This is pretty cool. I wonder how well it works. My daughter might be of age to try this coming summer.
03
Jan 10
An Interface Approach to Innovation
When we release a product, we often want to talk about its power and versatility. Truth is, nobody else wants to hear about that. They want to know – in as simple a manner as possible – why something should matter to them.
I agree with this point of view. However, my initial reaction was that the takeaway was you needed a simple (single-use) device to have it successfully adopted. And, while I believe that wasn’t the aim of the article, I do want to talk a bit about that faulty assumption.
I think we’re not technologically constrained to a single-use device mantra for success. And many other people agree with this (people who criticize the Kindle, the iPhone without a camera, etc). However — the quote above applies — and is the downfall of the do-everything device. Here’s the paradox. I think we need do-everything devices, but they need to be task-oriented.
The key to this is to think of interfaces. What is the purpose of an interface? Let’s think about a reading interface. The ideal reading interface has good enough resolution to display very dense tables/graphics, generates very little eye strain, is large enough to provide enough words that line breaks don’t become cumbersome, and allows for simple/fast/intuitive navigation (scrolling, page flipping, etc). As an interface then, the Kindle suffices.
However, one missing piece is the form of the interface. A paperback book as a reading interface is portable, light, small, durable, very long use, exchangeable/sharable, and usable without restriction (think airplanes and electronic restrictions). Here the Kindle only provides portability and lightness.
Another missing piece is the content. What information is exchanged/displayed in an interface? Where the Kindle breaks down is the limiting format of the content. While it’s very easy for me to get books, it’s harder to get other “printed” or text into the device. Further, the content only lives on the device — I can’t sell or transfer the content — or utilize in a format outside of the Kindle.
So form and function live in the domain of the interface — while content and format live separately. It reminds me of the whole HTML form/content debate. Web 2.0 and beyond are all predicated on this separation. Devices, especially mobile interfaces, are still up against this (mobile phone vs carrier, e-readers, streaming video content). Without a content “standard” how can there be true innovation? Interfaces, as versatile as they might be technologically, are constrained by the content formats they have access to.
29
Dec 09
People Don’t Remember. They Make It Up.
A funny concept that makes me think any kind of research that involves someone asking someone how they feel or think, or what they saw or did, is about as accurate as this version of Romeo and Juliet:
The show’s creators called unsuspecting people on the phone and asked them what they remembered about Shakespeare’s classic love story. The result is a hilarious mishmash of half-recalled quotes, mixed-up plot points and wild digressions — all performed in the traditional Shakespearean style.
From NPR’s Morning Edition.
27
Dec 09
Visual Junk
I’m not sure I understand Digg Labs. I’ve tried, multiple times, to use the data visualizations and interfaces. It’s probably pretty cool to be in Digg headquarters with a bunch of flat screens with these things running all the time. I’m not sure how useful they are otherwise.
Of course, it’s easy to bash without some alternative. I guess I’d ask Digg this — what was the design brief for each of these visualizations? Who are the users? What problems are you solving for them?
In absence of that guidance, I can make a few assumptions. Maybe I can mock up a few visualizations that are more useful.
27
Dec 09
Amazon Makes You Dumb
Amazon makes you dumb — or at least that’s one consequence of this point of view. The article blames Amazon’s tax “evasion” techniques for the inability of state and local governments to earn the tax revenues needed for schools and police. This doesn’t make much sense to me.
Amazon is already paying taxes, federal and state, for what it produces and sells. The only tax revenue that is under question is the additional sales tax in the state the items are purchased in. The article claims that Amazon is finding loopholes in tax law so it can maintain a competitive advantage against rivals by offering lower prices. If you follow that No state sales tax –> lower price –> competitive advantage then you have to believe that adding the state sales tax to Amazon purchases would eliminate the competitive advantage. Then Amazon wouldn’t be selling as much in those states and you wouldn’t earn (as much as you think you should) on that revenue. And it can’t be said, with any certainty, that the increase in revenues from the added sales tax wouldn’t be offset by the loss in corporate taxes on the total revenue earned by Amazon.
I guess I’ m a tax idiot, but I’m not sure sales tax even makes sense. And I guess that’s a larger point — I don’t think our tax system/law is understandable in any meaningful way. What are the underlying principles of what is taxable and what isn’t? It seems the whole point of tax is a means to fund public services and goods. What would happen if sales tax were eliminated — and the required tax revenue was made up by corporate and personal income tax? It seems strange that consumers are penalized for consuming. Sure — keep gas and cigarette taxes in effect, but it seems the administration of sales tax itself may be so difficult to manage that it may never pay out.
Further, to this point, there more complex the tax law is, the more “loopholes” that exist. And more time must be spent on closing those loopholes. However, until that time, as a consumer, I’m benefiting from Amazon’s effective and legal tax maneuvering.
25
Dec 09
From A Great Height
How durable is your Kindle? I had mine in it’s optional black case. I dropped it in a way that seems would occur most frequently — oriented vertically as it is being read. It hit the bottom right corner with an audible crack. It fell about 3 feet onto a hard tile floor. The metal has a 3-4mm gouge out of it now. The front and back sections dislodged. After a few tries snapping them back together, everything seems aligned. It has been working fine for the last 5 days since the occurrence. The only hiccup, which I can’t attribute to the fall, is that the page sometimes advances on it’s own ( about once every 300 or so page flips).
I was a skeptic on the Kindle for many reasons. But after receiving one as a gift I’ve been using it quite a bit. I’m a book lover and horder. So it might be useful to document how (and if) I get comfortable using the Kindle instead of books. More to come.
11
Dec 09
Machine Gun Photography
Kottke is on to something here. Seems like a perfectly logical progression.
Just as the introduction of the machine gun fundamentally changed warfare, so the affordable high-resolution digital video camera will change photography. Now you don’t have to wait for exactly the right moment for the perfect shot; just take 10 minutes of HD video and find the best shots later.
21
Feb 09
Picking Oscar Winners with Google Insights for Search
There’s no statistical rigor here — but in looking at the past 3 years of best picture winners, it seems the rate of increase in search activity in the weeks leading up to the big night coincide with the winner.
If this holds true, expect Slumdog or Frost/Nixon to win. Depending on what time period you aggregate on inside of the Google tool, it appears Slumdog has the slight advantage.
