2012-04-08
post/20687546968
A few weeks ago, I posted some screenshots from Aliens that I thought might show a touch screen. Sadly, during the overdue re-watching of the films, I saw that instead Ripley is actually controlling the display with a joystick.
Ah well. File this one as another case of science fiction not having enough imagination when it comes to computers.
2011-05-19
post/5621116304
Every morning, I push the STOP button on the handrail of a number 63 bus. It tells the driver I want to get off at the next stop.
I’m very fond of the button. It immediately radiates robustness: chunky yellow plastic on the red handrail. The command, STOP, is written in white capitals on red. There’s a depression to place my thumb into, with the raised pips of a Braille letter “S” to emphasize its intent for the partially sighted. When pushed, the button gives a quarter-inch of travel before stopping, with no trace of springiness; a dull mechanical ting rings out, and the driver pulls over at the next stop. […]
It’s immediately clear what to do with this button, and what the outcome of pushing it will be. It makes its usage and intent obvious.
This is a good button.
”Tom Armitage on Buttons - The Game Design of Everyday Things at Kill Screen.
This was particularly resonant given the truly atrocious way that Muni handles the same problem. A few buses have the same STOP button, but a majority of them (and all of the modern streetcars, along with most of the vintage ones) have pull-cords along the windows. The cords usually have a two to five second lag before the alarm sounds letting you know it’s actually been acknowledged, so often they ping repeatedly.
Meanwhile, unlike London’s simple “the doors are opened by the driver”, when you go to get off the bus, there are at least three different door-opening mechanisms.
Some buses have you pushing the door, others stepping down, and streetcars ask you to push a bar next to the door. Because each is different, each needs labels (often multiple labels, in inconsistent typefaces). Occasionally the door won’t open until the driver switches something, leading to cries of “Back door!” from frustrated passengers (or, more commonly, those watching someone who’s so tied up in being confused they don’t think to call).
You wouldn’t think you could get homesick for a simple button. You’d be wrong.
2011-03-31
post/4236917992
iCal in 10.7’s beta 2 has suffered an attack from the ugly stick, it appears. (via Second Lion developer preview includes iCal, About this Mac tweaks at Ars Technica.)
2011-02-23
Baidu Maps and the Edges of the World
Baidu’s cute isometric 3d city renderings are doing the rounds again, but they’re not the only thing interesting about the Chinese website’s maps.
When you first go to the home page, the map defaults to China. This isn’t that odd: so does Google China’s Maps, and most of the Google country domains do the same thing. What is odd is that barely anything outside China is shown.
A portion of the screen for the default view of Baidu Maps.
Unlike Google, Yahoo, Bing and Ovi, you can’t drag the map past the international date line. Instead, there’s a hard edge.
If you do scroll westwards, the lack of detail becomes clear. I assume the labels are for continents, not countries. What’s certainly true is that when you zoom in merely one step from the default, the coastlines (and labels) vanish, turning the entire map grey.
I wonder whether this reflects some sort of official thinking (“the rest of the world might as well not exist”), or a more prosaic technical difficulty (perhaps problems in sourcing data). Still, I thought that both the hard edges and lack of detail were worth noting.
2010-12-23
post/2423860181
2010-06-20
post/717944826
Russell Beattie: The end of WIMP and the rise of Touch
You could argue this is stating the obvious, but this is still a worthwhile article, since the obvious is often easy to miss.
2009-09-15
Wireless
Going on the reaction to the staff post announcing Tumblr Wire, I’m the only person who took an instant dislike to it. It’s the worst of Radar, back. Where’s Recent / Popular / Upcoming gone? Bah. I demand a refund. (Yes, I know Tumblr’s free. That’s called irony. Or sarcasm. Or something.)
Having spent a little more time with it: I still hate it. That scrolling box has zero refindability. Good luck if you want to actually capture anything from it. You thought Twitter had the memory span of a goldfish? Man, that’s like writing in stone compared to this.
On the other hand, maybe I’m just not Tumblr’s desired audience. I write posts of more than two paragraphs; perhaps I should just give up and shuffle off to Posterous. Or ignore all the social crap beyond the Dashboard. At least then I’d only have one source of pseudo-meaningful bollocks.
Edit: Oh dear, it’s even worse. Links from the Wire go through the Digg-bar style tumblupon UI, which has nasty framesets stopping you from easily sharing stuff. Nasty.
2008-11-14
iPod nano and Cover Flow
Two weeks ago, candace regretfully replaced a second generation iPod nano with a fourth generation model, twice the size. I say regretfully because it was a forced migration, and because the fourth gen nano had an unfortunate flaw.
Until recently, you could put any pre-touch iPod into a pocket and use it without looking at it. Admittedly, some models made this easier than others: I loved my second generation iPod for its physical buttons, whereas the third generation’s row of four buttons above the scrollwheel always seemed a bit hard to use. Unfortunately, the new nano breaks that.
You see, Apple’s recent devotion to the cult of Cover Flow joined with its new love of accelerometers, resulting in an iPod that would randomly switch to CF mode in your pocket. This is a problem if you’re expecting the scroll wheel to adjust volume, rather than, say, move from Goldfrapp to the Happy Mondays. It also kills your battery life, since Cover Flow switches on the screen (and happily devotes processor cycles to some 3D compositing.)
Thankfully, Thursday morning brought news of a software update for the nano, making it possible to entirely disable Cover Flow. There was much rejoicing, and now the pocket is once again a safe destination for the iPod. Now, if they can do the same for the touch…
