Sylleptic

Why isn’t there a hilarious website on this URL http://www.idontwantoneofthose.com/

http://www.twpxsearch.com/index.py?q=%23uksnow is the new URL for my mash-up, which pulls pictures from Twitpic for specific search terms on Twitter. The example in the URL shows some great images from the current uk snow storms. Snow daleks seem popular this year.

BSOD at the Prado

The tube tunnels are full of posters showing people who apparently helped design Windows 7. Which is probably why stories like this one appear from time to time. If you let members of the public design your operating system, it probably would be better than Windows, where even the version number is a hack. There are many serious technical design issues, which impact security, reliability and performance. But it’s still the number 1 operating system.

Contrast that with Linux. If you visit this link you can browse all the bugs that have been logged in the Linux kernel (the bit at the heart of the system that everything else relies on to work) and see when / where they will get fixed. It’s transparent, and reflects a piece of software that is properly engineered and well structured. Critical bugs get fixed right away, and it’s miles better structured than its proprietary rival.

And the one you pay money for is the bad one, not the good one. Which probably explains this page at Google image search.

This movie shows a demonstration of what TV on the Internet could look like in the near future. While watching a live program, the viewer can switch to classic archive footage, follow Twitter conversation about the program they’re watching, interact with a sponsor (not on the BBC, of course) and there is a platform for new applications to be added, which haven’t even been imagined yet.

For several years, the PC and TV have been converging and next year could be a very confusing year for consumers as the 2 devices get more and more alike. Interactivity will be increasingly available on set-top boxes through Freeview and Sky, and TV content will be increasingly available online, where interaction is a given.

This morning’s fascinating fact is about the bit.ly URL shortening service:

If you have a bit.ly link, for example http://bit.ly/4dWnCu

you can insert ‘info’ into the URL thus:

http://bit.ly/info/4dWnCu

to get all sorts of facts and figures, like how many clicks that link has had, which sites are referring using it, who’s tweeting about that particular URL, and that kind of thing.

2 billion applications have been downloaded for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and the iPhone has achieved about 1% of the global market for mobile phones. These are great achievements, and it’s easy to see why the iPhone has become so popular. Compared to its predecessors it’s revolutionary, a clear advance, and it’s transforming the market for mobile devices.

The future doesn’t necessarily belong to Apple and the iPhone, though. While the device has changed attitudes, and massively increased the use of the mobile Internet, it could well be the other devices that have followed in its path that end up dominant.

I’m sure Apple will continue to innovate, but the iPhone is now into an incremental improvement phase, and I’m particularly interested in where Google’s Android phones go for the next phase of innovation.

The iPhone is available in 1 size. It’s made by 1 company, who absolutely control what you can and can’t put onto it. It doesn’t fit in a shirt pocket, and I know people who carry a bag now just because they own an iPhone. Long-term, can one company with one device really compete with what Google are putting together?

First of all, we have many manufacturers today making Google phones. HTC dominate, but there are a host of manufacturers following behind. All the UK networks can offer you one, and they’re in all different shapes and sizes. The iPhone is £950 SIM free, if you were daft enough to buy one. You can get a Google phone for £200 nowadays, that will fit in your back pocket if you don’t want to carry a bag. And it has GPS, and it has thousands of applications, and all that. It isn’t locked down like an iPhone, either.

Of course Palm are coming along with their Pre as well, and Windows Mobile will update soon. But I think the main beneficiary of the iPhone long term will be Google and the Android. In the long-term, I think the attitude change because of the iPhone will be a lot bigger than its market share ever gets.

DSCN2010, originally uploaded by harkmopwood.

I just happened to be in the right place at the right time with this shot of the paper lanterns in London’s Chinatown.

How come, when I type “search” into Google, the number 1 result is this?

Before the Internet, I used to do something called effective GUI design, which was all about designing Windows applications for the people that were going to use them. Since going online in 2000 I’ve been working with people who sometimes call themselves information architects, sometimes user experience consultants or usability consultants, one guy I interviewed even called himself a cognitive ergonomist!

Essentially the information architect role at Pod1 starts at the beginning of a project, understanding the user, their needs and propensities, what requirements there are for the website (and other channels like mobile) from a functional perspective. They help to create the brilliant ideas behind the website, and to describe all this in personas and user journeys: essentially descriptions of typical users and stories about how they interact with the website. There are all sorts of clever extensions to this involving research with users, testing ideas on them and so on, but this is the core. Later in the project they create the site map, the wireframes and a big part of the specification for a project. They help during the design process, and often help to test what we’ve built with real users.

I’ve gone to the trouble of writing this article because we’re growing our IA team, and we want to hire someone who wants to learn IA. Ideally they’ll have some relevant experience, or a qualification like an Information Science degree, but we’re interested in speaking to anyone who’s analytical, has lots of ideas about websites and their users and is looking to take their career in a new and exciting direction. If you’re interested, send your CV and a covering note to iwanttowork@pod1.com