Archive for September, 2007
10 cringing navigational howlers
September 29th, 2007 • Internet, Search
Tags: Design, usability
Nice summary of some of the most common usability nightmares over at Smashing Magazine. Among the 10 howlers, you’ll find drop-down navigation, blocks that overlay navigation, and Flash sites that demand a seismic leap in human evolution before they can be worked.Of course, you’d never be associated with such horrors, now would you? Confession time: the piece made me think of the times when I have been the culprit - I’ve ignored the advice of others, and happily packed the site’s Tupperware box under the navigation could take no more.10 Usability Nightmares You Should Be Aware Of | Developer’s Toolbox
Podcasts: not so cool in Yahoo’s world
September 27th, 2007 • Social, Video
Tags: podcasts, Video, web2.0, web3.0
The video boom appears to have claimed another head - podcasts. As part of its ‘100-Day Review’ instigated by its new(ish) CEO, the company has decided to pull the shutters on its podcast search service…
The podcast section will be silenced Oct. 31, according to a notice posted on Yahoo’s Web site. It joins several other features that Yahoo has scrapped as it tries to snap out of a financial funk that has depressed its stock price and triggered a reshuffling of top management.
New Live.com: fighting relevance battles
September 27th, 2007 • Business, Search
Tags: Google, live, Search
So today, we have a new Live.com, with Microsoft attempting to steal some Google turf by primarily focusing on relevancy of search returns.
Sensible enough: apparently, many billions of hours of analysis by people with large foreheads revealed that most people want to find things.
Being a person, I thought I’d give it a totally unreasonable test - one search query - and compare the big G with the big, er, L. As you’ll plainly see, Google is the infinitely better thing: Stuff.tv is clearly the right thing to return when you search for ’stuff’. Live, on the other hand, has decided that you want some kind of English course. Blagh. Anyway, in total fairness to Microsoft, many millions of queries from humans around this fair planet of ours will settle the debate. Let battle commence.
Do your stories accept that the rest of the web exists?
Facebook: a fall is predicted
September 26th, 2007 • Business
Tags: facebook, Social
Marketing Shift has a principal analyst at Ovum foretelling rough times ahead for Facebook. He bases his argument on background legal action by the founder, the potential for identity theft and a possible crack-down on the use of the site in offices.I can see the latter beginning to cut in soon. Facebook profile pages are a common sight on screens as you wander offices these days - usually at lunchtime, admittedly, but you have to wonder how many bosses are running checks on total usage during the working day.Facebook Could Burst Web 2.0 Bubble
Apple may have iFlopped, but don’t be too quick to judge
September 26th, 2007 • Technology
Forbes examines the poor sales of the Apple TV, reflecting on the less-than-elegant launch, and the fact that Steve Jobs has now referred to it as a ‘hobby’ (CEO-speak to ’something that I wish would go away’).
Six months later iTV is a flat-out iFlop. Renamed Apple TV upon launch, the ballyhooed box has sold perhaps 250,000 units–far behind the 1 million sold for the iPhone, which was priced twice as high and has been on the market less than half as long.
Of course, Forbes has every right to expose the little box’s poor sales. But I’d be cautious before throwing the earth on the box.
I’m aged enough to remember the launch of the Mercedes A-Class, the prestige marque’s first stab at a diddy car. It was dragged over shales by the press, and I recall a chat at the time with a British car maker’s chief suspension guru, who spent half an hour explaining why Merc didn’t have the know-how to shape a brilliant ‘mini. Today, we accept that Mercedes has a range of cars that extends far beyond its traditional remit.
That’s my rather roundabout way of saying that breaking into new markets is rarely a roaring success at the first attempt. The real issues are vision, will and capital: Apple has all three, with some to share.
V-loggers edge closer to prime time
September 23rd, 2007 • Internet, Media, Video
Tags: publishing, Video
I think we can all draw this curve. Technology gets to a point where creating and distributing your video is open to everyone. Shortly after, Darwin strolls into the room, makes a declaration, and some fall by the wayside. But those left after natural selection has done its thing begin to grow.In particular, they start crawling uphill, toward the big piles of money on the crest. As they do, they sprout the trappings of their established peers, with advertising, distribution deals and a whole world of star-related swapsies.So no surprise today to hear that one of the original and best v-logs, Rocketboom, has cozied up to one of the hottest video networks, Blip.tv:
Rocketboom joins a growing crowd of other top videoblogs that can be found on Blip.tv, including Wallstrip, TreeHugger TV, Alive in Baghdad, and Goodnight Burbank. As with most of those shows, the relationship between Rocketboom and blip.tv is not exclusive.
Rocketboom Moves to Blip.tvI’m hearing that. When we launched the Stuff.tv Show, it was an experiment - include it in the new site, and see if it floats. Nine months later, and it’s in the iTunes Top 20, and has just gone live as a channel on Joost.
Microsoft: is there a lesson in there for everyone?
September 22nd, 2007 • Business, Internet
Tags: blogging, microsoft
A long rant by Robert Scoble delves into the lack of fizz from today’s Microsoft.He’s in a position to know: Scoble made his name as Microsoft’s chief blogger, in the process opening up parts of the company that would otherwise have remained secret (and arguably given it an even darker image than it has today).So when he says…
It’s been more than a year now since I left Microsoft. I really expected Ray Ozzie to come out and do lots of cool stuff for the Internet. But what did we get? A new design on live.com? Please.
Why doesn’t Microsoft get the love? « Scobleizer…it’s probably worth taking heed. In particular, he suggests that the senior team at Redmond could do worse than study Bungie, the development team behind the Halo franchise.By the time I’d reached the end of the post, my mind had switched to analysing our own successes - what were the ingredients that made things fly? First stab:
- Clarity: a single sheet that captures a market and need in under three paragraphs
- Chemistry: a group of people that compensate for each others’ failings, and in doing so form a greater whole
- Freedom: the space for that team to push it as far as it will go
- Confidence: managerial structures and support that exude faith
There are probably a thousand and one other factors, but every winner I’ve been lucky enough to have stood next to has ticked all three of those boxes.
Billionaires spill the beans
September 22nd, 2007 • Life
Tags: asides, wealth
Secrets Of The Self-Made 2007 - Forbes.comGripping reading. Taken the advice on board, can’t wait to begin implementing The Big Plan first thing on Monday morning…Yours,Delusional
Recent Comments