Most technology products are geared towards men. The styles and capabilities are designed for bigger wrists. However, women all have smart phones too. In fact, they have an additional distinct disadvantage. They put their phones in their purse, where they don’t feel the vibration of a call. It’s a running joke in my family that…
A manager once described his team to me as Adders, Dividers and Multipliers. I also heard a similar theory on NPR’s Fresh Air. Specifically about baseball players, but it applies to any team. Adders These people do their jobs. You add them to a team and they pull their weight. They are solid players, but…
Apparently Disney and ABC are going to have a new Muppets show starting this fall. This is dangerous territory. I’m not fucking around here. The Muppets are a key element of my childhood and when I think of the Muppet Show, my heart fills with love and warmth. They better not ruin it! Already, I see…
Sometimes I am early to the party. For example, I was an early user of HTML (1994), CSS (1997) and jQuery (2006). However, one technology I never got into was podcasts. (Until last week.) I listen to NPR alot and always liked This American Life, Public Radio International and Freakonomics Radio. However, I kept noticing that…
The Dow Jones Industrial Average has gone up quite a bit in the last 100+ years. It looks like a hockey stick of growth with some sharp crevices. However, if you use a logarithmic scale it looks alot straighter. (logarithmic means that the Y axis isn’t linear but exponential. Notice the numbers on the left of…
I try incredibly hard to avoid saying someone is an asshole without further explanation. The reason is that the adjective lacks any specifics. It doesn’t help you understand WHY. When Donald Trump speaks, I constantly want to scream at the screen, “Shut up! You are such a dick!” This is when I catch myself and…
The Human Resources department (in most cases) is not the Office Energy department. Typically, no one is in charge of this crucial aspect of a company. When someone is visiting your office for an interview, they are noticing things such as: Office layout Types of computers/screens on the desks Ceilings/Lighting Energy/Collaboration People Density Chairs If…
Well, my sabbatical is over and it’s time to get back to work. My kids are in the same boat, getting ready for a new school year. It has been a great summer. Here are some of the highlights: Hawaii Trip Lots of Tennis (2-4 times a week) Wrote about 20% of the UX book…
I was helping someone set up a password on Intuit.com. When they asked for a password, they presented this visual clue. Notice where it says NO SPACES. That is just lazy programming. Spaces are a completely valid character for a password. There was no designer or product manager who said, “No, don’t let them put…
It’s such an interesting expression. I heard it on a podcast of This American Life. It means to look around different neighborhoods, so that when you buy a house it sends your kids to the best local (public) school possible. The problem is that the phrase implies a very specific economic reality. When I “shop…
Last night, I took the 2.5 hour drive to Sacramento for my kids to see Epic Rap Battles of History live. You may not be familiar with ERB, but they are great. They are #17 on the top Youtube channels with almost 2 billion views. The format is funny and smart and edgy. I’ve been…
Recently, I have turned out Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and DirecTV. They all have certain benefits and different UX. This isn’t a comprehensive review, but hopefully is helpful to you. There are so many ways to use these services. The xBox, native TV apps, DirecTV, Roku, Amazon Fire stick, WDTV, iPad, Android Phone, desktop PC,…
I’ve been using Windows 10 for a couple of months now. I have been a beta tester of every windows operating system since Windows 95. I am not an Apple Fanboy by any stretch. I have been a fan of Microsoft products include Office for decades. I think I can be fairly objective here. In…
In many silicon valley companies, you can earn a sabbatical after 7 years in the same company. While many people jump from company to company each year, I have been lucky enough to find a home for a longer period of time. So this summer, I decided to take my vacation (2 weeks) and sabbatical…