28 Jun 10 From Industrial Design to User Experience: The heritage and evolving role of experience-driven design

Some interesting thoughts on the origins and evolution of User Experience as a design practice. It won’t be a surprise that as an Industrial Designer, who was an active participant in founding and shaping UX, I would agree with some of the author’s points. UX definitely borrows from Industrial Design which borrows from Architecture, however UX considers context in a way that early architects and industrial designers never thought about.

05 Apr 10 Time Warner Cable Trades Lifelong Customer for $40

It’s official. Time Warner Cable refuses to waive the $40 Early Termination Fee for my condo. Result: I will now terminate my second account with them and replace TV, Internet and Phone services with Cincinnati Bell/Dish package. Up until now I was 100% dedicated to always using Time Warner Cable!

And of course I had no idea there was an early termination fee, but hey!

03 Mar 10 Passion vs. Obsession

John Hagel on Passion versus Obsession

To say passion becomes obsession is to make a distinction of degree. It implies that obsession is a more passionate form of passion—too much of a good thing. However, I’m now convinced that passion and obsession do not vary in degree, but in kind. In fact, in many ways they are opposite.

Thanks Michael Stich!

19 Feb 10 Puppy Tweets

Mattel launches Puppy Tweets: for owners who wish their dogs could talk – or in this case, tweet.

Mattel has plans to introduce Puppy Tweets, a plastic tag that attaches to a dog’s collar and automatically sends updates to the dog’s Twitter account. Yes, that’s right. Your dog can now Tweet. Puppy Tweets’ tag has a sound and…

Thanks Jeff!

13 Feb 10 Talk To Your Customers!!

30 Jan 10 Is it Possible

Is it possible that this blog will live again?

28 Mar 09 Over Zealous Saftey Advocates

I don’t get this whole movement to ban texting and cellphone use while driving. Seems perfectly safe to me!?