Bend your mind around Messrs Jones and Freitas
Recently, my colleague Ryan conducted a two-hour IM chat session with Matt Jones. You can read the highlights over in the Adaptive Path blog, but if you have the time, I encourage you to delve into the unexpurgated version available on Ryan’s site.
Their dialogue triggered a few associative notions in my own mind that [...]
Alan Cooper Told The Audience What They Wanted To Hear, Not What They Needed To Hear
A couple nights ago I saw Alan Cooper present his Interaction08 Keynote, An Insurgency of Quality, for a local audience.
His presentation is quite rambly, but I think the heart of the thesis was:
best-to-market always beats first-to-market
quality takes time
interaction designers are craftspeople
programmers are craftspeople
business management is optimized for an industrial economy; they don’t know how [...]
I wore goggles, too
I grew up in Los Angeles in the 70s and 80s, and basketball was my favorite sport to watch and play. Needless to say, the L.A. Lakers were my team, and its centerpiece Kareem Abdul-Jabbar my favorite player. To the degree that when I would play b-ball with my friends, and we’d pretend we were [...]
UX Week 2008 – New site, impressive schedule
One thing that’s taking much of my time at Adaptive Path is programming our upcoming UX Week 2008 event. I’ve been trying very hard to balance inspiration and information; visions of where we’re headed mixed with practical how-tos.
As such, we’ve got people you’d expect, like Don Norman, Jeffrey Veen, and a coterie of fellow [...]
33 out of 36
After scoring 24 out of 80, I explored the other tests on the site. One that caught my attention is the Mind in the eyes test, which asks you to describe what someone is thinking or feeling based just on looking at their eyes. I believe it’s related to Paul Ekman’s work on reading [...]
24 out of 80
A little bit ago I answered a set of questions meant to measure my empathy quotient.
I scored 24 out of 80.
That placed me in the “low” category, according to the test:
0 – 32 = low (most people with Asperger Syndrome or high-functioning autism score about 20)
I’m thinking of getting “24 out of 80″ tattooed [...]
The latest issue of Wired – articles worth reading!
I’ve been disappointed with Wired for, oh, 10-12 years now, but the latest issue had three articles that deserve your time.
A psychologist who is competing with math and stats nerds on the Netflix challenge. Social science reprazent!
Chris’ article on Free! I love that he’s able to use Wired as a venue for launching future bestsellers. [...]
Jill Bolte Taylor at TED2008
When I wrote about TED, I mentioned Jill Bolte Taylor’s awesome (and I don’t use that word lightly) talk. It has been posted to the TED site, and if you have 18 minutes to spare, it’s well worth it. It probably it won’t have the power of seeing it live, but I’ve heard from friends [...]
Ubicomp happens
The latest issue of Interactions magazine features an article titled “When Users ‘Do’ The Ubicomp,” (subscription required to read the whole thing) which is the first academic-ish article I’ve read that addresses ubicomp the way I think about it.
Ubicomp futures tend to be portrayed as planned, coordinated, intentional, purposeful connections between the devices in our [...]
MX 2008 – Giveaways!
We’re trying something new this year with the MX 2008 Conference… We’re GIVING THINGS AWAY!
To remind you — MX is our two-day confab on the emerging discipline of creative leadership, and has perhaps the most stellar collection of presenters we’ve ever had. It’s designed for people who’ve been around the user experience block quite a [...]
Linkblog
- And the angel said unto him, stop hitting yourself!
March 4, 2010 | 8:34 amFunny.
- A new global visual language for the BBC’s digital services
February 22, 2010 | 2:24 pmTruly impressive work, and an impressive post detailing it!
- Talking Heads in Rome 1980
February 21, 2010 | 8:26 pmA series of 11 videos on YouTube of a 1980 concert. Sweet.
- Hot Pockets Ingredients
February 21, 2010 | 8:22 pmUm. An elegant poster of a disgustingly over-ingrediented “food”.
- The Birth of Cheap Communication (and Junk Mail)
February 21, 2010 | 12:07 pmFun, breezy take on the original “Victorian internet” – the British Postal System.
- Roger Ebert: The Essential Man
February 16, 2010 | 8:06 amHe might have no jaw, but Ebert has been as eloquent as ever of late (and quite the liberal activist!)
- Bing Maps Explore is pretty sweet
February 11, 2010 | 6:21 pmSadly, it requires Silverlight, but the functionality is fly. Check out the “Map Apps” (bottom of the screen). The Streetside Photos app draws geotagged photos from Flickr and applies them into the Street View. Pretty awesome.
- Ravens Coach Brian Billick Tackles Super Bowl XLIV : NPR
February 6, 2010 | 10:03 amAs we approach the Super Bowl, I found this interview about what a coach really does surprisingly informative.
- Henrietta Lacks: A Donor’s Immortal Legacy
February 6, 2010 | 10:02 amThis is utterly fascinating. Henrietta Lacks’ cervical cells are the world’s first immortal cells. I had never heard of HeLa cells before this interview with author Rebecca Skloot. Now I want to read the book.
- The Incredible San Fancisco Artists’ Soapbox Derby, 1975
February 4, 2010 | 8:00 am24 minute film about a truly delightful community endeavor. I don’t think SF has this kind of artist mojo any longer, but I’d love to see something like this Oakland, careening down Joaquin Miller Road.
- Paywalls, Blogs, Comments, Editing and Magazines: A Conversation with Paul Ford, Web Editor of Harper’s Magazine | The Awl
February 4, 2010 | 7:37 amIf you’ve followed ftrain for the past 10+ years, you already know that Paul Ford is among the smartest people on the internet. This conversation with The Awl about pay models for publishing and his experience at Harpers is a little precious at times, but worth a read.
- Interview with Bloom County creator Berkeley Breathed
February 2, 2010 | 8:12 amBloom County was among those key influences informing my sense of humor, including Monty Python, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and Edward Gorey. This interview looks back to its creation.
- Axe Cop
January 31, 2010 | 9:52 pmSo awesome. And funny. The best comic ever written by a 5-year-old and drawn by his 29-year-old brother. I wanna Avocado Soldier t-shirt.
- Lost Landscapes of San Francisco 3 and 4
January 31, 2010 | 7:28 pmRick Prelinger collects archival, industrial, and found footage of San Francisco, and presents them as clips in front of live audiences. Delightful look at the city’s past.
- Roger Ebert’s best films of the decade
January 31, 2010 | 7:23 pmI’m a little late on linking to this. Historically, I’ve found Ebert to be far too forgiving a critic (he just loves movies too much and gives poor ones a pass), so I was surprised at how close his list is to mine (if I bothered to make one). Synecdoche, Me And You and Everyone We Know, even Juno.
- Taking Directions from Slime Mold
January 25, 2010 | 7:54 pmIf my colleague Kate Rutter were to have a spirit organism, it would be slime mold. Slime mold are bizarre, neither plant nor animal nor fungi, and they’ve become the poster species for self-organizing systems. Anyway, they can also design subway systems. Scroll down to listen to the piece about them.
- Where has all the popcorn gone?
January 24, 2010 | 4:20 pmThe folks on Chowhound have the same question I did the last time I went to the supermarket. Popcorn could become the next artisanal fetish.
- S.F.s Market Street changes as city evolves
January 23, 2010 | 8:07 amCarl Nolte does it again with an exploration of Market Street’s multiple personalities. The stretch between 6th and 9th is among the most depressing urban blights in the US.
- Online Dating: The 4 Big Myths of Profile Pictures
January 21, 2010 | 8:13 pmOKCupid.com is a dating site. OkTrends is where the people behind the site reveal insights discovered through statistical analysis of site behavior. It’s awesome.
- How to be a superstar bartender
January 18, 2010 | 8:39 pmExcellent set of explicit instructions for the basics of mixing drinks (measuring, shaking, stirring, twists, etc.)
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