A Room and a View

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…

Tools to keep the user from being hurt

The world is full of devices associated with the word ergonomic. A scholar trying to learn the word by studying the way it’s used in today’s culture is likely conclude that it means “curvy” or possibly “funny-looking.” Nearly all mice, trackballs, and other devices are now described as ergonomic; this doesn’t mean they’re all good…

Y! MIndset

—Y! MIndset An interesting Yahoo! search engine that places “Shopping” and “Research” on opposite ends of a sliding scale, which you can adjust in order to change the weightings of of search results. Similar:This morning I awoke to YouTube’s live footage of crowds circling a mosque in Mecca. For m…My crowd simulation handles 2000 capsule…

Gemini: Marketers of Brand Name Accessories — About Us

To assure its continued success, Gemini has further increased it’s [sic] exposure to retailers and consumers alike with innovative marketing and a successful brand[-]building strategy. The For Dummies brand was recently added to Gemini’s stable of product lines. With it’s [sic] recognizable brand name, For Dummies compliments [sic] the current Gemini brand profile that includes…

Google's War on Hierarchy, and the Death of Hierarchical Folders

Given the dominance of Hierarchical folders over the last 40 years, this is a major development in the history of information management. Implicit in Google’s product offerings is an declaration of war: Hierarchy is doomed, and Search is going to kill it. —John Hiler —Google’s War on Hierarchy, and the Death of Hierarchical Folders (Microcontent News)…

A History of the GUI

Like many developments in the history of computing, some of the ideas for a GUI computer were thought of long before the technology was even available to build such a machine. One of the first people to express these ideas was Vannevar Bush. In the early 1930s he first wrote of a device he called…

Two and a half decades later, as the little yellow notes celebrate their silver anniversary, it‘seasy to forget what a recent innovation they are. Thanks to their material simplicity, they seem more closely related to workplace antiquities like the stapler and the hole-punch than integrated chips. Instead, they?re an exemplary product of their time. Foreshadowing…

Distracting visuals clutter TV screen; viewers less likely to retain content

Robert Pittman, who created MTV, attributed the station’s success to the ability of viewers in their late teens and early 20s to process multiple facets of information simultaneously. In television, success brings imitation…. “When Mary Lynn Ryan, who was CNN’s producer at the time, did this the news ratings skyrocketed,” Grimes said. “So it appeared…

The Perfect Prescription

—The Perfect Prescription (New York Metro) New design for pill bottles, improving legibility and adding several other features. Similar:My crowd simulation handles 2000 capsule NPCs at 130fps. I’m really pushing my coding skil…More than a million people die on roads every year. Meet the man determined to prevent the…Stapler jam during a midterm exam.The Tyranny of…

Emails 'pose threat to IQ'

The distractions of constant emails, text and phone messages are a greater threat to IQ and concentration than taking cannabis, according to a survey of befuddled volunteers. Doziness, lethargy and an increasing inability to focus reached “startling” levels in the trials by 1,100 people, who also demonstrated that emails in particular have an addictive, drug-like…

Rent My Son

Sign Your Child Up Today! Make extra money – or start your son’s college fund! We are currently looking for children in your area! Rent your son out on weekends. You have complete control over your child’s schedule. All of our clients are fully screened, and you may screen prospective clients before any transaction takes…