Challis Hodge’s UXblog

Metropolis Magazine asked some of the best thinkers in furniture design: How is the shifting nature of work changing the design of the office? The designers (joined by a physical therapist) represented three generations of American humanists, some with legendary work behind them, others with breakthrough work in front of them.

In a sure sign that the upstart wireless Internet technology called Wi-Fi is proving too powerful to ignore, Verizon Communications said Thursday that it will install such networks for small and medium-size businesses. Because it allows people to share Internet access inexpensively and relatively easily, Wi-Fi is becoming increasingly popular in cafes, airports and hotels. Some stores offer it free for their customers as an incentive to sit there for hours sipping lattes while surfing the Web.

The Energy Department has shut down a popular Internet research site that catalogued government and academic science research, in response to corporate complaints that it competed with similar commercial services. Department officials said abandoning PubScience, an electronic service that cross-indexed and searched roughly 2 million government reports and academic articles, will save the government $200,000 a year because two equivalent services exist in the private sector.

Psychologists have a term to describe people who are in unusually close contact with their gut feelings — “high intuitives.” While you can’t teach such skills the way you teach multiplication tables, everyone can hone their instincts to some degree.

In this Research Brief (2.0 MB PDF), we reviewed the home pages of 10 prominent retailers and found that all of them displayed product images that were either non-clickable or were clickable but did not lead to a page where the featured product could be bought. Even worse, a surprising number of high-profile retailers featured products on their homepages that were nowhere to be found within their sites.

The Department of Defense has begun a 6 month study on the use of a digital bugle. The bugle is like any other and can be played by a bugler; however, when a bugler is not available, a device which looks like a mute is inserted into the bugle, and it is from this device that taps is played. A non-bugler can simply put the bugle to his or her lips and press a button to start the music. The device is weather-resistant, has a volume control, and is powered by two 9-volt batteries. 50 bugles have been shipped to military units and veterans groups in Missouri for the study.

After following a link to Amazon.com for this book, Information Architecture: An Emerging 21st Century Profession, I scrolled down to find the following helpful, related information:

Customers who shopped for this item also wear:

Clean Underwear from Amazon’s Eddie Bauer Store
Ladybug Rain Boots from Amazon’s Nordstrom Store
Suede Headwraps from Amazon’s International Male Store
Cheetah Print Slippers from Amazon’s Old Navy Store
For a limited time get $30 to spend at Amazon when you spend $50 in Amazon’s new Apparel Store!

We have at least another decade of exponential growth of semiconductor integration, Gordon Moore is expected to argue at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference in San Francisco on Feb. 10.