Ripples Week 22

Mary Meeker’s completely fresh internet trends, the GIF turns 30, the beliefs that Facebook is destroying the open network and that Bitmoji makes Snapchat a dangerous Facebook competitor. Here are the best links this week!

This week’s most important news is undoubtedly Mary Meeker’s fresh 355-page report on the state of the internet. Here are some highlights:

• Apps fight to get push notification status. The home screen on the mobile is the most effective place for getting attention and commitment
• Computers are getting as good as people on voice recognition
• Over the next five years, 50 percent of all searches will be image-based
• Global smartphone propagation growth is three times as slow as one year ago, and the growth in internet propagation has flattened
• Digital advertising will pass television advertising in 2017
• Recode has a nice review of the highlights

How do you feel after looking through the Meeker Report? Difficult to describe with words? Try a GIF, then! The web’s funniest and sometimes most effective form of communication form turns 30 years. Here’s a five-year-old article on GIF’s story, from when the GIF turned 25.

DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

• Andy Rubin, the man behind Android, has launched the Essential Phone which, among other things, supports add-on modules like a 360 degree camera.
• Kari Sabine Malmin has written about how to set up a project with JavaScript and Sass
• Daring Fireball: Facebook is destroying the open network
• Why reach navigation should replace the navbar in iOS design
• 6 surprising stats behind tech’s design shortage
• 15 million people have contributed drawings to Quick, Draw! The drawings look like this!
• Ulzard Technologies has launched a service that uses artificial intelligence to convert design sketches to source code
• Birdview gives you an entire website in a bird’s eye view
• The personal kanban can make you more efficient and satisfied

MEDIA

• Long interview with Medium Entrepreneur Evan Williams
• Buffer shares their Facebook strategy, which made them triple range and loyalty
• The state of mobile advertising

FUN STUFF

• Fidget spinners are the big thing among kids and teenagers at the moment. Want to try yourself? Ffffidget gives you a clear understanding of how it works. (See the logo of the week)
• Medieval Fantasy City Generator