UPDATE: 8 Jan 2012 - Looks like Apple have rejected App Cooker’s sister app: “App Taster”. App Cooker is still available. Sounds like a misunderstanding, they’ve appealed and are expecting some news soon. I’m currently in the middle of developing my first iPhone app and wanted to share a phenomenal resource I stumbled across. If you happen to be thinking about building your own app, I’d seriously consider investing in this tool, or one like it before you shell out any money on software development! It called App Cooker for iPad ($19.99) by Hot Apps Factory. Here’s a short list of what I thought …

I came across this video of Jonathan Ives (Lead industrial designer at Apple) earlier today as I searched for people who were amazing user experience designers. Designing things is an obsessive process, and I find that you can often isolate yourself for hours, or even weeks thinking about something in a trance. This can be productive, but the success of any idea is how well it works in “reality” and the only way to learn about the real world is to get out of your head, and be present in it. That way, when you go into your trance, you’re …

Some years back I was lucky enough to listen to Ben Zander (conductor of the Boston Philharmonic) talk about his other passion: “The Art of Possibility”. It was the last day of a 3 day conference and I remember walking into the auditorium feeling deflated. I was attending my employers annual “elite” conference where top employees from all over the US come together to exchange experiences. My ticket to this prestigious event came from a sentiment other than greatness; I had come to work for my current employer through a series of corporate acquisitions, i.e. “they” didn’t hire me and …

I used to get nervous about giving presentations, but somewhere along the line that changed and I began to love it. One of the most important things you can do, is engage people. Presenting is a chance to put that into practice. I used to wonder how people manage to go into presentations and confidently free style. I figured they must really know the content inside out, and though i still think that’s true, I don’t think that’s the most important thing. You can’t conquer presentation nerves by knowing a lot of content relatedstuff. I think the secret lies in …

It’s easy to tune out, easy to see something, feel something, but not realize how and why you feel that way.Why bother tuning in? To gain amazing insights … to create engaging presentations that force people out of their normal zone … forcing them to tune in and take a hard look at what’s being said. Forcing them to be unassuming.Here’s a little example of tuning in. Hope you enjoy it