In the last post, I mentioned that our objects are listening to us. Much of this is done in the name of providing a better experience - if an object can adjust to the way in which you interact with it, it should be able to anticipate some of your future requirements or actions. In doing so, these objects gather quite a bit of data about us. Objects are gathering data about … [Read more...]
Apple HTML5 Showcase
Apple has added a showcase of HTML5 functionality on their site. It's a pretty impressive display. However, you're limited to Safari for viewing options. As HTML5 continues to get rolled out as a standard, creating rich web experiences will get a whole lot easier. I just hope that the uncomfortable period where you need to maintain two approaches (HTML5 and Old School) … [Read more...]
Back to the Apps
A friend of mine is co-owner of an iPad. That's right, he shares it with a friend. While he doesn't have primary custody, he got naming rights and calls it "Paddington." Even though I called him a 12 year old girl, he offered to lend the iPad to me for a few days (after clearing it with Paddington's mom). As he handed it over to me, he said, "Without the internet, this … [Read more...]
Design Traceability
Kids are notorious for asking "Why?" Each answer you provide leads to another "why." Each exchange leads closer to some central truth. With kids, that central truth usually ends up being, "Because I said so!" To designers, business stakeholders are also notorious. Not so much for asking why as they are for saying, "I think that should be blue," or, "This site needs more... … [Read more...]
Zeitgeist from the Cloud – Tapping your audience
Jeffrey Veen has an interesting post over at his blog discussing a stream of Twitter data coming in while he was speaking at a conference. He says he felt as though he was cheating on an exam by "listening" to what the audience was saying as he was speaking. By addressing audience concerns as they hit the cloud, he was able to turn the audience in his favor. I saw this … [Read more...]
Making People the Molecule is Key (Even for the Enterprise)
Bill Ives wrote an interesting initial look at Booz Allen's Social Knowledge Management software. Booz was wrestling with the task of getting 18K employees worldwide to collaborate more effectively and intimately. They are solving it with a solution they call Hello. My day job is working for a professional services firm. Although we are much smaller than Booz, we wrestle … [Read more...]
A Word on the Tagline
You may notice the tripartite slogan that's part of the logo of this site: Useful, Usable, Compelling. Those three concepts are the pillars of the framework I use to design or analyze a system. In short, what I mean by these terms is: Useful Does the thing do what it's supposed to do and only what it's supposed to do? In other words, I'm using your site/app/thing to … [Read more...]
Why Apple Rulez!
So, "Welcome to Macintosh" was just playing on CNBC. I was cleaning up from the dual birthday party for both of my kids, so I left it on. All in all, it's maybe a bit too simplistic and a bit too reverent of the fruit company from Cupertino, but it made some valid points. The most important point it made was that "Apple doesn't compare itself to another company." I think … [Read more...]
One Card (App) to Rule Them All
A while ago, I got tired of fishing through my wallet for any of the myriad rewards program cards that I have. I also started leaving them at home to prevent my wallet from turning into a meatball in my pocket. That got me thinking: Wouldn't it be great to have just one card to carry around with you?I started sketching out architecture diagrams - a central repository where all … [Read more...]
WolframAlpha update
So, WolframAlpha has been out a while now and I've had several chances to use it. Occasionally, I've used it when I needed it. It always takes a while for a tool to take root in my psyche. Occasionally, a tool proves itself so useful that it takes root quickly (like Google, back in the day). WolframAlpha has proven itself to be that useful. The power is that you ask a … [Read more...]
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