Quick article from Psychology Today. June, 2003. This is exactly what I was discussing with Katie. Our brains react more strongly to negative stimulus. Having a positive attitude is harder than having a negative one. This is the exact opposite of “It takes more muscles to frown than to smile.” Fascinating.
Grouper 2.0 beta was just released. I actually interviewed there over a year ago. They seem to be developing well. The newest version emphasizes personal video sharing. Video is an interesting area in that despite being pretty cool, it hasn’t caught on the way I thought it would. Just look at video telephony. Despite the…
I installed Microsoft Streets and Strips 2006. Every complaint I had about 2005 has been fixed. They introduced voice directions, keyboard shortcuts, dynamic zooming, aliased lines, and much more. Bravo Microsoft. Good software. Someone asked me why I blog. He thought it showed some level of egotism. Although I certainly have a strong ego, I…
Donald Norman wrote a few lines in his book, Emotional Design, about Instant Messenger. He proposed that the main function of IM is to provide emotional connection between people and not to communicate specific information. Most of the IM traffic around the world can be summed up with the following exchange: Person A: Hey. Person…