John Siracusa has a Hypercritical post about Annoyance-Driven Development in which he discusses why users are still subjected to seemingly trivial annoyances, and points out that simply addressing those minor issues can reap benefits for your business. This may sound comically selfish, but true innovation comes from embracing this sentiment, not fighting it. For companies looking to get the best bang for their buck out of technology, this is the way forward. Find out what’s annoying the people you want to sell to. Question the assumptions of your business. Give people what they want and they will beat a path to your door. ...

I read eighteen books in 2011 and twenty-five in 2012. This is a good increase year over year, but I want a much higher total in 2013. I am shooting for fifty-two books by the end of the year. For a slow reader like myself, that is quite a challenge, but I believe that of I stick to reading one fiction and one non-fiction book simultaneously and aim for approximately 50 pages per book per day, then based on average book length, I should be able to come close to the goal, especially if I supplement with audio books. So far, this plan is working as I have read eighteen books as of March 1st, which matches my total for the entire 2011 year. I am still testing a couple of layouts and ideas, but I should be adding a reading list area to the site at some point this year so I can log what I’ve completed and post reviews when the mood strikes me. ...

As I relax and watch re-runs of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine on Netflix while entertaining my seven month old son, I can’t help but wonder at how spoiled we are by all of these modern conveniences—pre-made plastic toys, televisions, Internet access, streaming video, central heat, dishwashers, and disposable diapers, to name a handful. First world problems abound, but I wonder how many of these “problems” are caused by our attachment to modern conveniences. Simplifying life will often reduce the number of perceived problems if not reduce the real problems. After all, is a broken dishwasher a problem or a reason to remove it and add some extra drawers, or perhaps it is the impetus needed to remodel the kitchen and learn cabinet-making? That may be a stretch, but you see what I mean. ...

As a systems administrator, I frequently like to tinker with operating systems, software, configurations, firmware, hardware, and anything else that might make me more proficient in using technology to make life easier. In the past, I would use any home computing device at hand to test out a new upgrade or to beta test an application or even to load up the latest pre-release operating system, all in the name of bleeding edge features and getting the most out of technology. These days, I separate my computing devices at home into production and development categories. While this may sound like overkill, it is not and for good reason. New technology frequently crashes, fails, or behaves in a manner most unexpected, and it will do this at the most inconvenient time possible. ...

I’ve always felt that kids should be immersed in nature regularly; let them play in the dirt, run in the forest, splash in the stream. In addition to the apparent benefits of reduced incidence of allergies, I believe that getting a little bit of the outdoors on a regular basis helps maintain a healthy life equilibrium. Though individuals with allergies lived throughout the study area, the authors found that allergies were tied to the amount of biodiversity around the teenagers’ homes; the more forest and agricultural land, the lower the prevalence of allergies. On the other hand, kids living near bodies of water or in urban centers had significantly higher levels of allergies. ...

Though he understood children deeply, Mr. Sendak by no means valorized them unconditionally. “Dear Mr. Sun Deck …” he could drone with affected boredom, imitating the semiliterate forced-march school letter-writing projects of which he was the frequent, if dubious, beneficiary. But he cherished the letters that individual children sent him unbidden, which burst with the sparks that his work had ignited. “Dear Mr. Sendak,” read one, from an 8-year-old boy. “How much does it cost to get to where the wild things are? If it is not expensive, my sister and I would like to spend the summer there.” ...

As March Madness and the month of betting pools roll along in the background of my life, I once more find myself engrossed in the Tournament of Books hosted by The Morning News. This year, the first book I read was The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes. Partly because it was a shorter length and would allow me to get a jump start on reading as many of the books as I possibly can before the tournament final, but also because it came so highly regarded by the first round review and subsequent win in the tournament. The beauty of the novel is that it is succinct in the way that only a story recounted from memory can be, and Barnes captures this style with the addition of the occasional tangent about how we remember scattered throughout the story when our narrator, Tony, feels so compelled to comment on the topic out of the need for excuses or a search for resolution. However, Barnes saved the best for last. That is to say, the ending of the novel surprises you and proceeds to worm into your mind for days following as you ponder everything that has happened. ...

John Gruber writes about his private briefing for the upcoming ‘Mountain Lion’ release of OS X. Mac OS X — sorry, OS X — is going on an iOS-esque one-major-update-per-year development schedule. This year’s update is scheduled for release in the summer, and is ready now for a developer preview release. Its name is Mountain Lion.

Moshe Kai Cavalin enrolled in college at age 8. He is now 14 and is about to graduate from UCLA. In addition, he has written a book, We Can Do, which he translated himself from Mandarin to English. Why is this notable? Aren’t there other “geniuses” who go to college early all the time? Yes, but when asked if he is a genius, Cavalin states, “That’s always the question that bothers me,” Cavalin, who turned 14 on Tuesday, says when the G-word is raised. “People need to know you don’t really need to be a genius. You just have to work hard and you can accomplish anything.” ...

After watching an episode of “Downton Abbey” the other day, I tried to pinpoint exactly what it is that makes the show so enticing and riveting for me. Then I realized, it’s a period-piece soap opera. I never gained any interest in American soap operas when I’ve seen random episodes, and I don’t like to clump “Downton Abbey” into that category, because it is a far better series than any day-time soap opera I’ve seen. It captivated my attention from the very first episode. Rebecca Eaton, executive producer of PBS’s “Masterpiece”, describes the appeal. ...