Carsonified

I can't say for sure what he's referring to, but maybe it's Dale Carnegie's philosophy that you can never "win" an argument because even when you "win" an argument, you haven't usually accomplished your objective of persuading the person. I looked for an excerpt and didn't see one. There's a small summary here, but the book says it best:

http://www.carsonified.com/biz-tips/how-to-win-an-argument

On a personal level, a relative of mine has alienated enough people that I have trouble bringing him out because he continually needs to be "right."

What good have you accomplished if you're "right", alone, and you've convinced no one.

The dynamic is different in a public debate, however, where you might be trying to persuade people other than the person you're debating, but Mr. Carnegie's ideas are still useful to remember.

I think the author makes a valid point re: emotional design, but he also seems to confuse "pleasurable" design with his own personal taste (which appears to be bright and bubbly with heavy illustration). I'd say that sites like Reddit (and HN), Basecamp, Craigslist, Teuxdeux have their own visual personality (that their users enjoy) despite lacking animated cartoon birds. Pleasurable is subjective and will vary widely depending on audience.

I like the modified Maslow's Hierarchy, but I think he's overemphasizing the top piece in this article. Businesses have enough trouble achieving the bottom three pieces (Functional, Reliable, Usable), and often skip them to aim for Pleasurable. http://carsonified.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/maslow-hierarchy-interface-design.png

Wired Top Stories
Lifehacker
http://blog.startupprofessionals.com/
PG Essays
http://www.techstars.org/
Seth's Blog - some brilliant marketing nuggets in there
Dilbert - of course
http://www.startbreakingfree.com/ - takes you through step by step as this guy built several sites from the ground up.
http://www.lifeoptimizer.org/
Mashable
Smashing Magazine
http://www.collegemogul.com
http://carsonified.com/
TED Videos http://www.ted.com/talks/browse
The Register (El Reg) http://www.theregister.co.uk/
http://wealthpilgrim.com/
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/
http://www.chubbybrain.com/blog/

web analytics 2.0 is amazing.

Also watch this (GREAT) talk on the metrics you should be tracking off the bat:
http://carsonified.com/blog/business/mike-mcderment-of-freshbooks-on-web-app-marketing-metrics/

He suggests that you build an internal tracking system to compliment something like Google Analytics.

Also if there's one thing you learn first in Google analytics, it's "Custom Segments." Build a segment for your paid users or return users vs. new users. USA vs. World. 3:00 on site vs. <1 minute on site. etc. Comparing differences between these groups is invaluable.

Awesome, glad I could help.

Whitney's got a great sense of community and really does her homework when writing. She interviewed me and a bunch of other designers to put together an article on process vs portfolio.

The book I've been referencing lately to programmers and just non-designers in general is The Non-Designer's Design Book by Robin Williams. It's an overview of the concepts of c.r.a.p. - contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity.

http://carsonified.com/blog/features/design/how-crap-is-your-site-design/

Carsonified had a good post on this back in 2007, and so did Kevin Rose and Tim Ferris.

http://carsonified.com/blog/business/how-to-name-your-company/

http://vimeo.com/3934635

When it comes to consumer goods and services, short, sweet, and memorable should be your 3 primary objectives IMO. Be careful not to be to descriptive with the name or logo design, it can be problematic if/when you try to expand into other markets or grow new products that are different from your existing focus.