∞ Figma's Year in Numbers
tl;dr:
- Most popular non-grey color: #009688
- Most popular font: Montserrat
- Most popular frame: 🖥 1440x1024
- Most collaborated countries: 🇺🇸 and 🇷🇺
Playing a previously console/PC only game on my MacBook in my bed with a game controller.
Only possible because of Stadia.
💯
ABC Song Variants
Jason Kottke's post on the alternate ABC song got my attention:
An alternate version of the ABC song that slows down the LMNOP part is currently going viral because of a tweet by Noah Garfinkel: “They changed the ABC song to clarify the LMNOP part, and it is life ruining.”
My first reaction was: thank you! I always find the ABC song I'm hearing from my daughter's toys are strange and hard to follow. So I completely agree with them:
About the slow l,m,n,o,p: I teach young learners of English as a foreign language, and have found this way the most effective for teaching the letters.
Here is the original video by Matt Richelson:
However, this is not the one I learned either. The version I learned slowed down the same LMN part, but it also has a different grouping: OPQ, RST, UVW, XYZ, plus a different ending. I find it even easier for non native speakers. Here is a video of this version:
I couldn't find out where this version original comes from. The subtitle of the above videos says it's French music. But searched the French version of ABC song, it's the same as the one in the U.S. It's not U.K. either.
∞ The Fabric Covering on Nest Mini is Made From 100 Percent Post-consumer Recycled Plastic Bottles
Like so many of you, we’re committed to helping the planet, so the fabric covering on Nest Mini is made from 100 percent post-consumer recycled plastic bottles (meaning plastic bottles that have already been used and recycled). A single half-liter plastic bottle makes enough fabric to cover more than two Nest Mini devices. The external enclosure is also made from 35 percent post-consumer recycled plastic. Now, all Nest products launching in 2019 are built using varying amounts of recycled plastics.
Now, that is the right approach to sustainability.
Mu.DA - 3 mushroom wallpapers. Buy here
Some of McDonald’s restaurants in Sweden have beehives on their rooftops. The initiative started out locally but is now growing. More franchisees around the country are joining the cause and have also started replacing the grass around their restaurants with flowers and plants that are important for the wellbeing of wild bees. To celebrate the initiative which is part of McDonald’s Swedens sustainability work, we created what could be the world’s smallest McDonald’s – a fully functioning beehive.
I love reading stories like this.
∞ Preview: Inside Apple's Redesigned NYC Flagship Store
Lance Ulanoff, writing for Lifewire:
The 13-year-old store, which sits at the base of Central Park and is instantly recognizable thanks to its iconic 32-foot glass cube with a suspended Apple logo inside of it, has undergone a massive, 2-year-long reinvention project that somehow maintains the core essence of what drew hundreds of people to the store to line up for their first iPhones more than a decade ago.
This is the store where I lined up for three hours to get my first iPad, an iPad 2. I got to visit it again next time I'm in NYC.
Trying to develop branded components in Flutter.
I really don’t like Material on iOS. And you can’t ship iOS-like UI on Android. So custom branded design is the way to go.
It may take extra time initially, but it’s worth it when you need to ship both iOS and Android.
iPhone bilateral charging is supper appealing. Imagine that you no longer have to carry anything for your watch and airpods.
One of Flutter's best traits: everything is open source. The built-in widgets' source code is the best resource to learn how to build your own widgets. For example, with just 267 lines of code, the iOS button's implementation demonstrates how you can use simple animations and gestures detectors.