Bill Kearney argues for loose
Bill Kearney argues for loose categorization schemes in facets. I agree about, say, 100%. XFML. "What I'm expecting is the emergence of coincidences or accidental associations. I see these as being far more enlightening that rigid methods that merely confirm the obvious. The inspiration found from the kick on the side of the head is a often quite a bit more potent than hanging around a mob of simpering sycophants."
Content Syndication with XML and
Content Syndication with XML and RSS. A fine blog about RSS and XML.
Microsoft to reinstate Java in
Microsoft to reinstate Java in Windows - CNET.com "In an about-face, Microsoft said Tuesday that it will reinstate the ability to run Java programs in Windows XP. [...] In the long term, though, the company plans to remove Java from Windows altogether. "
myFirstXhtmlMindBomb. One paragraph and I
myFirstXhtmlMindBomb. One paragraph and I finally get XHTML.
Joel on Software - Strategy
Joel on Software - Strategy Letter V: "Let me repeat that because you might have dozed off, and it's important. Demand for a product increases when the prices of its complements decrease." I wish I could write like that!
Another person doing really cool
Another person doing really cool ethnography work to keep an eye on is Bonni Nardi. Interview by Lou Rosenfeld. (via Peterme)
Design interactions for social networks, not just teams.
Peter Merholz points to Steve Whittaker who has some yummie research papers like this one called Networkers and their activity in intensional networks (PDF), discussing how social networks are becoming more important (using ethnographic research methods.), and how we should take these into account when designing interactions, and not just design for teams.
Christina wonders about Google's tabs
Christina wonders about Google's tabs versus Amazon's tabs: do tabs contain different information, or just different views of the same information. In this case it seems the web standard (Amazon) has overridden the classic correct behaviour (Google). And I wonder with Christina: if this is so, what does a widget that offers different views of the same information look like?
I saw Celia Cruz's but.
I happened to be in Central Park (New York, USA) today, and lo and behold, there was a free concert by the legendary queen of salsa, Celia Cruz. Unbelievable.
I stood in the queue for 50 minutes (not too bad), and by the time I got in and got a beer she was there, shaking and singing salsa like no other. The lady is in her late 70's, and when she shook her but at the audience it started to rain. It hailed, it poured, and the sun came back. That was my afternoon in New York - this morning was pretty amazing as well, but I've been sworn to silence.
(It really hailed. We didn't care.)
Email interface design 101.
Email interface design 101.: "Email interfaces offer the advantages of being asynchronous (you don't have to be online to use it) and fast for repetitive sending of one step commands to a web server, and allow for requested interaction by the server. Email interfaces have a lot of untapped potential."
I wrote a short article about email interface design because I feel it's really uncharted territory. Any feedback is really welcome.
Victor's looking for a decent
Victor's looking for a decent Email Client. Aren't we all? I've been really dissapointed with the lack of development in the email client interface department the last few years. I guess that's what you get with a monopoly? Then again, I've been realy dissapointed with the lack of development in good photo storage interfaces, and with the lack of development in browser interfaces the last few years (can we get a proper bookmark interface finally please?). Maybe I'm just not easy to please.
Inside Intel's Mentoring Movement (FastCompany)
Inside Intel's Mentoring Movement (FastCompany)
"Ann Otero seems like an unlikely mentor -- at least by the rules most companies apply. The 12-year Intel veteran is neither a star engineer nor a fast-track sales executive. She's a senior administrative assistant.
But Otero has rare gifts that Intel prizes. Among the 5,500 employees at the company's sprawling New Mexico plant, Otero is a master at tapping into the informal people networks that make the company tick. Need to know who to call in human resources about a difficult employee? Wondering how to decode the company's internal teams? Otero knows who to call and how to read the Intel culture. Her ability to navigate Intel is so refined that she's currently teaching her skills to an Intel manager who happens to outrank her. "
How Google Searches Itself "Most
"Most Fridays at Google, the search-engine company in Mountain View, California, Marissa Mayer and about 50 engineers and other employees sit down to do a search of their own. Mayer, an intense, fast-talking product manager, scribbles rapidly as the engineers race to explain and defend the new ideas that they've posted to an internal Web site.
By the end of the hour-long meeting, six, seven, or sometimes even eight new ideas are fleshed out enough to take to the next level of development. Some of those ideas might become new features on Google, new code or search algorithms, or a new way to juice up the Google home page.