Why Computers Can’t Kill Post-Its is a really interesting article by Lee Gomes, based on a study by MIT, on why people tend to use the low-tech post-its over other high-tech alternatives.
“…one volunteer subject “would write notes on Post-its and stick them to his cellular phone to transfer into Outlook later rather than enter [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Technology’
26 Jan
Why post-its still rule
21 May
Fix the product before writing the manual
A couple of months ago, I was at a meeting with a prospective client. The developer (or project leader) was demonstrating his company’s web-based product to give me an idea of the work involved.
While watching the demo, I was easily able to pick out inconsistencies in the user interface, even though I wasn’t there [...]
6 Feb
One Laptop per Child
If you haven’t already done so yet, check out the website for the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project. (If you are not familiar with OLPC, you can read the Wikipedia entry.)
The section that I was most impressed with was Getting Started . I enjoyed reading about the eBook mode, and the features of the [...]
18 Dec
Rubber that remembers
I’ve heard of shape memory alloys, but I came across an interesting article in Science Daily, about shape memory rubber titled ‘Retrospective Rubber’ Remembers Its Old Identities:
Researchers at the University of Rochester have developed a shape-memory rubber that may enable applications as diverse as biomedical implants, conformal face-masks, self-sealing sutures, and “smart” labels.
The material, described [...]
11 Dec
Glanceable information from Ambient
I recently submitted an article in which I wrote about a company named Ambient Devices. To paraphrase Ambient, their philosophy is to use physical objects to embed digital information, so that the information is not disruptive or overwhelming but just glanceable.
For example, the Ambient Orb is “… a frosted-glass ball that glows different colors [...]
16 Nov
Beep beep, beep beep
My APC UPS, which I wrote about here, has been spewing auditory invectives at me over the last couple of days. Okay, so it’s not spewing invectives, but the effect is irritating just the same.
Every three or four seconds, the UPS goes ‘beep beep’ to indicate that the battery is low. The APC manual tells [...]
19 Oct
A way to tell if your gas cylinder is close to empty
For those not living in India, a little background information. In India, cooking gas (LPG) is delivered in metal cylinders and a regulator and rubber pipe are used to connect the cylinder to the stove. We do not have a centralised gas system like some countries do. (The safety of this kind of arrangement is [...]
