Client Commandments for 2026: After the AI Prototype

Why Startup Landing Pages Look Alike

The page furniture is familiar. Give it a specific product to explain.

The Evolution of the Loading Spinner: Still Waiting

The shape can change. The application still owes you an answer when the work is done.

Variable Names in Production: A Fictional Field Guide

No private repositories were raided for these specimens. The mysterious boxes are entirely fictional.

The Worst Programming Language Names, Judged Unfairly

Four small objections to language names that have to survive an ordinary sentence.

Movie Hacking Scenes: What the Real Tools Actually Prove

A real scanner is a useful supporting actor. It cannot vouch for the entire screenplay.

Four Discontinued Google Products, With the Dates Explained

Four retirement notices, several different clocks and a shelf that keeps collecting souvenirs.

Fake Operating Systems in Movies: Behind the Screens

The settings menu stays off camera. Four productions show what fictional screen graphics actually need to do.

The Worst of Web 2.0 Awards, Entirely Imaginary

Admission requires an invitation from someone already inside. Nobody knows what happens inside. The imaginary awards ceremony is ready.

American Place Slogans Taken Too Literally

The sign has volunteered the whole community for a permanent state of excellence. Three real place-branding lines meet a literal-minded visitor.

Heroes’ Most Powerful Hero: The Case for Hiro

Try scheduling a fair contest when one entrant can visit a different date. A qualified case for Hiro, with a clear rule for the argument.

The 10 Commandments of Web Development Clients

The little calendar has brought luggage. Ten rules for making a web project easier to brief, review and hand over.

Why I’ll Never Make Digg Popular

The headline committee has one member, and it still cannot reach a decision. A fictional return to the old dream of making Digg popular.

Movie Cliches That Deserve a Rewrite

Let the person finish the sentence. Six story shortcuts that deserve a difficult meeting with the writer.

Whatever Happened to Hypercolor?

The color-changing shirt was a status display you could not turn off. The material effect, laundry problems and business history behind the fad.

A Beard Bonanza for People Who Manage Too Many Projects

Five fictional beards take on familiar workplace habits, from the branch collector to a weekend prototype that never quite ends.

Social Media Websites, Illustrated as Ridiculous Machines

A noticeboard on wheels, a tiny stage and a camera with chairs. Three fictional machines explain some familiar social media habits.

10 Real Place Names That Sound Like Bad Test Data

Accident, Maryland looks like the value someone left in a test database. You can almost see the ticket: replace fake towns before launch. Then you check the map…

How to Make Square Corners with CSS

The CSS declaration for square corners, followed by the image and JavaScript techniques developers once used to make them round.

Culture

Strange College Mascots and the Arguments Behind Them

Blue Hose, Stanford's Tree, Florida State and Illinois: the history behind odd names and contested symbols.

Culture

The Seven Phases of Owning an iPod

Seven stages in the life of a music player, from a portable library through battery complaints and copy protection to the repair bench.

MythBusters Results: Find a Myth, Episode or Verdict

Find the results archive and episode guide, then read the stories behind the death-ray retest and the Dublin cannonball accident.

Movie Hackers: Real Tools and Big Shortcuts

From Sneakers and Trinity to Independence Day, the methods and shortcuts behind nine selected screen portrayals.