April 10

We can be a bit … competitive around here

I’m a little bit of a usability and data architecture nerd. I hate it when an interface doesn’t work well, or there’s information stuck some place that can’t get some place else. When it all comes together, it’s a joy.

But that interest is secondary to my ingrained competitive spirit.

Anything you can do, I can do better …

Picture a quiet Easter Sunday afternoon. I’m in the car with a friend and we’ve got our near-matching iPhones at the ready. The goal? Find out what stores are open that carry the perfect water shoes for knee-deep island landings. The real goal? Beat the other guy at finding out what stores are open.

One of us used an Apple app, the other a Google app. Both of us got the same basic information … Name of the store, distance, time to drive, address, website, phone number, hours …

But the Google app’r had superior NAP data. This is something Google very very recently expanded, and is very very useful. While the Apple app’r was still making phone calls, the Google app’r was ready to go, armed with some pretty awesome local and holiday-specific info.

I’m glad this is something businesses can use, and big national businesses are using well (or poorly) …

It saved the Google app’r a lot of dialing to businesses that were not open, driving to businesses that were not open, and aggravation. We went straight to the store we wanted — and yes, dear reader, we did find the perfect water shoes.

Note: All images are simulated because we were too busy squaring off forgot to take screenshots right then.

image of map and data shots from navigation apps
When two apps want to share data very very much …
Category: Apple, Data Architecture, Google, User eXperience | Comments Off on We can be a bit … competitive around here
April 7

Infinite Customization is Infinite

One problem I’ve run into over the years is the fact that are six thousand ways to do things. Sometimes it’s great, sometimes it sucks. Lately it’s been LinkedIn driving me crazy. So many ways to like and unlike things.

Which is fine, if you aren’t trying to do drive-by social media engagement. Click to “like” something you shouldn’t and you may need to scramble to figure out how to fix it.

Today I found another one. There’s a lot of suggestions out there to never ever use the “generic” LinkedIn message to make a connection, but I blew it.

“I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.”

And what did I do? I accidentally sent two colleagues the generic LinkedIn request … because I used LinkedIn’s app instead of their website.

If I had one teeny little request for the LinkedIn UX team, it would be to add in the ability to change that generic message on the app … or at least stop the request from going out until you can get to a real browser.

Category: User eXperience | Comments Off on Infinite Customization is Infinite
February 11

I’ve got too much going on in my browser window.

Right now, I’ve got fourteen tabs open. In this Chrome window. I’ve got two others open because I’m trying to teach myself to plan project using Trello, and copying things from one board to the other.

My cell phone is worse. When I last “closed out my browser” I got myself from ninety open tabs down to ten. I’m back up to about thirty.

I know I’m not the only one; friends with similar thinking styles do the same thing. The earth-shattering moans you hear from time to time are us inadvertently not clicking “restore” after a Chrome crash. (Not sure if other browsers have similar functionality.)

There are “apps” to presumably take care of saving things to read later and presenting them to me. I’ve yet to find one that works for all the sites I browse, or is easy enough to use on the phone or computer (preferably both). So I end up emailing myself my tabs. Crude. Slow.

Then I thought … why not a bulk emailer? A simple click. “Email me all my open tabs at designated email address.” A plug in for Chrome (or built in to the phone browser). Click, done. Like a daily brain summary.

Another reason I should learn to code, I guess. EdgeCase Industries, ladies and gentlemen! Curated apps for everyone!

Category: User eXperience | Comments Off on I’ve got too much going on in my browser window.
February 9

I’ve written 3-4 books a year for most of my adult life. Now what?

It’s funny. I got into technical writing before I even knew what it was because I seemed to have some, as I mentioned in countless interviews, ability to “speak” both “geek” and “user”. I could sit down with some software, throw a few questions at developers, then drop straight in to testing everything to figure out how else it worked and how our users would use it.

All that allowed me to get to know the software or process deeply enough to turn out a kick ass user guide, a comprehensive help system, or an admin or developer’s guide. Then the market went kablooie and I got my first corporate layoff notice.

I flitted around with contract work, then took a job doing computer and sales support, and finally the market picked back up for tech writers again. Annnnnd then I got laid off again.

So, I guess I’m not a tech writer any more. Now I’m on the other side, working as a product manager, connecting with users and management and product creators to make the magic happen. It should be a hell of a ride.

Category: site stuff | Comments Off on I’ve written 3-4 books a year for most of my adult life. Now what?
April 11

“Fixing” my Nook library “problem” with hardware

Ooops! We have some kind of error!

I decided to buy the kids a few more books this month. But after going to the trouble of “archiving” all of the books that aren’t kid-friendly to put the kid-friendly ones on the Nook Simple Touch, I found another solution.

Hardware.

I simply nuked the Nook, removing it from my account. Then I hooked it back up, yanked the wireless service just after it re-registered, and left a library full of not-downloaded books on there.

Next, I navigated to my Nook library online, and started downloading what kid books I could to a memory card.

Last, I dropped the card into the Nook. Now the kids (when you sort by the Recent criteria) see the kid books put there for reading. They can see the titles of “my” books, but read what’s theirs. And it’s next to nothing to pop the card out, drop a book they want on to it, and pop it back in the device.

A bit of a kludge, but it works.

Now all I need to do is figure out why so many books have a “download” button when they can’t actually download via the browser, and why some have a link and others a button …

Meantime, any guesses what the error at the start of this entry is?

Category: Nook, User eXperience | Comments Off on “Fixing” my Nook library “problem” with hardware
April 6

I wonder why he fell for the loaded LinkedIn spoof email?

I’m sure I’ve clicked my fair share of LinkedIn links, but I don’t think I’ve done so recently.

In order to trick Bill into connecting to my exploit, I sent him an email with an embedded link. Cobalt Strike has a tool to copy an existing email (headers and all), which makes this basically turn-key. All you need to do is modify the links.  So what email does everyone always click?  What would work even against an infosec guy?  Linkedin invites.

http://disconnected.io/2014/03/18/how-i-hacked-your-router/

The ‘real life connection’ for reset has been problematic for years. Of course, putting something like “cookie” as every answer doesn’t do much, either.

What city were you born in? Cookie.

What is your maternal grandmother’s maiden name? Cookie.

What was your high school mascot? Cookie.

Haven’t figured out a solution yet, but I have at least deployed a password manager that’s making lovely 1CL9DUenEgslS2AOJZ#mkW3PoGyQ7iYTXjH  passwords for me.

Category: phishin | Comments Off on I wonder why he fell for the loaded LinkedIn spoof email?
March 13

One reason I am so seldom online is I keep getting edged off

Pick a service, any service. Email. Social networking. Blogging. Chatting. Pictures. shopping.

I can not stay logged in.

Sure, I’m careful with cookies. I use blocking extensions. I am trapped in the iOS garden.

But I can’t stay logged in.

Am I tripping through a bunch of fake servers?

Category: Uncategorized | Comments Off on One reason I am so seldom online is I keep getting edged off
March 8

This one is totally my fault – but do I have to rebuy my Scalzi?

I tweeted to @scalzi a few weeks ago about this issue, but I was unsurprised by the lack of response. He’s “just” the author – what can he do?

Not to denigrate what he does. He’s put together a few nice sci fi books, and I’ve enjoyed them. I’ve even rebought a few at Goodwill (I can’t seem to find actual used bookstores anymore). But he can’t control the bullshit the publishers pull.

It seemed like a cute idea at the time.

It was great at first. You get one episode of The Human Division a week. 99 cents each. A bargain! And such anticipation.

My smarter friends waited until the full book was released, and sort of told me “I told you so”. Me? Not so much.

As the series wended on, I couldn’t tell which chapter was which. They weren’t linked in any order, and there were no numbers on the “book” covers to help me out.

As I waited for each chapter, I’d try to reread the previous chapters (walking at 4 miles an hour on my lunch break). As we got nearer to the end, I had to stop; it was too confusing to try to sort them out. Gah.

I haven’t read it since.

I tried to; that’s when I tweeted at John Scalzi. Why isn’t there a way to “stitch them together” without just cracking them open in a software program and forcing them to be one book?

I want to read it again. But I don’t want to buy it again.

Can we trade in our ebooks?

That would be ideal. The ebook seller has the records of my purchases. They can allow me to flag the books for “exchange” and swap out my separate files for one big ebook.

Who loses? Right now, I guess Tor and bn.com are assuming I’ll just buy it. But if ebooks are the wave of the future, why not set up systems for making it easier for the end users?

Especially if you want to have a market advantage over Amazon … lead with a “book binding” innovation. Especially since I paid $5-6 more buying each chapter rather than waiting for the final full book to come out.

Category: Data Architecture | Comments Off on This one is totally my fault – but do I have to rebuy my Scalzi?