The story behind the logo.
The most successful effort to “brand” the state of New York came during the final moments of the state’s fiscal crisis in the 1970′s. Crime was rampant and, then as now, the state’s coffers were empty. Businesses (and their employees) were leaving in droves. Fear permeated perceptions of the state, and tourism was suffering. New York had lost much of its glamorous allure, and the state of New York turned to Madison Avenue for help. The state commissioned the ad agency Well, Rich and Greene and graphic artist Milton Glaser to develop a campaign, and the I [heart] NY slogan was born. Its goal: to promote tourism.
John Gruber had some nice things to say about Tweetbot so I thought I’d give it a spin. $1.99 later and I’ve discovered that it doesn’t work on my iPhone 3g (os 4.2.1). Instant crash.
I assume that the issue is my old phone, which I guess is fine. The problem is that it’s really not that old. I’m fine not having access to apps designed for newer phones, but why would the system let me download it if it wasn’t going to work?
There is something about the abandonment of legacy gadgets that reminds me of how cellular carriers treat people. What else am I going to do but get a new phone?
[update] Looks like a fix is on the way.
This could be one of the more interesting technology adoption stories going forward.
It’s not just that the brightest at Microsoft or Nokia or Google can’t make an upgrade stick. It’s that the upgrade is not universally beneficial to the value chain. To remedy this, licensors have to resort to contractual obligations to ensure upgrades, but enforcement is non-trivial and can lead to aggravated relationships.
Unless all licensees of a platform find compelling value in shouldering the burden of upgrades, they will continue to be really hard.
Hidden inside Mad Men’s new contract is a stipulation that an extra two minutes of each show may appear only online.
Mr. Weiner said Thursday … that he would produce 47-minute versions of each episode that could be viewed online, even if AMC broadcasted versions that were two minutes shorter.
Assuming they are aired/posted within the same time period, why watch the broadcast version if the online version is what show’s creator had intended?
Yglesias has other thoughts on the announcement.