A “learning curve” is a visual device used to illustrate the average rate of learning for a skill or tool. Essentially, it is a line chart that shows the learner’s level of proficiency and how it changes over time.

Take a look at the two following charts. The first one illustrates a steep learning curve, while the second shows a more gradual slope. If you take a look at the labels on the axes, you’ll note that the steep curve shows the “knowledge” unit is increasing at a faster rate. That means something with a steep learning curve is easier than something with a gradual slope. Make sense?

I know I’ve been guilty of misusing this term in the past, but have been making an effort to avoid it more recently. It’s a good thing to word around when you’re writing, as using it in the correct context is likely to do nothing but cause confusion at this point. (At least, for general audiences. Depending on your niche, your readers might understand.)

I have asked myself that question countless times. You too have probably spent hours trying to think up a concept for a post on your blog. Inspiration comes and goes. It’s the curse of the writer.

Even worse: you think of a great idea while you’re raking leaves or waiting in line somewhere, only to forget it by the time you are able to sit down in front of a computer.

I have a solution for both problems, and it’s incredibly simple. Keep a file of post ideas. It could be one of those nifty Moleskine notebooks, a text file on your desktop, a shoebox full of scrap paper you scribbled notes on or—my personal favorite—the wonderful cross-platform Evernote software.

Whenever you have an idea, make a note of it. When you need an idea, withdraw one from your stash.

Easy, right? As I said before, I like Evernote. I have a notebook for post ideas on each of my blogs. If I find a web page worth writing about, I can clip it into Evernote using the “Site Memory” bookmarklet. If I think of something interesting while I’m away from a computer, I can punch it into the iPhone app. I can even take photos and save them into the notebook.

Seeing as many of you are bloggers, it’s not too great a leap to assume that some of you might be interested in trying your hand at fiction. What better motivation than a deadline and Internet Fame and Glory™?

Have an idea for a novel? Register at NaNoWriMo.org and try to clear your November calendar of time-consuming distractions. If you set aside some time each day to write at least 1666 words, and don’t slack off during your writing time, the project shouldn’t keep you from doing other things.

I’m probably going to give NaNoWriMo a try this year, finally. What about you?

You may get lucky and have a major increase in traffic, or you could just make a smaller group of people very happy. (Which might lead to repeat visits…) If you do this a few times, the traffic will add up. Having ten posts that bring in 200 visitors every month is better than one post that brings in 1,000.

As an example, observe this recent post. As soon as Apple released iTunes 10, Twitter was abuzz with complaints about a minor design “improvement” that was made. Luckily, there were a couple of Terminal commands that would revert the change, for Mac users at least. I ended up writing a quick blog post with the solution and a small rant about how Apple was blatantly disregarding their own design guidelines. In a few hours I was on the Google result page for “itunes 10 vertical buttons,” and at the top of it within a day or two. I’ve done this plenty of times, and it has incrementally boosted my numbers.

The app will aggregate statistics from Google Analytics, Feedburner, Mint, Ember, Twitter, Vimeo, Tumblr and Squarespace. You can even have multiple accounts from each service active.

The UI is great. It’s one of the best things about the app.

Ego won’t give you fancy in-depth information like bounce rates or the percentage of viewers who use Firefox; it just shows you the most important figures in one accessible place.

Here’s an interesting question: what percentage of your web site’s traffic is from mobile devices like the iPhone?

If you are viewing this in an RSS aggregator, you may have to click through to see the poll.

Why do the stats fluctuate in the first place? In addition to the occasional FeedBurner flakiness, the service measures the number of feed aggregators that have pinged the feed in a single day. Stats, of both RSS and website page views, tend to be lower on weekends than weekdays, for example.

How to get a more relevant Feedburner count [Cats Who Blog]

How did Gizmodo get photos of the device, including the internals? Apparently an Apple employee accidentally left it at a bar, and it eventually made it into the tech blog’s hands. (Gizmodo’s account of what happened can be found here.)

The phone, which a few have described as looking “ugly,” is likely a prototype lacking the case the end product will have. Its two metal volume buttons, rather than a single plastic rocker switch, is just one indicator of that. It is incontrovertibly an Apple device, seeing as it has an Apple-made processor, iPhone OS 4.0 and a plastic case designed to disguise it as an iPhone 3G. John Gruber, of Daring Fireball, made some calls and confirmed that Apple was missing a unit. Also, it was remotely erased.

Did Gizmodo do the right thing and return the device to Apple? No. Instead, they posted pictures and other details in an effort to bring in the usual massive traffic spike that an exclusive Apple story guarantees. I’m pretty sure that would be considered theft, as well as leaking trade secrets.

Because of this leak, Apple lost the element of surprise. Their competitors now know what the next iPhone will feature, and they can make plans for their own competing phones. Gizmodo has just painted a big legal target on their collective backs, and I imagine Apple will be launching their missiles any day now.

I really can’t see how Gizmodo is justified in their actions. Did we all want to know what the iPhone 4G would be like? Yes. Did we need to know? No. Did we have a right to know? Absolutely not.

Not only has Apple taken a blow as a result, but an Apple employee could conceivably lose his job. Gizmodo crossed the line separating ethical reporting from unconscionable profit-seeking.

First you want to find the application in the Finder. Right-click it and choose “Show Package Contents.”

A new window will open with a folder named “Contents” inside. Double-click it, and then open the “Resources” folder inside.

Now look for a file ending with a “.icns” extension. It’s icon should look exactly like the application’s. Double-click it to open Preview, and you should be greeted with an enormous version of the icon, along with several alternate sizes which can be viewed by selecting them in the sidebar.

Just press Command+C to copy the icon, and you should be able to paste it right into Skitch. That’s all.