Constantinos Michael 

This is absolutely shameful. Agents of a federal agency unnecessarily escalating, and then executing a defenseless citizen whose offense appears to be using his cell phone camera. Every person regardless of political affiliation should be denouncing this.

@DisneyPlus Cancelled. #BoycottDisney

STITCH-tember here we come! All these and more, coming to Disney+ this month.

@NAUSociology Hmm. The article seems to imply something about diminished patriotism, but the reality is that logos and brands became simpler because of broader design trends. Who puts a map on their logo when your logo will be reduced to a thumbnail and primarily viewed on a phone screen?

The latest from our own Dr. Bowie! Read here: fastcompany.com/91254207/patri…

Lachlan is shouting "but I'm the eldest boy" at his tv right now nytimes.com/2024/12/09/bus…

Do I have to sell my soul to Merrill Lynch for the returns?

@CenlarFSB Is there someone from the management team I can speak to? I have a complaint and would like to give someone with the authority to resolve my problem an opportunity before contacting CFPB.

@RussellWes_CDJR @Chrysler it's been a MONTH since we dropped off the Pacifica to see if we can get this issue fixed. No progress. We were promised a courtesy rental, but there was no follow-through. At this point, we are going to sell the Pacifica and buy a @Toyota Sienna.

The bare minimum you could do is take the car back at sale value, or fix it 100% at zero cost and compensate us for not able to use it for months now. @chrys

@Chrysler we were on the freeway with our 21 Pacifica PHEV. Got "shutdown imminent" at 65mph. Closest dealer uses OBD to tell us in 5 minutes we need a new PCM. Scheduled to replace the PCM with Van Nyus Chrysler (months of wait). They ask for $325 out of pocket to diagnose.

@British_Airways why is your website such garbage as of late? Crashes at every turn, "too high demand" pages, payment failures -- just an all around unmitigated disaster.

My first election! (As an observer, took me another 16 years to be eligible to vote). So wholesome!

1. yay, no more seat deathmatch 2. "[Southwest] was confident the changes would “not compromise the airline’s operational efficiency.” Right, I'm sure moms trying to sit with their kids is what's holding back Southwest's operational efficiency. nytimes.com/2024/07/25/bus…

This is how the T-1000 gets born.

youtu.be/Q8PdffUfoF0 the sequel delivers!

youtube.com/watch?v=LJUl77… good to have Jon back.

@elizlaraki Elizabeth! I've been wondering if I'm suffering from a hard case of change aversion, so I'm happy to see you in the skeptical camp. It does feel colder.

15 years ago, I helped design Google Maps. I still use it everyday. Last week, the team dramatically changed the map’s visual design. I don’t love it. It feels colder, less accurate and less human. But more importantly, they missed a key opportunity to simplify and scale. ––– Google Maps has started to widely roll out updated map colors: - All roads are now gray - Water changed from blue to teal - Parks and open spaces are now mint green It seems the goal was to improve usability and make the maps more readable. Admittedly, I do think major roads, traffic, and trails stand out more now. But the colors of water and parks/open spaces blend together. And to me, the palette feels colder and more computer generated. But color choices aside… If the goal was better usability, the team missed a big opportunity: Google Maps should have cleaned up the crud overlaying the map. ––– So much stuff has accumulated on top of the map. Currently there are ~11 different elements obscuring it: - Search box - 8 pills overlayed in 4 rows - A peeking card for “latest in the area” - A bottom nav bar (Personally, I would LOVE to see usage metrics for all these overlays.) The map should be sacred real estate. Only things that are highly useful to many people should obscure it. There should be a very limited number of features that can cover the map view. And there are multiple ways to add new features without overlaying them directly on the map. ––– Here’s how it could look: - Keep the search box - Keep the bottom bar - Remove everything else from the map - Roll the most used features into the bottom bar - Bury the less used features elsewhere in the app I assume the search box and directions are top priority and should remain prominent. My Location and map layers (satellite, traffic, etc.) could move to the bottom bar. The explore overlays (restaurants, gas, etc.) could live in the bottom bar in “Explore” and open as cards. The additional space in the bottom bar could be used for Saved, as a “More” option, or could be removed entirely. There are many variations of how features could be arranged. But the key points are: - Dramatically simplify - Strongly prioritize map visibility - Bury legacy and low use features ––– It’s normal for products to accumulate features over time. But it’s also super important to stay vigilant and continually clean them up. In many ways, it’s interesting to see history repeating itself. In 2007, I was 1 of 2 designers on Google Maps. At that time, Maps had already become a cluttered mess. We were wedging new features into any space we could find in the UI. The user experience was suffering and the product was growing increasingly complicated. We had to rethink the app to be simple and scale for the future. It seems like it’s time for Google Maps to do this again… ––– For more on design + tips for early stage founders, follow me on X: @elizlaraki

America, now with a 3 party system.

“Substack meets Masterclass meets the Economist meets the New Yorker" vibes