Jackson Fish Market
Posted on June 2, 2011 by hillel on Design, Industry

Why does the Valley want designers that can code? Because the Valley doesn’t understand what designers do.

Jared Spool recently posted about “Why the Valley wants designers that can code.” Basically, he makes the good point that hiring managers at startups are always looking for ways to get more value for their dollar. And so based on that understanding he recommends “If you’re a designer, you don’t have to learn to code. […]

Posted on May 26, 2011 by hillel on Uncategorized

Some excellent literacy blogs, and an apology.

In our efforts to connect with the potential audience for A Story Before Bed, we’ve spent lots of time finding folks online who care about things that A Story Before Bed can help with… like connecting families, and promoting literacy. On the literacy front, these blogs are among the best: Educational Technology in the Classroom […]

Posted on April 28, 2011 by hillel on A Story Before Bed, Behind the Scenes

How we accidentally became a Children’s Book Publisher. (Part 1 of the creation of a new book.)

We shipped A Story Before Bed, our recordable children’s ebook service back in November of 2009. In the year preceding the launch we spent plenty of time talking to publishers to see if they would license us their books for inclusion in our service. And we did find three intrepid publishers (Immedium, Charlesbridge, and Bubblegum) […]

Posted on April 7, 2011 by hillel on Industry, User Experience

Does HTML5 mean the end of the native app? (In other news… Phillips head screwdrivers will kill flat head screwdrivers!)

I just happened upon an article by Matt Marshall on Venture Beat: “How HTML5 will kill the native app.” Ugh. This article reads like an HTML5 marketing document. There’s good reason to be excited about HTML5. But I believe there are a couple of key things missing from this discussion: 1. The value of cross-platform […]