UX bay

Experience Designer and User Privacy

2010-11-02T20:14:00.000-07:00

Note: This is not another conspiracy theory. It is just as I see where the internet (and hence the average netizen ) is heading (if not already there). We, as UX folks need to take our share of responsibility in doing what is right, and advocate users' privacy as vigorously as we do for usability.

All these years Experience Designers (I am guilty too) have been advocating and pursuing intelligence in every interface we've been building under the assumption that it would improve the experience of the product's users. A good experience as we have been striving to and advocating for is an easy, efficient, and enjoyable route to achieve immediate gratification of our users's goals. This was enough when life was simpler, and the user had the same or more choices in the internet as compared to the real life.

This is not the case anymore, actually it has not been the case for the last several years, and the sad thing is we've been seeing this happening right in front of us. We have either not been paying attention or we've closed our eyes and ignored this because of the perks that came with it ( often a free high quality service that looked too good to be true). Like many other things that appear too good to be true, there is almost always a catch. The catch here is we are slowly giving away everything about us. Everything, including where we are, what we are doing, who our friends are,what kind of things we like, what we talk about, what games we play, what we watch on tv (catching on as we speak), what movies we like, what credit cards we have, how much money we make , how much we spend and on what (link: http://www.mint.com/blog/updates/mint-opens-up-its-data-see-how-spending-is-truly-trending/), what our passwords are (a leading company just brushed their action off of capturing "payload data" - in other words user passwords as it was done unknowingly and it was done only on unsecured networks : Link: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/wifi-data-collection-update.html ), everything there is to know about us and of-course things we think are nobody's business to know as well. One class action suit here or there (though good steps) might not be enough to shake up this thinking. link: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/wifi-data-collection-update.html

As time goes by, companies are more and more convinced that it is their right to take your information without the need to ask first. They even assume it is common knowledge that the information is bound to be taken if you have it online. Unfortunately, the unsuspecting users are caught unaware and even tricked in many cases by ingenious interface designs of smartly hidden opt-out/ personalization information under fineprint, changing policies, and or some hidden abyss deep in the navigation structure where the chances of finding them on ones own is at best very low. eg: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/04/facebook-timeline/

The same actions, if done in the real world qualifies for criminal charges and yet in internet (search, social networking etc) this is deemed common practice and companies are allowed to get away with this dangerous practice.

They feel it is the users' job to watch out for, and avoid such traps which seems to be (knowingly, or unknowingly) very carefully designed to succeed. As a business this makes clear monetary sense , because as more people start using such services (either lured by the freebies, or because they cannot afford to stay excluded in this day and age where one comes to think that success is measured by the amount and quickness of the information he/ she processes) this goldmine of information provides all kinds of tools for current and future marketing capabilities.

Should things keep moving in this direction (there is no indication that it will not), these are some additional questions that need to be asked every time we conceptualize a new experience.

What kind of information is okay to collect?

Why is it collected? How does it improve the users' experience?

How comfortable are the users losing some (or a lot) of their privacy in return to the free services? Do they feel violated?

Where is that ethical line?

This is our chance. Unless we step up now, it might be too late.

An app for combat tactics

2010-03-02T19:29:00.000-08:00

An unexpected entrant into the Apps war, is an organization with unrivaled skills in real war- the US Army.

In an effort to arm the soldiers with information, US Army is coming up with a smartphone the soldiers could use in combat/ other situations. The smart phone is said to have several military specific and other applications the soldiers could use to learn, troubleshoot, collaborate using wiki type tools, and even plan tactics on the battlefield. Age of Empires, anyone?

Link to the news article: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/03/a-combat-zone-iphone-soldiers-have-an-app-for-that/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+wired/index+(Wired:+Index+3+(Top+Stories+2))

Non-usable is not so cool

2010-02-12T17:54:00.000-08:00

It might be cool to be seen playing with your fingers on your new touchscreen phone, but it is definitely not so cool to be seen using your phone with a piece of meat, something that these morning commuters might vouch for. For these poor commuters on a winter day, it appears to be a more acceptable option to look uncool rather than get cold in an attempt to look cooler. The usability issue here is, their cool phones do not let them use it with their regular gloves on.....

Source: http://www.gearfuse.com/south-koreans-using-meat-as-an-iphone-stylus/

Courtesy: Thank you Filip Vojan (for sharing this link.)

What if everyone had 1Gbps internet connection at home

2010-02-10T19:08:00.001-08:00

For a second, lets assume Google does actually manage to pull this off in the near future, and the service is available widely at affordable rates for the end users .It becomes a fascinating thought then... and might compare to a leap similar to the change from a steam engine to gasoline in the real world, because you will not likely feel you are connected to internet for a while (but might be closer to the experience of a LAN), so companies might really be able to use the infrastructure in coming up with a new wave of products / services

This might be a huge boost for

All businesses cloud and a possible revival of netbooks
VOIP (why pay for landline, and with an extensive wifi network why pay for a cellphone even)
Media business (broadband HBO / CNN / VH1 on broadband)
Online gaming (a new array of massively multiplayer online games)
Medical industry (might be the extra little push needed to tip this over to the other side.. how about a nation wide medical database where your treating physician can get all your medical history (complete with each single prescription / diagnosis )
All businesses period (why need dedicated T1s now?, more telecommuting and lesser cost of infrastructure)
Zero privacy. The digital you might just be the real you..... If it isn't already the case.. (not the most positive thing in the list)

The list could just go on and on... but a couple of not so small caveats

Not sure what Google means by affordable price for 1Gbps line
Video says plan is to provide the service on an experimental basis (to a small percentage of selected communities... the Google way of starting a service
It has been a long while since Google set out to provide free nationwide wifi...I haven't even been lucky enough to get a consistent connection from the free Google wifi for the Mountain View area... based on the experience and the fact that a high speed nationwide network is no mean feat, I would think we are more than a few years away from this being available at affordable prices across the country...

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wusklcNKDZc&feature=player_embedded

iPad - First impressions

2010-01-27T19:06:00.000-08:00

So another product launch from Apple..again imperssive presentation... wowing a lot of people, and sweeping some off the feet...

Here are my thoughts (primarily from a usability perspective) after watching the video and going through the product specs

The virtual keypad

The keypad looks painful from a human factors perspective, keeping in mind this is not just a tool for browsing- but something between a smart phone and a computer, I think the keyboard provides the biggest of the human factors issues. It is a flat capacitive touch screen, and you'll need to hover both your hands above the surface and peck the screens. Resting them on the screen while typing means, typos and spending more time correcting errors than typing. If this doesn't give you carpal tunnel, nothing will.

Ofcourse there is all the inherrent problems of a virtual keyboard like the lack of proper feedback

The size of the device, and Holdability

The size of the device (10 in screen) makes it painful to carry around, coupled with the fact that there is nothing to grip on, and a fragile body makes it uncomfortable to carry around

The form factor

The form factor makes two handed typing quite a laborious task.

There is nothing that holds the screen at a comfortable visual angle - giving an incorrect posture --> bad back

Also it makes it hard to hold the device on the users' lap because of the glass like smooth surface, the rectangular body, and light weight -- making this device a slippery customer

Protection

Not sure if the box comes with a sleeve, because it sure does look very easy to get all scratched up

soon enough

Fixed hard disk space

This product takes after the ipod in this regard and only provides fixed 8-64 gb hard disk space. Now for a smartphone sized device 64 gb is good enough, but definitely too less for a computer.. and with a 1 tb external memory available today for about $100 (less than half the price difference between an 8 and 64 gb iPads), its hard to swallow that for a thinking customer, but I think its a very smart marketing move

I would have liked to see flash support

Smart product launch

Having said all that, it is a great launch, an incredibly light device that in a space with a product void which is going to attract a lot of iphone like customers (many of them have been anticipating this for years), an attractive price point, and a goldmine to sell more products through apple stores --looks like a home run. I would be surprised if Apple does not get a sizeable market share in a years time. Amazon Kindle might feel the most threatened by this product.

User Engagement = Money ...Literally

2009-09-29T16:38:00.000-07:00

No, I am NOT going to pull out another seemingly vague ROI calculator now to monetize the value of user experience. I think that phase is long gone where the User Experience Professionals have to justify the ROI to the client / their boss before they can spend some money on enhancing the user experience of the company website. If you are reading this, and still think UX does not bring in real money, this is all you need to do to realize it. -- Look at some of the most successful products of the recent years - Facebook, Google, Myspace...... and their revenue models

Now all these companies have hugely popular services, which are FREE to use. It does not take too much of thinking to realize that the revenues come from advertizing. If you like your stats,here it is. 98%.. (thats right!!) of Google's revenues come from Advertising. The pay per click 'Ad words' netted $21 billion in 2008! Now what does it have to do with User Experience?

To answer that, first thing we need to do is look at the models that the succesful companies like Facebook (for instance) use to create these payper click campaigns. In simple terms, they just observe the usage patterns/ web behaviour , and analyze your social network data (who you are connected in the network, your influence in your network etc), followed up with targeted advertisements when something you say (maybe on someone's wall) or do matches one of the predefined keywords. Now the possibility of the ad succeeding is far higher than a blind ad. Neat! Now what is the work involved here for Facebook? Create a free enviroment where millions of people like to spend their time, actively playing games, communicate with each other through posts, status messages, associate with groups, organizations etc......... Simply put, Facebook has been making money by selling users' engagement in their site. Does there need to be a stronger case for user experience?

Google Auto Pilot: Attempting the impossible

2009-04-02T17:05:00.000-07:00

There are certain things computers handle quite well, and then there are certain other things which are best handled by humans. Google's new test feature called Autopilot can best be explained as an attempt at trying to cross the boundary and venture into a space where machines are not thought to succeed.

What it does....

Autopilot automatically create email responses that you would have crafted yourself -- ofcourse google would go through your personal emails and look for predictable behavioral patterns to do that (we are not even getting into the privacy conversation here....)

The sheer idea of using computer algorithms to predict human thought process with any amount of certainity is grossly underestimating the power and complexity of human thought process. A human can compete and match a supercomputer capable of analyzing and predicting hundreds of thousands of moves in advance, in a game of chess. That is because human decision making is aided by reasoning, which is not a systematic assessment of possibilities, but a far superior process aided by previous experiences and learnings.

Unless the make-up of the computer changes in the future to something more 'bio' like, this sort of experiments would just remain academic....

Reciprocity and Customer Loyalty

2009-03-23T19:45:00.000-07:00

Peter Bregman writes in his blogpost, "The real Secret of Thoroughly Excellent Companies" on his experiences with two different hotel franchises, and how while one lost him as a customer for ever, the other one made a customer for life.

Link to the article: http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/bregman/2009/03/the-real-secret-of-thoroughly.html

Sadly for the first company, the staff were either not trained to leverage this well known psychological principle to their advantage, or the particular employee did not do the homework and made a costly mistake of losing a customer for life.

The real secret here..(not so much of a secret anymore to the cognitive psychology and marketing prractitioners) is a well known psychological principle called Reciprocity which has been tested and proven decades ago. If you've ever wondered why companies give away freebies at conferences and tradeshows, they are trying to leverage the principle of reciprocity. An act of giving without expectation puts a strong psychological pressure on the recipients, and makes them obligated to return the favor, in this case won the customer loyalty.

How can you make sure this strategy would work? There are two things which are particulalry important

Value of the gift (not the dollar value) - the gift should be of some importance to the recipient in the context (something as trivial as an automatic extended checkout for a guest who overslept)
Intent - The act should look genuine, and not opportunistic... if the recipient feels that the act isn't genuine, you might still get back something, but it will not get you a customer for life.

Design Simplicity Vs Power

2009-03-23T13:04:00.000-07:00

One of design's age old questions... How much is enough? Where is that balance between simplicity and power that will sell?

As Albert Einstein once put it, "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler".

An Indian car manufacturer, TATA Motors seems to have found that sweetspot with their car model Nano.

There has been a huge interest eversince TATA announced Nano almost a year back because of its almost unbelivable pricepoint of $2000. There has been all sorts of questions like How could they do it? Or can they actually do it? They might have dispelled all those questions with their upcoming product launch in the Asian market

But how could Tata Strike this balance?

I would think TATA simply started from the basics by following these three simple steps at the start of the process....

Do not assume anything
Understand exactly what the users' goals are (utility, comfort, safety etc) with the product
Design the structure of the product that exactly matches these needs

Detriot Inc might benefit from taking a leaf out of TATA's book, by doing away with those unnecessary bells and whistles and started making products that fit the users' goals and their pockets.

Forget all the apps, please...please..give me my copy/paste

2009-03-17T13:13:00.000-07:00

Apple's third generation iphone operating system will come armed with a copy/paste feature....

Here is how it works...

A double-tap auto-selects the text you want with movable "grab points," and a pop-up edit bar display buttons for cut, copy and paste and a rather interesting shake interaction for undo..... a quick shake brings up a box that allows you to undo and redo copy paste actions...

sounds like I dont need to head to the gym for the work out anymore.....atleast Apple didn't ask me to throw the phone away everytime I want to undo something

News Article: http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/17/iphone-finally-gets-copy-and-paste/

Cell phone game to bridge cultures...only if it were more usable....

2009-03-17T12:37:00.000-07:00

A game called x-life is being launched by the US State Department and is available free of costto people from other cultures. The game uses a role playing model where a person can choose the role of a student or a musician and simulates the arrival to the united states for studies. The game lets the users improve their command over English and showcases several good aspects of the american culture. The game was developed for a total budget of $415,000, and after one week of its launch last month, has managed to get about 120 people try it. The goal is to get about 10,000 active users over the next 12 months.

Check it out here: http://www.xlifegames.com/

The effort is commendable, and in the right direction, as cell phones become more and more pervasive all across the world and connection speeds and phone capabilities increasing by the day. Governments and other organizations are realizing the power of cellphones to reach out to non-western cultures. ( Tangent: Worth mentioning here would be the research of Gary Marsden, a researcher at the Cape Town University on the use of cellphones in empowering cultures. Check out Gary's blog: http://web.mac.com/hciguy/iWeb/udev/Under%20Development/Under%20Development.html

)

But seems like the game has a long way to go in terms of usability if the government wants to get more users and keep them. As of now the game seems to be buggy, hard to play, and in its current state, quite a frustrating experience for the users. And it is available only in 2 phone models - the Nokia N series, and Sony Ericcson P1.

Here is what a user has to say about the game experience in its current state

"So there I am, there is nothing left for me to do. I can't leave the room. I can't watch TV. The guy won't say anything else to me, and I'm not sure how to visit a Web site (to get the visa) ... so at this point I would be 'delete,' go on to something else," he said. "I got a free trip to America but I can't get there."

Oh no.. not again.....

Authority and Decision Making - Youtube video of an experiment based on the original Stanley Milgram experiment

2009-02-21T15:07:00.000-08:00

I recently stumbled upon this youtube video of a re-enactment of the original Milgram Experiment, and I think it is a great way to illustrate how hearing from a proper authority can skew human decision making. This psychological behavior which was proved way back in 1963, along with other persuasion rules like

The Law of Reciprocity
Commitment and Consistency
Social Proof
Liking
Authority
Scarcity
Conclusion

are still highly relevant today in any form of selling, and there is no reason why you shouldn't be utilizing this in your selling experience. Needless to say, these would provide strong cases of persuasion to the user, and give that much needed last push to buy your online product.

You tube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6GxIuljT3w&eurl=http://richgrad.com/how-to-influence-anyone-to-do-anything/ (This was done for a TV show called 'Heist'.)

More reading: Book --Robert Cialdini - Influence: Science and Practice

Exactly what would a presidential mobile look like?

2009-01-12T15:53:00.000-08:00

The president's wish to keep his phone even after his stepping in has given Blackberry its biggest endorsement and perhaps its first zero dollar international marketing campaign. But an interesting question remains..How would a 'Barrackberry' really look like, considering the unique needs of the most powerful man on earth?
Dewin Coldewey explores...
News Link: http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/01/12/exactly-what-would-a-presidential-mobile-look-like/

Cellphone usage to be completely banned on road?

2009-01-12T09:39:00.001-08:00

New studies by Dave Strayer of the University of Utah has shown that hands free cellphone usage makes the driver as impaired as 'legally drunk' . Study shows that the drivers are four times more risky for a crash while using a cellphone. There seems to be a strong push from National Safety Council now to get the states ban the usage of cellphones completely (including the handsfree / bluetooth) while driving.
Would be interesting to see how the other cell phone talkers, texters, bloggers and twitterers of the world (I am guilty too) react to this.
News Link : http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE50B3PF20090112

Who said Facebook doesn't bring you value?

2009-01-09T08:31:00.000-08:00

Whoever said Facebook doesn't bring them value will have to eat their words now... or atleast a Whopper..All you need to do is to cut 10 of your unknown friends, .take a stroll to your neighborhood Burger King and get a free Whopper. ... Welcome to the new ways of Social Marketing

News Link: http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/digital/e3i9953839003c11ce8bbf5f762069ef9ba

Power of Social Browsing - Mozilla's Ubiquity

2008-11-19T15:21:00.000-08:00

We have seen Flock and Google Chrome integrate some of the social tasks into the browsing experience. If you think those are powerful tools, check out Mozilla's Ubiquity.

The link below has a video of the 0.1 version of the Ubiquity prototype, and it shows the browser exhibiting intelligence in comprehending text that the users type in and utilizes the power of the web to search and find information like location, reviews of businesses etc and using your email program to send it out to contacts of your choice, making common tasks on the web more efficient.

Link: http://labs.mozilla.com/2008/08/introducing-ubiquity/

ISRO to launch its version of Google Earth and GPS Services

2008-11-19T12:32:00.000-08:00

Behold, another entrant to the maps and GPS arena. ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) is tipped to launch a free web based mapping and GPS service called Bhuvan (Sanskrit for Earth). The resolution of the ISRO service is said to be 10 meters ( compared to what google earth's 200 meters)

Once this becomes a reality, it will create great new business opportunities in the subcontinent. Vast amounts of positioning data will suddenly become available on the Indian subcontinent, creating great commercial possibilities similar to the situation in mid 90s in the US.

News Link: http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article5182639.ec e

Agile and XP practices today need better UCD framework

2008-11-19T10:21:00.000-08:00

There has been a lot of discussion on the Design and Programming community over the last couple of days after Jakob Nielson's article on his website. (He based them on two rounds of research : A survey with 105 respondents and a study of agile processes in 12 companies)
Link: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/agile-methods.html

While practicing UCD folks would agree to Nielson when he says ignoring the User Centered Approaches in today's Agile processes is a big risk, some agile programmers might feel that loading the process with front end UCD (in Agile terms Big Upfront Design - BUFD) is probably not the way to go.

Depending on your focus (UCD or Programming) you might either favor a more rigorous upfront process or less, as one of the premises of Agile process is YAGNI which expands to the effect of Dont Think ahead because - 'You Ain't Gonna Need It'. If you ask a User Centered Design person to choose one thing that troubled them the most to date about Agile processes, it would be the over use of 'YAGNI'. One thing people from both backgrounds would agree though, is there are gaps and it is becoming quite clear.

Nielson in his article has suggested solutions to address several of these gaps, and people like Gerard Mazoras (Agile Development Process Specialist) suggests the use of lightweight UCD techniques as the solution to address these gaps.
Link: http://concept2backlog.gerardm.com/

These are some great solutions, and the Agile projects would definitely benefit from incorporating them, but one thing that often gets overlooked and has hurt us equally, is who actually does the UCD work. If you look at resourcing of the Agile projects, you can see what I am saying. Unfortunately, in a lot of cases, UCD is just one of the several hats worn by a team member and that definitely takes a toll on the quality of the UCD work that happens in the project. Now, that might look best from a resource manager's stand point because the process is essentially development centric, and there is a perception that the lightweight processes are easier to do and can be managed by a junior UX resource. That to me is an even higher risk than following a discounted UCD process itself, because knowing what methods to use, when, and how to use them become highly critical success factors when the process itself is discounted.

This is an opportunity for us in the coming days to work towards getting a process together that gets the best value out of UCD and Agile methods.

Note: There is definitely no Us versus Them here.. only Us......

Facebook gets it right about Advertisements

2008-11-14T12:23:00.000-08:00

It is all about Quality rather than quantity, and though everybody would recognize this fact, usually companies take the other route when it comes to online Advertising. One thing that these companies miss out, often times these 'on the face advertisements' are often disrupting the tasks users come to achieve at the website at the first place, and hence will get much lesser attention. Crowding of ads on the user's face over the years have slowly made the users virtually blind to these ads, or in other words the users have now learned to ignore them. - Things most of the usability folks have been trying to convince businesses of / warn against time and again, for more than a decade.

It is refreshing to learn at least one company plans to be different. Facebook, the social networking giant plans to a small number of targeted contextual advertisements versus crowding the pages with advertisements.
News Link: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/why-facebook-likes-small-ads-despite-the-small-dollars/

Google comes up with voice Recognition Search

2008-11-14T12:12:00.000-08:00

Following Yahoo's OneSearch and Microsoft's Tell Me, Google also has entered into the voice recognition search arena in cellphones. Ofcourse, their offering is backed by the highly powerful google search and though the error rate is still high which is inherrent to the current state of the technology, the service has great potential especially for people who are driving, helping to keep the driver's attention on road while looking for a nearby restaurant or directions.

Here is the News Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/14/technology/internet/14voice.html?ref=technology

The inadequecy of today's credit ratings - Lack of qualitative data

2008-11-12T16:45:00.000-08:00

The current US Economy slowdown has brought the focus on one of the chief contributors to the situation - bad credit and credit worthiness. In today's age where we have highly precise risk models to predict behaviors to decimal point accuracies, one cannot but wonder why they fail inspite of the high mathematical accuracy/confidence. The reason would become apparent if you look at the process itself that is used to generate these ratings - heavily quantitative.

If you ask any psychologist,social scientist, or a human factors person they would tell you in a heartbeat: Human Behaviour cannot be totally predicted based solely on history, however comprehensive that data be. That would be highly discounting the power and complexity of human mind. Afterall, if the current mathematical models worked flawlessly, there would not have been a credit crisis at the first place.
Now, this definitely does not mean that Quantitative models are useless, rather it is an opportunity to marry the quantitative predictors with some qualitative data unearthed from research into the psychodynamics and buying behaviours of customers . This would give an opportunity to validate the predictors and provide an opportunity for a more rounded credit worthiness rating. I can't see a reason why it would hurt, infact it sounds like a great opportunity that financial institutions and lenders should explore.

Related reading: The Failure of Models that Predict Failure: Distance, Incentives and Defaults ( Research Paper)

Obama Campaign an endorsement to the power of Social Media

2008-11-10T14:02:00.000-08:00

The Obama campaign was impressive in more ways than one. One of the most striking aspects was the extensive, smart and very successful use of social media and viral campaigning techniques. Not only has it saved huge amounts of money, but utilized and in someways even showcased the power of common network platforms like facebook, myspace, youtube, and twitter, combined with a website specific for the purpose. If there are businesses that are yet to jump into the social media bandwagon, this evidence should definitely make them take a closer look.
The success of these channels for the campaign would also make one wonder if Obama's office will continue to use this as an easy tool for reaching out to the public about key policies and also as a way to gather feedback. That will be quite a refreshing change to the ways of the polity.

Intelligent Human Factors

2008-11-06T01:01:00.000-08:00

Cube culture has created many 30 somethings and 40 somethings with bad backs. Well, not any more.. atleast once Oki's Robotic Chair becomes commonly available in the market...

Though there are a few chairs in the market that use good human factors to provide a fairly good support to the back for the majority of the population, this one is a generation ahead of the ones that we see today in most of the offices. The chair has a robotic arm that adjusts the position according to the posture of the person sitting on it, in real time, giving the person a perfect posture on all situations.

News link: http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/05/okis-robot-chair-heralds-a-new-age-of-robot-aided-seating/

Why Human Factors is so important

2008-10-28T10:57:00.000-07:00

After 7 years, the BMW is still struggling with the design of iDrive. Now, BMW is one of my favorite vehicles in terms of driving pleasure (and I own one of them), but the electronic controls that come with it have often managed to be examples for the most non-usable human machine interaction. Much has been said about the iDrive over the years, so much so that it continued as a blot on an otherwise perfect brand of engineering excellence.

The 2009 models are supposed to come out with a much improved version of iDrive, one that actually has a few controls to wade through all the complex structures of information, and also some direct manipulation options on the screen (touch). I haven't gotten a chance to take a look at the interface yet, but I sincerely hope they got it right this time. It is about time....

News Link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/automobiles/26DRIVE.html?_r=1&em&oref=slogin

Supporting Bihar Flood Victims - Innovative Concept

2008-10-01T09:22:00.000-07:00

I got this as a forwarded message today. The concept seems quite innovative. Answer 4 questions that shows your awareness of the situation, and the site will donate something to help out the victims.
I tried it out and it took me roughly a minute.

Forwarded Message
_______________
Just came across an innovative site to help Bihar Flood victims. Shows how one can contribute without actually spending anything or being physically present by spending 60 seconds of one's time. Just have to answer simple questions, and sponsors will pay to the NGO on your behalf. Kindly spread the word. (http://www.helpbihar.in)
__________________

CTRL + ALT + Delete

2008-07-06T19:01:00.000-07:00

IBM engineer talks about the history of the famus/infamous 'control- alt-delete' shortcut in this one minute video. Among all the random non-intuitive GUI shortcuts that are ingrained in the users' mind now (knowledge in the head), this one, I think is the most popular. In the short video, the engineer also manages to take a good dig at Bill Gates (also seen in the video) by sharing the credit with Mr Gates for popularizing the shortcut.

Video: Courtesy cnet
Original URL: http://news.cnet.com/1606-2_3-50002797.html

The new superhero- Usability Man! to save the world

2008-06-29T15:23:00.000-07:00

Check out this Youtube video. I found this rather funny. 'Usability Man' to poor users' rescue ..........and in the background is a famous Zeppelin song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGbOwxYTNGg&eurl=http://usabilityguru.ning.com/video/video/show?id=919104%3AVideo%3A7

Where are people going clubbing, dining, shopping? - The power of Real Time data

2008-06-29T14:35:00.000-07:00

Which is the hottest club tonight? Where are all the cool people ?

Now there is cellphone technology to provide real time data on where people are going shopping, dining, clubbing etc. Imagine making your choices between one club versus another based on realtime data!
Now you dont have to imagine it, as it is possible as we speak. A company named 'City Sense' has created a cellphone application that lets you see where the hotspots are in your city at any given point in time. A free blackberry variant of this application is already out and an iPhone version is soon going to follow.

This new technology might open up huge possibilities for marketing, and social networking. This provides a new dimension of information that consumers did not have in the past and has potential to revolutionize buying experience in the near future. Stay tuned!!

News article: http://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=965

How much is it worth?

2008-06-28T18:34:00.000-07:00

How much value does the brand bring in? Would people pay the same money for an unknown brand with the same quality as a famous brand?

Washington Post conducted this interesting experiment, where they asked the famous musician Joshua Bell to perform in disguise as a normal street musican on Washington DC Subway. A staggering 1089 people walked by over a period of 50 minutes without paying attention, though Bell played the same high quality music, that he charges $1000/ minute in one of his standard musical concerts.

Here is the Youtube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn6KMSq_vaE&eurl=http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/

Would handsfree phones avoid accidents?

2008-06-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

California is banning cellphone usage now (without handsfree talking). But is that enough?
Studies prove otherwise. University of Utah professor David Strayer calls this reduced attention "Inattention Blindness"

News Article on the subject: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25379642&GT1=43001

Bill Gates complains about poor windows Usability?

2008-06-26T09:57:00.000-07:00

I am not sure about the authenticity of this news item, but then it would not be such a shock if this actually happened.

Windows Vista usability has been subpar, so much so that it is one of the worst Microsoft software products ever released. This has hugely affected the user adoption of Vista. Companies are still running on the predecessor OS - XP, and Microsoft is under pressure to launch a considerably better product (in the much hyped Windows 7) . Microsoft knows very well that, if they do not get their act together the next Windows release, they are going to be in serious trouble.

News article: http://techblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/06/bill-gates-complains-about-win.html

ps: You will have to get past usability being misspelled in the title to get to the article.

This might help: To err is human, to forgive is Design.
- I blame it on the spell check feature. :)

Hello World

2008-06-23T12:26:00.000-07:00

Anoop's UX blog