As we prepared for another road trip and the attendant joy of air travel in America in 2010, I was musing about the common sight of a human being helping passengers use the so-called “self-service” kiosk. It was in that frame of mind that I went to Facebook; I had to laugh when I saw this screen with the instruction: DO NOT CLICK THE “Go to Application” BUTTON ON LEFT! Human... [Read more]

I’ve been excited to see that user experience (UX) has been a big topic and in demand at SXSW Interactive this year. We’ve built Interface Guru around user experience design principles over the last 10 years, and frankly it sometimes feels like we’re alone in the jungle. The first session track ever devoted entirely to user experience design at the conference was held on Saturday,... [Read more]

I loved my Tweaker Speakers until one inexplicably died. So I go to Grandmax for tech support. After clicking the support link, here’s the error message: “We’re sorry, we’re temporarily undergoing maintenance! [Saeven|CRM cannot operate with register_globals set to 'On'. Set this to 'Off' using php.ini or a .htaccess directive, and restart your webserver thereafter.] ... [Read more]

In four years of attending South by Southwest Interactive, I’ve learned one thing above all else: If you don’t arrive with a plan, you’re screwed. Whether it’s how you’re going to get from your hotel to the convention center (if you’re not already downtown, it’s a nightmare), to how you’re going to eat (A hotel circle with almost no restaurants. Really?),... [Read more]