Having just finished my most recent iPhone conversation with my mother – a phone call that failed 4 times – I am reaching my limit with a device that is grossly misnamed. It really should be called the iGadget, because its performance as a telephone is absurd. Apple has NO business giving Adobe a hard time about its Flash player, calling it a buggy “dead technology” when Apple can’t even get it’s alleged phone to work like a phone. If the failed calls are Apple’s fault… then Apple needs to own it and fix it before calling out Adobe for alleging that Flash is a buggy “old technology.” If the failed calls are AT&T’s fault, then they have no business charging their current rates for a network that is unacceptably substandard. Further, AT&T should sever its exclusive contract with Apple for claiming to provide a service it clearly cannot handle.
Category: UX
Using still photographs I took, along with my own voiceover, I essentially created a slideshow that outlines my aesthetic and what turns me on in terms of design. I love my job, but my favorite part of the gig is actually designing [which, as any web designer will tell you, is not always the biggest slice of the project pie...].
“I’ve invested a whole ten minutes on this! How come I’m not an expert yet??!!”
If you’re anything like me, you want to be an expert on whatever is in front of you with as little time and effort as possible – whether it’s with a digital camera, a laptop, a mobile device or a website. After investing five or ten whole minutes on learning something new, I’ll get frustrated that I’m not an automatic expert, or at least reasonably proficient. When I was in school, we had a word for this: lazy. But I prefer the adult world term: busy. View Full Article »
It’s not new, but I was inspired to write about it after using it today in a Starbucks. AT&T provides free Wi-Fi for iPhones in any Starbucks, but the litany of tasks one has to perform in order to gain access to this free Wi-Fi is a pain in the ass. It’s a series of confirmations via the text messaging application. By the time you actually get access to the free Wi-Fi, you’ll want to lie down for a nap.
This app does the work for you. When I acquired it, it was free, but now has a price tag of $2.99. Not bad if you find yourself in or near a Starbucks with your iPhone with relative frequency, like I do.
You simply enter your phone number to set up the app. Then, when you’re in a Starbucks (or anywhere that has AT&T Wi-Fi, like an airport or something), connect to the Wi-Fi in your System Preferences, then open the Easy Wi-Fi app, and voila! You’re connected.
NOTE: this app only works for the iPhone, not the iPod Touch.
I’ve certainly heard of Legacy.com and encountered it when reading obituaries of people I’ve known who died, but I’d never actually participated… until today.
Mary was a friend from childhood. She was actually the oldest of three sisters I grew up with in my hometown of Cleveland. The youngest sister, Tricia, is my age and the one with whom I shared one of my deepest friendships growing up. Mary was an integral part of it. We all spent a lot of time together and had so much fun. It had been a long time since I talked to Tricia, and an even longer time since I had talked to Mary. But when I’d heard that Mary died the day after Christmas, I was floored. Speechless. And – as I replayed in my head the fun we had together those years ago – heartbroken.
I made the drive to Cleveland the other day for the funeral. It was the first time I’d seen Tricia, her mom and her sister Kathy in years. It was an overwhelmingly sad day, and yet amazing to reconnect with my old friend and show up for her and her family the way we know how. [Both our fathers died within 2 years of one another when we were in our teens. We held one another very close through all of it.]
Though I had the opportunity to show up for the funeral and the family in person, Mary’s guestbook on Legacy.com stared me in the face. There were pages and pages of lovely notes from mutual friends from Cleveland’s west side whose names I hadn’t heard in years. Most of the entries were from out-of-towners unable to attend the funeral. All of the comments were warm, heartfelt and appropriate. Some brief, and some longer. Mary’s death and the absence of their wonderful friendship in my life over the past 10 or so years left my heart racing with so many thoughts and emotions. Even though I was present for the funeral, I felt like writing something on the guestbook. But what? There was the question of whether or not I wanted to share some of these feelings so semi-publicly. Personally, the idea of this kind of overt sharing is a somewhat odd prospect, but as an internet professional, I fully appreciate its usefulness in paying respectful respect to someone who has died and expressing one’s sorrow for the loved ones left to grieve. [And Tricia had told me the evening after the funeral that they had been reading all the entries as they were posted and how nice it felt to read the sentiments from people sharing their grief.]
I had absolutely no interest in writing any emotional pornography or anything impersonal like “sorry for your loss.” I wanted to craft a loving, personal, and real heartfelt note to my friend Tricia, her sister Kathy and her mom (whom I adored) about how Mary impacted my life and how much I adored her. How would I take the plunge and open up my feelings online?
I just did it. I think it went well. I opened up and shared what I was feeling, just not everything I was feeling. The key: restraint. (And a little humor, too, because Mary was – among many things – hilarious.) I drafted it in my word processor, carefully re-read it several times, made revisions, and posted my final draft. The end result was honest and real – something with which I was comfortable sharing with anyone who cared to read it. But ultimately I did it for Tricia, for Kathy, for her mom and, most of all, for Mary. My heart is still heavy with sadness as I write this blog entry, but the action of sharing these feelings in a somewhat open online forum felt good.
And there is my story about my first experience with an online memorial guestbook.
UNIQLO – the Japanese clothing design company – has the most delightful web installation I’ve ever seen. It is a real-time clock, called the UNIQLOCK, set to timed dancing to music. The music must always be 120 bpm (beats per minute) so the girls are timed as beautifully and perfectly as they are. I’ve been known to stare at this for a substantial chunk of minutes because it’s so damn entrancing.
Everytime you go to the UNIQLOCK, you may never hear the same music or see the same color palette twice, since it seems to rotate randomly. Simply beautiful. View Full Article »
The ideas and process behind the making of The Manhattan Transfer’s official website, launched in September 2009.
“I went to see the changes you made on my website, but I don’t see them. The site looks the same as before.”
It happens all the time. I’ll do an update to a website, and clients will email me to say that they cannot see the changes. Here’s the story… View Full Article »