Chausse.org

While reading an article partly about the iPhone user experience, a thought dawned on me about the virtual keyboard.  Like many other people, I was afraid that the lack of tactile feedback would be disorienting and difficult to get accustomed to.  And, like most people who have moved to the iPhone, I’ve found that it really isn’t.  That got me thinking about the whole nature of “touch typing”. 

Think back to high school (those of you who actually took typing classes).  What was the “sales pitch” the teacher gave you about “touch typing”? Well, it made you more efficient by stopping you from having to repeatedly move your eyes from the keyboard to the screen (or, er, paper - at least when I was in high school).

Now think about the iPhone.  Where’s the keyboard? Where’s the screen? Your eyes never have to move more than 3 inches to jump between the two.  AND, with the large visual pop-up key feedback (the real stroke of genius), you can rely on your peripheral vision to ensure correct keypresses, and still never take your eyes off of the entered text.  Apple simply took a negative limitation of a mobile device (limited room for both display and input), and turned it into a positive - the ability to support a virtual keyboard by replacing tactile feedback with peripheral visual feedback.

Turning limitations into advantages is a hallmark of both great marketing and great user experience design.  Whenever you’re in the process of designing a transformative product like the iPhone, always be sure to ask yourself “What old rules no long apply?”

Filed under Apple, Gear and Gadgets, Marketing, The User Experience No Comments »

I guess it may be unhealthy for me to obsess over companies that I unsuccessfully interviewed at, but Skyhook Wireless just has a really cool technology that’s fun to keep tabs on. Their big news is that they just got their stuff built into the iPhone, which is something they were considering a longshot bet when I interviewed there just 4 or 5 months ago. Congrats to them. They just got written up in USA Today. Oddly, USA Today lists them as having 270 employees. When I interviewed there, last summer, I think they had about 15. Either USA Today needs to do its fact checking, or they’re counting the part-time drivers as employees, or Skyhook had an impressive 2,000% increase in headcount in just a few months.

A bit of an ironic twist: I got a tad lost when I was heading to my interview there, and was on foot with only a Blackjack cell phone to guide me. If I had a Skyhook enabled iPhone, it would have made things a lot easier.

Filed under Gear and Gadgets 1 Comment »

Another year another eBook reader.   Ignoring the Kindle’s circa 1981 industrial design, here’s a simple experiment to explain why eBooks will never succeed:

1. Make a list of the top 10 biggest geeks you know
2. Make a list of the 10 people you know who own the most books

Create a Venn diagram of these lists.

If the geeks don’t want their books digitized, who does?

Filed under Gear and Gadgets 1 Comment »

The cat’s out of the bag.  Google has revealed their mobile phone domination plans, and the Android OS looks pretty sweet.  Download the SDK to get the emulator for the full experience.

Oh yeah, they’re also giving away a pile of money to early developers - get coding!

Filed under Gear and Gadgets No Comments »

Apple 4GB iPhone price: $299
Apple 4GB Out-of-Warranty repair price (regardless of what’s wrong): $199.

Apple’s Out-of-Warranty pricing seems to work this way: Charge as much money as possible without convincing the user just to buy a new product.  Thereby, A) Making them feel like an idiot for breaking the item, and B.) Not giving them the satisfaction of at least getting a shiny new item.

I bring this up for no particular reason.  Oh wait, I forgot my Twitter posts show up on my blog… Wish me luck.

Filed under Apple, Gear and Gadgets No Comments »

As someone who often thinks up brilliant* ideas while driving, I’ve been looking for a safe way to make note of them in the car. I’ve got me this iPhone here, but it has no Voice Memo feature. Nor is it possible to leave myself a voicemail with it. (At least not without some crazy setup). What’s a guy to do?

Well, I just discovered ReQall.com, and it is way cool. Just sign up, call a special phone number and leave a message whenever the urge strikes you. They will then take that message and transcribe it to text - using actual human beings - (you can request a no-human version if you’re paranoid, though you risk set so doubling the killer delete select all).

You can then peruse your memos online later via the regular web or via a special iPhone interface.

I’m not sure how these guys make money, but there are plenty of hooks in the system for them to throw ads into. Haven’t hit them yet, though, and I’d be willing to put up with an occasional commercial message for this service - as long as they don’t affect the memo recording process.

* ideas may not be brilliant

Filed under Cool Stuff, Gear and Gadgets 1 Comment »

A company called RePlug has made a dongle of sorts that will convert any 1/4 inch jack + device into a MagSafe type connection.  Pretty cool, and smart that they went with one of the most ubiquitous types of cable for its initial product launch, but one of the most obvious, eager audiences would be G3/G4 PowerBook/iBook owners.

Filed under Gear and Gadgets No Comments »

iPhone version 1.1 software has been released. Update yer phones via iTunes.

New features according to the installer:

• iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store
• Louder speakerphone and receiver volume
• Home Button double-click shortcut to phone favorites or music controls
• Space bar double-tap shortcut to intelligently insert period and space
• Mail attachments are viewable in portrait and landscape
• Stocks and cities in Stocks and Weather can be re-ordered
• Apple Bluetooth Headset battery status in the Status Bar
• Support for TV Out
• Preference to turn off EDGE/GPRS when roaming internationally
• New Passcode lock time intervals
• Adjustable alert volume

Oddly enough, the non-sortable cities in the Weather app really was annoying me… Aside from the Wi-Fi Music Store, I think I could take or leave all the rest… I’d love for Home Button double-click to bring me to Safari bookmarks…

Filed under Apple, Gear and Gadgets No Comments »

The ironically named “ThoughtOut.biz” has created the MagStay PRO, a handly little plastic widget which prevents Apple’s MagSafe power adapter from accidentally being removed from your MacBook Pro. Which, incidentally, is the entire purpose of the MagSafe connector. But who am I to tell people that they shouldn’t pay $11.99 to de-fling-off-table-proof their laptop.

Filed under Apple, Gear and Gadgets 1 Comment »

In all the hubbub surrounding Apple’s new iPhone, I had been wondering how it would handle third party applications. Looks like it won’t. And Steve Jobs is claiming it’s to protect Cingular’s network infrastructure. Jobs argues that an ill-mannered app could bring down the whole network.

Uh-huh.

I have a Windows Mobile Smartphone which runs on the Cingular network, and that’s a very open platform. If it were conceivable to bring down a cellular network with a poorly written app, someone would have done it by now via Smartphone.

I’ll always think Jobs is a genius and a visionary, but even his Reality Distortion Field has its limits. Clearly he wants Apple to be just like the big carriers in restricting cell phone applications, to profit as gatekeepers. And that’s disappointing for a company that claims to be about enabling individual creativity.

I still want the damn thing, though.

Filed under Gear and Gadgets No Comments »

First off, I had no idea a video game controller could win an Emmy. Second, I have no idea why the Sony DualShock would win this Emmy. It’s got a nice design, but it’s not new enough to be exactly innovative, nor old enough to win a “Lifetime Achievement” award. Confused? So was Sony, who thought the award was for the PlayStation 3’s “Sixaxis” controller and released a press release to that effect. I guess they’ll try anything to steal the the thunder from the Wiimote.

Filed under Gear and Gadgets No Comments »

By now, you’ve all heard of Apple’s new iPhone. If you haven’t seen the demos of the user interface, do so NOW. As excited as I am whenever Apple launches stuff like this, it pains me that they are literally the only company on the planet putting this much innovation into computing devices. There is room in the market for another Apple, yet everyone else continues to rearrange cheap, poorly designed commodity parts into marginally interesting devices and calls that innovation.

Anyway, one interesting aspect of this launch that I don’t think many people have picked up on is this: By creating what is possibly the world’s most powerful PDA, but simply calling it a “phone”, they’ve stuck the first nail in the coffin for the entire non-phone PDA concept, which will likely go the way of the 5 dollar pocket calculator very soon now.

Filed under Gear and Gadgets No Comments »

I was recently at Toys ‘R’ Us when I spotted this “TV Game” I’ve had my eye on for a while. It’s a 2-player Atari 2600 “paddle” game system. I’ve wanted it because no matter how good an “emulator” may be, that clunky controller could never really be faked. Anyway, this time around I actually brought it home, since it was now being sold for under 5 bucks.

I haven’t plugged it in yet, because a bullet point on the back sent me into a deep depression from which I have yet to recover. Check out the first bullet:

You know, it really sucks when what you thought was “retro” is now pretty much considered antique.

On another note, I really wish they had cut a deal with Activision to put “Kaboom!” into this thing. When played with proper 2600 paddles, that game is pure crack cocaine in video game form.

Filed under Gear and Gadgets, Personal Notes No Comments »

Nintendo’s new Wii video game system features a controller that works by actually detecting your bodily motions - such as sword-swinging, bowling ball rolling, etc. Unfortunately, one unintended side-effect of this unique system is that people have a tendency to accidentally fling them at their televisions.

Coincidentally, everyone’s favorite squishy toy brand, NERF, in connection with Pelican, recently came out with a supposely fling-proof game controller. Unfortunately, it’s for Playstation 2. Alas.

Filed under Gear and Gadgets No Comments »

Here’s another Steve Jobs “Q&A” that beautifully sums up Apple’s approach to technology vs. Microsoft’s.

QUESTION: Microsoft has announced its new iPod competitor, Zune. It says that this device is all about building communities. Are you worried?

ANSWER: In a word, no. I’ve seen the demonstrations on the Internet about how you can find another person using a Zune and give them a song they can play three times. It takes forever. By the time you’ve gone through all that, the girl’s got up and left! You’re much better off to take one of your earbuds out and put it in her ear. Then you’re connected with about two feet of headphone cable.

Via Newsweek, via 37signals

He’s got a point.

Filed under Apple, Gear and Gadgets, Microsoft 1 Comment »

Newsweek: Some people say that iPod might lose its cache because it’s too popular—how can it be cool when Dick Cheney and Queen Elizabeth have one?

Steve Jobs: That’s like saying you don’t want to kiss your lover’s lips because everyone has lips.

Don’t quite follow you there, Steve. My lover wasn’t [allegedly] mass produced in a Chinese sweatshop.

Filed under Gear and Gadgets No Comments »

Last year, Kathy Sierra wrote a post on her Creating Passionate Users blog that really stuck in my head. It’s called “Physics of Passion: The Koolaid Point”

The takeaway is this:
The most popular and well-loved companies, products, and causes have the strongest opponents.

This doesn’t sound particularly insightful until you realize that the tail can wag the dog in this phenomenon. Often times, appealing to a limited audience can do your company more good than appealing to everyone. This, I assume, is the reason I behind Microsoft’s “Poop Brown on Puke Green” Zune music player.

Of course, if they really wanted to be bold, they wouldn’t have wimped out and also offered them in “iPod Black” and “iPod White.”

Filed under Gear and Gadgets, Marketing No Comments »

Apple announced a lot of new goodies at their media event today - I’m so excited that they’re building Cover Flow into iTunes. In my brief phase where I used a Mac at home regularly, I fell in love with that app. Album view and automatic album cover downloading are a huge plus as well - lately, that’s the one feature I’ve felt iTunes really lacked - the visual experience of flipping through your CD collection. I recently moved into a rather small house and decided I’d fully embrace the MP3 revolution and keep the CD’s packed. This development will make that decision a lot easier to live with.

Anyway, not only did Apple not announce a TV tuner, they actually announced a forthcoming set-top box device called iTV that doesn’t have a TV tuner. If there’s any doubt that Apple will never integrate with cable TV, hopefully that doubt is now fully quashed.

Oh, and “one more thing”. Am I the first person to comment on Steve Jobs’ first wardrobe change in, like, 15 years? This is truly shocking - seriously. Steve just threw away a whole lot of cult figure status with one brown shirt.

Filed under Cool Stuff, Gear and Gadgets, General Computing, Marketing No Comments »

With a major Apple event happening tomorrow, rumor is running rampant (as always) about products to be announced at said event. One perennial favorite is that Apple will integrate a TV tuner in the Mac mini, or perhaps in all Macs.

This isn’t going to happen. Not while Steve Jobs is in charge.

Steve knows the Apple brand is all about “the complete experience”. Anything that doesn’t “just work” does not belong in a Mac. This does not only apply only to hardware and software, it applies to media itself. And what does “just work” mean when applied to media? It means that you see and hear what you want to see and hear - and nothing else.

TV is an ugly medium. That’s different than saying TV shows are ugly (some of them are, some of them aren’t - the ratio depends upon your personal preferences). Television shows contain advertising and promotional “TV bugs” that now sometimes take up half the screen (or more). TV programming is not inherently well organized - your TV doesn’t break shows down by category, then show, then episode. TV listings are programmed according to the desire of programming managers to attract the viewers their advertisers want, when the advertisers want them. Even if you use a DVR, you still have to wait until someone decides to “air” a program to record it.

When Apple realized people wanted to listen to music on their computers, they didn’t set out to simply create a great CD player and make it easier for people to buy CD’s. Instead they thought beyond CD’s, and beyond everything that makes listening to CD’s an “ugly” experience.

By creating the iTunes store, Apple eliminated the need to physically obtain discs (a major chore with hard to find albums), by mainstreaming “ripping” (Windows users were still using geeky tools like Audiocatalyst when iTunes came out), they removed the need to insert and remove hunks of plastic every time you wanted to change what you were listening to. By creating the iPod and AutoSync technology, they removed the need to tediously copy music - and even to decide what to copy - when you wanted to take some music with you.

Apple redefined the music listening experience by refusing to accept the limitations and annoyances built into the medium by its “legacy” business model. In the process, it tapped into what people truly want, and nearly destroyed the old business model.

When it comes to television programming, Apple will not settle for an experience that simply makes it easier to play by the networks’ rules. Even though people enjoy DVR’s (which they’ve proven with Tivo), Apple will not allow their software and hardware to be responsible for displaying advertising and TV bug-laden shows on their Macs. Apple will not force a user to wait until two weeks from Tuesday at 2:30 PM to see or record a certain episode of their favorie old program. To allow these sorts of intrusions into the television viewing experience would be to diminish the essence of what the Mac is all about - a digital world where the user is God, and nothing the user doesn’t enjoy does not belong.

Steve Jobs has never let his magic boxes simply serve as conduits for existing, flawed business models. This is why there is no radio tuner in the iPod (why listen to arbitrarily sequenced, staticky music?). This is why there is no “iPhone” (why allow carriers to strip out features they don’t like, and nickel and dime users for accessing games and bits of media that would otherwise be available free online?), and this is why Apple will not build a TV tuner into their Macs.

When you are regularly watching television on your Mac, it will only be after Apple has reinvented what television means. That’s what “Think Different” is all about.

Filed under Gear and Gadgets, Marketing 1 Comment »

This is an awesome, awesome, awesome, brilliant idea. Cameras are just now starting to add Wi-Fi functionality for instantly putting your photos online and those that do have Wi-Fi built in often require you to use a proprietary service (Boo! Hiss!) that puts your photos on the web site they want you to use, instead of Flickr, or your other photo sharing site of choice.

Solution: build the Wi-Fi into the memory card!. Then ANY camera can be Wi-Fi enabled without any sort of goofy attachments. That’s what the folks at starutp Eye.fi are working on. I’m a bit puzzled as to what sort of user interface you’d get to work with, but I’m sure it’ll all make sense when the time comes. Unfortunately, “Eye-Film”, as it’s called, is vaporware at the moment, but if it works as advertised, this would be a must-purchase in my book.

Filed under Gear and Gadgets No Comments »