“A homepage really has two main goals: to give users information, and to serve as their top-level navigation for information that’s inside the site…. [S]ample sites allocated less than half the screen space to useful pixels.” Jakob Nielsen —Homepage Real Estate AllocationUseIT.com) Similar:Requiem for the NewsroomWhen I worked at a radio news station in…CultureOkay, a…
“MMRPGs are pervasive virtual environments populated by human-controlled digital people from around the globe. | Players develop characters, work towards goals, solve puzzles and engage in social fluttery. They’re the visual marriage of text-based adventures and chat rooms, and women are flocking.” Alex Krotoski —Online Role-Playing Fits the BillGuardian) Interesting… while Slashdot just posted a…
“[T]the bulk of the nineteen page document was copied from three different articles – one written by a graduate student.” —Britain’s Official Dossier on Saddam Plagiarized?Channel4.com) Similar:Prosecutor praises newspaper that exposed doctor's abuseIsn’t the news pointless and boring? Hav…CultureMy daughter found where all the missing pens and pencils end upAmusingThis 1960s teenager knew the neighborhood…
“The computer industry defies the pattern of all previous technological revolutions, making little or no progress toward convenience. It takes much longer to turn on your machine in the morning now than it did 20 years ago. The reaction of the clueless masses is to grumble and crack wise and then meekly accept the commands…
“That people are gravitating from the television to the Internet, especially for information, is, of course, extremely good news–at least for us. But while they are coming more, they are believing less: Last year the UCLA survey indicated that 58% of Internet users believed that most of what they read online was ‘reliable and accurate.’”…
“The social structure of the Network Age is already evident, and we can potentially anticipate a great deal about the next few decades of our lives by examining the essence of the network, both in its literal and figurative manifestations. But understanding the order of the coming age of distributed culture requires us first to…
“[R]esearchers had seen a precipitous drop in the use of books and an equally steep rise in the use of Web sites. Books composed 30 percent of cited sources in 1996, compared with 16 percent in 1999, with continued declines in the following year. Web sites, meanwhile, grew from about 8 percent of cited sources…
“Some see it as part of the same cultural continuum of reality TV programming. Others see a broader trend in which digital technologies are allowing everyone to participate more directly in media experiences. Under this scenario, an era of decentralized media is fast approaching in which the idea of “consumers” of mass-market media will become…
“The BWCA is a pristine wilderness and a canoeist’s paradise in north-eastern Minnesota. It has over 1,500 miles of canoe routes and more than 1,000 lakes and streams. It has been largely unaltered by human hands since the 1930’s, and is today an official wilderness. You can plan a canoe route to “get away from…
“There are dozens of well-designed studies that show that TV, movies and other media affect what viewers believe and how they behave. This is true of many different kinds of attitudes and behaviors — positive and negative — but many studies conclusively show a statistical link between watching violent programs and behaving aggressively. And, of…
“But after being heralded on the cover of Newsweek and on ’60 Minutes,’ the $25-million ‘Sims Online’ has turned into an expensive letdown for Redwood City, Calif.-based EA. Sales are sluggish, reviews have been merciless, and many in the video game industry wonder whether online games will ever find a large following.” Alex Pham —‘Sims…
“The kicker for economists is that these virtual economic relationships have broken into the real U.S. economy. When players found EverQuest’s bartering rules inadequate, they started exchanging the armor, spells, and other Norrathian objects of value at real-world auction sites. These transactions are conducted not in Norrathian PP but in U.S. dollars and then completed…
“The genetic code is truly digital, in exactly the same sense as computer codes. This is not some vague analogy, it is the literal truth. Moreover, unlike computer codes, the genetic code is universal. Modern computers are built around a number of mutually incompatible machine languages, determined by their processor chips. The genetic code, on…
“In a milestone of scientific eccentricity, local astronomers have announced that they want to simulate the behaviour of falling meteorites by dropping bowling balls from aircraft – though the plan has gone down like a lead spaceship with government officials.” —Utah Bowled Over by Meteor Plan Observer) Similar:I’m a 12-year-old girl. Why don’t the characters…
“Students expect, from their high school experience, to be told exactly what is required to receive a particular grade. They expect to be given ‘study guides’ before exams that lead them by the hand through the material that is likely to appear on the exam. And they expect tests and courses to be graded by…
“There: that red coal burning on the horizon. We?re going. And we?re not sending smart toys on our behalf – we?re sending human beings, and one of them will put his boot on the sand and bring the number of worlds we?ve visited to three. And when he plants the flag he will use flesh…
“The grieving are calling out to Jesus–and God and HaShem and Krishna. They are chanting passages from the New Testament, the Torah, Unitarian readings, and the Vedas.| The crew of Columbia represents an extraordinary variety of faith traditions: Kalpana Chawla – Hindu William McCool – Roman Catholic Ilan Ramon – Jewish Rick Husband – Charismatic…
“Once you get into space, you check to see if any tiles are damaged. If enough are, you have a choice between Plan A and Plan B. Plan A is hope they can get a rescue shuttle up in time. Plan B is burn up coming back. | But let’s not worry about the tiles.…
“But here’s the dirty little secret that may go farther in explaining why usability stinks: Most developers and designers don’t give a rat’s ass about it. The developers want the thing to have lots of features, so usability is the designers’ problem. The designers want the project to look great, so how it works is…
“Hello from above our magnificent planet Earth.|The perspective is truly awe-inspiring. This is a terrific mission and we are very busy doing science round the clock.|Just getting a moment to type e-mail is precious so this will be short, and distributed to many who I know and love.|I have seen some incredible sights: lightning spreading…