How a 300 word story became two 700+ word posts

This morning I set out to write about the seemingly elusive tablet market that Apple had sparked back in April 2010 with the release of the iPad. Tweetable version: Apple is so far the only company that can really sell tablet computers to the mass consumer. Every other company has failed.

I was aiming for something short and quick as I wanted it to be a 300-400 word piece. I had planned to do a number of other posts which I need to finish before the week ends so to churn out short bursts of posts would be the ideal way to do it.

Reaching the halfway mark I ended up with over 650 words. That’s when I stopped and thought it could still work as a feature story for the newspaper but I still need to produce a short story with a similar theme for the blog section.

I switched angles and began a second piece, eager to end it in less than 400 words. Nearing the end of the second article I had written more than 700 words and it’s still not finished. Now I have two feature length stories.

I hate to think how my other articles would end up.

PS: This one is about 210 words.

Why Ad Agencies Should Act More Like Tech Startups | Fast Company

The problem is that everyone is telling stories nowadays. Even if you have a good story to tell about your brand, chances are that it’ll get lost.
That’s where I believe that the very definition of the “idea” needs to evolve.

Why Ad Agencies Should Act More Like Tech Startups | Fast Company

Foursquare hits 10 million members

Foursquare hits 10 million members

So this was announced earlier today in Singapore. Nokia’s upcoming N9, powered by a combination of MeeGo and Maemo software projects that mostly got canned on the company’s way to embrace Windows Phone 7 as its primary smartphone platform. Unfortunately the phone is not yet available to test or preview, let alone to buy.

I think a lot of people would be interested in this. Time will tell if the final product will be as smooth and seamless as Apple’s iPhone with iOS or if it will be stuttery and clunky like the current Symbian on the N8. At a glance the interface reminds me of Windows Phone 7 mixed with Android, and that’s not a bad thing.Being a fan of Windows Phone 7, I can’t wait to see how this compares with Nokia’s upcoming WP7 phones.

You can check out a more detailed look at This Is My Next. 

This has been up for two weeks but I haven’t got around to posting it. Here’s Steve Jobs presenting Apple’s proposal for a new campus in Cupertino to the city council. The campus would be notable not only for its spaceship-like architecture but for its size, features (fits 12 thousand people, adds more than 2000 new trees, removes 90% ground level parking, self generated electrcity, etc) and impact to the city of Cupertino and its neighboring cities of Santa Clara and Sunnyvale. Think about the traffic flow, housing arrangements, electricity consumption, business, economy, ecology, air quality, level of interest, and so on.

Here’s the proposed location on Google Maps.

More and more tweets from iPhone or Android apps in my timeline. Last year almost all comes from Blackberry apps. Shift happens, RIM.

@rayafahreza

Buskers: Independent musicians using crowd funding as means to finance their start up business.

@aldy

Apple could buy nearly all of its phone competitors in cash

Indeed, a time may soon come when Apple’s cash will be worth more than the entire phone industry.

Apple could buy nearly all of its phone competitors in cash

Regarding this post earlier, access to torrents have been restored by First Media, four hours after the official response and thousands of complaints and threats to unsubscribe to the service on Twitter.

Jakarta’s major cable provider, First Media, is blocking torrents, claims to support some government program.