http://sensorymetrics.com Usability innovations for Wireless, Web, E-com, Workflow, VoIP, Mobile business... Sat, 05 Jul 2008 23:49:10 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en It can be quite shocking to discover the ingredients that turn up in your junk food. Ok, so I have to admit that I often have a sweet tooth and love to eat way way too much sugar. Long ago I vowed never to replace that sugar with ... http://sensorymetrics.com/2008/07/05/satisfy-your-sweet-tooth-sans-sickly-sugar-substitutes/ Last time it was Yahoo swallowing Flickr, now my YouTube & Google accounts have been linked to the collective. Um, ok. Now what? What exactly just happened? Don't worry, they've simply merged the member databases and now you can probably share information between the sites. Oh, and by the way ... http://sensorymetrics.com/2008/07/05/your-accounts-have-been-linked-resistance-is-futile/ Worse than highjacking... but actually naming a new tax after you! That's right... it could have been the new "Mitel Tax" or "Entrust Tax" or "iotum Tax". In this case, it's The Green Shift Tax. Green Shift happens to be a Toronto based consultancy ... http://sensorymetrics.com/2008/07/04/the-green-shaft-what-if-politicians-highjacked-your-corporate-identity/ The internet and retail. Much has changed in 15 years. As the e-channel evolves, we're seeing some very innovative business models. My favourite for a few years has been Woot- one product a day until it sells out. My lingering beef is that they don't ship ... http://sensorymetrics.com/2008/07/03/suitupp-the-magical-evolution-of-e-commerce/ What a difference 73 years of technology makes! Some UX improvements: Twitter is now free, location-independent, and messages can be viewed longer than two hours! via: Modern Mechanix http://sensorymetrics.com/2008/07/03/the-notificator-what-twitter-was-like-in-1935/ Most "stupid usability tricks" are not intended... this is fun. via: I don't remember! lol http://sensorymetrics.com/2008/07/03/usability-pranks/ 1. Choose a target that everyone loves to hate: for example Canadian duopoly / cableCo / wirelessCo Rogers. 2. Choose a cause that everyone lusts for: for example the Canadian launch of Apple's iPhone. 3. Put them together: for example, Rogers has the most expensive plan on the planet for ... http://sensorymetrics.com/2008/07/03/10-easy-steps-how-to-start-an-online-petition-and-get-a-free-iphone/ This is a wonderful email uncovered by Seattle PI and Usability News... a usability related rant from Bill. “I tried scoping to Media stuff. Still no moviemaker. I typed in movie. Nothing. I typed in movie maker. Nothing. So I gave up and sent mail to Amir saying - ... http://sensorymetrics.com/2008/07/02/retro-1993-bill-gates-demands-better-uability/ It would seem that the local corner store is running out of my new favourite drink from the Coca-Cola company. Nestea Vitao comes in the following flavours: Green Tea and Fuji Apple Red Tea and Acai Blueberry White Tea and Mandarin Orange This is probably a good thing that the store is running ... http://sensorymetrics.com/2008/07/01/the-ultimate-coca-cola/ For our international readers - it's Canada Day here in the frozen tundra! We're turning 141 today! Most Canadians will be celebrating the day by enjoying a bit of snowshoeing. Others will partake in a friendly round of competitive moose racing. Another quaint tradition here ... http://sensorymetrics.com/2008/07/01/canada-day-141-year-old-cheese/ There's something magical and ethereal about Matt Harding's quest to "dance badly" in all of the planet's corners. You may have seen the original video from 2006, in March a second installment was released. the premise is simple... Matt dances, carefree, badly, in wonderful offbeat locales: Korea's ... http://sensorymetrics.com/2008/06/30/stride-gums-where-the-hell-is-matt-earthly-appeal-and-understated-marketing/ Finally those difficult to use and awkward little buttons on iGoogle are about to be nixed. The problem with the UI is that the 'remove this' button marked with an 'x' is right next to the 'expand this' button marked with a '+'. If you're like me you're ... http://sensorymetrics.com/2008/06/28/igoogle-improves-its-ui/ In 1941 a ballpoint pen cost $9. With such a high cost, trusty Consumer Reports built this pen testing machine to compare how long different brands of pens would last. Nearly 70 years later, consumers are still being pillaged by the ink cartridge pirates... A short history ... http://sensorymetrics.com/2008/06/26/consumer-reports-1941-exposing-the-ink-pirates/ The interweb has done it again! A video ad for US-based department store JC Penney is working viral magic. It's winning praise from ad agencies and You Tube fans. It even won an award at the Cannes Advertising Award last week. It even has the potential ... http://sensorymetrics.com/2008/06/26/jc-penny-youtube-teen-sex-vampy-vandals-viral-video-may-vanish/ Our friends at iotum released their latest product yesterday amid a lot of positive industry buzz, and Hollywood-style excitement. Calliflower extends the functionality of iotum's Free Conference Calling service on Facebook. FCC has been used by 200,000 people. Calliflower is a web-based conference service that features an ... http://sensorymetrics.com/2008/06/25/iotum-goes-warp-speed-calliflower-takes-off/ Have you ever had to repair a small missing chunk of caulking? It requires a whole tube - when sometimes you just want a touch-up. This GE package idea is brilliant. No more caulking waste! via The DieLine http://sensorymetrics.com/2008/06/24/ge-innovation-is-that-a-mini-caulker-or-are-ya-just-glad-to-see-me/ If you happen to be bored in France this week, you might want to attend the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)'s board meeting. BTW - ICANN is the organization that "runs" the internet. A few proposed changes could significantly change our beloved cloud. First, ICANN ... http://sensorymetrics.com/2008/06/24/icann-2008-personalized-top-level-domains-without-tasting/ LOL - ok - so super home producer FatBoy Slim - recruits David Byrne (of Talking Heads fame) and makes this retro 60s "group" party video. This may be slightly NSFW - as they say... but not really... The best part is Pong with the "middle finger" ball!! ... http://sensorymetrics.com/2008/06/23/fatboyslim-will-take-over-youtube-any-second/ TagClouds were born out of Social Bookmaking - trying to represent relative content popularity... Here's a tool that let's you visualize the complexity of your world, as you define it. It's Wordle by Jonathan Feinberg! This is terrific for spicing up a Powerpoint presentation! BTW - no offense ... http://sensorymetrics.com/2008/06/23/wordle-these-are-just-some-of-my-favourite-things/ Driving through the small Quebec town of Portage-Du-Fort this afternoon, I came across this real-estate jewel. The seller's marketing approach is oddly contradictory! It's for sale (implying value), yet it's dangerous... go away! This got me thinking about the dozens of chats I'd had with software startups ... http://sensorymetrics.com/2008/06/22/pricing-to-value-the-software-entrepreneurs-challenge/