Aad 't Hart

Xbox launches the Xphone and Xtv

2011-12-20T09:30:00.000+01:00

In a surprise move this morning the news broke that Xbox extended their product portfolio beyond the gaming console with two phones and a two television models. The reasoning for Xbox to make this move is too further deepen the penetration into the living room and consumer electronics. The two...

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Improve your User Experience - Hire a Professional

2011-12-16T14:13:00.000+01:00

Besides setting up my own business, more on that later, I freelance an make my experience available for others. This mainly is with software companies that are seeking the next phase in their product development, this might be technology oriented, but quite often is also user oriented. For the...

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Why the best phone in the world is useless.

2011-11-03T20:15:00.000+01:00

For more than 10 years I happily used Nokia mobile phones, but this all changed with the introduction of the first iPhone. Apple changed the way we think about mobile phones and showed the increasing importance of software. Unfortunately Nokia saw this change too late and started too loose many...

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The business software user experience challenge

2011-10-11T00:17:00.000+02:00

A couple of days ago I was having a discussion on the user experience of business applications. We all agreed that in many situations the user experience wasn't very good, but there was no clear solution either. During the conversation I mentioned: If RunKeeper can motivate people to go for a run...

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I have been living in the future

2011-09-29T23:22:00.001+02:00

I never realized that I was living in the future until the future became the present and the present became the past. People like you and me are living in the present and our thoughts and ideas are based on the present and at best based on visions on the future. I'm not any different, but I...

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Renewed interest in Microsoft Windows

2011-09-16T15:47:00.000+02:00

Like many of you I do follow the news dripping out of Microsoft BUILD in Anaheim. It's more interesting Microsoft news than it has been in a long time. Let me explain. Microsoft is in my view a company that delivers great enterprise solutions and since I left my corporate job my interests...

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Redesign the laptop

2011-09-08T12:25:00.001+02:00

For a while I've already been thinking that we might have to redesign todays laptops, but never got to write about it. About a week ago when Microsoft showed some Windows 8 explorer redesigns my idea surfaced again and now finally I got some time to share some of my thoughts. In my office I work...

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Benefits of a good API

2011-09-01T22:29:00.002+02:00

Before going into the details I will give a bit of context. I'm currently working on a solution for a very specific and niche market. I focus is on the interaction with the users in the field that require a simple and effective solution, this is the area where the real value for the application is...

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Steve Jobs, thank you for being a source of inspiration

2011-08-25T23:32:00.000+02:00

Dear Steve, This morning when browsing some tweets on my iPad the first thing that hit me was that you resigned from Apple. My first thought was, OMG I hope your health isn't getting worse. I hope you are getting better and this is a decision made base on your trust in the apple team and not...

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User Centric software development teams

2011-08-21T18:20:00.001+02:00

Last week I wrote about the importance of strategic User Experience design and a transformation toward a user centric organization. A mention briefly the requirement of multi-skilled and multi-functional engineering teams, but before going into that I want to take you back say 15 years. In the...

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Test Driving a BMW 3.18 touring

2011-08-14T19:59:00.001+02:00

For about a year now I've done without a car, or better said I've shared a car with my girlfriend. This worked out pretty well, it required some more planning but it has been doable. However business is picking up and I believe it's not a sustainable situation to only have one car among the two of...

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Aadjemonkeyrock now also on Facebook

2011-08-12T10:35:00.000+02:00

A while back I introduced my personal social networking policy and I still believe I made the right choices, but there are a few caveats. In the description of my social networks I still included updates of this blog in my Facebook stream, but came back on this decision and removed blog...

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The Importance of Strategic User Experience (UX)

2011-08-09T12:46:00.000+02:00

Part of what I do is helping business software companies to embed user experience (UX) in their strategic software development. I do this not as a user experience specialist, but as a user experience evangelist and change agent. There is a lot of interest from companies into the subject and there...

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My top 9 most used Microsoft products

2011-08-08T17:28:00.000+02:00

Years ago there was a time that all I used were Microsoft products, but since becoming an Apple fanboy, leaving my corporate job and adopting a Apple and Google lifestyle this has changed. However this doesn't mean all Microsoft products are gone, they are still part of my daily use...

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Science fiction has become reality

2011-08-04T16:40:00.001+02:00

Today when going thru some technology news there were several mentions of Skype adding video chat to another 17 android phones and that Skype will definitely bring video calling to Windows Phone. This is all great news, but not really shocking. Technology has become so advanced that video...

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Creating another time lapse video

2011-07-31T23:57:00.000+02:00

Time lapse videos intrigues me and after I created my first one earlier this year I kept thinking about another one, but this time with a much better quality. I didn't want to spend any money, but then I realized that I have gotten a DSLR in the mean time. You can see the result below...

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How I became an Apple fanboy

2011-07-30T22:15:00.003+02:00

In the twenty plus years I've been using computers most years was spend behind a Microsoft Windows PC, but in recent years this has shifted towards Apple products. It's interesting to analyze how after so many years working with Windows I made the shift. In my early engineering days I was...

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What Exact should do with the flagship product

2011-07-25T11:12:00.000+02:00

This is an extensive response to Ten things Exact should do with the flagship product by Barry van der Meij First some background. I was one of the early innovators and engineers of Exact Synergy (of Baco at that time). It was pre Internet bubble and technology was primitive but hip and cool. We...

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Google, you have broken the internet

2011-07-15T17:12:00.000+02:00

Dear Google. I've always been very supportive to anything you have been doing. I could almost say I adored you, but recently you have become very broken. Over the years I've started to use more and more Google services including Google Apps since I'm living a Apple and Google lifestyle....

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Why a Tablet is NOT a PC

2011-07-14T13:20:00.000+02:00

The Tablet computer form factor is already over a decade old, but only since a year they are the talk of the town and we hear the wildest stories. Some say they will replace the PC as we know it, while others claim they are just temporary because the mobile phone will eventually dominate and take...

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There are NO conservative customers

2011-07-10T20:42:00.000+02:00

First I apologize that it took so long since the last article. After relaxing for quite some months I've recently been super busy helping companies to innovate and at the same time kickstart my own software business. Many of the companies I work with are software vendors that see their world is...

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Observing gadgets while traveling

2011-06-17T15:13:00.000+02:00

Last week I spend a few days in New York city and as always traveling is a good source of inspiration. A couple of observations on gadgets I made during this trip: The personal entertainment systems on intercontinental flights are up for something new. The systems have lousy screens, a terrible...

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Microsoft you make it very hard to switch back

2011-06-07T10:42:00.001+02:00

A while back I wrote about my Apple and Google lifestyle and I still do it that way, but since I quit my regular job I also miss having a Windows laptop. I like Windows 7 and Windows Phone 7 and enjoyed the promise of Windows 8. In general I think Microsoft had a good 2010, with the adoption of the...

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Meet my heater repair man

2011-06-05T21:27:00.000+02:00

This story starts about a year ago on the hottest summer day of 2010. It was a saturday morning and our home heater, providing heating on cold and chilly days and hot shower water on all days, was failing. It was just not delivering hot water for a refreshing shower. A few years earlier it also...

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The World is Changing

2011-05-28T22:54:00.001+02:00

Today I was speaking at a day of innovation of AUV Groothandel (Dutch only). A wholesale business for veterinarians. They organized a day with activities, workshops, etc. for their customers. I spoke about the changing world, the effects on our lives and what is making this happen. The...

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