I’m in the market for a new keyboard and mouse. Currently, I’m using the Logitech G15 and (as a transitional device) the old Apple Mighty Mouse (BT version). I’d like two devices that are less bulky, both wireless, and a little more elegant looking. It’s part of this whole “zen desk” approach I’m trying to achieve.
So what’s your keyboard/mouse combo? What would you suggest I use?
I’ve gone on at length about how waiting in line is a tonic for the soul. For tech and films especially, it’s a rare coordinate where you stand a reasonable chance of being able to have a conversation with any person next to you, any “random” person, but they aren’t actually random because simply by being in line we have some notion of how their variables might be set. Organisms who (under other circumstances) would be little more than shambling physical obstacles become something akin to people.
Interesting take from Jerry Holkins of Penny Arcade on waiting in lines on launch dates. I hadn’t quite looked at it this way, and usually am the guy making fun of the people waiting in line.
To make my life a little easier, starting today I’ll be only posting over at www.polymathworkshop.com/shoptalk. I’ve already begun the process of transferring some of the better, more useful posts I’ve done on Poplicola over there. This blog will cease to exist in a few weeks. If you liked the content here, and found it useful, feel free to drop in on Shoptalk and see some of the useful things we have to say there.
Thanks! Jay
This probably seems like a ridiculous post, but the experience I had at Gas City today was almost comical. After I swiped my credit card, I went through a Monty Python-esque set of bridge crossing questions before I was able to even select the grade of gas I wanted. The questions:
Do you have a gold card? (Yes/No) No.
Would you like a gold card? (Yes/No) No.
Would you like a car wash? (Yes/No) No.
Would you like a receipt? (Yes/No) No.
What is your Zip code? XXXXX
This is a perfect example of a company that just doesn’t get it. You don’t make the customer jump through hoops before they buy your product; it’s annoying, and makes them think twice about using you again. Here’s a few suggestions that cut down the questions, and places the unnecessary ones after the transaction:
1) Receipt and car wash questions don’t need to be done before I select my gasoline. Maybe there’s some research out there that shows that people buy more car washes if they have to answer the question, but it’s just annoying. Put these questions after I make my purchase, and if I don’t answer them, then I obviously don’t care.
2) Trying to sell me your credit card at the pump was a put-off, but if you have to ask a customer to get a gold card at the pump, and it can’t be done after the transaction, then why not condense the two questions into one? Would you like a gold card? (Yes/Already Have One) or (Yes/Already Do) or (Yes/No).
3) Don’t ask for my Zip. I honestly don’t see how this protects my credit card, as my name’s on it and my information is freely available online. You’re just wasting my time.
Now you have a transaction that goes like this:
Would you like a gold card? (Yes/No)
I buy my gas
Would you like a car wash? (Yes/No)
Would you like a receipt? (Yes/No)
Transaction takes less time, customer does not become frustrated, leaves happier, and comes back again because of the good experience.
This is a question I’ve been asking myself a lot lately. I did a podcast interview on Evadot today for Hackerspaces in Space with my friend Greg. During the interview the host, Michael Doornbos, asked us this question: “what is a hackerspace?” We gave Michael several half-answers about what we do at a hackerspace, but in the end, came up a little short of a real explanation.
The problem, I think, is that we were trying to explain what hackerspaces do, when we should have been talking about the people who join hackerspaces. That is, hackerspaces are defined not by what they do, but by the people they are comprised of and the ideals they embody. I’d like to borrow some language from the free culture movement:
A free culture is one where all members are free to participate in its transmission and evolution, without artificial limits on who can participate or in what way. The free culture movement seeks to develop this culture by promoting four things:
- creativity and innovation;
- communication and free expression;
- public access to knowledge;
- and citizens’ civil liberties.
I think that’s pretty spot on. Hackerspaces are communities of people who seek ownership of their culture through creation. The key is, when someone asks you what sort of things a hackerspace builds, the answer is basically: anything. We build anything. The idea is to build, and in doing so, to take back a little piece of culture from McDonalds or Walmart every time. How refreshing, especially in a world of credit cards, the “toss it and buy a new one when it’s broken” attitude, and mass production.
The decision to not develop for IE6 and not test our clients’ web sites on it isn’t one that we, the developers, should be making.
A recent TechCrunch article puts IE6’s browser share at 20%. Depending on your clients’ customers, that number could be more or less.
http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/02/internet-explorer-browser-share/
Even if you might not care enough to accomodate a significant percentage of your site’s visitors, you should be upfront in your dealings with your clients if you’re not going to accomodate all of their visitors to the best of your ability. At the end of a project, are you willing to provide a screenshot of what your work looks like in IE6 and ask them if they find it acceptable?
Back before JavaScript was widely supported, developers were proudly touting graceful degradation. Sites that were improved with JavaScript fell back to perfectly usable but less nifty implementations if the visitor’s browser wasn’t up to snuff.
Today, graceful degradation isn’t our only option, because IE6 supports enough JavaScript to allow us to overcome a number of its shortcomings while still developing for more standards-compliant browsers:
http://code.google.com/p/ie7-js/
http://docs.jquery.com/Tutorials:PNG_Opacity_Fix_for_IE6
In my work, I don’t try to perfectly replicate a site in IE6, but I do try to make it pleasant to use and free of errors.
To respond to a few of my fellow debaters: My sense is that the people still using IE6 are largely not to blame. It’s hard to browse without seeing various messages about updating IE – even MSN.com displays ads recommending IE8. Internet Explorer 7 is the default browser for Vista, which was released in January, 2007, and Windows 7 ships with the far more standards-compliant IE8. People still running XP would have IE7 or IE8 if they ran Windows Updates even once since November, 2006.
So let’s forget about why people are still using IE6 and what (if anything) we can do to change that. Let’s instead focus on treating all visitors to a site fairly, because with a little effort, we can do so.
Oliver
ardamis.com
Two months ago, I started a project that inevitably became “The 2009 Collection.” The project began out of frustration, but quickly became a labor of love that consumed countless hours of my free time every week. None of the 2009 music lists offered in popular magazines and blogs satisfied me, and I had no knowledge of music from 2009 to compare against the – to be frank – crap they offered. After sifting through hundreds of new albums and collecting a sizable library of new music, I culled an original list of 20 songs down to 10, and out came this.
A quick list of the bands that made the cut: The Heavy, Voluntary Butler Scheme, Phoenix, K’naan, Balmorhea, Givers, Jay Reatard, The Flaming Lips & Stardeath and White Dwarfs (with Henry Rollins), The Protomen
But this post isn’t just about the immense amount of work that went into creating the collection, but some of the great resources I found along the way that helped me gather the music. To list some of them, and then go into specifics for two:
Thesixtyone.com is both a beautiful music website, and a great tool to discover new and upcoming music. It helped me find quite a few of the songs that inevitably made the final list. I’d recommend checking it out if you’re interested in new music, and don’t mind sifting through crappier music to find stuff you love.
The All Songs Considered podcast was incredibly useful to me, and also a pleasure to listen to. All Songs Considered is an NPR music show with less talk and more tunes. I’d recommend listening to this if you want to hear (mostly) great music that’s just breaking onto the scene.
I found the other sites and the podcast I listed to be useful, but not nearly as much as the two above. I was particularly disappointed by Sound Opinions, both because I’m a Chicago native (the show is from Chicago Public Radio), and because they usually played absolutely nothing I found interesting. Let’s hope they find their way again, because they used to be a delight to follow.
So what’s next? Well, this website doesn’t mark the end of The 2009 Collection. A forthcoming disc with original art and contextual information about artists and songs on the list is in the works. E-mail me at hello@jaymargalus.com if you’d like a copy.
I hope you found this useful, and don’t forget to check out The 2009 Collection right now!
Get rid of it. The most you should do is detect IE6 and give them a screen saying “this website – along with the rest of the thinking universe – is no longer tested for your browser. Go get a new one.”
Yes, I understand that it’s still the mainstay browser of lots of large enterprises. The only reason that their IT departments haven’t switched is because it’s kind of a pain in the ass. I guarantee there are lots of IT admins out there who actively want an excuse to install a modern browser across their enterprises. Just give them a reason.
