One of single (test) most productive tools for a mac is Quicksilver which is a free plugin that allows you to quickly hit a few keys and conjure up all kinds of wickedness from your system. And now it looks like Ubiquity brings this genius to the Firefox browser. Check out the video below for a demo and here is the link to go get it: http://labs.mozilla.com/2008/08/introducing-ubiquity/
Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.
I was amazed today to find, as I was acually trying to sign up for thier service, that Quickbooks Online accounting is Windows/IE only "web based software". After a moment of disbelief I hit the live chat feature to offer some thoughts on this approach in the year 2008. I was kindly invited to sign up to be notified when this application "supports more browsers".
What I found particularly quaint was the note they left for me as seen below. Not just a note telling me "sorry dude we don't support any kind of web standards but a "Special" note just for me and my Mac. How nice...
So for anyone out there wondering what one of the fastest ways is to lose a customer... put this message on your site:
There are certain foods that one most come to know how to prepare in one's lifetime. This is a fundamental secret to existence and a fundamental practice on the path of liberation. I have decided it would be wise to share these foods here in the blog so that others may free themselves from some karmic dead weight and enjoy the fruits of the gods on thier tables.
The first of these foods would have to be, hands down, humus. My wife and I have been on a quest for years to find the perfect humus recipe... that recipe that is so delightful, easy to replicate, and fundamentally sound that it can be made almost anywhere from memory and universally recognized as food for the soul.
We have found this recipe recently and will share it here in. Just be warned: This humus is soooooo freakin good it will make you silky smooz like Zohan.
The humus ingredients:
Instructions:
Been meaning to post this for a week... this is the team who wrote the bomb-diggity book Subject to Change giving a talk at Google about the material in the book. I have to say I am amazed at the rows of empty seats! I can tell you this much.. I would be front and center for this one.
This is the video and slideshow presentation from Google IO on UX design teams and app engine. I attended this session and felt it made up for all the boring ass code talks I had attended in the hours previous ;) This is a must watch video.. I found this presentation confirmed for me some of the fundamentals of a creative and empowered working relationships between a developer and UX designer. I am currently building a sweet app with my biz partner Aaron Klump and we have found many of these same truths as we have worked together.
We are actually in the midst of a code sprint in a remote desert location at the moment and Aaron turned to me and said, "Dude.. we really work well together." Yep it was one of those fine and heart warming geek moments.
so anywho.. check out this video cause it is the shiznit folks!
These are hands down some of the most inspiring ideas in design I have seen in my short life time. The 12 sustainable design ideas should be tatooed on the foreheads of each and every corporate cylon CEO before they are allowed to drive that train high on cocaine. With so many brilliant people in the world I constantly feel like I am late to the party in learning from them all... so it is always with great humility that I post such awesomeness to this blog to share with anyone else out there that has been living in a cold dark cave wondering when the next round of guess that shadow will begin.
Janine Benyus's ground breaking book titled "Biomimicry: Inovation inspired by nature" is a must read. Below is a video of her talk at TED conference.
This was just to damn funny to pass up:
Just came back from Google I/O conference in San Francisco and since there are a zillion posts in the world already on the subject I will keep this brief and focused on what matters most... and that is of course User Experience Design. :)
The sessions were all cool as far as getting a peek at different tech coming out of Google and seeing possible uses for each but from a designers vantage point were certainly a bit dry. Since this was a developers conference this was no surprise and as one of my traveling companions Brian Beasley so humorously pointed out the "army of slumpy, pot bellied, wookiees and swishy bald Mr. Spocks" enjoyed every minute of it.
One thing I found very impressive was how approachable the Google staff hosting the events and running the sessions were... Everyone I had a chance to talk to and observed talking with other conference goers had a genuine air of enthusiasm, openness, and approachability that totally unraveled the usual comments one might hear of "Google arrogance". It was down right inspiring to see so many brilliant people bringing a sense of family and openness to cutting edge tech. Kudos Googlers!
Another inspiring aspect was the focus on open source development and the loud and clear recognition of OSS as the foundation of Googles success. This was the one of those moments where I could honestly see a clear path being forged to a near future day where all of us can be freed up from the bowels of 'CAL' hell. This sentiment was capped off by an excellent and funny as hell talk on "Open Source is Magic" by Chris DeBona... you will definitely want to check this one out when the sessions get posted on YouTube.
Aside from these musings the two high points for me from a design perspective were hands down the second day keynote by Marissa Mayer and the very last session of the conference given by a UX team from Google John Skidgel and Lindsey Simon. The keynote gave a peak into some of the research Google is using to move design from art to science by analyzing large scale A/B testing for major and minor teaks to interfaces. To do this on Google size scale has got to be fascinating and could bring a decisive end to those long drawn out meetings where the "assistant to the regional manager" has decided the app is "just not blue enough".
The UX team very generously outlined how they work together sharing their creative design process. Clearly articulating how they are working through short iterative cycles increasing prototype resolution to final product from simple sketches, to wireframes, to mocks, to prototype pages, etc... This session was digital gold as far as I am concerned and left me hoping there will be a Google Designers Conference in the near future. You will mos def want to check this one out when it gets published online.
One final note is Android. Android. Android. This is some of the coolest stuff I have ever seen in an OSS targeted project and has me panting to get involved somehow. I decided I better not go into any detail here as I will end up drooling all over my MBP and burning my crap ass cell phone in the back yard fire pit. All I can safely say is check out Android.
Here is the video of day one keynote (android is at about 0:22:00) which shows some of Google's core plans for expanding and opening up the web as a whole and making everything better in the process. I think even providing free 24 hour sushi delivery for all open source developers with a new on-demand app (but don't quote me on that as I may have just been day dreaming:) )
Just have to write a quick note and highly recommend this book from Adaptive Path. The title Subject To Change: Creating Great Products & Services for an Uncertain World is an excellent guide to user centered design as not just a set of principles for making better software but as clear path to thinking of providing services to end users that they are actually wanting and needing. I wont attempt some grand book review hear as there are plenty written by folks much better qualified.. I will merely say if you have any intentions of starting a business or are already a business owner you should read this book. These folks are at the bleeding edge of thinking in new models of business development and I plan to make every effort to attend thier next UX intensive training...
In true web fashion there is also a very well put together keynote talk given by Jesse James Garrett which covers some of the core points from the book. You have to hand it to adaptive path for not only doing this excellent research and development but also for being willing to share their brilliance with the rest of us. Also thanks to scribemedia.org for making this presentation available.
