by Joseph on January 21, 2010
In recent years one of the big concerns that some civil liberty groups have expressed about the US government has been around a program called Total Information Awareness. This system was intended to be a massive database of personal information about, well, us – a huge collection of content that can be filtered and sorted by CTU… err, I mean Homeland Security, to help fight terrorism.
I won’t debate the pros or cons about that idea (but, as a libertarian, you can probably guess my opinion) but instead I bring this up to note that similar concerns have been expressed about another huge data system that has an incredible amount of personal information about Americans… Google.
No, I’m not one of those “OMG Google is spying on us” types, I just think we are about to enter a new era very soon where Total Information Awareness is not something that we will need to be afraid of – it will be something that all of us are going to have access to, anywhere we are.
Two examples: First, there are the augmented reality apps that are being developed by many different companies allows you to use your mobile device’s camera and GPS to “see” additional details about your surroundings. The best example of this I have seen is in the Yelp app, which gives you contextual information about restaurants, shops, and more in this manner.
Second is Google Goggles, another piece of “beta” software that is kind of “augmented reality on steroids.” It allows you to access similar contextual knowledge, only n this case it is not limited to restaurant, entertainment or shop reviews – you can take a picture of a neighborhood and Google will give you information about where you are, all from that really big database they are managing of, well, EVERYTHING. They won’t do facial recognition, out of privacy concerns… but who’s to say someone else won’t push that technology out there, to get a jump on Google in this new metadata-filled space?
When you can install Google Goggles on Android phones and Yelp on that and other devices, for free, I think you are seeing a new and challenging area that we as users and designers need to be very very cautious about. The potential for information overload is greater than ever when you can access such contextual information anytime, anywhere… not to mention the potential for abuse (especially if the facial recognition stuff is eventually made public).
The world is changing, and as I said before, the future has arrived – it’s just not the one we were expecting. Let’s remember (quoting that great scientist Jeff Goldblum) that just because technology allows us to do something doesn’t mean we should.
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by Joseph on January 19, 2010
This is some of the best DVD or bluray packaging I have ever seen, the vintage 1977 Dharma Orientation Kit version of LOST season 5. Here are some pics:
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by Joseph on January 18, 2010
As I write this, I just finished watching James Cameron win both best director and best picture awards for Avatar at The Golden Globes, a semi-phony awards ceremony that is still seen by some as an indicator of chances at the more legitimate Oscar ceremony. When he won best director, Cameron very honestly stated that he “expected Kathryn to win” – referring to Katheryn Bigelow, the director of The Hurt Locker, one of my favorite movies of 2009.
He should have. Because, while The Hurt Locker is a brutal and real depiction of people in an incredibly stressful situation – defusing IEDs in Iraq – Avatar is one of the most thin sloppy and false movies I saw last year. And I’m not talking about the CGI, I’m referring to the characters and plot. It’s thin as gruel, Saturday-morning television stuff. As South Park so aptly parodied it early this year, it’s “Dances with Smurfs”, played in large IMAX-scaled size. And in 3D!
Do I hate it? No, I’m frustrated by it. I’m disappointed by it. I like James Cameron, but more as a director than a writer. This was an opportunity lost, because Cameron refused to accept that he is NOT A GOOD WRITER he did it all by himself, and he needed help (much Like Lucas realized as he was writing the last Star Wars prequel). There is not one moment as I watched the film that I cared or sympathized with any of the characters on screen. Movies are about association and empathy and I did. Not. Care.
Is it stunning? Absolutely. Is it award-winning, for the visuals alone? Yes. Is it good, to me? No. To me it is Transformers 2 with a slightly better plot and better design and cinematography. As technology advances, and the visuals we see in it become commonplace and better filmmakers and writers realize than now anything can happen, I suspect it will not age well.
Yes, it is making a quazillion dollars. Good. It’s the closest thing we have right now in theatres to original SF, and I hope that Hollywood sees this and takes a chance on adapting some GOOD SF to theatre screens, like, well, anything Baen publishes right now. Or maybe that great Harlan Ellison I ROBOT script he did two-plus decades ago. They’d have to rename it, but it’s a hell of a lot better than the Will Smith movie.
Anyway, I know there are people who LOVE Avatar. And I’m happy for them. Movies are, like all art, received as personal experiences – you take something, or you leave it. You love it, or you hate it. For me, Avatar is a brilliant technological achievement without any real characters I care about.
It is a pretty, empty box.
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by Joseph on January 18, 2010
Simplicity matters.
I can’t even count the number of times I have tried to do something in a software program and the process of attempting the task at hand was either needlessly complicated or hard to find or both. I almost used the word “confronted” in that last sentence, because that’s what it felt like – conflict. The program was not working with me, it was fighting me – using controls and ideas that an engineer had conceived, one that was alien to me as a use.
I do not want to fight software – I want to USE software.
As a user experience designer, I hope (and pray) to never inflict the type of contrived and ill-informed program on my users – that’s why I do my “due diligence” and research users, test my designs, and make the best solution I can for my company’s customers in the (always limited) time I have to deliver such a solution. And, in those times I find limited – which is more often than not – I follow two basic principles.
Wabi and Sabi.
What, you may think, is that? Well, they are two concepts of simplicity as defined in Zen (details here). I approach these concepts as a designer, not with any pretension or formal focus, but as guiding principles. I make the design simple and try and make it effortless for the user to take and use. My designs will never be perfect – nothing is.
I always focus on the saying I heard many years ago that “perfect is the enemy of good,” and so always try and I make the design appropriate and approachable more than anything else, using the language of the user and not some contrived technical terms or making the screen oppressive and, therefore, intimidating.
It isn’t easy, and I’m still working on it, but I definitely recommend that you take the concepts of Zen to heart whenever you approach a design problem. The simple path is sometimes far better than the complex one.
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by Joseph on January 18, 2010
I can’t help it, I’m a guy who grew up watching the silly and bombastic A-Team TV show in the 80s and I’m excited about the new big-budget movie. Here’s the trailer:
The opening narration! The Jeep flip! Even B.A.’s head turn and glare! One ticket: sold!
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by Joseph on January 16, 2010
