November 1999

Empathy for people. We’ve been kicking this idea around at work recently, ranting about the impersonal term “user”. peterme.com goes to the heart of our purpose: an essential quality that any user advocate must have–empathy. A successful interaction designer has to not simply suppress his own personality, but must eagerly endeavor to understand the needs,…

I just spent my Friday night nursing a sore throat and acquiring a stuffy nose, updating my church’s web site (check out the scary pumpkin), and converting my weblog into the monochromatic mess you see before you. Whaddya think?

The brilliance of Tog is his ability to ask for the obvious software improvements that the rest of us overlook or gave up on long ago. He would be the fish that discovered water. Here’s his latest ranting on email systems: …Some email systems, such as AppleLink, were built with the ability to retrieve email.…

I love it when other people’s rants parallel my own, and when something is published the same day it occurs to me in the shower. I’ve ranted about Jakob Nielsen’s dumbing down of innovation in web design before, and now the torch is carried by Shirky in Shirky vs. Nielsen. I think making plenty of…

We’re sorry, but our store is closed temporarily, says Amazon at the moment. I wonder how much money they lose per minute?

I have seen the future of industrial design modeling, and it’s the FreeForm modeling system. Basically a drawing program with a pen interface, but the pen moves in three dimensions and provides force feedback. I’m looking forward to the day when this moves beyond designers and everyone can replace their mice.

It’s so funny how alums and associates of MIT have this superstar mentality, and have taken to name dropping like people in Hollywood. I heard a lecturer recently who said, “When I did my graduate work at the Media Lab…” and just saw a product demonstration that began with, “This came out of our research…

StatMarket. The best web statistics I can find. I’m amazed and happy that Beatnik’s so-cool browser plug-in is more popular than RealPlayer. Browser manufacturers must be shipping it with installers.

Finally we’re re-thinking universities. The lack of competitive, student-centered curricula makes me sick. Universities so often have their own agendas that have nothing to do with teaching students. I realize I’m oversimplifying – that great professors want to do research and a balance must be sought. But I’m encouraged by THE DISRESPECTED STUDENT – OR…

“Reach List.” A handy term I overhead from an architect at the train station this morning. It refers to the list of design features that aren’t must haves but will be incorporated if the timeline and budget allows.

Such a wonderfully jovial double-meaning URL from a friend of mine: I’m a new hat-maker. I’ve set up a new site: http://www.hathathat.com/ (That stands for hat hat hat . com. Although it DOES look like: Ha! That hat! .com. Ahem…) It just gives me the warm fuzzies that a hat maker with moderate computer skills…

Any cyclists reading this? If so, could you please tell me what would be the one most important factor in a bike if you were to run out and buy one today?