Where democratizing technology got the better of us

From the start, I’ve been a supporter of the democratization of design. Everyone has the right to access it, because fundamentally good design is something that makes the world a better place. A lot of websites are founded on this, such as Shopify, which has enough flexibility to give most of the stores we visit […]

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Stanley Moss’s latest Global Brand Letter out now

Finally, a happier post. For many years (since 2004), my dear friend Stanley Moss has been publishing his Global Brand Letter, which is not only a wonderful summary of the year (or the last half-year, since he often writes every six months) in branding, but an excellent record of the evolution of culture.    He […]

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When Here WeGo still sends you to the wrong location six years on

Six years ago, I reported this error in Here Maps (a.k.a. Here WeGo), both via the official channels and to a software engineer I knew working there.    It’s still there. There aren’t two Wharekauhau Country Estates (this is the route between them, to highlight just how wrong it is; the westerly one is correct). […]

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Lucire’s Twitter account is back

I can’t yet reveal why, but I’ve come across the work of Hong Kong-trained and based designer Caroline Li, and it’s really good. She’s done a lot of book covers, and I know first-hand how hard it is to have a small canvas to work from. Maybe I’m just used to magazines. Check out her […]

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Xiaomi’s tiny idiosyncracies

There were a few surprises switching to Xiaomi.    First up, it asked me to do a voice identification by saying these four words, 小爱同學. Only thing is, it doesn’t understand Cantonese.    The default weather app was able to give me details based on exactly where I am (location service turned on, and I […]

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Some surprises on day one with the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 5G

Top: Decent enough specs for the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 5G. Above: Very respectable download speeds (in the header) as the phone updates 71 apps.   My Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 5G is here, and it’s proved better than the reviews suggested.    First up, kudos to the seller, YouGeek on Aliexpress, who not only […]

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Farewell, Twitter gadget (is there a point to them?)

  One good thing to having Twitter lock Lucire’s account: there’s no point having a Twitter gadget or widget on your home page any more. Was there ever one to begin with? I don’t think I’ve ever gone to a site and found a Twitter widget useful.    It did bother me that a Lucire […]

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Refreshing the less oft-seen pages on Lucire’s website

A decade separates these two incarnations of Lucire’s shopping home page. Some Facebook gadgets were added during the 2010s and the magazine cover was updated, but it was woefully out of date and needed to be refreshed.   It’s very unusual for us to go into the less-frequented pages in Lucire and adapt them to […]

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For once, the US media were on Facebook’s case (they’ve more cohones than their government)

For once, you didn’t need me to point out the unethical happenings of Facebook, Inc. when the mainstream media actually cared.    First we had the Murdoch Press run ‘The Facebook Files’ in The Wall Street Journal, which I heard about from the incomparable and insightful Bob Hoffman on the 26th ult. The WSJ begins: […]

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Switching Lucire’s home page over to the new template

Lucire’s online edition home page: out with the old (top), in with the new (above).   I switched over Lucire’s home page to the new template today. I’m going to miss the old one, since it had the effect of a bled page, something that’s de rigueur for a fashion magazine.    As outlined in […]

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