Learn how to name files—hey Comcast, this means you!

People are really bad at naming files on their computer. How many times have you walked up to someone’s desktop to see half a dozen “untitled folder”s, several “documents” and files with other generic names like “resume,” “proposal” and “draft”?

Are you really going to remember what’s in that file tomorrow? In two months? In two years. No. Naming your files is just like writing email: be clear, concise and remove redundancy.

When you’re creating files for distribution over the web, remember where this is going to end up — on someone’s desktop. Two quick tips:

  • If you’re a job seeker, resume.pdf is a terrible name. Think of the hundreds of resume.pdfs the recruiter will have on his or her computer. PaulSchreiberResume.pdf is a much better name. No spaces, punctuation or accents makes the file URL easier to read and type (Paul%20Schreiber%20Resume.pdf just looks awful), and ensures it will be compatible with the Unicode-hostile mess that is corporate email.
  • If you’re a musician, actor, comedian or other performer, avoid names like headshot.jpg, bio.pdf and onesheet.pdf. Make sure your name is part of the file name. (And don’t forget to credit the photographer!)

Now, on to Comcast. They helpfully let you download your monthly invoices as PDFs. However, they look like this:
67899012345_05-27-2008.pdf

So what’s wrong with the name? Aside from the fact that starting off with an account number impairs scanability, look what happens when you have a good number of bills saved up:
67899012345_05-27-2007.pdf
67899012345_05-27-2008.pdf
67899012345_05-27-2009.pdf
67899012345_06-27-2007.pdf
67899012345_06-27-2007.pdf

That’s right—the files appear totally out of order. A much better idea would be to use an ISO standard date format like 2008-05-27, which—in addition to being a standard—sorts more cleanly.

American Airlines spokesman explains why they are going out of business

More proof that airlines are run by idiots:

Airlines argue that adding fees this way is preferable to fare hikes because in theory, at least, passengers who don’t want to use the services can avoid them. And airlines can’t just raise fares whenever it suits them because the industry is so competitive that they’d surely lose passengers. “There is hardly any other product or service out there where a customer can instantly compare all the prices and products and services of every competitor,” said American spokesman Tim Smith.

  1. People hate small fees.
  2. Welcome to the Internet, Tim.

Four-year-olds already get it

Clay Shirky explains the future:

I was having dinner with a group of friends about a month ago, and one of them was talking about sitting with his four-year-old daughter watching a DVD. And in the middle of the movie, apropos nothing, she jumps up off the couch and runs around behind the screen. That seems like a cute moment. Maybe she’s going back there to see if Dora is really back there or whatever. But that wasn’t what she was doing. She started rooting around in the cables. And her dad said, “What you doing?” And she stuck her head out from behind the screen and said, “Looking for the mouse.”

Here’s something four-year-olds know: A screen that ships without a mouse ships broken. Here’s something four-year-olds know: Media that’s targeted at you but doesn’t include you may not be worth sitting still for.

Why I’m going to Pittsburgh

Your generation had John Kennedy and Pierre Trudeau. My generation has checked out of politics for the longest time. We’re jaded. We’re cynical. We’re tired of spin and sound bites, tired of talking points, tired of being talked at.

We want authenticity. We want an end to corruption. We want inspiration.

In 1961, John F Kennedy said we could put a man on the moon in ten years. Look what happened.

In 2001, George W Bush told Americans to go shopping. Look what happened.

We deserve better. We can do better.

Barack Obama is our generation’s Kennedy or Trudeau, inspiring millions of people to get up and do something. Go look at an Obama office — it’s a hugely diverse group of volunteers — young black
men, twentysomething asian women, 50-something white women, Indians, white kids from the suburbs like me — everyone.

You should be proud to have a child who cares so much — one who’s politically active and not a slacker, stoner, ignorant or a cynic.

Facebook’s lawyers: idiots or jackasses?

Hanlon’s razor tells us that we should “never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.”

I’m still unable to figure which is the case with Facebook’s new promo guidelines. Bad linking policies are nothing new — we’ve seen them from Fast Company, NPR, Starbucks and KPMG.

But these stories are old, man — the most recent is from 2004. Surely an Internet-savvy company like Facebook would know better, right?

Wrong.

According to Facebook, it’s okay to say “Check out the Company X Page on Facebook,” but you MAY NOT (capitals theirs) say “Check out the Company X Facebook Page.”

What, pray tell, is the difference? How does the latter “imply partnership, endorsement or sponsorship”?

Sigh.

Lost in translation

In English, when reading numbers out loud, one often “chunks” the numbers into smaller groups. For example, when reading the phone number “555-1212,” one would say “five five five, one two one two,” not “five hundred fifty-five, one thousand two hundred and twelve.”

Similarly, one would call Interstate 280 “interstate two eighty,” not “interstate two hundred and eighty.”

Toyota’s Prius GPS does this. It’s an example of good design — speak the language your customers speak.

However, this falls apart when you switch the Prius over to French. Exit 420 becomes exit quatre (4) vingt (20). The problem? In most parts of the French-speaking world, 80 is also pronounced “quatre vingts” (“four twenties”).

In this case, you have to listen to your GPS and read the screen to be sure you take the right exit.

You fucked with the wrong marine, part II

Apparently some people just don’t read the news. Remember, kids: don’t mess with a marine:

A boy in his mid-teens learned Wednesday afternoon that it is not a good idea to try to rob a former U.S. Marine at knifepoint, even if the former Marine is 84 years old, police said today.
…
The man then put his bags on the ground and told the boy that if he stepped closer he would be sorry. When the boy stepped closer, the man kicked him in the groin, knocking him to the sidewalk, Bair said. The ex-Marine picked up his grocery bags and walked home, leaving the boy doubled over, Bair said.