• Smashing Magazine

    Check out Smashing Magazine.  It has an awesome set of future design products.  I haven’t really paid too much attention to Smashing Magazine in the past.  I don’t know why.  They content is really nice.  Its very popular and speaks directly to my interests. I just subscribed to it.  I…

  • The UX of Primaries – Part II

    Ok, so now we have a second data point after Iowa.  New Hampshire, which was a dead-even race for Clinton and Obama now has Obama ahead by 13 percentage points. It is riddiculous to say that New Hampshire was taking into account the “retail campaigning” that happens in Iowa because…

  • The UX of Primaries (except for Iowa)

    Primaries suck.  I want to vote for Joe Biden.  A bunch of local yokels in Iowa voted for Barack Obama and now he is “unstoppable”.  Are you kidding me?  Who cares what Iowa thinks?  I don’t!  I want to vote for Biden and he has no right to withdrawn his…

  • The UX of the Wii

    I have had a few days with the Wii and I have to say, it is one of the most innovative and interesting user experiences I have seen in a while.  It certainly deserves to be up there with the iPod/iPhone.  The device itself is small, about the size of…

  • Information Communication

    I just watched this amazing video of this speaker at Ted.  He uses animation and charting techniques to really communicate information better.  I think this kind of software is just fantastic and has been designed with flair and genius.  Take a look. I am looking forward to 2008.  I feel…

  • The UX of California Propositions

    California is a pain in the ass.  They have these propositions and initiatives and special elections ALL THE TIME.  Every single time we have to vote, they ask us questions that we can not answer.  It is terribly designed user experience.  Never ask a question that has significant implications that…

  • Where is the new stuff?

    I had a crazy weekend. Funeral in Florida, then holiday preparations. I am so beat. however, I had an interesting conversation with Bill Johnston about the state of technology. Bill worked for Lawrence Berkeley labs, Nasa and the department of energy running a major network, so I always appreciate his…

  • The coolest thing on the web

    I had a dream last night.  Someone asked what was the coolest thing on the web.  I interpreted the question to be specific to a web service like Gmail, Yahoo, Wikipedia, or anything “hosted”.  The question to me was, “What is the thing on the web that changes the world…

  • Marketing

    The last two years has been a major education for me in Marketing.  First at Intuit, where I felt the entire organization is run by the Marketing Department.  I felt that the main goal of marketing was to project (micro)manage incremental changes in high volume processes.  In other words, there…

  • Favorite Present and other stuff

    At dinner, Jared likes to pick a “theme” that we can talk about.  I asked the family, “What was your favorite present ever?”  Jared looked at me and thought.  Finally, he said, “George Washington!”  It took me a minute to get it. Matthew had the Croup this weekend.  Katie felt…

  • SuperBad

    Just finished watching Superbad from Netflix.  At first I thought it was funny.  There were some scenes that I laughed out loud.  Couldn’t breathe sort of laughing.  Katie was laughing too.  Then after a while, I started feeling bored.  Something else too.  I was feeling like, “This is way too…

  • The Magic Triangle

    In technology development, there is a famous triangle.  It shows how you prioritize your efforts.  By focusing in one area, you mess up another.  It is a brutal game that never has a happy ending.  No matter what you choose, something suffers.  Even the “balanced” approach has flaws. I created…

  • Too Many hats!

    Marketo is starting to launch into beta, bringing on a few customers at a time.  It’s a stressful time for all as there is so much left to do and so many details.  I really appreciate how good Katie was at this sort of thing.  Keeping track of a million…

  • The sneaky minds of 3-year old boys

    Katie and I were in bed talking after a long day.  The door was not shut all the way, just most of the way.  We had a light on and were chatting.  I heard the pitter-patter of little footsteps (Matthew) come down the hall.  I mentioned it to Katie.  The…