year I bought my first of 5 Macs. Without the Macintosh, I would never have ended up in the Internet business which I love so much. His products inspired and enabled me.

Thank you Steve, you will be missed.

The next time someone lays a “communication” issue on you, try this:

“That sounds interesting. Help me out. Describe specifically what you see happening and why it’s a problem.”

This should get the discussion going and help drill down to the real issue. This is helpful both internally and when working externally with partners.

source: All Things Workplace

From the Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation titled “Conflict Management From the Start“:

After reaching an agreement, professionals often rely on their lawyers to draw up the official contract. Unfortunately, miscommunication between negotiators and their lawyers often leads to costly mistakes. Contract terms may not accurately represent the negotiated agreement, key deal terms could be missing, or clauses might contradict one another.

The biggest miscommunications happen when the lawyers don’t have a term sheet to work from. If you just give them a summary, some e-mails, and perhaps the other party’s standard contract, they have no idea what to do with it. What follows are a long series of questions and back-and-forth on the contract terms. All of which could have been avoided if they’d had something more structured to work with from the beginning.

I’ve done it both ways. A term sheet is always the better, faster way to go. The legal process takes far less time, you end up with a contract that covers what you expected, and you don’t get blind-sided by anything 6 months into the deal.

You can equate not using a term sheet to trying to launch a new product without having detailed written requirements. That too doesn’t work so well. Take the time to write everything out and gain agreement on it. You will be glad you did.

When you’re gathering data to validate your market or product, pay attention to the following:

• Confirmation Bias – “Are you asking questions to find the truth or to prove yourself right?“
• Appeals to Authority – “Are you listening to experts instead of your customers?”
• Misaligned Motivations – “Do you have an emotional connection that is clouding your vision?”
• Overconfidence – “Are you…completely sure you know all the answers?”
• Familiarity – “Are you digging to find the real needs that you wouldn’t hear about otherwise?”

He presents a useful model for determining whether or not free is right for your product.

The thing I found most interesting was the concept of “the penny gap.” I hadn’t heard this before.

“The penny gap”—the hardest part is to get your customer to pay you the first penny. This is why it is so critical to choose your premium features wisely.

Also of note is the idea that the costs for most online products will trend towards free.

…Because of declining hosting and bandwidth costs, for most Internet products the marginal cost today is practically … zero.

In other words, if the cost to serve a customer (support aside) is zero, the long-term price of the product in the market will be zero (because of competitive pressure).

Check out the post, it’s very thought provoking.

It’s hard to imagine life without the Internet and the World Wide Web in particular. The Internet significantly changed my life when I was introduced to it in grad school in 1993. It turned out to be how I’ve made my living since then.

Happy Birthday WWW!!!