Pro-tips on tech gear from a former Microsoftie: Unless you are a hardcore gamer or doing incredibly detailed 3D modeling with your computer, DON’T BUY NEW. Around five years ago I decided to jump off the upgrade wheel, especially when…
Warning: This is a rant. I have multiple hobbies, things I enjoy doing either on my own or with my family. I write, I love to travel, I collect ephemera, and I like cooking. These things bring me pleasure. But…
Let’s go back in time a bit – over a decade ago. Macworld, 2007. Steve Jobs stood before a crowd of True Believers and revealed not just one, but THREE revolutionary new products. A new, Innovative widescreen iPod. A next-generation…
A couple of months ago the New York Times features a very interesting article discussing the newest features that were being added to Apple’s iOS devices. More an op-ed than a news story, the piece interviewed developers and end user…
No evidence, I'm afraid (I aspire to be a good enough UX designer that someday I MAY be good enough to work for Apple) but I can offer a couple of observations that, as Sherlock Holmes might state, leads one…
Good question. The address book is using a book paradigm, and I think the reason there is some usability problems with it is two-fold. The first is that the metaphor/paradigm is an obvious one but one that does not work…
During the announcement of the new iPhone this week, Apple unveiled their new “3D Touch” interaction model, which involves new ways of accessing functions and features. The big demo of this new model involved how in the upcoming version of…
I, like many other tech fanboys, was glued to my computer screen early this month during Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference keynote. What new products or software would be revealed? Would the rumored iWatch be shown? Was Apple going to…
“It’s flat, just like they said it would be!” That was the immediate reaction I saw from one of the tech pundits commenting on today’s introduction of iOS7, Apple’s new operating system for its iPhone and iPad. There have been…
First, and most obviously, you need to consider the constraints of both platforms. The primary constraint when you are designing an iPhone app is screen size. You have a smaller "canvas" to work with, and that constraint means that you…
There’s a huge battle taking place between tech companies, one that doesn’t getting nearly the attention it deserves. It’s not the fight between Google and Apple in mobile, or Facebook versus Twitter in social… It’s the fight for our living…
Short answer: Yes, it's been slipping for some time. Long answer: What is happening is that there are inconsistencies in the UI, not the UX… I know, that's rather pedantic of me to bring up, but there IS a difference.…
One of the domains I pay particular attention to is person-to-person and mobile payments (I’ve also done some design work in this space). Right now, there is a lot of discussion/debate/chatter around near field communication (NFC) technology and how it…
If you’ve been paying attention to the stock market lately, you may have noticed that Apple is doing quite well. At the time of this writing the stock is over $500 a share, the company has just had another quarter…
Lots of things. They decided not to build a MIDI "break-out" box a couple of years ago, even though the product was ready for production according to some sources. They decided to stop making printers. They decided to simplify thier…
Some theories… Apple makes hardware that allows you to consume content… content that you collect and love and revisit. Music, movies, TV shows, games… we have a lot of "stuff." Apple has a distribution network that lets you instantly buy…