Impact - a blog by INM - Comments http://blog.inm.com/index.php?disp=comments Impact, a blog by Integration New Media, Inc. (INM), explores the effect of technology on your business. With an emphasis on user experience, discussions revolve around emerging technology, rich internet applications (RIAs), open source solutions and more. en-CA http://backend.userland.com/rss 60 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/Impact-Commentshttp://feedburner.google.com In response to: Time or Money spent? Which do consumers value most? Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:53:05 +0000 c51@http://blog.inm.com/ I think what consumers want to save. When they need to do something long time but with low cost, then is worth it. Time, at the end, isnīt really important. ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Impact-Comments/~3/y48pscvacnw/time_or_money_spent_which_do_consumers_v http://blog.inm.com/index.php/2009/04/29/time_or_money_spent_which_do_consumers_v#c51 In response to: Time or Money spent? Which do consumers value most? Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:23:40 +0000 c50@http://blog.inm.com/ Yes, they are both important, and yes, in today's world, time "is" money... But when we are talking about buying products or services online, if we had a choice, would we rather save time and quickly find what we're looking for? Or spend more time looking for a better deal? ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Impact-Comments/~3/veV0vCmNLfY/time_or_money_spent_which_do_consumers_v http://blog.inm.com/index.php/2009/04/29/time_or_money_spent_which_do_consumers_v#c50 In response to: Virtual Panel on "The Current and Future State of RIA" Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:18:47 +0000 c49@http://blog.inm.com/ I work in IT and I think that's probably the future of RIAs. I would also point towards integration with audio and video. But it's probably not that hard to come to this conclusion. ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Impact-Comments/~3/2NAnUDBYDGc/virtual_panel_on_the_current_and_future_ http://blog.inm.com/index.php/2009/03/04/virtual_panel_on_the_current_and_future_#c49 In response to: Time or Money spent? Which do consumers value most? Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:00:44 +0000 c48@http://blog.inm.com/ I have to write that today there is always less time to dedicate to family and friends couse all have to work and want earn more and more monay. i hate that.i think time is more important than monay but you have to use good the time that you have at your disposal. ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Impact-Comments/~3/cGRHOZtq9ZM/time_or_money_spent_which_do_consumers_v http://blog.inm.com/index.php/2009/04/29/time_or_money_spent_which_do_consumers_v#c48 In response to: Time or Money spent? Which do consumers value most? Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:50:41 +0000 c47@http://blog.inm.com/ Iīm agree with marc...time and money have the same important. Above all today people have always less time and they try to earn always mor monay. I donīt like that. ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Impact-Comments/~3/2PT95QzeYuE/time_or_money_spent_which_do_consumers_v http://blog.inm.com/index.php/2009/04/29/time_or_money_spent_which_do_consumers_v#c47 In response to: Time or Money spent? Which do consumers value most? Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:50:12 +0000 c46@http://blog.inm.com/ They say time is money so I guess customers would like to save both of them. The ideal would be to get what you need quickly and without costing you an arm and a leg. ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Impact-Comments/~3/baUVfRMZ__w/time_or_money_spent_which_do_consumers_v http://blog.inm.com/index.php/2009/04/29/time_or_money_spent_which_do_consumers_v#c46 In response to: Time or Money spent? Which do consumers value most? Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:49:06 +0000 c45@http://blog.inm.com/ I think that money and time are the same value. Without time can you not earn monay and wenn you have monay, you need time to spend it. They are both important. ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Impact-Comments/~3/Eb1l_pKZfrA/time_or_money_spent_which_do_consumers_v http://blog.inm.com/index.php/2009/04/29/time_or_money_spent_which_do_consumers_v#c45 In response to: The Xbox 360 Experience Fri, 24 Apr 2009 02:37:13 +0000 c44@http://blog.inm.com/ Good information, the microsoft has done an important thing to achieve high level marketing by improving design and upgrading some firmware at xbox 360 console. It also comes with full of supporting Xbox live entertainment. ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Impact-Comments/~3/xm34LZffTOY/the_xbox_360_experience http://blog.inm.com/index.php/2009/01/26/the_xbox_360_experience#c44 In response to: The Ongoing Debate on Who Owns Multi-Touch Mon, 20 Apr 2009 13:46:20 +0000 c43@http://blog.inm.com/ I'd like to see multitouch combined with some of that IBM natural-language speech recognition they were working on back in the 90s -- the old "Put That There" demos that used gesture recognition without any special pointers or gizmos. Mark Lucente used to work on that: http://www.lucente.us/ ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Impact-Comments/~3/dH0raPltZwU/the_ongoing_debate_on_who_owns_multi_tou http://blog.inm.com/index.php/2009/04/08/the_ongoing_debate_on_who_owns_multi_tou#c43 In response to: The Ongoing Debate on Who Owns Multi-Touch Sat, 18 Apr 2009 19:26:19 +0000 c42@http://blog.inm.com/ The notion that anyone "owns multi-touch" is a bit peculiar. Nobody can patent "multi-touch" and anyone suggesting that this is possible or is the case, simply does not understand patents or patent law. Much of the early work which demonstrated optical and capacitive technologies for multi-touch, as well as pinching, and other gestures, is public domain. Furthermore, the basic concepts and technologies are old enough that the patents have already expired or about to expire for some of the early work that was patented. Multi-touch is like any other technology. "Ownership", such as the term makes sense, is spread out amongst the public domain, and various corporate and academic institutions. ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Impact-Comments/~3/L6QtirXO69o/the_ongoing_debate_on_who_owns_multi_tou http://blog.inm.com/index.php/2009/04/08/the_ongoing_debate_on_who_owns_multi_tou#c42 In response to: The Ongoing Debate on Who Owns Multi-Touch Fri, 10 Apr 2009 11:42:46 +0000 c39@http://blog.inm.com/ I previously had not heard anything about Moixa but thanks to your office to learn a lot. ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Impact-Comments/~3/lgLTnRusuL0/the_ongoing_debate_on_who_owns_multi_tou http://blog.inm.com/index.php/2009/04/08/the_ongoing_debate_on_who_owns_multi_tou#c39 In response to: Is Usability Becoming a Commodity? Wed, 08 Apr 2009 12:41:47 +0000 c38@http://blog.inm.com/ My short answer would be Yes. My extending reasoning goes as follows. There is definitely a lot to be learned by formal training and by working with a Master of the subject matter. But HCI (human-computer interface) design and assessment is a nascent discipline and knowledge remains pretty scattered in multiple "schools of thought" that respect each other without completely understanding one another. Broadly stated, the discipline is at the crossroads of art, human sciences, hard sciences and engineering, which makes it particularly challenging... and thus interesting. IMO, usability testing is the part of the discipline where knowledge is the most systematized and processes are clearer than, say, designing optimal user interfaces or measuring the actual effectiveness of a piece of technology. Deep down, it boils down to applying scientific methods (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method) to a proposed prototype. Thus, you can get a lot of mileage just by applying objective methods (stemming from books, conferences, blogs and the like), objectively measuring your performance and improving your method so long as you move away from assuming that assessing the effectiveness of a UI is based on sheer experience, intuition or inherited traits.
My extending reasoning goes as follows. There is definitely a lot to be learned by formal training and by working with a Master of the subject matter. But HCI (human-computer interface) design and assessment is a nascent discipline and knowledge remains pretty scattered in multiple "schools of thought" that respect each other without completely understanding one another. Broadly stated, the discipline is at the crossroads of art, human sciences, hard sciences and engineering, which makes it particularly challenging... and thus interesting.

IMO, usability testing is the part of the discipline where knowledge is the most systematized and processes are clearer than, say, designing optimal user interfaces or measuring the actual effectiveness of a piece of technology. Deep down, it boils down to applying scientific methods (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method) to a proposed prototype.

Thus, you can get a lot of mileage just by applying objective methods (stemming from books, conferences, blogs and the like), objectively measuring your performance and improving your method so long as you move away from assuming that assessing the effectiveness of a UI is based on sheer experience, intuition or inherited traits.
]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Impact-Comments/~3/lgsqPktcl8w/is_usability_becoming_a_commodity http://blog.inm.com/index.php/2008/12/09/is_usability_becoming_a_commodity#c38 In response to: Is Usability Becoming a Commodity? Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:07:21 +0000 c37@http://blog.inm.com/ Excellent points -- now for people considering the full-on licensed professional approach, what should they budget for, and what do they get over 'guerilla' usability testing? For those who want to enter the field, how do you become a licenced pro in the first place? I've looked: degree programs in UX or interaction design are scarce and/or expensive. Can experience, conferences and books replace, say, a Carnegie-Mellon degree? ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Impact-Comments/~3/w2Ru6WI3pkY/is_usability_becoming_a_commodity http://blog.inm.com/index.php/2008/12/09/is_usability_becoming_a_commodity#c37 In response to: A discussion of “Game-Changing Technologies” Sun, 05 Apr 2009 12:20:04 +0000 c36@http://blog.inm.com/ hey, thanks for sharing this useful information ! ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Impact-Comments/~3/AxrtDXBApxw/a_discussion_of_game_changing_technologi http://blog.inm.com/index.php/2009/03/17/a_discussion_of_game_changing_technologi#c36 In response to: Virtual Panel on "The Current and Future State of RIA" Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:23:04 +0000 c34@http://blog.inm.com/ future is going to be great...i agree with more collaboration with video and audio. ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Impact-Comments/~3/I3bRZA3OthY/virtual_panel_on_the_current_and_future_ http://blog.inm.com/index.php/2009/03/04/virtual_panel_on_the_current_and_future_#c34 In response to: “Small is In" - Economic Woes Trigger Push toward Smaller Devices Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:25:08 +0000 c31@http://blog.inm.com/ The use of Linux is not only a matter of keeping licensing costs down. Indeed Windows Vista cannot run on netbooks. In order not to give Linux a free hand, Microsoft has allowed the now supposedly obsolete Windows XP to be installed by netbook manufacturers. However, in order not to harm Vista sales on regular laptops, Microsoft has edicted that XP must be installed on a machine with less than 160GB of storage (80GB originally): http://digitimes.com/systems/a20080903PD217.html ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Impact-Comments/~3/do2yJMEEX78/small_is_in_economic_woes_trigger_push_t http://blog.inm.com/index.php/2009/02/09/small_is_in_economic_woes_trigger_push_t#c31 In response to: Back to the Desktop Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:56:48 +0000 c30@http://blog.inm.com/ No longer a rumour, Gmail users can access their mailbox offline by adding the Google Gears plug-in to their browsers. The service is still pretty experimental in that you can't send attachments, but you can do pretty much everything else. Really this is the ideal solution for Gmail users when traveling or when the internet connection is a bit spotty. ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Impact-Comments/~3/fhOG2oxMUOY/back_to_the_desktop http://blog.inm.com/index.php/2007/09/12/back_to_the_desktop#c30 In response to: Lessons Learned from Europeana Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:34:06 +0000 c29@http://blog.inm.com/ Europeana is back online a month after the site crash but is warning that "the user experience may not be optimal in this test phase". The main issue at this point is that many of the images on this site are not loading properly. Europeana is back online a month after the site crash but is warning that "the user experience may not be optimal in this test phase".

The main issue at this point is that many of the images on this site are not loading properly.

]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Impact-Comments/~3/qzEyvkBqlkw/lessons_learned_from_europeana http://blog.inm.com/index.php/2008/12/03/lessons_learned_from_europeana#c29 In response to: Violet Mir:ror Bridges Real and Virtual Worlds Mon, 29 Dec 2008 15:50:41 +0000 c28@http://blog.inm.com/ I think we cursed Apple. They are experiencing major reliability problems. See http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1838713&tstart=15. ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Impact-Comments/~3/PAB5IKDe3G0/violet_mir_ror_bridges_real_and_virtual_ http://blog.inm.com/index.php/2008/11/03/violet_mir_ror_bridges_real_and_virtual_#c28 In response to: Violet Mir:ror Bridges Real and Virtual Worlds Sun, 28 Dec 2008 01:55:25 +0000 c27@http://blog.inm.com/ We are not talking about "some people not loving it", we're talking about consistently bad reviews. Your quote is of little consolation to Nabaztag customers stuck with a product with a lot more than a few rough edges who probably feel ripped-off "http://davortech.wordpress.com/2008/03/19/nabaztag-now-officially-sucks/" It's also ironic that you should quote Guy Kawasaki. Mr Kassardjian, reality check: the nabaztag is no Mac. ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Impact-Comments/~3/uXFBGpGwQJI/violet_mir_ror_bridges_real_and_virtual_ http://blog.inm.com/index.php/2008/11/03/violet_mir_ror_bridges_real_and_virtual_#c27