A couple people have noted lately that my posting output has increased. This isn’t entirely by accident; lately there are more interesting bits of news than normal. Usually, I have an opinion about them, and I want to poll you all to start up a discussion. Or I’m just feeding the iPhone lurkers. I’ve talked… Read More
Month: December 2008
“Keep Your Barcode Scanner off My Merchandise”
Update: I added quotation marks to the title, thinking that they might help convey the right impression, i.e. I do not support the heavy-handed approach to barcode scanners. I think that’s clear when you get through the post. From my, “this will get really interesting” file, comes a story from ReadWriteWeb about retail stores and consumers… Read More
Visual Dial Looks Sweet
Lately, I’ve got lots of thoughts about design swirling in my head, but while I collect them, here’s another homage to the iPhone crowd that likes to read here. Visual Dial is an iPhone app that “lets you create custom Home Screen speed dial icons right from your iPhone photo album with a few, simple… Read More
Now We’re a Social Network
You may have noticed yesterday that Rich embedded Google Friend Connect gadgets here on the ‘Lab. So now, we’re a social network. Thanks to Dan for the snarky, “what was it before it became a social network?” comment, erm wall post. More on that later. I wrote yesterday about the ongoing battle for a single… Read More
What Makes UI Good?
Thanks to a comment from Terry on my post about locking your smart phone, I’ve been digging around looking for ways to make my beloved iPhone more secure. Surprisingly or not, Apple has made it maddeningly difficult to even the simplest precautions. Terry’s comment, which I read a bit hastily, mentions changing the root password… Read More
I Got ID
Ever since the WWW came online, the consumer web has pwned the enterprise web. The consumer web is the ‘tubes at large, with all its content, bells and whistles, networking, gradients, rounded corners and flashing lights. The enterprise web is the intratubes, erm intranet, inside the corporate firewall, hidden from outsiders and often from insiders.… Read More
Poll: Do You Lock Your Smart Phones?
Every IT department has this policy. If you have a work computer, you’re expected to password lock it when you leave it unattended. This makes sense, and I’ve followed this practice for many years, for work and personal machines, including desktops. My wife switched to locking her desktop after our cats created a few random… Read More
Amazon iPhone App is Sweet
Last week, I told you about SnapTell Explorer and mentioned that it would be a great app for collecting and pricing your holiday gift and wish lists. I also wondered why Amazon wasn’t doing this already. Today, Amazon released an iPhone app that included Amazon Remembers, a feature close to what SnapTell Explorer does. Use… Read More
Email: A Love/Hate Relationship
We all use email, like it or not. Even Gen Y uses email to communicate with “old people“, despite their preference for SMS, IM, and social networks. How many accounts do you have? Probably at least two, one for work communication, one for personal mail. Boston College has recognized this trend, announcing that incoming freshmen… Read More