Random Thoughts

I have come across several things lately that I though would be interesting to mention in the blog. Since none of them are long enough to warrant a blog entry by themselves, I have collected them together into this set I'll call Random Thoughts.

David Pogue at the New York Times wrote an interesting article about the problems he had installing and configuring a NetGear wireless adapter. You can read it at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/technology/12pogue-email.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin  so I won't repeat it here, but let's just say that it proved to be very difficult even for a guy like David who earns his living as a technology reviewer. There are so many computer products that are waaay too complex to install and configure. Companies will put lots of effort into designing an elegant product then slap together an install at the last minute and push it out the door. This makes no sense to me. Any time and money they save on creating a quick and dirty install is lost many times over in support costs, returns and lost sales. If a customer can't install the product then it is of no use to them. The same degree of care in design, development and testing that is done for the product needs to be done for the install.

Airlines have always struck me as one of the least customer centric industries. "Freedom seating" is a new proposal to cram even more people into an airplane. See http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/17/freedom-seating-concept-packs-even-more-bodies-onto-the-plane/ . Let's hope this is an idea that doesn't fly.

The web is a great communication tool. Some people document their whole life on their blog. I knew it was only a matter of time until someone put themselves on the web live 24 hours per day. Check out http://www.justin.tv/

I mentioned multi-touch interaction a few months ago, but I recently came across a video that provides a more impressive demonstration of it - http://www.freshcreation.nl/comments.php?id=973_0_1_0_C . It reminds me of the futuristic UI Tom Cruise used in the film Minority Report, but it is here now and working. I have seen the future and it looks like fun!

Technique for quickly prototyping a website: http://noonebelongsheremorethanyou.com/ . This one is amusing, but actually does have some practical value. When I worked for a startup company and was under extremely short deadlines, I actually photographed my whiteboard and put those pictures in a spec for the developers. I saved enough time to have the luxury of sleeping a fews hours most nights.

The bad usability calendar: http://www.iallenkelhet.no/bad-usability-calendar-2007-is-here . It illustrates design mistakes.

Using real-time 3d visualization techniques: http://infosthetics.com/archives/2007/04/netcosm_3d_network_monitoring_world.html .