Many designers use a grid as the foundation for every one of their designs. Some will use a 12-​​column grid, some will use a 16-​​column grid, some will use a 24-​​column grid, and others will use anything in between. The point isn’t so much the type of grid that you use, but the fact that you use one. Grids in web design are very common, and with the implementation of responsive web design, grids have become even more important than ever.

Grant Howitt describing his experience at the Panasonic Toughpad press conference:

I think Panasonic has invented a new kind of pixel. A bendy pixel. I don’t understand. What does PPI stand for? What am I doing with my life? Why am I here in this basement in Munich at the age of 26 staring at a man fire a laser pointer at a graph? How did this happen? I wanted to be a Sky Pirate. I don’t understand any of this.

You have to go read this. It’s hilarious.

Steven Levy talking to Google CEO Larry Page:

Wired: Steve Jobs felt competitive enough to claim that he was willing to “go to thermonuclear war” on Android.

Page: How well is that working?

Android is a stolen product and you know it.

The gimmick here is that you no longer control our yellow wide-mouthed pellet-munching pal. Instead, you control the orientation of the blue-bordered world he and his ghostly enemies inhabit. Twist the world, and they fall through it.

It’s fun and challenging. Grab it before the copyright police go after it.

Tomato, tomahto.

Eli Hodapp, Touch Arcade:

Fans of the Myst series should clear their plans for this weekend as Riven: The Sequel to Myst for iPad just hit the App Store.

$4 for iPhone, $6 for iPad.

Overcome the clutches of procrastination with Finish, a busy iPhone user’s best friend. Unlike other to-do apps that are “clever” for their own sake, only Finish takes advantage of how you naturally think. Finish gets in your face when you need it, stays out of the way when you don’t, and effortlessly keeps you focused the only thing that matters.

Love this — I just bought it.

Mashable:

The 2014 Corvette brings many new features to the design of the iconic sports car: muscular lines, carbon-fiber parts and redesigned tail lights to name a few. But the most head-turning feature may be the…

I left off the “most head-turning feature”. Can you guess what it might be? The new ‘Vette is a top-to-bottom redesign, 450HP and the same in torque, around $50K, muscular look, reintroduced “Stingray” badging, longer, wider, etc, etc. Lots of “new” to this car.

But what does Mashable think is the most head turning feature? Watch the video and tell me at which point do you do what I did – yell, “GET OUT OF THE CAR, GEEK!”

GamePolitics:

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced a proposal to make it illegal for pilots and flight attendants to use wireless electronics during flight operations including mobile and hand-held devices and laptops.

The proposal excludes electronic devices related to flight operations, so airlines that are replacing printed flight manuals with iPads are excluded. This is more aimed at keeping flight attendants, pilots and other personnel from being distracted by their own personal electronics while flying.

The article points out that this has no bearing on another proposal to enable passengers to use electronic devices during take offs and landings.

Use Kaleidoscope to spot the differences in text, images, and folders. Review and merge changes in seconds with the world’s most advanced file comparison application.

Great looking app from the folks at Black Pixel.

Turbulenz offers the ability to play the most engaging and connected games the web has to offer today. Games on Turbulenz provide everything, from 3D visuals through to real-time multiplayer, social feeds, leaderboards, and badges. The best part of the Turbulenz experience is that everything is free to play!

This was pretty cool. I tried “Save the Day” and ran over some people with my helicopter — don’t do that.

James Kendrick, ZDNet:

The folks at Lenovo are going into the Chromebook space with the announcement of a version of its ThinkPad X131e for the education market.

Samsung and Acer both make Chromebooks – small, inexpensive laptops running Google’s Chrome operating system, designed to work exclusively with Google’s cloud services rather than depending on local applications. Their big benefit is their cost – available to consumers for as little as $200.

The Thinkpad X131e is an 11.6-inch laptop with Intel processor, 1366 x 768 screen, USB ports and Web cam. The same laptop is already available from Lenovo for schools running Windows for $539. The article does not indicate how much less a Chromebook version would be.

Use of negative space is a factor that is often overlooked but just as, if not more, important than the physical aspects of a website.

Graham Cochrane put together a great video on what phase issues can do to your recorded guitar tone.

Jim and Dan discuss the article put out by the Wall Street Journal “devaluing” Apple and speculate on Dell’s plans with private-equity firms.

Sponsored by Hover, (use code DANSENTME for 10% off) Mailchimp, Sourcebits, and Squarespace (use code DANSENTME1 for 10% off).

You can download it and then pay when you submit your taxes.

Seth Godin:

If you go to work and do what you’re told, you’re not being negative, certainly, but the lack of initiative you demonstrate (which, alas, you were trained not to demonstrate) costs us all, because you’re using a slot that could have been filled by someone who would have added more value.

So true.

And this is why people are flying Virgin.

Many people may have known about this, but I didn’t. I haven’t had that much trouble with the new default behavior though.

Harvard Business Review:

The critics that are screaming right now are intellectually lazy. They’re throwing temper tantrums instead of looking at the big picture. Like two-year-olds, they don’t really know what they want. And they’re not happy when they get it, anyway. Apple could unveil a new car and they’d say Apple’s days are over because it’s just bet its future on an industry it knows nothing about. Not unlike, say, Apple’s entrance into the mobile phone industry. I bet that if Apple did unveil a time machine, they’d claim it wasn’t fast enough.

Tim Cook is taking exactly the right approach, staying the course, despite distracting expectations swirling around him. Apple is a marvel of human achievement.

Don’t worry, Apple fans. This too shall pass.

Oh Google.

Rene Ritchie outlines what an LG smart home would look like and wonders how Apple will fit into that future.

As a result of ongoing testing, we’re announcing AT&T will enable FaceTime over Cellular at no extra charge for customers with any tiered data plan using a compatible iOS device.

Just go read Mark Rogowsky’s article on Forbes. Lots of good points.

That looks cool.

Brendan Sinclair, Gamesindustry.biz:

So when tragedies happen, our response must be galling to those who don’t “get” games. Instead of explaining the merits of what we do, we throw up discussion-ending roadblocks of First Amendment rights and scientific research (ignoring that parent watchdog groups also claim to have the weight of scientific research on their side). It’s not unlike what the National Rifle Association does when the issue of gun control comes up. They say it doesn’t work, namecheck the Second Amendment, and change the subject.

Sinclair is absolutely right – the video game industry has an unfortunate tendency to go the First Amendment whenever anyone in government questions what they’re selling or how they’re selling it much the same way the NRA goes to the Second Amendment.

I really wish both industries would stop rubbing our noses in their respective constitutional rights to exist.

Sinclair also talks about the backdoor marketing of violent video game content to children, despite ESRB ratings:

They put Kratos in Little Big Planet and Hot Shots Golf, Solid Snake in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and the cast of Army of Two, Dead Space, and Medal of Honor in MySims: Sky Heroes. Oh, and who could forget the Mortal Kombat animated series?

Sinclair talks about broadcast television’s requirement to serve the public interest with a portion of their programming, and suggests the video game industry do the same.

The problem as I see it with that approach is that left to their own devices, consumers will choose shit over gold almost every time. Otherwise the cable broadcaster once known as “The Learning Channel” wouldn’t be shoveling crap like “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.” I don’t think the answer is as facile as “make better quality stuff,” otherwise PBS would be the most-watched channel on television.