I was recently in London on route to Dubai and stayed overnight at a London hotel. At the time I asked my 8 year old to take a picture of the sink (he was in charge of the camera) but for some reason we cant seem to find the picture. With digital cameras it is often hard to tell whether a picture has been taken or not especially when the flash does not activate (but that is a separate usability concern!). So I had to use my rusty drawing skills and give a visual of the sink (shown above) with its two separate faucets for hot and cold. It was around 0 degrees centigrade in London at the time so you can figure out how cold the cold water must have been...and the hot water was extremely hot (almost at boiling point). The question is...how was I supposed to wash my hands?

So as directed in the email I did follow the link. It took me to the above webpage and after plugging in the code (wasn't very easy to decipher either) It led me to the next webpage which as can be seen (you can click on the image to enlarge it) asks me to follow the directions sent to me by email. But that put me back in the same loop!

Eventually after numerous tries (thankfully I was not locked out of my account) I did remember which of the 10 emails I have in the back of my head was the correct one and I was able to post. No thanks of course to the password help I received from blogger.com.

password reset

I have not posted on this blog for over a month and wanted to post a couple of observations. With so many sites to log-in to at work, at home and everywhere else, I forgot my password. I must have at least 10 different ones at any given time.

So I decide to use the forgot your password link. This sent the above email to my box.

A poorly kept secret: The Amazon Kindle

Below is the url to an article posted last week about Amazon's announcement of the release of the latest version of the Kindle. It is expected to ship in a couple of weeks. The cost of $359 per unit includes an onboard dictionary and 6 instead of 4 shades of grey.
Interesting that it is still not in color.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/29100815

The missing iPhone application

Even the iPhone can have usability issues. I guess it is hard to accommodate everyone's needs within so little physical space and finite hardware capabilities. Apparently the iPhone is missing an application that some find quite important. A Missed Call Reminder.

The following link expands on the topic which as far as I know, has not yet been resolved.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/02/appiphilia-miss.html#more

Cell Phones and their Usability

Equipment, gadgets, and systems in general have become much more sophisticated. Functionality has increased at the expense of added complexity which in turn has resulted in steeper learning curves. In the YouTube video we watched during Institute week, David Pogue mentioned a company (I think it was Palm) that employed a “tap counter” to ensure that no task required more than three taps. I think Palm Pilots are in most part a thing of the past. Simplicity still sells but there are so many more three tap sequences to remember. Even the much acclaimed iPod has a considerable learning curve if all of its functionality is to be mastered. On the most part, I think most of today’s cell phones are quite intuitive in their design. Maybe they do have a lot of add-ons that we don’t necessarily need. On the other hand, perhaps if we tried to learn to use them they may prove quite convenient. I know I just replaced my Motorola Razor (which I never used for anything but voice) with a Blackberry. It took me a couple of hours to set up but now I cannot let it go. All my emails (nova included), internet, GPS, text (who needs voice anyway) are built into this little device. I even watched the inauguration live on Sprint TV while working at my desk.

When working on my MSEE in the mid 80s, I did some research and work in image processing. The field has certainly advanced in strides and computer image recognition has become extremely sophisticated. I also realize that security is paramount in importance. But really….look at these security words/images. In some instances you need a computer to decipher the security word in order to move on to the next page!

Unfortunately I am going to start out with (what I consider) a bad design. Shown above is an image of the computer under the Registrar’s desk at our campus. I literally have to get down on my hand and knees and fumble around with my flash drive for a good 30 seconds before I can insert it correctly into the USB port. To get a better appreciation of how high the port is from the floor I should note that the flash drive shown is 2 inches long. Furthermore it must be fitted in at a certain angle. Surely this is a good example of a bad design.

My very first blog

Although I have posted in several blogs before, this is the first time I have created one of my own. Over the course of the next three months or so I will be making entries that pertain to my observations on good and bad HCI (human-computer-interaction) designs.