About a year ago I had come up with an idea where your watch communicated with your mobile phone, via bluetooth, to display information such as caller id. The reasoning is that I hate having to pull out my mobile phone all the time to see who is calling. I also frequently leave my phone at my desk which sometimes puts me out of range to hear the phone or forces me to run to my phone just to see that it is a phone call that I don’t want to take.
None of the major mobile phone makers have seemed to come up with this idea–most haven’t even put bluetooth in their phones.
Nokia is getting close though. They’ve just announced a device which is akin to a “digital locket” of sorts. The HS-13w communicates via bluetooth to your Nokia phone and gives you the means to browse through phone book contacts, display images, and actually make and receive calls.
Currently Nokia seems to be the only mobile phone maker to push the technology and innovate. While I can’t say I would use the “digital locket” I feel that the concept is in the right direction. I’m sure it is only a matter of time before Nokia makes a watch, thus fulfilling my original idea.
More often than not I find myself feeling that my iPod knows what kind of mood I’m in. As an avid user of the Random feature I leave the DJing up to my iPod and it continually impresses me by its track selection.
While I know the random feature works entirely by mathematics I am frequently shocked at how well the iPod comes up with a musical set which is tailored to my mood and activity.
Obviously I have selected what music goes on my iPod but out of the over 3,000 songs I have stored on it right now they cross many genres. Yet it’s almost as if the iPod knows what I want to listen to–it brings me up and takes it low.
My iPod is the ultimate DJ.
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I recently picked up Post Road’s [a Brooklyn Brewery brand] Pumpkin Ale. I had sought to find an uncommon beer, something that was not the standard ale fare of today’s beers. Lately I have found myself craving the award winning Harpoon Winter Warmer. I don’t know if it is due to that I am burnt out on Sam Adams’ Summer Ale or if I am just ready for Fall to come.
Alas, let me discuss the bouquet of flavor which is the Post Road Pumpkin Ale.
Tasting the Beer
In order to review the Post Road Pumpkin Ale I’ll use the Beer Advocate’s How To Taste Beer guide.
Color: A rich dark caramel color with hints of orange.
Aroma: A solid pumpkin aroma with a dose of spices akin to those in the Winter Warmer, such as nutmeg and cinnamon.
Taste: Probably one of the smoothest beers I’ve had in a long time. The flavor lacks a hoppy bitter after taste but supplies a bold pumpkin kick. There are also sweet hints which round out the overall changing leaves and crisp air feeling like beer.
If by chance you come across a six pack of Post Road’s Pumpkin Ale it’s worth the extra buck or two over your 120 pack of Bud Light.
The Dean campaign is what got me into seriously following politics as opposed to just watching the headlines and never really scratching the surface of where our country is going. When I first saw how Howard Dean was taking politics in a different direction, and using what is considered to be an unconventional political tool–the Internet–I was ultimately curious. Mainly due to that I am avidly interested in technology and beginning to question where we as Americans fit into deciding our government.
Joe Trippi, Dean’s campaign manager, has written an excellent book–The Revolution Will Not Be Televised–depicting the beginning of the revolution of the people taking back the government and using the Internet to do it.
I have always felt that as a person I could have no real affect on the people who make our policies. But Joe Trippi’s book speaks of the revolution which has already started, the people becoming a major part of calling the shots and taking back what once was ours, the government.
From this point on, there will be a new special interest group to reckon with–the American people. And this special interest group has a tool–the Internet–more powerful than broadcast politics…
The book is not liberal propaganda, it’s barely even about the parties. It’s about how the people have lost their voice in our political system. We are constantly fed “news” from the broadcast and cable stations, supposedly telling us the facts. But where is the interaction, how do we get involved and become heard? As I’ve stated earlier the Internet is that solution, the voices are heard and actually make a difference.
After reading Trippi’s book it makes me wish I had been more involved, but at the least I can say that the Dean Machine sparked my interest in politics and that it is possible even as an average person to have my voice mean something.
At a time when everyone says things have changed since September 11th, I’ll say I agree. We as American citizens will no longer let our voices fall victim to the special interests who now dictate our government policies.
This is nothing new, even our forefather Thomas Jefferson spoke of it:
A little rebellion is a good thing. God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. … What country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance.
We are at a crossroads in the way our government works and as Joe Trippi stated we are living in the Empowerment Age.
I recently ordered a few books from Amazon and like many people have found them to be a great online store. While waiting for my packages to arrive I decided to check the status of my delivery. A lagged page load brought to my attention a few problems with Amazon and subsequently others upon investigation.
There is an ALTernative?
Amazon has been praised by many critics as providing users with one of the best user experiences and I agree with this statement on most levels. But there are still many major problems which have simple solutions that lurk throughout the site, even the home page.
On this occasion I simply wanted to quickly get to the package tracking page. Unfortunately Amazon uses an excessive amount of images as their action buttons. Typically if this is the case the designer can at least aid the user by using image alt attributes. But for Amazon, the use of alt attributes is sporadic and provide little information if any at all. (Accompanying Screenshot)
Helping to provide little help
For such a major online retailer I found it shocking that Amazon had little care for accessibility. Users with disabilities may be a small demographic in terms of sales but there are simple measures which can be taken to provide this user base with the ability to actually use the site and make purchases. Not to mention the fact that in this case, accessibility features can help the “average” user as well.
This revelation brought me to Amazon’s help section, in search of finding their accessibility features, if any even existed. At first glance the information I sought was not in their list of common questions or categories. Luckily there is a prominent search box for me to search Amazon’s help section. Upon searching for the term “accessibility” I was left with no results. The lack of results wasn’t my main problem, it was more the fact that Amazon provided little help in trying to get me back on track. Also at the same time attempting to get me to purchase their top selling wares. At this point I’m a confused user and Amazon has led me off course of finding the help I need. (Accompanying Screenshot)
37Signals spoke of this matter in their book Defensive Design for the Web:
Critical content shouldn’t be obstructed by ads or promotional offerings. This is especially true for error message screens and other crisis points. Ad revenues are important, but your site will lose money if they come at the expense of driving customers away for good.
Amazon has done a lot of innovate work with the web medium for e-commerce, but there is still a lot that can be done. In order for Amazon to remain the top online retailer they need to cater to their users in the best way possible.