I just unplugged my original iPod from the HK dock for the first time in about a year.
I think I have 4 iPods of various kinds scattered around the house … a Nano, a 20 gig 2nd generation (that’s the one that’s hooked up to my HK stereo), a 40 gig Video, and of course my iPhone. But I haven’t picked up this sucker in a long time … and when I did … wow.
The unbelievable thing is that when I bought it, perhaps 5 years ago, it was the most amazing slim incredible sleek purrrfect machine. Now, it’s still cool and iconic and recognizable … but it’s FAT!
Funny thing is, it just keeps on ticking.
The battery is basically toast, but that doesn’t matter because it’s always hooked up to my stereo, which is charging it. The screen is fine (although tiny and dark compared to new iPods). The processor must be OK … it keeps on ticking, and I just now played a quick game of Parachute.
I just can’t believe how small and thin and sleek I thought it was … and how fat and heavy and blocky I now think it is.
Sketchup is an architecture prototyping tool – a very cool one – that Google bought for no apparent reason and now offers for free (well, the basic version).
What on earth does that have to do with a search for usability information? Your guess is as good as mine.
I can only assume someone in the Sketchup marketing team has his AdWords campaigns screwed up. But hey, if your ads are free … why not?
Most important change: WAY better battery life. I mean significant. Not just a little … a LOT better battery life, like from 1 day to 3. Of course, YMMV.
I’m using a lot of Windows lately, via VMware Fusion … recently installing both Vista and XP. It’s for work, and it’s for certain apps that need to be tested on a PC.
The most annoying thing I’ve found so far – besides the way Windows is always mothering me to death me with little messages, asking me if I’m really, totally, quite absolutely sure I want to do something – is that fact that there are no visual cues that an application is launching.
You double-click an app … and nothing happens! Or so you think. Actually, it is launching (usually). But it’s entirely invisible until it appears, fully loaded, on your desktop. In the meantime, of course, you’ve double-clicked it a couple more times … and more of the same open like jack-in-the-boxes.
Annoying!
Mac OS X tells you an app is launching. First by changing the icon background color, and most importantly, by bouncing the icon in the dock until it is fully launched. Plus, if you double-click the app again by mistake, OS X is smart enough to not launch the same app twice.
Now that makes sense.
. . .
. . .
I’m sure this is in actual fact not the most annoying thing about Windows. But it is the most annoying thing right now for me.
Perhaps 7 years ago that was something I tried out: hosted and completely outsourced eCommerce. I made a couple hundred dollars, and then the vStores thing went down the tubes. Last time I checked, they were still not able to get their act straight.
This is exactly the type of thing that I’ve been looking for, off and on, for some years: a very simple way to create an online store. PepperJam sources the products, provides the technology, and handles the eCommerce. You just have to select your business focus, promote your site, and collect the cash.
Here’s the thing that particularly interests me: PepperJam allows you to host the store on your own domain … not just a virtual domain at pepperjam.com. That’s how vStores worked, and it was annoying to not be able to host your own store at your own domain.
I agreed to do the review for ReviewMe (I only review things that I’m interested in and think might be interesting to readers of Sparkplug9) and I’ve checked out the service, but haven’t been able to use it. I signed up, as I’d like to be able to actually use and implement it before reviewing, but there’s a 48-hour period in which they check potential users’ bona fides. I suppose that’s a good thing, and is going to help keep Pepperjam’s affiliates clean and above-board.
Here’s a view of their store builder:
I look forward to getting approved, in which case I’ll post more info about Pepperjam’s e-commerce solution.
I just had the surreal experience of seeing my own job transition announced on ReadWriteWeb’s Jobwire:
After 15 years of helping education planning software Premier Agendas Inc. grow, be acquired and turn into a big success – John Koetsier has left the company to become Chief Operating Officer of Norwegian childrens’ computing software maker Easy Bits. Koetsier recently announce the change on his very enjoyable blog.
Very cool!
(And thanks, Marshall, for the props on my blog! I’ve followed you since your TechCrunch days, and you rock.)
You gotta love this: software for the hotel industry to remotely train workers so they don’t incur travel expenses for off-site training:
“The Virtual Classroom gives hotels a low-cost tool (travel expenses are eliminated), for providing advanced or customized training,” said Kelly Gray, Newmarket’s Director of Educational Services. “Web delivery also affords hotels enhanced “speed-to-market” capabilities. For example, upgrade training for users at 400 different sites can now be done simultaneously, while traditional methods would take months.” (link)
Happened to see this as I was looking for classroom software …
Week two of my brand-new job is coming up tomorrow. Here’s what I need:
Office space in Richmond, BC, for 10-20 people
Accounting, Bookkeeping, and Payroll services, ideally all from one provider
Developers, developers, developers, developers
(Just channeling Steve Ballmer in text here … what I need are Delphi developers, including at least one who speaks Russian.)
Technical writer who understand usability and can write UI strings, help, & maybe even some marketing-type text
Once the office is in place, internet, phone, supplies, etc.
Once the developers are hired, computers, screens, software, etc.
If you know someone who can help with any of the above, give me a shout!
I’ve used virtual windows before … it must have been 7-8 years ago when I was deep into web application development, and desktop real estate was still expensive …
But I hadn’t enabled Spaces yet … mostly because I had Leopard on our home iMac, with a 20″ screen. The screen was big enough for most work, and I didn’t actually do much work on it in any case.
But I just picked up a MacBook for my new job …
It’s an absolutely lovely knock-out of a machine. Light, powerful, portable, gorgeous screen, unbelievably streamlined body unmarred by any of the bumps, hings, protusions, and other assorted warts on so many other laptops.
But the screen is 13″ big.
Surprisingly (to myself) I haven’t actually missed the desktop real estate that much. That’s what the fairly hi-res 1280 x 800 and high-quality screen will do for you. But there are occasions when I like to only see the windows associated with the application I’m currently using – and that’s where Spaces shines.
I enabled it tonight, and already love it. Switching to an app pushes you automatically to the right space – perfect. And if I need more switchability, I’ve set up the Command key with the arrow keys to quickly move wherever I need to go.
I just posted a position – looking for a Delphi developer, anyone interested please get in touch – and the next morning found some business solicitation spam.
I kind of enjoyed the pitch though:
I wanted to introduce our services to you, perhaps you may find us financially relieving. We are running a website and graphic design company with very little overhead so our prices are very competitive.
Who doesn’t like “financially relieving” services?
I’m working on a usability project for desktop software right now, focusing on “UI strings.”
UI strings are the messages that you see in an application … what it tells you. Obviously, the better these are written, structured, and presented, the easier the application, and the better your experience with it.
Four things are really coming to my mind as I’m going through this. Three of them are directly related to UI strings. They enhance usability when …
You know what the software will do before you ask it to do it
The software does exactly what you asked it to do: not more, not less, not different
If something goes wrong, the software tells you in simple terms what happened, why, and how to fix it (this can be hard!)
The fourth thing is not really about UI strings, but an aspect of the application itself: revocability. Revocability, of course is the opposite of irrevocable (as in: can’t be undone).
The connection to UI strings is that if you know something is revocable … you’re less hesitant to try it and see. And that makes you a more confident and therefore happier user.
The overall goal of UI strings is giving the user the right amount of information at the right time. And the only way to know if you’ve got it right is to do usability testing during and after launch.
Welcome to Sparkplug 9, John Koetsier's blog on technology and social media.
I'm a software exec who cares about UX and UI, scours web & social media, lives in Canada, plays hockey, uses a Mac (mostly). Oh, and I blog and speak at conferences.
I think I have 4 iPods of various kinds scattered around the house … a Nano, a 20 gig 2nd generation (that’s the one that’s hooked up to my HK stereo), a 40 gig Video, and of course my iPhone. But I haven’t picked up this sucker in a long time … and when I did … wow.
So I’m searching for 
I’ve used virtual windows before … it must have been 7-8 years ago when I was deep into web application development, and desktop real estate was still expensive …
Welcome to Sparkplug 9, John Koetsier's blog on technology and social media.
