Cross-purposes?

Cross-purposes?

Last week I was at a seminar where a fellow student was outlining some (very interesting) research about how to adapt ‘professional’ products to be usable by a ‘lay’ audience (what functions do you retain, what do you lose, how do you deal with different […]

Paper Rights Management

Paper Rights Management

This delivery note from Springer informs me that the book I’ve bought “must not be resold”. Good luck with that. So have I bought it or not? Or have I bought a licence to read it? What if I give it away? Many companies would […]

links for 2008-06-23

links for 2008-06-23

Tomy’s new piggy bank rewards savings with in-built RPG – Boing Boing Gadgets Persuasive games? “Every coin you pump into the bank is translated into gold, which can be used to buy weapons, items and armour for your character.” (tags: persuasion persuasivetechnology games saving money) […]

links for 2008-06-24

links for 2008-06-24

BBC – Mark Easton – Nudge Some interesting readers’ comments, many fundamentally opposed to the idea of ‘nudges’, at least in the government-led way suggested by the article. (tags: nudge BBC behaviour libertarianpaternalism)

links for 2008-06-27

links for 2008-06-27

Vox Popoli: The importance of condescension Amazing stylised rant about ‘other people’s incompetence’ interacting with a ticket machine in the Paris Metro… (tags: rant usability interaction interactiondesign interface ticketmachine Paris design) TDWTF Forums – The importance of condescension …inspiring this wonderful riposte. I have some […]

Interview with Sir Clive

Interview with Sir Clive

Chris Vallance of Radio 4’s excellent iPM has done a thoughtful interview with Sir Clive Sinclair, ranging across many subjects, from personal flying machines to the Asus Eee, and touching on the subject of consumer understanding of technology, and the degree to which the public […]