August 2010
2 posts
7 tags
Click Happy
Most users on the web are “click happy”: they tend to rapidly click on the most eye-catching action item without paying much attention to the rest of the site.
I see this happen during the usability tests I conduct at Pearson. More often than not, participants end up clicking the first link or “next” button they see whilst missing information that is relevant to the goal...
6 tags
Faking it with Fake
I like using You Tube to listen to rare versions of my favourite songs, but I don’t like to constantly have to reload a page if want to listen to anything more than once —gladly, I have found a solution: it’s called Fake.
Fake is a web browser for Mac OS X that allows for easy web automation. It comes from the same creator of one of my favourite Mac applications: Fluid.
The...
July 2010
2 posts
5 tags
HelTweetica: Twitter + iPad made simple.
(I wonder if Gary Hustwit approves of this app)
HelTweetica is a free Twitter app for the iPad that caught my attention a while back —mainly due to it’s simplicity.
Initially, I didn’t think much of it. Then, one day whilst watching a World Cup match, I decided to use my iPad to see my Twitter stream as I worked from home with the laptop -and the match- both in front of me. If...
June 2010
1 post
5 tags
Reeder: Single-handedly the best Google Reader...
Google Reader is without a doubt my central location for reading RSS feeds. I use it to subscribe, organize and read feeds. I usually alternate between using Gruml (Google Reader client for Mac) or simply using the web-based version.
When it comes to the iPhone, no one does it better than Reeder. This application gathers all of your feeds, folders, starred post…etc —all exactly how...
April 2010
3 posts
I May Have Found a New Passion
Thank you, iPad.
I feel a good chunk of my new-found free time* is going to be spend trying to mix/make/play music on the iPad.
iElectribe, Looptastic HD, Beatwave. These are only some of the applications made for iPad that will allow anyone to become a pseudo-DJ for microscopical fraction of the price it would cost with the physical counterparts of these devices.
I decided to grab a camera and...
The N900 & Me: From Dawn to Dusk
Not too long ago, I was extremely excited to get a Nokia N900 in my hands. I had been reading heaps about all the things it could and just how open and versatile of a mobile device this was.
The impression I gathered was that the N900 is a hand-held computer that just happens to make phone calls. In all honesty it was all that —and more. Many people asked me “Why? Don’t you...
The iPad: The 30+ Hours Review
I may have “hinted” I was not going to get an iPad quite yet —and here I am: writing a review of my experience with it in the last 30 hours or so since it came out on sale. (If you don’t want to read the story leading up to the acquisition of the iPad, scroll down to “After the Purchase”)
—————
BEFORE THE PURCHASE A bit of...
March 2010
1 post
Review: Creative EP 630i headphones for iPhone
By now, I’m convinced any pair of headphones cable manufactured by Apple is purposely design to break or fall apart after some determined amount of time. It’s a pity to have such good quality products with such poor quality accessories. ç
Do you own an iPod? iPhone? Does your USB cable start peeling off from both ends? How about your earbuds?
On my way back from SXSW Interactive...
February 2010
2 posts
Qualitative Research Methods + Mobile = Innovation
For lunch today, I decided to enjoy my recently-mastered Indian dish once more and finally give a closer look to the latest Interactions magazine instead of going out. Reading Interactions is one of those things that I wish I had more time to do: I want to dissect and take in almost every article, every time. I like to treat each issue like required reading for university.
Looking for an article...
Testing my music knowledge with Sonicspree
Sure, this game may be prone to potential injuries, but it was nonetheless great fun to experience it.
Produced by Ergonomidesign and developed for the Microsoft Surface, Sonicspree is a music quiz game in which players are presented with many upside-down album covers of various artists (rotating around the edges of the Surface). As a new song starts playing, players have to swipe the covers...
January 2010
1 post
Apple's "latest" Vs. me, The Consumer
(To clarify, “Latest” is purposely within quotes. I’m sure is not quite the “latest”)
By now, many have seen the much anticipated “Apple Tablet”, in photos, videos, or have read about it in your favourite blog/news source. Maybe you are burned out with the topic from skimming your Twitter feed alone.
But the device everyone had been talking about for...
October 2009
1 post
One More Example Showing The Browser Can "Be" The...
Just in case there are people who still doubt that Google’s Chrome OS may just be all we need in an ultra-portable computer, here is yet one more example showing that more and more things that previously required a proper desktop application running on a conventional operating system, can now be done through the web browser.
My professor and thesis adviser Dr. Davide Bolchini sent me...
September 2009
5 posts
"Paper-in-Screen", in Interactions Magazine
I’m proud to announce that the current topic of my Master’s thesis at IUPUI’s HCI programme, has been published as an article in the current issue of Interactions magazine.
The article was co-authored between my thesis adviser, Dr. Davide Bolchini and myself, under the supervision of Dr. Anthony Faiola, executive associate dean of the school of informatics at IUPUI.
The...
Design... Thinking?
Here’s an article I came across thanks to my (sometimes neglected) daily email Google Alerts on “Interaction Design”. It’s an article on Design Thinking by CEO and president of IDEO, Tim Brown. It appeared on the June 2008 issue of the Harvard Business Review. I was lucky enough to come across a link to the article in PDF (Thanks, ideo.com).
Harvard Business Review?...
Objectified [Film/Doc]
By looking at this trailer, you might understand why I’d be so interested in Gary Hustwit’s documentary:
From the Objectified’s web site:
Objectified is a feature-length documentary about our complex relationship with manufactured objects and, by extension, the people who design them. It’s a look at the creativity at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets....
The State of Interaction Design [Video]
If you have had some sort of difficulty in the past trying to define what Interaction Design is (specially if you call yourself an Interaction Designer), this video shall help get you closer to that answer.
IxDA’s co-founder David Malouf leads the over 70-minutes long conversation, alongside fellow Interaction Designers Ted Booth and Jennifer Bove.
This video doesn’t only...
Go With The Flo.ws
And voilà —the first post. I finish this welcome message with a rather appropriate song —made even more appropriate, as these Norwegian pair does it all through instruments + computers.
Welcome.