Focus + Context

I saw a post on BoingBoing tonight that referenced a (fairly new?) community called DIYCity
From their site:

Intro: How do you want to reinvent your city?
Twitter bots, aggregators, social software, mobile apps – we use these things more and more in our daily routines to make our lives better. But can we also use them to [...]

I recently wrote  about the usability of user interfaces for streaming video, and concluded hands down that Netflix had the nicest. My only gripe was the fact that it was so smart, and left such little control to the user, that I’d often find myself in the situation where it had done a check to [...]

It’s all about Feedback
Feedback is important. Whether in the context of personal relationships, professional careers, or user interface design, it’s important for people to know how they’re doing and what’s going on in some one else’s head (or on some server). In fact, I can think of very few situations where more feedback would be [...]

In an effort to be a non-wasteful, environmentally-conscious individual, I recently decided that I would not buy a new iPod touch if my old iPod — my very old iPod — was still working. Unfortunately, it is It doesn’t have touch (well, barely, if you count the touch wheel), and it doesn’t have [...]

I came across this page when browsing through the Google Android API reference:

Maybe the super-smart people at Google know something that the rest of us don’t ….
… or more likely, they’re just a bunch of huuuuuuge dorks

I came across a great illustration of what happens when something is designed without considering the context in which it will be used.

In the Macy’s department store in New York City, stationed throughout the store are these little stations where you can either scan a gift card to see the remaning balance, or scan the [...]

One of the things that I love about living in a city is that I can walk everywhere.  Walk to the grocery store, walk to a restaurant, walk to work, walk wherever. During the summer, when it’s nice to run outside, I’m even able to integrate such errands into my runs, choosing a location suitably far [...]

Dyson AirBlade
Originally uploaded by ante10pe
 
This is the best hand dryer you’ve never used. Puts the old fashioned-one, non-directional leaf blower models to shame. Seriously, this thing will make paper towels go the way of the stegosaurus or the polar bear.
I CAN’T WAIT until the AssBlade comes out. See ya’ later, toilet paper.

Android for the people
Originally uploaded by ante10pe

There’s nothing like the mall at Christmastime. Especially when that mall is on LONG ISLAND.
Saw this huuuuge advert hanging from the ceiling of Roosevelt Field shopping mall. There’s the little Android dude in the lower left hand banner of the banner. Is there a comparable iPhone app?
Interesting for a [...]

img224.jpg
Originally uploaded by ante10pe

This is a photo of my coffee cup from lunch today.  Why is this interesting, you ask?
It’s hard to see from my blurry cameraphone photo, but the text on the top says “Place Cup ↑ Seam Here.”
I checked underneath and there’s no special molding on the underside to combat seam-leakage.
While it’s not [...]