We expect them to be able to follow us around the house, picking up after us, chattering with us like C-3PO, reading our emotions with the accuracy, if not the intent, of HAL. While robots have proved indispensable in narrow kinds of work, like assembly lines, when it comes to interactions with unpredictable, flesh-and-blood humans,…
There are some things that become so ubiquitous and familiar to us – so seemingly obvious – that we forget that they actually had to be invented. Here’s a case in point – the weblog post’s permalink. I mean – let’s think about it. The problem was that a weblog’s front page is by far…
The original handwritten manuscript of what became Alice in Wonderland has been put online using software to virtually turn the pages. Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, by Lewis Carroll, is the latest 3D addition to the British Library’s Turning the Pages collection of books. —Original Alice work in 3D online (BBC) I had to hunt on the…
It perfectly pulls together four important tools that no geek should ever be without (USB flash drive, LED light, Swiss Army knife, ballpoint pen). These functions have been skillfully integrated into this single super tool. Along with all these great features you also get the legendary construction quality and materials that Swiss Army knives have…
The PocketMod is a new way to keep yourself organized. Lets face it, PDA’s are to expensive and cumbersome, and organizers are bulky and hard to carry around. Nothing beats a folded up piece of paper. That is until now. —The PocketMod It is a folded-up piece of paper, but such a cool piece of…
Nvu (pronounced N-view, for a “new view”) is a complete Web Authoring System that combines web file management and easy-to-use WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) web page editing. Nvu is designed to be extremely easy to use, making it ideal for non-technical computer users who want to create an attractive, professional-looking web…
In his pockets, Jefferson carried such a variety of portable instruments for making observations and measurements that he’s been dubbed a “traveling calculator.” Among his collection of pocket-sized devices were scales, drawing instruments, a thermometer, a surveying compass, a level, and even a globe. To record all these measurements, Jefferson carried a small ivory notebook…
User interface agents are increasingly used in software products; perhaps the best-known user interface agent is the Microsoft Office Assistant (“Clippy the Paperclip”). This thesis explores why many people have a negative response to the Office Assistant, using a combination of theoretical, qualitative, and quantitative studies. Among the findings were that labels–whether internal cognitive labels…
Like a zombie from a George Romero flick, the PointCast model refuses to die. The latest incarnation? Google Sidebar aggregrates news headlines, plus custom local weather reports and stock quotes in a desktop application window. Sidebar also adds new features, including the ability to read messages sent to a Gmail account and reader-selected RSS feeds…
On the first day of classes, the ritual has been the same for decades: Professors hand out copies of the syllabus and walk students through it. But in most courses at the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh this fall, the only thing professors may hand out is a URL. That’s because the dean of the…
Terugkerend thema in onze gesprekken met klanten is de wijze waarop het internet als beste ingezet kan worden. Aandacht hierbij gaat vaak uit naar de wijze van communiceren. Vandaar dat wij graag u hierbij een overzicht van interessante artikelen over dit onderwerp willen presenteren: —Schrijven voor het web (”Writing for the web”) (Darwine Nieuwsbrief) A newsletter…
In my dream he wanted the bathroom. “What’s that smell?” he said. “A gift,” I said, and gave him cheap soap hugely wrapped in purple with a golden bow, no less. How thoughtful. How thoughtless. Not only splash, but flash. —Rachel McAlpine —Four Dreams about Jakob Nielsen (Quality Web Content) Jakob Nielsen is a web usability…
I sometimes wonder whether graphics wouldn’t be better off if graphics designers and developers had stayed with vector-based graphics. For all that pixels are wonderful (I have nearly two million of them in front of me right now), they sometimes make Web designers do really stupid things. —Peter Seebach —Oh, the Pixel Pickle (IBM DeveloperWorks) I’m…
—United States of America: Geography — Level 6 (Sheppard Software) This is a Flash game that asks you to place each of the states on a map. My average error was 14 miles. (Hint: look at the rivers.) If you put a state in the right location, it disappears — which means it’s not visible to…
The evolution of the Internet as collective, public dream via electronic interfaces, and the evolution of human beings into civilizations, has many striking parallels. The earliest networks were often protected by their owners, and communities were relatively secretive or ?cave-dwelling.? The wiki, on the other hand, is out in the open field, where its vulnerability…
In a meeting today, I learned that there is such a place as the ?blogosphere.? I thought the speaker was joking, and so appropriately, I giggled. The stern look I received in response jolted me to the realization that not only was this not a joke, but that I was the fool for not knowing…
In general, the more code you put into making the page look a certain way, the more time a user spends wondering why the page hasn’t loaded yet. For example, the store locator page that started me on this month’s topic was packed with large menus carefully rendered in alternating color schemes. Every menu had…
Fubon said that the trader was unfamiliar with new computer systems and will be fired. —Bad keystroke leads to $251 million stock buy (News.com) What kind of an interface lets a worker spend $251 million with a single keystroke? The real problem here isn’t the worker — it’s a whole inhuman mindset that expects human beings…
At the same time, usability is also an ideology — the belief in a certain specialized type of human rights: The right of people to be superior to technology. If there’s a conflict between technology and people, then technology must change. The right of empowerment. Users should understand what’s happening and be capable of controlling…
The students were deliciously amused as the blinds fell. . . but the screen rose — or else the video was out-of-focus, or the sound intermittent, or worse. How I hoped to orchestrate the class! Instead, the room orchestrated me, and the technology orchestrated the room. Are lecture halls more vulnerable to the lure of…