Thumbs Up-The Scrollwheel
As someone who has a moderate amount of technology experience, I’ve definitely felt frustrated watching other people searching the web, typing the url into the search bar or copy and pasting by using the mouse and going up to “Edit” instead of using the keyboard shortcuts. It’s not wrong per say, but this video describes pretty well how it makes me feel:
Based on the original comic by NeonNoodle and animated by Guy Collins.
Joshua Kors – Thumbs Down
Joshua Kors writes about “Why I’m Returning My iMac.” He goes through a long list of grievances, almost all of which could be remedied with some decent problems solving skills, or at least a simple Google search. For Example:
Turns out there’s a video camera embedded in the screen, and before I could boot her up for the very first time, she wanted to take my picture. For “identity purposes,” she said. I stumbled to the bathroom, brushed my hair (and my teeth), exchanged my raggedy Raiders t-shirt for a professionally ironed button-up and returned to my desk, smirking at the turn of events. My old PC didn’t care if I called the Pentagon in my bathrobe. My iMac apparently had registered with Match.com.
Um – this can be skipped, or he could use a default picture that comes pre-installed for your account.
I had an article to write, but the only word processor I could find on my iMac was TextEdit, essentially a stripped-down version of Notepad.
He should have bought Microsoft Word while he was at the Apple Store, not to mention that TextEdit has way more features than Notepad does.
I booted up my bank account before realizing the Mac keyboard had no number pad
He could have plugged in your old keyboard via USB.
and was heartsick to learn that the thesaurus WordWeb, every author’s best friend, didn’t work on Mac’s OS. Neither did Ipswitch FTP, my file-uploader. Some headaches I expected. I knew that, unlike a PC, I wouldn’t be able to connect one computer to another and transfer over my documents. Instead I had to use my external hard drive, like a makeshift canoe, to migrate my articles, music and videos from one computer to the next.
I’m sure that some people reading this article will have their opinions of Macs tainted by the author. Unfortunately, the problem wasn’t with the computer, but with the user himself.
I think my cousin @ADSchneider sums it up best with his tweet about the article: “I really wish that this was supposed to be satire… If this guy’s a web designer, then I’m an astronaut”
Augmented Reality in Marketing – Thumbs Up
I’ve written on augmented reality (AR) a few times since this blog began. In the past year, it seems like it’s popping up more and more. For example The Next Web wrote about some uses of augments reality in different marketing campaigns. Check out the whole list here. Here are some of the success stories:
Airwalk Jim Shoe: In November, Airwalk used an augmented reality app from GoldRun to launch invisible pop-up stores which sold a limited edition of the Jim shoe in New York and LA. To access the invisible store, customers had to use the app to locate virtual Jim shoes at dedicated locations and take a photo of the shoe to gain a pass code to the Airwark e-commerce site. Airwalk reported that since then its e-commerce site has witnessed the most traffic in the company’s history.
…
Tissot Reality: Through its website Tissot lets users print and cut out a paper strip in order to try on virtual watches. Tissot showcased the application with an interactive Selfridges window display. This reportedly resulted in increasing in-store sales at Selfridges by 85%, while theYouTube views of the campaign have surpassed 70,000.
…
Len Kendall, co-founder at the3six5, Digital Account Supervisor at GolinHarris and writer for GOOD singled out the Star Wars Arcade Falcon Gunner: “ I love this concept because it falls into the augmented reality realm and it’s incredibly simple. As of today, many AR applications are unapproachable to the masses because 1) they’re not used to the technology or 2) they don’t see the investment necessary to learn the nuances of individual AR apps are worth the time of the outcome. In other words, the entertainment or utility of these applications isn’t outweighing the input.
I’m interested to see where AR goes from here. Will it ever hit “the big time” (ie will my mom ever know what it is?) or will it always remain a niche medium that just excites technophiles and marketing folk? I think that there are some great possibilities out there for the technology and I’m hoping that it reaches mainstream success.
Self Assembling Robot – Thumbs up
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have developed a robot that is designed to fall apart upon impact and reassemble itself. The robot is made up of smaller components that are each capable of movement on their own and have their own processing units. After falling apart, each component sends out a signal to those nearby, allowing the parts to find each other. Once they have found each other, they line themselves up to connect with each other, at which point one of the processing units takes control of the entire robot. There’s a slideshow showing how the individual pieces, as well as the assembly process work on the New York Times website here.
While the robot shown in the slideshow seems very bare bones, I think there’s a lot of potential for this technology in a lot of places. Military robots could reassemble themselves after taking fire. The modular nature of the robots allows the people using them to scale them up and down in size, and also easily make repairs if one of the modules broke. I look forward to seeing what further research into these robots could bring about in the coming years.
Time Warner Cable – Thumbs Down
Time Warner Cable has introduced a plan that will force customers that use large amounts of bandwidth to pay higher monthly rates. The plan includes a pricing tier, with packages allowing for 10, 20, 40, 60, and 100 gigabytes (GB) per month. Overage charges are expected to be $1/GB, capped at $75 per month – so if you go, say, 100 GB over your plan, you’ll still (only) be charged $75.
The internet provider is planning on introducing these pricing schemes in Rochester, NY, and Greensboro, NC, later this summer as a pilot program, so for now, most of the country is safe.
Why does Time Warner Cable think I should be penalized for using the Internet to its fullest extent? Why do they want to charge me more for providing the same level of service?
This plan strikes me as utterly ludicrous and logic-defying. Websites and Internet applications are becoming increasingly bandwidth intensive. Netflix, for example, now allows users to stream high definition movies and TV shows directly to their computers – someone streaming a few high definition movies per week could easily exceed Time Warner Cable’s 100GB/month ceiling. Soon, the needs for the average consumer will no longer be met by a basic 20GB/month plan from Time Warner Cable.
Ostensibly, this plan is intended to provide cheaper service to “casual” users (read: your grandmother) and to slow the growth of bandwidth consumption. Time Warner Cable seems to be in denial about the nature and direction of Internet applications – as bandwidth intensive applications, such as multimedia streaming, videoconferencing and gaming proliferate, users everywhere are going to be needing more bandwidth. This plan seems to be a coverup for their lack of foresight in neglecting to add additional bandwidth capacity.
The good news is that Time Warner Cable has somewhat eased off. The pilot was originally supposed to be introduced into Austin and San Antonio as well, but plans to impose the program on those two cities have been pushed back until October. Unless you live in Rochester or Greensboro, you’ll be fine for now. Just don’t get too used to streaming your favorite episodes of Battlestar Galactica in high definition every week.
