Tretakoff Musings

Apple's iOS has routinely been beat up for the user interface in the stock apps that come with the iPhone/iPad. Lately, the criticism has been on the use of "skeumorphic" design (i.e. design elements meant to resemble a real-world analog, like the use of simulated wood and green felt on Game Center or the simulated  brass casing on the compass), but lost in the noise is the real challenge: making the apps much more useful. Today, let's look at the iOS Calendar app and some of the alternative versions that may make you rethink using it. First, the standard app. Like most calendar apps, derives it's look from the classic paper DayTimer from the analog age. Decent information delivery, with the option to switch between List, Day, Week and Month views. Good separation and use of the screen real estate to display all day events vs. timed ones. A separate drawer to manage received calendar invitations. Prominent controls to go to Today, vs. whatever day you are on. ...

San Francisco now joins other major cities with significant waterfront by adding a water taxi, allowing patrons to skirt traffic by riding the waves. One of the many innovations to the waterfront planned for the big America's Cup races, this is one that's long overdue. True, scheduled ferry service runs between San Francisco and destinations like Vallejo, Sausalito, Oakland, Tiburon, and Larkspur, as well as a near-mythical Redwood City run, but still the rest are woefully underserved. This is a good step forward. Pricing is pretty competitive. For a traditional cab from the Metreon to Sausalito's Cavallo Point, it's about $40. That doesn't count the massive traffic on the bridge approach, or on the bridge itself. The new Water Taxi , allows you to walk a few blocks to Pier 1 1/2, and zip away in traffic-free comfort for only $25 more. Not too bad, to ensure you make that table at Murray Circle . They do offer discounts for frequent riders, and, like any cab,...

Gizmodo points out that, in all of the other high profile CA state issues that went down to defeat, one victory was lost in the shuffle: Proposition 1A, which lays the groundwork for a bullet train between Southern and Northern California. I am a huge fan of any rail transit, but this one simply makes sense. Kudos to the supporters for making this excellent video which dramatically demonstrates the allure, the benefits, and the real expectations for what could be a monumental day of change for rail travel in this country.

As I avail myself of ferry transportation every day, I am always fascinated with the genre and it's twists and turns. For instance, on the ferry I take, I continue to be frustrated by their lack of vision. Two key runs sell out in the morning, and all others continue to be a dramatic money loser; rather than cut service in those dead times and offer a third run in the peak times, the Golden Gate Ferry continues to plod along without changes. Heck, contract the onboard beverage service to Peet's or Starbucks, and take a piece of the revenue! However I complain about my ferry, it is still a magnificent way to commute. Folks in Sydney seem to feel the same, as they have started to experience not just great ferry service, but eco-friendly ferry service. With a combination of flexible solar panels and wind harnessing, they commute with half of the emissions of a traditional high-speed ferry. Nice work, down under. On the flipside, there are my friends at Hawaii Superferry. A massiv...

I have commented several times about my opinion of San Francisco's "premier" paper, the San Francisco Chronicle . When I first moved to the Bay Area, I was disgusted with this laughable excuse of a paper. As a man who consumed the Boston Globe from cover to cover, every day, for over a decade, I was shocked that a city with such a proud literary history called this pathetic excuse of newsprint as it's paper. In the last 5 years, however, I have been pleasantly surprised to see the quality of it's coverage improving, with an emphasis on actually finding stories, instead of just picking up what the wires spit out. Coincidentally, it happened that this was the time the Hearst group picked up the paper, and made a real dedicated effort on it, and it was paying off. From the Barry Bonds scandals, to the coverage of Nancy Pelosi's ascension to the head of the Congress, the paper has been getting to be a real paper, and one that is actually a pleasure to occasionall...

As long as I can remember, I've been fascinated with subways. In Boston, where I grew up, I was a virtual Charlie on the M(B)TA. Some of the stations, especially on the Red and Blue lines, were fascinating: - South Station had the oldest working escalator in the world: the steps were made from interlocking wooden dowels! - The Aquarium stop was so deep and steep, you could get vertigo from the ride down the escalators. - Porter Square in Cambridge was a twisting, turning rut that opened into a 2 story underground chamber. - Park Street? All glorious tile and inlay. The list goes on. I've always tried to ride subways in every city I go, from Montreal's famous rubber-tired trains, to the cool efficiency of the Metro in DC, to the classic "El" in Chicago, to the opulent carpets and couches of the Bay Area's BART. It's just an efficient, effective way to travel, and evokes the speed of rail with the convenience of in-town. However, some places take subways to ...

What do you do when you need employees in a competitive environment, and stock options and salary are really not enough to distinguish you? Well, after you add free gourmet meals, onsite oil changes and car washes, and other lifestyle perks, you look at what the pain points for the Silicon Valley worker are: commuting. And then? If you're Google, you start a luxury bus line. Yes, the Goog is now one of the largest transit system operators in the Bay Area. This New York Times article describes what transit is like, Google style: " The company now ferries about 1,200 employees to and from Google daily — nearly one-fourth of its local work force — aboard 32 shuttle buses equipped with comfortable leather seats and wireless Internet access. Bicycles are allowed on exterior racks, and dogs on forward seats, or on their owners’ laps if the buses run full. Riders can sign up to receive alerts on their computers and cellphones when buses run late. They also get to burnish their green ...