Kizmo

The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU’s School of Law recently published a study on the effects of poor ballot design, stating this has caused “the loss of tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of votes in nearly every election year.” With this risk clearly demonstrated in an election eight years ago, what are the chances for improvement by November?

Our office sits among a multitude of hotels in downtown S.F. Every time I walk outside, I hear the doormen whistling for cabs. I actually like the sound of the whistle but I think for the doorman it can be frustrating. It is the doorman’s responsibility to take care of the guest. The taxis want fares. What if there was a system in place that that brought the two together? It would be very simple, as most cabs have GPS systems, or at very least, the drivers have cell phones. The doorman pushes a button, sending a signal out to cabs that are within a 2 block radius. Any cab that does not have a fare receives the signal and can opt to reply to it. A system like this will save cabs from driving around trying to locate where the whistles are coming from and save the lungs of the doorman.

Peter Merholz of Adaptive Path blogs today about retail’s attraction for experience designers.

“Retail is ripe ripe ripe for radical transformation.”

Retail has definitely gotten most of the attention as “experience design” ascends as a buzzword (though Disney’s amusement parks show that some people have been thinking about this for decades). The Apple Stores, for example, are great examples of experience design in retail, and Peter mentions Starbucks as a great current case study.

One more place that’s ripe for some experience design is medical treatment. I’m hearing all about chemo and radiation through a member of my family (the third in the last sixteen years), and it sounds like hospitals, and oncology clinics in particular, could use some serious attention from experience designers. I know this is happening (I recently saw an encouraging job posting for an experience designer at a chain of clinics), but as anyone who’s been through cancer treatment knows, it can’t happen fast enough.

At a local drugstore checkout counter, I am always mixed up and I don’t think I’m the only one. You get to the counter and the clerk rings up (scans) your items. That works pretty well. I usually look for the display of how much it will cost me and I look toward where the clerk is, since that is where he register is. I like to know how much I’m spending, and I usually have an idea about the cost. And maybe I had a hard time hearing when the clerk told me how much I owe. But I don’t see the cost. Where is it displayed? It is not near the clerk and his scanner/register. Why naturally on the other side of the open space of the counter far away from the clerk. Oh and by the way, that’s where you get your change too. Could people please group logical things together? Location, location, location.

The big trade show for videogames, E3, went on this week, and though there weren’t many exciting announcements (IMHO), Microsoft announced both the availability of Netflix downloads, and a new interface.

It’s the new interface move that I find interesting. I’ve never used an XBox, so I have no firsthand experience, but most people tell me they quite like the “Blades” interface that fronts the current software.  Some screenshots are here.  However, this fall Microsoft will force users to update to a new interface that seems targeted much more at a broader audience than the young men who seem to be the XBox’s biggest customers (screenshots at wired.com.  In fact, the approach seems to borrow a lot thematically, if not specifically, from the Nintendo Wii’s interface, particularly in the use of goofy-looking avatars. I’m looking forward to hearing some reasons for the change. While it’s been successful in the US, the XBox 360 has lagged behind other consoles in the rest of the world, and hasn’t had as much luck penetrating broader demographics the way the Wii has, or sneaking into living rooms as a DVD player, the way the PS3 has done.

For whatever reason, the new interface looks fairly simple, if a little cutesy and somewhat derivative.  I’ll have to find a friend this fall who will let me test it out.

Update: No sooner had I drafted this than Gizmodo published some comments from Marc Whitten, the guy in charge of the new interface effort.  Sounds like the change was driven more by usability concerns, though I’d still like to hear more details.

When launching a new product, it’s only common sense to do some competitive analysis. Research market demand, target audience and the competition. When the competition seems to have a firm hold on the market we often have to make a decision of whether we can successfully compete and turn a profit.

As a Mac user with a Windows Mobile smartphone (HTC Touch), I’ve had to deal with shoddy, poorly designed software, such as MissingSync by Mark/Space to synchronize my contacts, calendar, music, movies and more with my computer. After spending my hard earned money on crappy software and subsequent upgrades, I was infuriated to find that the geniuses at Mark/Space couldn’t develop software that supported Apple’s OSX Leopard. After reading their excuses blaming Apple for their incompetence I finally gave up and removed the software from my computer and phone, never to look back.

It was at this moment that Eltima Software released their first beta version of SyncMate. Although it was buggy, and needed some of the kinks worked out, SyncMate was still better designed and easier to use than MissingSync. After a rapid series of beta releases over 8-12 weeks, SyncMate is now a fairly solid application and I’m looking forward to the final version to be released soon.

Better yet? Eltima has announced that any public beta testers that forwarded the program’s log files to them would receive a free license for the final release of SyncMate.

Now that’s how you build a loyal customer base.

I have yet to take flight on VA, but after watching the behinds the scenes video on Biong Biong, I can’t wait for the day it happens. They have changed the dynamic of in-flight communication with a touch screen display that connects to the flight attendant’s area. No more need to push the call button, make a cabin wide noise and put a light over your head just to get a drink. The touch screen, developed using the open source platform of Linux handles games, movies, music, the cabin lighting and even messaging to Director of in-flight entertainment. These are some of the public wireless break throughs, they have brought the technology into the flight deck, too. VA has obviously thought about the whole flight experience, the attendants, the passengers and the pilots. There are many users with many needs to take into consideration. It is apparent that VA has done thoughtful usered centered research when looking into how to re-engineer the flying experience.

I am thrilled with the launch of Hulu. They’ve done a fantastic job of building buzz, a solid product, and firmly entrenching themselves into what will undoubtedly be a brutal battle with the likes of Joost and Apple. In fact, I am convinced that given (brief) time they’ll be eating Joost’s lunch, just as Facebook is currently drinking MySpace’s juice box.

I am, however, a bit dubious about the blind, gung-ho tone of this article.

Let’s not forget to mention the big pitfall of Hulu…

No 10-foot interface!

The Gen-Y audience is smart and generally tech-savvy. The first generation to have grown up with relatively advanced computers, mobile phones and more. For them, plugging a Mac Mini or Windows computer into a television is not a leap and using a remote control just makes sense. Mr. Gates and Mr. Jobs have both been preaching the word of mass consumption of digital media for over a decade. When will these “innovators” pay attention?

Hulu will suffer in a world of 64-inch flat screen televisions.

Not only are their products thoughtful, interesting and fun but their website is well done too. Fred and Friends

This informative and fun site explores the power of color in communicating human characteristics and eliciting emotions: Color in Motion: An Animated and Interactive Experience of Color Communication and Color Symbolism

It’s widely known that people formulate subconscious judgments about a person or product shortly after initial interaction. According to the CCICOLOR, 62% and 90% of that assessment is based on color.

If you were wondering, yes, Kizmo is ambitious, competent and cheerful!