Wireless Carriers Put Poison in Your Soup, Daily
The following article was witten and published by William Szilveszter.
New York Times reporter Jenna Wortham recently called Apple’s iPhone “the Hummer of cellphones,” in that, they just love to guzzle up bandwidth. With the release of iPhone 3.0, Apple introduced support for MMS and tethering, both of which are still currently absent if you are an AT&T customer (although AT&T now says that September 25th is the day). And since the iPhone is exclusive to this US carrier, its citizens are, for the lack of a better word, fucked (and I imagine rightfully prickly). However, AT&T has promised major updates to their currently insufficient network, but says it will take time. A 2011 date seems far away and if it were me, considering the price of cellphone ownership, the company should have prepared for these kinds of surges. (After all, it’s not like research firms haven’t conducted data collection on mobile phone usage trends.) Excuse me if I’m not won over by AT&T’s self-promotional statements of being at the forefront of innovation and commitment to its customers. And if that is the case, then all cellphone users can shed a tear.
Understanding Heuristics and How They Drive Design [Revised]
The following article was witten and published by William Szilveszter.
Lukas Mathis recently wrote an article on realism in UI design. Will Shipley (of Delicious Software fame) also wrote an article on interaction design and heuristics. But both fail to cover the underpinnings of heuristics and the human mechanism—to truly get at the source of how the mind works and why design needs to be shaped in a different direction.
Understanding Heuristics
Firstly, the definition of heuristics taken from Wikipedia is less than satisfying. (A heuristic is “an adjective for experience-based techniques that help in problem solving, learning and discovery.” Is it me or is WP getting more and more difficult to read and digest? Do they even have editors?) Let us take to my second year cognition textbook (written by the most boring and lacklustre authors alive. I begrudgingly had to read this book from cover to cover, and it was nothing short of sheer agony let me tell you): “A heuristics is a strategy that is often, but not always, helpful in solving problems” (Reed., S. K. 2004. Cognition: Theory and applications, 6th Ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.)
I think this definition will better serve our purposes, and is much clearer than the one provided on Wikipedia. But let me put it in simpler terms. A heuristic is analogous to being late for work. You wake up in a rush, deciding to forgo a shower, and choosing to grab a cereal bar instead of your traditional toast and coffee before running out the door. You make it to work on time, but you realize that you forgot your phone, and to lock your front door. You succeeded, but you did it cutting corners. Provided nothing detrimental happened, and all your stuff was still there when you got home, it would have proved a success. That is essentially what a heuristic allows you to do: Achieve your goal using tried and true shortcuts. They don’t always workout, but for the most part, the time and effort they save makes up for their less than pristine track record. It’s a trade-off. A process that tries to reach an outcome with the lowest possible denominator.
Adobe Not Supporting CS3 for Snow Leopard
The following article was witten and published by William Szilveszter.
2005: Adobe bought out Macromedia. Some analysts theorized the move to acquire the competing slew of design software was not because they need or wanted to expand the Adobe catalog, but rather because Adobe was afraid of competition. To put bluntly, they have no clue how to drive innovation and just gobble up those around them, ala Pacman style.
Those accounts stick with me till this day. I’d like to say that I see signs of cracks in Adobe’s armour, but sadly, there is just no viable Ps alternative. And I’ve quite completely given up expecting an iteration of Ps to deliver anything more than a handful of new features, flashy panels, and another big, hefty price tag. But now, Ps (especially older versions) are being trampled on by Apple’s next big cat: Snow Leopard. What’s worse, Adobe has not shown up on white stallion with sword and shield.
Sony to Stop Including Knives with Care Bears? Maybe
The following article was witten and published by William Szilveszter.
I applaud responsible business. On that, Sony has never been remotely close to a socially responsible company. They wouldn’t know responsible business if it bent them over the knee and spanked them silly. Choosing rather to lock down their customers in Sony Land. Sony memory sticks, power supplies, peripherals, and the avoidance of having to follow up on their warranty and service agreements are all SOPs for Sony. They also sold a boat load of shoddy batteries. And let’s not forget the Sony rootkit debacle—legendary.
Don’t get me wrong, they make wonderful products, but when a company is so abrasive, so spiteful, and so heavy handed to those that pay their bills and keep them in the life style they are accustomed, it’s really hard to like them (and I’ve tried, trust me). Their products are elegant, gorgeous, and well delivered, but their Gestapo tactics and almost Hitlarian attitudes upset and hurt a lot of people. Yours truly has not purchased a Sony products since they refused to cover a screen replacement on an old mobile phone (invariably finding a loophole in the system) some three years ago. But they got something right in the JK Wedding Youtube video.
Smells Like Bullshit [Update]
The following article was witten and published by William Szilveszter.
This is by no means recent news, but since most people don’t know the difference between lies and bullshit, I thought I’d post up some food for thought.
Recently Apple and AT&T were put under fire by the FCC in the decision to remove Google Voice from the Apple App Store (original story). Now AT&T has no official connection with the App Store and responded with the following public statement: “AT&T does not manage or approve applications for the App Store. We have received the letter and will, of course, respond to it.”
Now no one with even a half a brain thinks that Apple was alone in the decision to pull the app. After all, why should they care if Google steals airtime (and thus money) from AT&T? They are in the business of producing products, not gouging poor souls over air. But that is neither here nor there.
AT&T’s official stance struck a chord with many netizens. People cried foul. Others burned effigies. Still, others accused AT&T of outright lying to both the FCC and the public. People were right to be prickly, but the US telecom giant didn’t lie.
