March 2010
74 posts
“There’s a constant ebb and flow of information in any group of people. Important...”
– Rands In Repose: Bits, Features, and Truth
“When you were in college, did you ever meet bright kids who graduated top of...”
– Eric S. Raymond
“The opposite of play is not work, it’s depression.”
– Brian Sutton-Smith Professor Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania
52 Weeks of UX: Honest Interfaces →
Users approach most products with an expectation of honesty. Things should do what they say, behave in an expected manner and reinforce their decision to use this product/service/website. The interface is your opportunity to gain their trust and confidence while helping them make sense of what they can and cannot do.
On deception and weird quiz sites.
“Since childhood I’ve heard it’s possible to look up from the bottom...”
– Barbara Kingsolver’s “Fresh Water”, National Geographic April 2010.
(This issue of Nat Geo interactive magazine is free via Zinio till next Friday!)
Half a year of seaweed « Standing Sushi Bar →
Six months of sushi Dream, think, eat, touch, hope sushi My life is raw fish
Jay Parkinson + MD + MPH = a doctor in NYC: Health... →
Controlling health costs only applies to that 10% of the population who are heavy users. The rest of us are what’s called “low hanging fruit.” That’s why cancer centers and cardiology wings are always far nicer than the pediatric wing of the hospital.
“5. Find a huge trampoline on a perfectly blue-sky day. Get a couple...”
– Chase Jarvis Blog: 5 Photoshoot Ideas Worth Stealing
How Amsterdam was wired for open access fiber →
Ars Technica has the CEO of the company deploying Amsterdam’s FTTH talk about how it’s all done.
Duncan's Journal: The Two Minute Walk →
Every day at the Daily Shoot, Mike and I try to come up with interesting assignments. Sometimes it’s easy. Other times, it can be a bit of a challenge—especially since we try to keep things mixed up for various skill levels. Today’s assignment is a bit more of an experiment than usual:
Grab your camera and walk 2 minutes in any direction. Stop. Find a photo worth making from where you stopped...
“The phrase ‘I don’t have time for’ should never be said. We all get the same...”
– Scott Berkun: The cult of busy (via marco)
I knew it was going to be a really crappy mistake, from past experience, but I was too nice and now I’m falling..
Signs: The most useful thing you pay no attention... →
A really interesting series of 6 articles by Julia Turner about signage and wayfinding design. Quite accessible even if you’re only vaguely into this.
How to save a friend from the brink. – CNN →
jayparkinsonmd:
I’ve been thinking a lot about how we can prevent our friends and loved ones from taking their own lives (due to the number of celebrity suicides lately), and CNN publishes this.
What to say and do:
Tell her you don’t want her to die. Send a card. Say “I’m here.” Bring a meal. Don’t leave her alone. Don’t say “I know how you feel.” Don’t say “Just snap out of it.” Don’t say...
“DVD players don’t make fake whirring noises for five minutes before letting you...”
– Marco.org: Overdoing the interface metaphor
“TED videos all start strong. They skip the introduction and start at the real...”
– Jason Wishnow, TEDTalks Film Director (via @junecohen) (via duncandavidson)
Purge Rejects
duncandavidson:
I used to keep every photo I took. Every. Single. One. Then, disk space became a consideration. Sure, it’s “free” on a per-image basis. But over 4TB later, well, it’s not so free. It’s cheap. But not free. It’s certainly not free from a backup, archival, or mental housekeeping point of view.
These days, I purge all the rejects. Out of focus shots. Test shots. Shots where the...
“PANTONE UNIVERSE combines timeless designs and modern materials with current...”
– PANTONE Universe
Theodore H. Frank: I am not afraid of my Toyota... →
“In the 24 cases where driver age was reported or readily inferred, the drivers included those of the ages 60, 61, 63, 66, 68, 71, 72, 72, 77, 79, 83, 85, 89.”
I’m pretty sure that putting your foot down on the accelerator would result in, uh, sudden acceleration. Unlike the brake pedal. Hmm!
BPS RESEARCH DIGEST: The remote rural community... →
Moral universals and Mayans.
“Happily, however, I have a solution to the problem, a way that normal human...”
– What a daft way to stop your spaniel eating the milkman | Jeremy Clarkson - Times Online
British humour, meet security.