They look like the establishment now. Mashable’s always had a lot of clutter in its design, due to the fact that they tended to try a lot of things and throw them on the wall and see if they worked. It’s what the site’s always been about. They did need a redesign, and we’re glad they’re trying. But we’d rather have the old design back than this slick hodgepodge that feels like absolutely nothing at all.
Why does it suck? The colors of this design are so quiet, so muted, so similar to Yahoo!’s longstanding mid-decade quiet tones, that it doesn’t make us feel anything. Also worth noting: The headshots, which emphasized that this was a personality-driven site, have been de-emphasized too much, creating an anonymous, generic feel.
Changes worth considering Mashable’s a popular site, but it could stand to be hipper (like Engadget, which just got a great redesign) or more playful (like Twitter, which drives much of the site’s traffic). It should have as much personality as the words of its jetsetting founder, Pete Cashmore. Cleaner doesn’t mean lifeless. Never forget that, kids.
The Wall Street Journal says March. Are you a nerd with a predestined affection towards devices with no buttons? Do you like breathlessly waiting for months for things, turning rumor into fact in the process? Well, good news for you. The WSJ says the machine, which may or may not get released in January, is heading into stores in March, just in time for your rent check to burn a hole in your pocket. Yay anonymously-sourced tech rumors! source
Tina Brown, already a vet of Vanity Fair and the New Yorker, has built The Daily Beast into a hype-free News 2.0 beast in just over a year. Not bad.
source
The history of the Internet suggests that there have been cool Web sites that go in and out of fashion and then there have been open standards that become plumbing. Twitter is looking more and more like plumbing, and plumbing is eternal.
Technology observer Steven Johnson • On Twitter’s long-term prospects as a communication mechanism. Johnson’s comments are the centerpiece of an article by New York Times media columnist David Carr, who makes the argument that Twitter may just stick around as a long-term mechanism rather than a trend like MySpace or Friendster. Carr still sounds a little cynical of the idea, but even so, makes a killer point: “Professional acquaintances whom I find insufferable on every other platform suddenly become interesting within the confines of Twitter.” Twitter win. source
WHAT?! No, really, we couldn’t hear you. Apple, which is in the midst of lawsuit hell with Nokia, can at least claim one big victory – a class-action lawsuit on iPods causing hearing loss. After winning the original suit, now they won the appeal? Why? Well, two reasons. First, the defendants didn’t actually have any hearing damage caused by the iPod, just fear it might happen. And two, even if they did, the court would pin the blame on them, not Apple. Way to lose embarrassingly, guys. source
To give credit where credit is due: We really like the direction Typekit’s Web interface is headed. It’s very clean and well-organized, it’s easy to use, and it works like a snap. Keep it up, guys. Between this and Kernest (which we use and have lots of nice things to say about), the Web font game is starting to get very interesting. source