Skip to content
Menu
Justin Ball
  • About
  • Privacy Policy
Justin Ball

Marginal Improvements Make People Happy

Posted on October 11, 2008November 1, 2021

I saw a recent post on Slashdot that got my attention – What Google Engineers do for Fun: Computerized Lego Art Project. I have to admit I am a total Lego nut so whenever I see Lego in the headline I have to read the article.

Justin Voskuhl spent his weekend writing an application that makes it pretty easy to take a photo and turn it into a Lego mosaic. I am impressed. He is even promising to release it as open source. (Please use githhub).

This isn’t the first application that performs this task. Legoizer does something similar. The Slashdot crowd was quick to point out all the ways that you could have accomplished this task before Voskuhl came along. However, what they don’t get is that this application has the potential to make the task very simple. Sure I could use Photoshop and run some algorithm, but then I would have to learn Photoshop and deal with that process. I could use Legoizer, but I don’t know anything about Lightwave and frankly I don’t have time to learn. Those tasks get in the way of what I actually want to do which is to play with Legos. Voskuhl’s application might take a while to run, but I don’t care. This application makes it possible to accomplish a fairly complex task with minimal effort. Congrats to him on building something cool and special thanks if he releases it as open source.

This situation got me thinking about how important small features can be. Once upon a time people in geographically diverse locations played chess via regular mail. I would write down a move drop it in the mail and wait for my opponents response. You can see how this would be tedious. The advent of email helped speed up the process. Now I can go online and play chess with anyone around the world. I would be few people played chess via the mail. A few more might have used email, but I would bet exponentially more are willing to use an online chess board that lets them play in real time.

Once upon a time not so long ago editing a document was a tedious task. Typewriters required that you use caution with each keystroke lest you spend the rest of the day high on whiteout. Word processors made it easier to edit documents. The addition of copy and paste I think changed the world forever. Truly, if you could pick one feature that helped change the world of writing I would bet that is it. Google docs provides us with one of the next great features – online collaboration. I think there is a way to do it with Microsoft Word, but it requires setting up some kind of server and dealing with that mess. Sure it has more features, but I don’t care. I only need to be able to type, copy/paste and share my ideas. Google docs takes care of that for me and is free.

Companies like 37signals have built their business on the idea of simple. I don’t actually think that their success is because of simple. I think their success is to due to doing it right which means picking the few features that change people’s way of doing. The simple, marginal improvement that takes us from sending letters to sending email changes the world. (How many letters were sent even before email vs how many emails traverse the world every day now?)

As the economy tanks and the world seems to crumble around us I look for the next little thing. There are innovators out there thinking of one small change that will change the world and make people’s lives easier. This time around it might be a better way to lend or a better way to deal with mortgages. The innovations might be cheaper ways to produce and exchange goods on a local level rather than bringing them from around the world. Perhaps there is a simple micro power system. Hard times breed clever, simple, focused ideas. I look to those innovations more than the 700 billion bailouts to save the economy.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Recent Posts

  • Around and Back to WordPress
  • Last Lagoon (This Year)
  • Logan Sunset
  • Grami Del
  • FanX (and Lagoon)

Recent Comments

  1. Around and Back to WordPress – Justin Ball on Gatsby 2.0 and Forestry
  2. More Stuff You Shouldn’t Hit on a Bike – Justin Ball on Why Cyclists Shave Their Legs. The Most Disgusting Post I Will Ever Make
  3. First Real Ride on the New Trek Madone 6.9 – Justin Ball on Rode Blacksmith Fork Canyon Tonight
  4. First ride up Black Smith Fork canyon this season – Justin Ball on Why Cyclists Shave Their Legs. The Most Disgusting Post I Will Ever Make
  5. How New Carpet and Rattlesnake turned me into a Consultant or What the Hell Happened? – Justin Ball on Why Cyclists Shave Their Legs. The Most Disgusting Post I Will Ever Make

Archives

  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • January 2020
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • February 2017
  • November 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • May 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • November 2015
  • September 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • June 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • July 2007
  • June 2007
  • May 2007
  • March 2007
  • February 2007
  • January 2007
  • December 2006
  • November 2006
  • October 2006
  • September 2006
  • August 2006
  • July 2006
  • June 2006
  • May 2006
  • April 2006
  • March 2006
  • December 2005
  • November 2005
  • October 2005
  • September 2005

Categories

  • 2.3.2
  • 3g
  • 3tera
  • 420
  • 51weeks
  • 64bit
  • accessibility
  • ActionView::MissingTemplate
  • activemerchant
  • ActiveRecord
  • activesalesforce
  • acts as taggable
  • acts_as_facebook_user
  • acts_as_nested_set
  • acts_as_state_machine
  • advertising
  • Affiliate Marketing
  • air quality
  • ajax
  • Alyssa
  • ama
  • amazon
  • amazon s3
  • amazon wishlist
  • amazon.com
  • ancestry
  • animal cookies
  • antshares
  • apache
  • API
  • apis
  • apollo
  • apollo client
  • apple
  • Apple Store
  • Apple Time Capsule
  • application
  • applications
  • Art
  • ASP.Net
  • assert_sent_email
  • asyncronous processing
  • Atomic Jolt
  • Aubrey
  • Authentication
  • authorize.net
  • Autumn
  • babelphish
  • back problems
  • backbone.js
  • backup software
  • backups
  • bacon
  • Battlestar Galactica
  • big companies
  • birthday.
  • bitcoin
  • black cherry vanilla coke
  • Black Smith Fork Canyon
  • blockchain
  • blog
  • Blogging
  • bluehost
  • books
  • BoomStartup
  • bread
  • buddypress
  • bug
  • bugs
  • business
  • business. mother's animal cookies
  • cache county
  • cache valley
  • California
  • Cancun
  • canvas
  • capistrano
  • Catholic Church
  • cereal
  • chauvet obey 40
  • checkbox list
  • checkboxes
  • chess
  • Chicago
  • china
  • chocolate
  • Christmas
  • Chrome
  • church
  • Cinderella
  • Cisco
  • cloud computing
  • cms
  • code generation
  • code sprint
  • coke
  • Comcast
  • commerce
  • Common Lisp
  • communities
  • Community
  • complex
  • Computers
  • conference
  • conference software
  • configuration
  • consulting
  • cookies
  • cooking
  • COSL
  • cosmos
  • count
  • courts
  • cows
  • create
  • creative commons
  • cryptocurrencies
  • cryptography
  • css animations
  • cucumber
  • currency
  • Cycling
  • database
  • dataloader
  • date
  • death
  • death ray
  • debugging
  • decentralized applications
  • dell dimension 8400
  • democray
  • deployment
  • developing
  • development
  • Devin
  • diet
  • digg
  • Digital Ocean
  • digital-photography
  • disease
  • disguise
  • disgusting
  • disney
  • disneyland
  • DiSo
  • disposable
  • DMX
  • Docker
  • domain name
  • domains
  • doom
  • dr strangelove
  • driving
  • Dryers
  • DVI
  • ec2
  • economics
  • economy
  • ecto
  • edge rails
  • Education
  • EFF
  • Egypt
  • ElasticSearch
  • elastra
  • elections
  • elixir
  • email
  • Ember
  • Ember.js
  • encoding
  • energy
  • engine yard
  • engines testing
  • engineyard
  • enterprise
  • epp
  • error
  • errors
  • ethereum
  • Event Machine
  • expercom
  • facebook
  • failure
  • Family
  • family history
  • family reunion
  • family search
  • family trip
  • Family Vacation
  • familysearch
  • familysearch.org
  • farmers market
  • fashion
  • fences
  • field trip
  • file uploads
  • Firebase
  • fireeagle
  • fix
  • flat tax
  • flowers
  • folksonomy
  • food
  • France iPad Internet access
  • free book
  • freedom
  • friendfeed
  • friends
  • fuel
  • Fun Stuff
  • funeral
  • Funny
  • funny kids
  • gadgets
  • galleries
  • gamenight
  • garden
  • gardens
  • garter snake
  • gatsby
  • gatsbyjs
  • gearsynper
  • geek
  • gelatin
  • gem
  • gems
  • gems ruby on rails
  • genealogy
  • genius
  • geocaching
  • geotagging
  • girl's camp
  • gistr
  • git
  • github
  • global
  • gmail
  • godaddy
  • Goliath
  • Google
  • google bomb
  • google docs
  • google hacks
  • Gorden B Hinckley
  • government
  • gps
  • grand master
  • grand-teton-national-park
  • graph ql
  • graphcool
  • graphql
  • graphqlsummit
  • great firewall
  • grocery
  • gross
  • group work
  • HABTM
  • Hacks
  • halloween
  • happy
  • has and belongs to many
  • has_many
  • hashgraph
  • Hawaii
  • health
  • health insurance
  • heirachy
  • Heirarchies
  • helps
  • Heroku
  • Holiday
  • home building
  • home improvement
  • home plans
  • homebrew
  • homework
  • hosting
  • house plans
  • House Stuff
  • housing
  • human rights
  • hyperledger
  • i18n
  • ice cream
  • icls2008
  • idaho
  • ideas
  • identity
  • identity_theft
  • iiw2006b
  • image
  • image processing
  • inbox
  • induglences
  • insane
  • inspiration
  • install
  • Instructure
  • Interesting
  • internet
  • Internet Explorer
  • InvalidAuthenticityToken
  • iPhone
  • jackson-hole
  • jamis buck
  • Javascript
  • JavaScript (Programming Language)
  • Javscript
  • Jenna
  • jeweler
  • jobs
  • joyent
  • jQuery
  • jungle disk
  • jurlp
  • justin ball
  • kids
  • knowledge workers
  • lambad
  • laptop case
  • launchup.org
  • lds
  • LDS church
  • learning
  • legal
  • Lego
  • legos
  • leopard
  • lesson
  • Levi Leipheimer
  • Liahona
  • library
  • life
  • lifestream
  • Links
  • litecoin
  • LMS
  • loans
  • localization
  • logan
  • Logan Canyon
  • logistics
  • logitech
  • LTI
  • lucene
  • lucene.net
  • Lucifer
  • luvfoo
  • mac
  • Mac OSX 10.6
  • Mac Ports
  • macbook
  • macbook pro
  • Maker
  • Maker Faire
  • manage
  • marginal changes
  • marion
  • marriage
  • Matt Mullenweg
  • me
  • medicine
  • Meetings
  • merb
  • Mexico
  • micro-blogging
  • microcontent
  • microformats
  • Microsoft
  • Middle East
  • migrations
  • mom
  • money
  • Monitor
  • morph
  • morph exchange
  • morphexchange
  • mortgage
  • mosso
  • motorcycle
  • mountain biking
  • Mountain West Javascript
  • Mountain West Ruby
  • mountain west ruby conference
  • mountainwestrubyconf
  • mozy
  • MRI
  • mtnwestrubyconf
  • muck
  • multi-user
  • music
  • mwjs
  • mwrc
  • mysql
  • mysql gem
  • MYTecC
  • Neat Stuff
  • neighbors
  • newgem
  • No Programming
  • node.js
  • nuclear weapons
  • nutcracker
  • Oahu
  • Oauth
  • oauth-plugin
  • Obama
  • Obie Fernandez
  • OER
  • OER Glue
  • olympic torch
  • olympics
  • omniauth
  • Open Assessments
  • open source
  • OpenContent
  • opened2007
  • OpenID
  • opensocial
  • optimism
  • ordered tree
  • oreos
  • osx
  • outdoors
  • outsourcing
  • ozmozr
  • pain
  • panasonic plasma
  • Paris
  • password recovery
  • payday lenders
  • paypal
  • pety
  • PGP
  • Phil Windley
  • photography
  • photoJAR
  • photos
  • php
  • pickle soup
  • pickup
  • piclens
  • Pictures
  • plasma tv
  • Playa Del Carmen
  • plugin
  • plugins
  • poinsettia
  • Political
  • politics
  • portablecontacts
  • PostGreSQL
  • PostGresSQL
  • poverty
  • privacy
  • problems
  • product: web
  • professional
  • Programming
  • Projects
  • prophet
  • protect_from_forgery
  • protests
  • prototype
  • psych
  • psychology
  • queue
  • rails
  • rails 2.0
  • rails conference
  • Rails I18n Textmate bundle
  • RailsConf
  • RailsConf07
  • rake
  • rant
  • react
  • react router
  • React.js
  • Reactive
  • reactjs
  • reactrouter
  • realestate
  • recipe
  • recommender
  • records
  • red green
  • redirect_to
  • regular expressions
  • relay
  • religion
  • render
  • replace
  • reputation
  • require.js
  • research
  • REST
  • restaurant
  • rFacebook
  • ridiculous
  • rightscale
  • ringside networks
  • river
  • river trail
  • robots
  • romantic
  • roomba
  • rpsec
  • rspec
  • rspec bundle
  • rss
  • ruby
  • Ruby On Rails
  • Ruby On Railst
  • ruby_on_rails
  • rvm
  • s3
  • sad
  • Salesforce
  • samsung ml1740
  • sarah sample
  • scalability
  • School
  • Science
  • scorm
  • scream
  • script.aculo.us
  • SDK
  • search
  • senate
  • SEO
  • serverless
  • servers
  • sessions
  • shopping
  • shortcodes
  • shoulda
  • sign language
  • simple
  • small business
  • snakes
  • Snelgrove
  • social graph
  • social media
  • social network dilution
  • social networking
  • social search
  • Social Software
  • socialsoftware
  • society2.0
  • soda
  • software
  • software design
  • Software Development
  • solidity
  • solo
  • soviet union
  • sovrin
  • sql
  • sql server
  • SQL Server 2005 Express
  • sql server 2008 express
  • starling
  • start ups
  • startups
  • starvation
  • stm bags
  • stm medium alley
  • storage
  • subversion
  • target
  • tax
  • Teachers Without Borders
  • tech
  • teeth whitening
  • template not foudn
  • templates
  • test-spec
  • testing
  • tests
  • textmate
  • thanksgiving point
  • The Japanese Mafia is controlling the weather
  • The Kids
  • The Plan Collection
  • The Web
  • theming skin
  • theplancollection
  • theplancollection.com
  • time
  • timr
  • tips
  • to_json
  • tools
  • Tour de France
  • transfer
  • translations
  • Travel
  • Travel, Disneyland, LA
  • trees
  • trip
  • truffles
  • tutorial
  • tutorials
  • tv
  • twitter
  • Uncategorized
  • uninsured
  • universe
  • unpack
  • unread
  • upgrades
  • uploader
  • uploads
  • user discovery
  • user interface
  • userfly
  • utah
  • utah government
  • utah senate
  • utf8
  • Vacation
  • values
  • vinegar
  • virtual hosts
  • walmart
  • warranty
  • Waste of Time
  • weather
  • Web
  • web design
  • web development
  • Web RTC
  • Web2.0
  • web2con2006
  • webservices
  • weddings
  • Wesley Connell
  • whereigo
  • wife
  • windows
  • Wired
  • wishlist
  • with
  • word press
  • Wordpress
  • work
  • workling
  • wpmu
  • xml
  • yeast
  • yellowstone
  • zentest
©2023 Justin Ball | Powered by SuperbThemes & WordPress