Crude Technologies

Not gone, just gone dark

2017-01-18T22:46:41Z

No posts since 2013, but not unreachable. See LinkedIn (link at left) for more.

Fix to remove or uninstall MacFuse on Mountain Lion when you get the error "MacFUSE Uninstaller: Can not find the Archive.bom for MacFUSE Core package."

2013-08-03T20:14:59Z

If you've been upgrading OSX for a while, you may have some kernel extensions lying around that are no longer compatible, and may have been installed long enough ago that the uninstallers don't work.

When upgrading from Mountain Lion to Mavericks I noticed MacFuse 2.1.7 which stopped development back in 2009. There's a 2.1.9 that works on Lion and a 2.2.0, but the project has been superseded by OSXFUSE which is on 2.6.0 as of this writing, available at http://osxfuse.github.io.

In the meantime, you need to uninstall MacFuse. If you click the uninstall button in the 32-bit preference pane, nothing happens. If you track down the original fuse.fs package, it's in /Library/Filesystems/fuse.fs, but the uninstall script errors out with the message:

MacFUSE Uninstaller: Can not find the Archive.bom for MacFUSE Core package.

Several blogs suggest you simply need to add newer OSX version numbers to fix this. That's true if your MacFuse bill of materials (bom) file is where the script thinks, at /var/db/receipts/com.google.macfuse.core.bom, but mine wasn't. Mine was at /Library/Receipts/boms/com.google.macfuse.core.bom.

To fix this, edit the script:

find the section that tests your OSX version (search for uname), and update it:

Of course, use whatever path really has your com.googlemacfuse.core.bom file.

Save, run the revised script, and two pages worth of files are removed. Finally, you need to remove the MacFuse System Preferences pane.

Right click it, and choose Remove "MacFuse" Preference Pane.

Now go get OSXFUSE and enjoy.

How not to launch your new phone — Facebook Home takes a lesson from the Google Play book

2013-04-04T22:09:48Z

Facebook Home looks like a slick product, initially offering a first class experience exclusively on the HTC First, sold through AT&T:

“The HTC First is the best Home experience possible. There’s no setup—just turn it on, log into Facebook, and see your friends. Available in matte black, white, red and pale blue with a 4.3″ screen, 5 megapixel rear-facing camera and LTE capability. Exclusively at AT&T.”

Such a widely anticipated launch, to an audience the size of Facebook's, is sure to generate an incredible surge of sales for AT&T.

Well, if AT&T had planned for Facebook to link to them, that is:

Maybe Facebook accidentally poached the Googlers responsible for the Nexus 4 failure to launch in the Google Play Store?

Pro Tip: When you launch a splash page with a a pre-order button, people may want to try to click it!

Why, thank you, FedEx Manager Suraj Golden, I'll be right over

2013-02-22T17:30:18Z

How is this obviously a scam? Even without getting technical and examining email headers, let's review:

Is the email from a FedEx email address? No.
Is the email sent to just you and only you? No.
Is the email logo and branding all perfect? No.
Is the email free of typos? No. (lack of space between date and Courier)
Is the email in conventional English? No. (should be "The courier" our "Our courier")
Is the email grammar consistent? No. ("at February 20" vs "at 20 February" and "parcel, please, print")

And most of all:

Does the link go to FedEx? No.

Even if all of these are "Yes" it's still a better idea to copy the tracking number, type "www.fedex.com" into a new browser window, and look up the tracking number yourself. In general, you should never click a link in an email from a business unless it's in immediate response to an action you took on their site, such as when verifying that you just changed your email address.

Learn more about the FedEx undeliverable parcel phishing scam at Snopes.

We Built This!

2012-08-31T12:39:49Z

I'm thrilled to share the results of what we've been working on this year: a live video transcoding and streaming service to take a broadcast quality source from a venue or live show and turn it into the multiple bit-rates and multiple protocols needed to serve the video stream to users watching on anything from a 3G Android phone to a Retina Macbook Pro.

Our live video solution is being used every day by media and content companies around the world, from Mom & Pop small businesses to the widely watched Republican National Convention brought to you this whole past week on the home page of the New York Times and Google's YouTube Election Hub.

If you missed it, check us out next week when we'll be helping bring you the DNC live from Charlotte!

YouTube asks for your real name, can't imagine you might want privacy

2012-07-24T16:57:00Z

Back in 2009, YouTube started requiring a Google Account for new users. In mid-2010, YouTube forced original usernames to "connect to" a Google Account.

Now YouTube's prompting you to supply a real name to go with that that account.

They justify this by suggesting your username is hard to read, though in my case it's a dictionary word. They go on to tout "start using the name people know you by", as though that's what everyone with a not-so-high-minded list of YouTube favorites is just itching to do.

For now, this is optional. That's good. But YouTube doesn't like that answer much, as shown by the next screen:

Tellingly, "I like my viewing habits and preferences to stay unattached to my real name" is not one of the six reasons you're allowed to express. The closest option, "personal use", has the unsettling choice of "I cannot use my full name" rather than the perfectly reasonable "I'd rather not".

It makes sense for Google's business model to train users that privacy is overrated. But it's a step in the wrong direction for users' online privacy.

There are already far fewer widely used "online ID" issuers than there are driver's license issuers, and tying these IDs together into essentially just Facebook, Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft is fantastic for advertising, but not so great for people who don't want every click to get recorded in an open book.

iOS vs Android OS upgrade adoption rates as of June 2012

2012-06-11T18:17:53Z

For me, this was the most interesting chart during the WWDC 2012 Keynote.

Android 4 and iOS 5 were released at the same time. And as of now, here are the percentages of users still on each mobile OS version:

// via engadget

This is one of many reasons it's so challenging to support streaming video on Android. Even within version 2.3, various point releases fix and break significant chunks of streaming support.

The good news is that both iOS 5 and Android 4 support HTTP based "HLS" streaming, another Apple technology.

Verisign seizes .com domain registered via foreign Registrar on behalf of US Authorities

2012-02-29T19:37:00Z

At the end of the day what has happened is that US law (in fact, Maryland state law) as been imposed on a .com domain operating outside the USA, which is the subtext we were very worried about when we commented on SOPA. Even though SOPA is currently in limbo, the reality that US law can now be asserted over all domains registered under .com, .net, org, .biz and maybe .info (Afilias is headquartered in Ireland but operates out of the US).

This is no longer a doom-and-gloom theory by some guy in a tin foil hat. It just happened.

The ramifications of this are no less than chilling and every single organization branded or operating under .com, .net, .org, .biz etc needs to ask themselves about their vulnerability to the whims of US federal and state lawmakers (not exactly known their cluefulness nor even-handedness, especially with regard to matters of the internet).

via blog.easydns.org

The Constitution and Founding Fathers make Rick Santorum want to throw up too

2012-02-27T18:27:41Z

JFK's famous speech on freedom of religion in America makes Rick Santorum want to throw up.

In 1960, John F. Kennedy addressed Protestant concerns that he might try to direct American policies in the interests of the Catholic church:

“I am wholly opposed to the state being used by any religious group, Catholic or Protestant, to compel, prohibit, or persecute the free exercise of any other religion...”

“I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote; where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference; and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the president who might appoint him or the people who might elect him.”

Last fall, Rick Santorum said this made him want to throw up, and this past week, he confirmed his remarks.

Santorum is either incapable of reading comprehension, or a truth-challenged politician angling for a particular demographic. He distorts JFKs words, which are unambiguous, doubling down this week with this comment:

“What kind of country do we live that says only people of non-faith can come into the public square and make their case? That makes me throw up.”

Did JFK say “only people of non-faith can come into the public square” as Santorum claims? On the contrary.

Acknowledging that he was a person of faith in a very public square, JFK said, “I am not the Catholic candidate for President, I am the Democractic party's candidate for President who happens to be Catholic. I do not speak for my Church on public matters, and the Church does not speak for me.”

JFK speech was clearly about freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. In a sectarian nation, this remains important.

Even today, there are no religious majorities in this country.

We are 26% Evangelical, 22% Roman Catholic, and 16% Mainline Protestant. The other 40% are none of these. Among Protestants, 25% of the US population is Baptist, 9% Pentecostal, 5% Lutheran, 4% Presbyterian, 4% Methodist, and 1.5% each of Anglican, Adventist, and Holiness. We are 1% Muslim. By comparison, 9% of us don't believe in any kind of god, and 15% claim no religion at all.

To appeal to “conservatives”, Santorum—like Palin before him—insists the Founding Fathers established a Christian nation. He may not realize the phrase "under God" was only added to the pledge in 1954. (Perhaps it's no coincidence this is the decade that informs his wardrobe.)

Santorum claims, “The idea that the church can have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and vision of our country.”

But the 1796 Treaty of Tripoli, a treaty with Muslims with its English text ratified by Congress, states that the United States was "not in any sense founded on the Christian religion". This treaty was written and signed less than 20 years after the Declaration of Independence, during the presidencies of Founding Fathers George Washington and John Adams.

In fact, the words Jesus Christ, Christianity, Bible, Creator, Divine, or God are not once mentioned in the Constitution. The only mentions of religion in the Constitution at all are in exclusionary terms:

"no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."

This is almost word for word what JFK said. I imagine Santorum feeling queasy as he reads those constitutional lines, wondering what other litmus tests might be left for him for appointments to the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, American politics has enough work to do without dragging religious differences into Congress. From the national creed, adopted by Congress in 1918:

“I believe in the United States of America, as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a republic; a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes.”

“I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support its Constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies.”

Imagine if Congress spent as much debate on Equality and Humanity as on hearings against contraception.

James Madison, writing in the 1780s, wanted the government to stay focused on its Civil authority, and religion on religion, to avoid conflict on "unessential" points. Madison viewed the government's only role in religion as keeping sects from imposing their views on others.

"It may not be easy, in every possible case, to trace the line of separation between the rights of religion and the Civil authority with such distinctness as to avoid collisions and doubts on unessential points. The tendency to unsurpastion on one side or the other, or to a corrupting coalition or alliance between them, will be best guarded against by an entire abstinence of the Government from interfence in any way whatsoever, beyond the necessity of preserving public order, and protecting each sect against trespasses on its legal rights by others."

Madison penned a sobering reminder of what happens if Church gains the upper hand in State, in contrast to a "just government" upholding public liberty.

"What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the civil authority; on many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wish to subvert the public liberty may have found an established clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate it, needs them not."

Each time we allow the government to form policy, or even frame discussion, based on sectarian doctrine, we tear down the "wall of separation between church and state," as described in Thomas Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802, on government coming between each man and his God:

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church & State."

Do Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, our Constitution, and "the whole American people" make Mr. Santorum sick too?

Don't only practice your art ...

2012-02-11T06:10:18Z

The year’s worst tech trend: complexity

2011-12-31T22:32:00Z

In 2011 the entire tech ecosystem descended toward entropy. Devices and services had a harder time playing together, and simply choosing what to use became an occasion for a flowchart. Some of the simplest tech questions — How should I send a text message to a friend? Which video phone service should I use? — are now hopelessly fraught.

There’s a big opportunity, in 2012 and beyond, for startups that attempt to solve the complexity problem.

via slate.com

Richard Prince lawsuit focuses on limits of appropriation

2011-12-29T21:20:00Z

Today’s flow of creative expression, riding a tide of billions of instantly accessible digital images and clips, is rapidly becoming so free and recycling so reflexive that it is hard to imagine it being slowed, much less stanched [by copyright law].

via nytimes.com

Hell freezes over: Forrester urges IT to support the Mac

2011-10-28T11:38:19Z

Forrester Research, die-hard supporters of Windows in the enterprise, finally concedes that Macs help employees be more productive, saying: “Mac users are your HEROes and you should enable them not hinder them.”

“HERO,” it turns out, is a Forrester acronym for Highly Empowered and Resourceful Operatives — “the 17% of information workers who use new technologies and find innovative ways to be more productive and serve customers more effectively.”
The report goes on to offer six steps IT departments can take to "ease Macs into their enterprises" and three case studies of companies that have done so successfully.
"Stand in the way," Forrester concludes, "and you will eventually get run over."

via tech.fortune.cnn.com

Steve Jobs at home in 1982

2011-10-06T00:24:00Z

STEVE JOBS AT HOME IN 1982 — “This was a very typical time. I was single. All you needed was a cup of tea, a light, and your stereo, you know, and that’s what I had.”
via digitaljournalist.org

From his living room to the iPad in yours, Steve’s aesthetic, his quality, carried all the way through. The following words are from Steve Jobs’ Stanford commencement speech in June 2005:

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

“Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

Steve Jobs’ best quotes - WSJ

2011-08-24T23:47:52Z

On Technology

“It takes these very simple-minded instructions—‘Go fetch a number, add it to this number, put the result there, perceive if it’s greater than this other number’––but executes them at a rate of, let’s say, 1,000,000 per second. At 1,000,000 per second, the results appear to be magic.” [Playboy, Feb. 1, 1985]

***

“The problem is I’m older now, I’m 40 years old, and this stuff doesn’t change the world. It really doesn’t. “I’m sorry, it’s true. Having children really changes your view on these things. We’re born, we live for a brief instant, and we die. It’s been happening for a long time.

***

Technology is not changing it much — if at all. “These technologies can make life easier, can let us touch people we might not otherwise. You may have a child with a birth defect and be able to get in touch with other parents and support groups, get medical information, the latest experimental drugs. These things can profoundly influence life. I’m not downplaying that.

But it’s a disservice to constantly put things in this radical new light — that it’s going to change everything. Things don’t have to change the world to be important.” [Wired, February 1996]

***

“I think it’s brought the world a lot closer together, and will continue to do that. There are downsides to everything; there are unintended consequences to everything. The most corrosive piece of technology that I’ve ever seen is called television — but then, again, television, at its best, is magnificent.” [Rolling Stone, Dec. 3, 2003]

Usability week ending August 21st

2011-08-22T06:02:00Z

Friday, 19th August, 3:36 PM
Key principles of digital #typography: http://j.mp/nEhiny #fonts #css #webdesign

Wednesday, 17th August, 11:33 AM
@ericasadun Your app page clearly shows it has OneStar, but your app didn't automatically call 911 after my car accident. ONE STAR

Tuesday, 16th August, 6:39 PM
What if nobody knows what your icons mean? Guess what -- chances are, they don't: http://j.mp/rj02xj #ux #ui #icons

Tuesday, 16th August, 12:25 PM
@ericasadun have a look at StarFall HD http://j.mp/q5EvFv and the more complex SpaceStation: Frontier HD (40% off) http://j.mp/qhNfnX

Monday, 15th August, 11:23 AM
NYT paywall is porous, but that’s a feature, not a bug. Allows anybody to read any article they like, makes NYT inviting: http://j.mp/qjWDVH

Monday, 15th August, 10:07 AM
To be competitive, Google+Motorola first have to design amazing integrated products, which neither's really done before: http://j.mp/mSFXLa

Sunday, 14th August, 4:59 PM
It's not that PC manufacturers are quitters. It’s that they have the entirely wrong mindset to build must-have products: http://j.mp/pPcj6p

via twitter.com/terretta

Usability week ending August 7th

2011-08-08T06:02:00Z

Friday, 5th August, 2:43 PM
@sugarsock content aware fill, woo hoo! #cs5

Friday, 5th August, 2:04 PM
Game mechanics a part of #design and #usability, takes understanding users wanting gratifying flow: http://j.mp/cJB4b0 #ux #gamification

Thursday, 4th August, 2:25 PM
Understanding how users learn can help us design experiences that support the user throughout the entire process: http://j.mp/oDUGly #ux

Wednesday, 3rd August, 5:05 PM
British government says #copyright over-regulates to the detriment of the UK, wants to make "format shifting" legal: http://j.mp/pwEdsO

Wednesday, 3rd August, 3:48 PM
Like Horseshoe crabs or those giant flies in the jungles of South America, fax machines have proven nearly unkillable: http://j.mp/qOtLw9

Tuesday, 2nd August, 1:23 PM
@sugarsock Yes http://t.co/ca7gW24 is a side project to make vid hosting simple. Thanks for checking it out. Let us know what you think.

Tuesday, 2nd August, 1:06 PM
@sugarsock Best luck with the talk. Do you have a little Flip video or Kodak Zi8 to record it? Post it on sugarsock.vive.ly!

Monday, 1st August, 11:54 PM
@sugarsock today mine was 39 days out of warranty. fell on stone, shattered face, they replaced free, in & out under 5 mins, & easy restore

Monday, 1st August, 11:49 PM
@sugarsock On ITVfest Hollywood theme, u wrote "not dressing"... "don't keep a lot of... clothing on". Twitter matching isn't too smart.

Monday, 1st August, 11:21 PM
@sugarsock I think, to be fair, both Nokia and Samsung make no-profit phones for pay-as-you-go services. But I like Apple's model better!

Monday, 1st August, 1:37 PM
What profits can look like when people love, and evangelize, your product's user experience: http://j.mp/rdGroN #iphone #stats

via twitter.com/terretta

Microsoft Support article content disabled if you're not using the right OS

2011-08-01T16:59:11Z

I get asked a lot of small business computer "how to" questions. Today I was asked how to access a Microsoft Access database file over the Internet, if the .mdb file is uploaded to a web hosting provider such as 1&1.

After the "you're doing it wrong" part of the conversation yielded assurances they'd eventually at least upsize to MSDE, I forwarded a few URLs related to getting this bad idea working "as is".

Not sure when this happened, but apparently Microsoft has decided that if you're not going to use the affected OS to browse for help, you aren't going to get to see the full knowledge base support info.

screenshot of http://support.microsoft.com/kb/291783

Here's a System Tip for you, Microsoft: considering the number of IT folks supporting multiple operating systems from their workstation or running multiple OSes on their own machine in VMs, not to mention all the people helping other people, this is especially unhelpful.

I suppose since I can't browse Microsoft's Support KB without running on the OS in question, that settles it... I'm ditching this MacBook Pro and getting a Dell.

(Not really.)

Usability week ending July 31st

2011-08-01T06:02:00Z

Friday, 29th July, 6:53 PM
House committee approves bill requiring ISPs to spy on their users: http://j.mp/nafBhD #eff #privacy #internet #legal

Thursday, 28th July, 3:09 PM
With an LP, I possessed something tangible. When I download from iTunes, I can listen, but I possess nothing I can touch: http://j.mp/pLrhZf

Thursday, 28th July, 12:31 PM
Rethinking ad supported vs. web subscription differentiation as the difference between Coach and Business Class: http://j.mp/oNZng6 #ux

Tuesday, 26th July, 3:31 PM
How Apple Computer became Apple Inc., illustrated in 3 graphs: http://j.mp/p8Cmzo #apple

Tuesday, 26th July, 3:14 PM
New data indicates that #HTML5 is not just going to be big, it’s going to be huge: http://j.mp/ppGc6K

Monday, 25th July, 7:04 PM
There's a good chance that with enough data analyzed smartly enough, many events are predictable with useful accuracy: http://j.mp/pa1yNX

Monday, 25th July, 5:54 PM
Five popular web strategies to get you noticed that don't work, and one that does – be remarkable: http://j.mp/puPv13 #strategy #business

via twitter.com/terretta

Usability week ending July 24th

2011-07-25T06:02:00Z

Friday, 22nd July, 1:25 PM
Chosen is a fantastic #javascript plug-in for #jQuery and #Prototype to make long select boxes usable: http://j.mp/pULEaN #ux #ui

Wednesday, 20th July, 7:49 PM
Tom Anderson, MySpace founder, on whether Google will favor an algorithmic or user-controlled approach to your stream: http://j.mp/qYWDd6

Wednesday, 20th July, 1:07 PM
Picking apart the TechCrunch redesign with a user test: http://j.mp/oOkuHc #ux #design #usability

Monday, 18th July, 9:11 PM
The #iPhone Home Button shows how intuitive a single simple action can be if performed in context: http://j.mp/qf9s92 #ui

via twitter.com/terretta

Usability week ending July 17th

2011-07-18T06:02:00Z

Friday, 15th July, 5:27 PM
Developer attention to #Android has dwindled significantly over first and second quarters of 2011: http://j.mp/nFecuF #stats #ios

Friday, 15th July, 5:24 PM
How web designers can handle the variety of #font weights available in professional quality web fonts: http://j.mp/oDAEJU #css #typography

Friday, 15th July, 5:21 PM
Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and many other online companies are using game developers' techniques to keep you coming back: http://j.mp/qiUV4A

Wednesday, 13th July, 11:36 AM
Functionality, #gamification, and feedback loops -- using evidence, relevance, consequence, and action for #UX #design: http://j.mp/rrYm91

Tuesday, 12th July, 7:03 PM
“This is how ‘Planet of the Apes’ truly began. First you give the apes #copyright, then they take over the world.”: http://j.mp/rnDfdO #law

Tuesday, 12th July, 6:01 PM
20 yrs before #sparklines took off, Edward Tufte developed a different type of data visualization, the #slopegraph: http://j.mp/oeIt00 #ia

Tuesday, 12th July, 6:00 PM
A mid-2011 survey of wireframing and prototyping tools, some offline, some online: http://j.mp/qwxeGo #ia

Monday, 11th July, 3:32 PM
What not to do -- some of the *worst* pieces of #design ever done (plastic clamshell packaging tops the list): http://j.mp/q34mWl #ux

via twitter.com/terretta

Improving Contacts management for Google+ Circles

2011-07-12T17:27:38Z

"People not yet using Google+" defaults to all your Gmail Contacts. This is a two-fold problem:

1) Gmail defaults to adding contacts for anyone you interact with. I had 1500 spurious contacts (newsletters, web service email endpoints, e-commerce sites, etc) to weed through. I couldn't easily find my actual friends.

2) There's no way to say "Don't recommend these contacts to me any more", meaning, if I tried to "Find friends" to import a small list, they'd just be mingled into those 1500 useless addresses.

3) There's no link to your Google Contacts to manage who is showing here.

Solutions:

1a) Provide a way to dismiss or not show people.

- or -

1b) Consider supporting a "Show in Google Plus" group in Google Contacts.

2) If doing a "Find friends", have the imported group shown w/o the previous noise. (e.g., add a "People last imported (77)" tab, or a Sort By: Last Updated)

3) Under "more" menu, or somewhere more prominent such as after the "still share with them via email" phrase, add a Contacts link so I can get to and manage my contacts.

Usability week ending July 10th

2011-07-11T06:02:00Z

Friday, 8th July, 6:17 PM
User testing in the wild -- when your user has never used a computer: http://j.mp/psldVH #usability #ux #testing

Thursday, 7th July, 7:37 PM
The inscrutability of Gmail Detailed Technical Info and Yahoo Error Code 15 http://post.ly/2M1dZ

Thursday, 7th July, 5:18 PM
How building a great admin #dashboard can lead to an amazing product: http://j.mp/p1Tv8i #ui #saas /via @MapleButter

Thursday, 7th July, 2:20 PM
YouTube gets finger friendly usability redesign: http://j.mp/pE7xJi #youtube #ux #ui #vod

Wednesday, 6th July, 3:23 PM
Thoughts on Google+ attracting users and influence through intuitive #usability: http://j.mp/qlUD4j #googleplus #ux #facebook

Tuesday, 5th July, 3:27 PM
Why the WSJ Mobile App gets such terrible customer reviews, and how to fix it: http://j.mp/mDmYMP #ux #design #iphone #usability

Tuesday, 5th July, 3:13 PM
The imprimatur of the creator/publisher/distributor/retailer is its reputation for selecting/producing works users enjoy: http://j.mp/lVXDtx

via twitter.com/terretta

The inscrutability of Gmail Detailed Technical Info and Yahoo Error Code 15

2011-07-07T23:34:30Z

I'm fascinated by the usability decisions of the web giants. With their volumes of users, effects of even the tiniest change can become the stuff of usability buzz. But sometimes their messaging has me scratching my head, wondering if the total lack of useful information must be deliberate. Perhaps it is purposely devoid of helpfulness as a way to brush users off without making them irate: "Oh, I got Error Code 15? Well, what are you gonna do..."

Today Gmail ran into an issue while I was checking mail, and offered me a closer look at the problem:

I'm technical. I like detailed info. What the heck, let's try that Show Detailed Technical Info link...

Gee, thanks, Google. Thoughtful of you to let me hide Numeric Code: 7 again, too.

Maybe Google should take some cues from the Yahoo experience. Here's an "unexpected, temporary problem" that I "stumbled upon" while using Yahoo Mail this morning:

The problem did persist, so I contacted support about Error Code 15, but then Yahoo wasn't sure if they really wanted to hear about it:

I decided on not letting them know. A couple hours later, I tried again, and found myself much further along:

Well, I've gotten from Error Code 15 to Temporary error: 14. But at least it's only temporary.

Usability week ending July 3rd

2011-07-04T06:02:00Z

Friday, 1st July, 4:36 PM
#Android "freeloaders" don't believe in paying for content; #Apple customers an "ideal paying demographic": http://j.mp/jrZvWs

Thursday, 30th June, 11:41 AM
Demystifying #Android screen densities, learning fundamentals of Android #design patterns, taking #screenshots: http://j.mp/kHMjcl

Wednesday, 29th June, 1:05 PM
How sausage is made -- a detailed IA, UX, and UI design case study, on designing GitHub for Mac: http://j.mp/iT6key

Tuesday, 28th June, 6:32 PM
The new #Google experience is founded on 3 key #design principles: focus, elasticity and effortlessness: http://j.mp/mE7PYk #ux

Tuesday, 28th June, 6:02 PM
Why we share what interests us -- rethinking real-life sharing for the web at http://plus.google.com -- video: http://j.mp/m7toYf #ux

Tuesday, 28th June, 3:15 PM
#Google Swiffy converts #Flash #SWF files to #HTML5. Repurpose Flash content for devices like iPhone w/o Flash player: http://j.mp/m11zgs

Monday, 27th June, 10:23 PM
Invent your *own* category… "consumers are not interested in form factors that deviate from the benchmark set by Apple": http://j.mp/kbZNjZ

via twitter.com/terretta

Google Plus is starting off on the right foot with "Takeout"

2011-06-28T22:11:41Z

On day one, your profile, your contacts and groups, and your photos, are yours to take. This is a good start.

Read more about the privacy issue, and fixing online sharing, in the 28 June 2011 issue of New York Times.

Usability week ending June 26th

2011-06-27T06:02:00Z

Friday, 24th June, 12:09 PM
If you exclude Facebook from the rest of the Web, minutes of use shrank by 9% from March 2010 to March 2011: http://j.mp/klRnSG #socialweb

Friday, 24th June, 11:05 AM
How to be an easy read -- making type look interesting: http://j.mp/lnRj3j #ux #ui #webdesign

Wednesday, 22nd June, 6:41 PM
A "portent of doom" for anyone that relies on multiple #cookies for tracking, customer service, analytics, advertising: http://j.mp/m8ctqc

Tuesday, 21st June, 2:32 PM
Users are making a transition from using the "mobile web" to spending more of their daily time in #mobile #apps: http://j.mp/im0m2l #stats

Tuesday, 21st June, 12:03 PM
Learn something new -- escape your search engine "Filter Bubble": http://dontbubble.us/

Monday, 20th June, 9:56 AM
When personalization goes too far--Google reminds users to "Call Dad", makes users angry: http://j.mp/mhrhbq

via twitter.com/terretta

Usability week ending June 19th

2011-06-20T06:02:00Z

Saturday, 18th June, 6:44 PM
Why does #Google keep giving me buttons that don’t do anything for me, the user? Serving engineering vs. user experience: http://j.mp/misq8X

Saturday, 18th June, 6:31 PM
Social content discovery is broken, but Instapaper could fix it and save itself from Apple in the process: http://j.mp/jiXpSq #socialweb

Saturday, 18th June, 1:31 PM
The world needs more weird people who know how things work and who love to figure it all out: http://j.mp/iQJjoH

Wednesday, 15th June, 9:44 PM
Look out for big differences between what a study’s aggregate "heatmap" suggests, and what the data really shows: http://j.mp/jALZ0V #ia

Wednesday, 15th June, 6:48 AM
Content discovery on the internet is broken, presuming interest in the same articles “liked” by my “friends”: http://j.mp/jiXpSq

Tuesday, 14th June, 6:52 PM
#Startups should have less features than competitors. If you have more features, you’re probably doing it wrong: http://j.mp/iM1YMx

Monday, 13th June, 7:34 PM
Amazon living by new digital rules, where you satisfy your customer’s need regardless of whose platform they are on: http://j.mp/j6sE34 #ux

via twitter.com/terretta

Usability week ending June 12th

2011-06-13T06:02:00Z

Saturday, 11th June, 10:56 AM
How to find iPad or iPhone device ID (UDID) when stuck on iOS 5 beta update: http://j.mp/lOAF21 #ipad #iphone #guid #udid #beta #ios #tip

Friday, 10th June, 11:17 PM
Why the new task UI in Taskrabbit has great behavioral design: http://j.mp/kH8LO7 #ux #ui #ia

Thursday, 9th June, 6:46 PM
Try "persuasive design" to change attitudes or behaviors of users through #persuasion and social influence: http://j.mp/kV1641 #design #ux

Thursday, 9th June, 5:58 PM
Google adds indexing support for rel="author" HTML tag property, to track and rank content creators: http://j.mp/kMHpuF #google #seo #ia

Wednesday, 8th June, 8:17 PM
You can’t convince a smoker to quit smoking. They need to just decide they’ll do it. It's the same for UX: http://j.mp/lmKhbU #ux

Wednesday, 8th June, 6:55 AM
UI testing suggests ways for #iPad app-makers to make their #apps more intuitive and ergonomic for users: http://j.mp/jPZVoX #ui #ux

Tuesday, 7th June, 5:59 PM
Forget #social... Build a tool which people find useful immediately: http://j.mp/lgZDIc #ux #startup #mvp

Tuesday, 7th June, 8:37 AM
On 1 Aug 2011, #Google will discontinue support for Firefox 3.5, Internet Explorer 7, and Safari 3: http://j.mp/l5cY8D #ux #browser

Tuesday, 7th June, 12:05 AM
#Apple has taken a better approach to #cloud #sync by focusing on its fundamental benefit to users--simplicity: http://j.mp/mfeRcW #ux

via twitter.com/terretta

Usability week ending June 5th

2011-06-06T06:02:00Z

Friday, 3rd June, 10:37 PM
Using dominance, influence, steadiness, conscientiousness (DISC) to create #usability #personas from the Smurfs: http://j.mp/lPJwiO #ux #ia

Thursday, 2nd June, 11:08 PM
#iPad succeeds because it has eliminated #complexity, not because it covered up complexity with a touch-based shell: http://j.mp/lrEqI1 #ux

Tuesday, 31st May, 11:54 PM
#Personalization channels people into echo chamber feedback loops, or “filter bubbles”, of their own predilections: http://j.mp/iLBUmV #ux

via twitter.com/terretta