This horribly written article from BBC news points out some obvious things regarding web design and user expectations, but as I said to a friend recently “Usability does not equal simplicity in design” regardless of what Jakob Nielsen says. I give the journalist credit for trying but it’s clear that more research could have been done.
A good pair of articles from Forbes Magazine about the absurdity of our aging patent system. [via fsckd]
A very disturbing article over at Salon that warns that the FCC is giving away a broadband monopoly to just a few companies which may result in metered bandwidth and restriction to certain web sites. There will always be ways around restrictions but I’m sure I am not the only person who doesn’t want to see our broadband access turn into a poorly thought-out cousin of the television industry where there are 200 channels of crap and yet you pay upwards of $100 a month to view such crap.
Michael Fraase has written a great summary of the current efforts of certain companies to move the market for broadband acces to switch to content-based billing. It does not look for good for consumer choice.
Congratulations to the design team who redesigned the new Citysearch pages. Great job! It’s a remarkable improvement over the old site.
He’s certinaly no Salman Rushdie; singer Eminem has received a terrorist threat because he made fun of Osama bin Laden in one of his songs. Does anyone care?
Earlier this week I had written up something for CamWorld about the use of the word “homeland” by the Bush administration and how it could be misinterpreted when used as part of the phrase “Homeland Security.” I realized that what I wrote was too politically hot and did not post it. I’m not the only person to think this. Peggy Noonan’s most recent article echoes many of my thoughts. This is not the first time Bush’s people have made a blunder with naming and labels. Remember the whole “Infinite Justice” (now “Operation Enduring Freedom”) naming mistake? [via rc3.org]
An interesting project I’ve known about for a while has finally launched. Meetup is a company that seeks to bring people who know each other online together in the real world by organizing regular “Meetup events” based on common interests. Like the Blog Meetup Day.
Microsoft is starting to push for a standardized DVD-writing technology for Windows. I agree that standards are good but if Microsoft backs a standard that their competition does not (e.g. DVD Forum which is made up of Apple, Pioneer, Samsung and Hitachi) then we’ll have yet another fractured market with competing standards, incompatibility and headaches for the end user. Gee thanks, Microsoft.
Ummmmm, okaaaaaaaaaay….
Posted by Cameron Barrett at June 14, 2002 08:02 PM