Usability Hell

Removing iPhone 7 3.5mm Headphone Jack is Why Apple Win

Tue, 28 Jun 2016 16:13:05 +0100

(photo thx to MKBHD)

Why is Apple removing the 3.5mm headphone jack from the iPhone 7?

This is not rocket science.

Simplicity.

Jony Ive - Apple’s design chief, has repeatedly said Simplicity is key to what Apple do.

“Simplicity is not the absense of clutter, that’s a consequence of simplicity. Simplicity is somehow essentially describing the purpose and place of an object and product.”

Aggressively removing ports and wires that are inevitably going to be phased out or not required in the near future is at the core of this philosophy.

Yet - Apple rarely gets credit for removing things - and if it does - only well after the fact (e.g. floppy drive removal on first iMac).

This philosophy is why Apple’s hardware design has been better than everyone else, for so long. But if this philosophy works - nobody notices how the sausage was made.

Loss Aversion
In most studies it has been shown humans are at least twice as averse to losing something, however small or theoretical the loss - as making equivalent gains. When the gains are hard to see (removing extraneous ports for a gain in simplicity) - this effect is probably amplified.

No reviewer ever said “I love the lack of ports on this MacBook - because of what that philosophy enables” (the new ultra slim Apple laptop with 2 ports total). People were almost universally critical of the lack of ports (although some did like the device).

This is at the core of mainstream ignorance. People were implying that it would be easy for Apple to just add 1 or 2 more ports with little or no consequence. Again this totally misunderstands why Apple are successful - and how good design happens; by being bold, by having an opinion, by removing the extraneous.

Ive:
“So much of what we try to do is get to a point where the solution seems inevitable: you know, you think "of course it’s that way, why would it be any other way?” It looks so obvious, but that sense of inevitability in the solution is really hard to achieve.“

Leonardo Da Vinci:
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

Antoine de Saint Exupéry:
“It seems that perfection is attained, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to take away.”

By removing the 3.5mm port you gain a huge amount in simplicity. It’s not about trying to squeeze an awkward battery into that space. It’s about following the philosophy of simplicity - that is what makes Apple’s products so good.

There are HUGE parallels between removing the 3.5mm jack - and removing the floppy drive on the first iMac. People lost their shit then too - and, weirdly - found their shit soon after.

The Sky Is Falling, The Sky Is Falling
Same with removing the DVD drive from laptops. Same with the 30-pin to lightning switch. Same with having no removable flash storage on iPhones. Same with having a sealed battery in iPhones and laptops - or no upgradability.

Probably 90%+ of users of the iPhone 7 will either be using Bluetooth earphones (including Apple’s probably awesome Air Pods when released) - or whatever lightning earphones Apple bundle with the device.

For everyone else, to be at almost *precisely* the same place we are now - all you’ll need is a 2cm lightning to 3.5mm dongle. THATS IT (with passthrough charging).

If you don’t need a hole on the outside of the device, you don’t need components, space, drivers etc inside the device to support 3.5mm. Components you don’t use can’t malfunction, don’t use power & take no space. In such a small package these are HUGE wins.

Less is more is why Apple win.

RIP MagSafe: You Wont Be Missed

Sat, 30 Apr 2016 09:52:40 +0100

Do you think this is what Jony Ive had in mind when he was designing the MacBook Air….

If I don’t do this and use the Air on my lap the MagSafe pops out about 100 times a day. Give me USB-c 1000 times over this.

(and don’t get me started on power cables that last about 9-18 months, nowhere near long enough).

DIE MAGSAFE DIE :D

Introducing PIZERO from Raspberry Pi Foundation on Vimeo. $5...

Tue, 01 Dec 2015 03:29:11 +0000

Introducing PIZERO from Raspberry Pi Foundation on Vimeo. $5 computer - free with a magazine

What Mac OS X Must Learn From Windows 10

Mon, 19 Oct 2015 16:23:15 +0100

Chunky buttons.

For me, the big takeaway from the Microsoft Edge web browser in Windows 10 is the chunky sparse interface.

I love it - and I’m not using touch.

In addition to making it touch friendly, perhaps surprisingly they also make it nicer to use with a non touchscreen. Bigger touch targets force the app to have an uncluttered interface with fewer buttons - and make those it has very easy to hit with minimal mouse precision.

So, even if touch isn’t ever coming to the Mac - big buttons are much nicer and easier for users - this is my Dock right now in OS X:

and I love it vs my older more cluttered dock.

It lets me focus on what I’m working on and click targets are much bigger.

Bigger click targets require the user to think less and not be as precise - which help to get the OS out of the way and make using it less stressful and more fun.

The first thing Apple could improve, and the most fiddly aspect of OS X at present, is the red, yellow and greed buttons in every window:

These could be made larger right now - with very little effort. You wouldn’t even have to make the surrounding bar larger.

There are also positive accessibility benefits here too for those with sight and motor impairment. (I often find improving accessibility improves an OS for all users - not only those with a disability).

I hope we see this in OS X Weedpatch.

You Speak & Write Like Shit. Read This.

Sun, 31 May 2015 12:17:02 +0100

“A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks. It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language. It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts. The point is that the process is reversible. Modern English, especially written English, is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble.”
George Orwell

Yes, you do speak & write like shit.

And so do I, but I’m trying to quit.

But this isn’t about language evolving - where meanings change, or new meanings are introduced.

I, for example, embrace txt speech. It serves a purpose in the right context - it allows ppl 2 txt quickly and efficiently.

English is a living language - our dictionaries reflect usage, and new usage is often good.

No, this is about nervous ticks that add un-necessary padding. Using long words instead of short words. Incorrectly used phrases repeated so often as to lose any meaning - that actively become annoying; that distract from the point being made.

These problems reflect a disorganised, lazy mind. They are inefficiencies. They inhibit understanding.

This is the increasing[citation needed] misuse of language, about diluting meaning, about using long complex words over short simple words, about using more words not fewer, about complexity over simplicity, about inelegance and the copying of lazy speech patterns.

The best writers like, say, Shakespeare, Hemingway or Orwell, cram extraordinary meaning into beautiful, short, efficient sentences.

They avoid cliche’s and verbiage; which we find everywhere. In podcasts, on TV, in emails, in Terms & Conditions, in ‘quality’ newspapers, in academia, in business.

The Cleverer You Think Your Writing Is - The Worse It Is
Replay a sentence in your head without the verbiage, and it always sounds better.

Example from a podcast
“A law clerk is basically a student who assists a lawyer”
or
“A law clerk is a student who assists a lawyer”

“basically” makes you pause and muddies your understanding.
“So they aren’t a student, they are just something similar to a student - I wonder how they are different?”

Removing “basically” brings sharp clarity, lowering the mental load and freeing brain cycles for the following words.
“They are a student - I get it - move on brain”

Example from UK Train Station
“This station is monitored by CCTV for the purposes of security and safety management”
or
“This station has CCTV for your safety and security”

Shorter, more punchy, fewer filler words, 'management’ why on earth introduce a complex concept like that? This has 'the official tone’ written all over it (reference book “Revising Prose”) - where long pompous speech is seen as more 'official’ and expected. In reality it just clouds understanding.

Using too many words, or the wrong words, increases our cognitive load - and decreases our understanding. Rather than processing the concepts you are trying to convey - we are processing your overly long, inappropriate or incorrect language.

Want to be a better communicator? Read on…

—

We’ve all done some of the below. If you want to be a better writer or speaker; stop.

Literally
The purpose of this word is to prevent confusion about whether you’re talking figuratively or literally.

It should not be used for emphasis, as a nervous tick word, or to demonstrate how clever you are.

Think. As with all verbiage ask yourself; if I remove this word will people still understand what I mean? If yes, remove it.

Instances where people might not be clear are virtually non existent so just stop using this dead cliched word now. Literally.

Ironically
Like a certain singer, you think you understand what irony is, but you don’t. Stop using it.

Verbiage Intros
Just remove these, the sentence will have more impact and lose no meaning….

“Basically”
“Essentially”
“At this time”
All Verbiage

“Build *out*”
‘Out’ is Verbiage.

“Each and every”
Pick one; it’s tautology.

“The fact of the matter is…”
Because usually when you talk it doesn’t involve facts?

“To be honest…”
You usually lie?

“I think that…”
We know you think that, it’s you talking.

“Having read and evaluated the material printed in this report I think that”
Just tell us what you think.

The Initial So
A huge new phenomenon. Starting the beginning of an answer to a question with 'soooo ’. Harry Shearer has a whole section of 'Le Show’ dedicated to this.

Like
“That is like totally like so like cool and shit.”
Like stop idiot.

Nothing Worse Than X
Yeah - childhood AIDS is worse than whatever you were going to say - along with most diseases.

Write Less
Write 1000 words - then condense it to 500 without losing meaning. Then 250. Then 125.

Use shorter, simpler, commonly understood words
> Avoid buzzwords
> Avoid cliche’s
“He was working his fingers to the bone so at the end of the day his hard working family could stop using cliches on the international stage.”

No used like yes.
“X is Y”
“No, totally, I agree”
This is a bizarre trend. Somebody will start agreeing by saying 'no’ instead of 'yes’. Not only is it distracting it’s illogical and potentially confusing.

Humble Brag
People often over use this - and misuse it when they just mean brag. Brady from the 'Hello Internet’ podcast is a prime offender.

Does that make sense? Ya get me? Know what I mean?
This demonstrates neediness, specially if done frequently. It also sounds ridiculous if you say 'does that make sense’ after something that isn’t complex. If you don’t want to look like a needy imbecile just stop; does that make sense? Hi @spacekatgal

Speak TO that - when you mean speak ABOUT that
“X = Y”
“Well, I can’t speak to that”
No you can’t - because X = Y is a concept, and concepts don’t have ears or brains. However, you can speak ABOUT a concept, so why don’t you do that?

Wet mouth
When people seem to enjoy what they’re talking about a bit too much, you get that awful lip smacking wet sound. Very distracting. cc @tferriss @imyke

Saying He or She - when gender isn’t relevant
This is very distracting and jarring. It makes the reader confused and ask “is the gender relevant?”. Use 'they’ instead - even it if is technically incorrect, I think its clarity is superior.

Passive voice
“Decisions were made that are now being re-evaluated”
By whom? Take responsibility.

Legalese
Verbiage laws & legal documents don’t serve the people - they should be written concisely and simply.

Kill the politicians. Kill the lawyers.

Why It Matters
The purpose of writing and speaking is to efficiently convey information.

Clarity matters. Verbiage kills clarity.

Writing clearly and concisely gives you an advantage in a world full of waffly, impenetrable crap.

Speaking well makes you engaging and informative - not annoying, boring or vague.

Writing & speaking touch almost every facet of life; they’re super important.

Further Reading
Politics and the English Language, George Orwell
On Writing Well, William Zinsser
Revising Prose, Richard A Lanham

More Verbiage Examples
BBC Video not working:

“It appears your network is not available at this time”
What a load of waffly shit.
“It appears” & “at this time” are verbiage

This says it all:
“Network Unavailable”
or
“Connection Problem” may be even better.

“Tweets are famously 140 characters, and the customer service team is going to study those characters to figure out how to solve this problem.”
@jason

Famously? Characters is repeated. Customer Service Team - very complex un-necesasry concept. 90% substanceless. Trying to be clever.
“Twitter are working out how to fix their trolling problem.”
Simple, concise.

The Official Tone
The book “Revising Prose” by Richard A. Lanham, introduces the concept of “The Official Tone”. This is one of the main causes of verbiage. An example:

“To re-iterate my earlier points I think that in this environment it is incumbent on the actors involved in the procedure to be both focussed and engaged in the processes required to implement the standards based approach all stake holders have both evaluated and endorsed as part of the greater framework all stake holders and actors have agreed is the optimal solution to what has become a long drawn out process that ultimately has lead to many decisions being made in both the private and public sectors both together and separately leading to a completely empty outcome.”

Academia loves this kind of long non-sensical writing. It is somehow worn as a badge of honour to show prowess in a particular field by confusing civilians.

The reverse is true, it is a badge of shame. If your work is good enough plain, clear, concise English is the best way to convey it to others. Language like this makes me think your arguments are weak - and your brain confused.

Apple Could Fix This Glaring, Never-Ending UX Nightmare in 5 Minutes

Tue, 31 Mar 2015 19:02:15 +0100

“Cellular data is turned off for [app name]“

Yeah. That.

Today I saw this message 54 times. I may have a bad memory but ITS NOT THAT F****** BAD.

Every. Single. Time. I. Load. A. F******. App.

And just for extra protection - sometimes before I close them too after waking my device.

How on earth is this not irritating the hell out of the developers who work on iOS? Is it because they are all so rich they don’t care about paying more for data? (serious question) - or maybe Apple pays it.

Today It Reached Its Nadir

I was snowboarding near the Russian border - in Gudauri, Georgia. Ironically enough I was listening to ‘Becoming Steve Jobs’ with Audible, on the lifts - then a nice deep house playlist on Spotify in the powder on the way down.

(as Steve might have said - this message is “Insanely Shit”)

I did about 15 runs in total. At the top of each lift I took out my phone, unlocked it, sometimes had to press OK on 'cellular data is disabled for Audible’, loaded Spotify, had to press OK on 'Cellular data is disabled for Spotify’, then press play on playlist.

Then when I came to the bottom of a lift - the same process in reverse.

In both cases people on skis and snowboards are trying to dodge me - and I’m trying to get on or off a lift. Delays are not what I wanted.

FFFFFFGAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGBBBBBBBAAAASSSS.

Had it not been such a nice sunny day - I may have thrown my iPhone off a cliff; there were plenty to choose from.

It also seems to inconsistently do this when I’m connected to WiFi too! You know - just incase….

Why I Turned Data Off

I turned data off for Spotify and Audible (and App Store, Castro, and Overcast - podcast apps) because - like 90%+(?) of people - I don’t [always] have an unlimited data tariff. These apps download large files that I only want to download on WiFi.

Virtually anyone with such an app - should have data turned off.

After a little 'incident’ with Overcast - @MarcoArment, developer of Overcast (@OvercastFm), has a nice solution with an 'Allow Cellular Downloads’ button visible on the downloads page. Similar implementations are piecemeal and inconsistent across apps.

We can’t leave this to individual developers to solve - a holistic solution is required.

Who Is This Message For?

This message is displayed when you have manually turned cellular data off for a particular app. When *you* turned it off. So this warning is for people who hit their head really hard and have temporary memory loss just before disabling data. So hard that they forgot they saw this message the last time - and every f****** time - they open the app.

Or people that did it by accident or forgot they did it. But - this is their own fault, what about the majority who *disabled it on purpose*. How is this acceptable User Experience?

Why It’s The Wrong Message

If anything - telling users wireless data is turned *ON* for 'downloading’ apps would make more sense. Apps like podcasting apps can easily - often in the background - download gigabytes of data on your limited cellular tariff; possibly costing you $1000’s.

How Apple Should Fix It

For the love of god (who obviously doesn’t exist while this bug does - and like because famine) - can we fix this! It’s so easy to fix, in order of goodness:

1. Remove this warning entirely.

2. Give us a universal option to disable this warning.

3. Show it once a day (week?) *at most*. There is no good reason to show me this message 54 times in one day.

4. Stop it being a modal dialogue that forces you to press 'OK’ or 'Settings’ - make it a tapable banner instead (90% fixed right there).

Beyond this, apps should have a flag the developer or Apple can set - marking them as 'data intensive’ or 'background downloading’. This flag causes the user to be prompted about cellular data when the app is installed "On/Off”

A further, prominent standard switch / information bar saying 'app cell data off’ within the UI itself would also be a good idea.

The current approach is broken to the point of infuriating me - and probably millions of other iOS users many times every day.

I don’t think 'infuriation’ is what Apple is going for?

Apple - can you fix this please.

Apple Watch Bluetooth Earphones - patented in 2012

Wed, 14 Jan 2015 21:08:39 +0000

The Apple Watch will be able to play music - yet it has no headphone socket - so it will have to be wireless.

Apple filed a patent for some bluetooth headphones back in 2012

http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/apple-looks-to-patent-earbuds-that-work-wirelessly/

http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/04/apple-seeks-patent-for-headphones-that-can-go-from-wired-to-wireless-in-an-instant/

So it’s reasonable to assume these are - largely - aimed at the Apple Watch. There are also a number of earphones coming out with lightning connectors - which would be able to charge a bluetooth battery as well as carry audio.

All the pieces fit.

Even people that use 'Literally' right, are using it wrong.

Sun, 12 Oct 2014 23:30:00 +0100

I have Literally written a blog post…

Stop reading now.

Literally.

If you keep reading it will ruin your life and you will become like me. I can’t not see this now.

—-

Even people that use ‘Literally’ right, are using it wrong.

OK I admit it - I know I’m not fucking normal but this irritates the hell out of me. The moment someone says 'literally’ - I automatically do a mental check.

I am a dick to people that misuse it - even in polite company.

I think less is more - specially with copy. I think words should be used sparingly, efficiently and accurately (I also hate ‘the initial so’ but wont elaborate here).

The misuse of 'literally’ is driving me insane - and not only in the way you think.

And yes I know the Oxford English Dictionary now includes the 'incorrect’ use of literally; but if you use it that way you look like an idiot.

—

For starters…. Andy Weir’s recent book, “The Martian”, soon to literally be made into a Hollywood movie - is an excellent case study for overuse - and misuse - of the word.

(I misused literally above).

He uses literally 10 times in his book; it’s very distracting after a while.

Some of his uses are good, eg

“For normal potato farmers, it’s not worth doing because they’re working with literally millions of potato plants.”

Potato farmers are often working with literally millions of potatoes, and saying ‘millions’ can be a figure of speech. Two thumbs up Andy.

Another…

“The Hab’s atmosphere is 90 times as dense, so it turns to liquid at much higher temperatures. The regulator gets the best of both worlds. Literally.”

Not bad, quite clever in fact.

—-

I have devised two tests to see if literally is being used correctly (I’m sure I’m not the first person to do this).

Firstly

The obvious one.

Do they really mean literally? Is it literal?

The cricketer Sir Ian Botham said in 2007 that batsmen surviving appeals for leg before wicket had been “getting away with murder, literally”.

Lets hope not.

Recently he also literally posted a photo of his dick on Twitter by accident. I wish I was misusing literally here.

But I digress. Another…

In a recent episode of John Gruber’s Apple leaning ‘The Talk Show’ podcast, Guy English referred to his past blog posts as “literally little fireballs”.

Gruber said “we’re literally armchair quarterbacks here”.

Were his blog posts *literally* fireballs?

Was he *literally* an armchair quarterback?

I will leave you to evaluate those examples - though getting an armchair onto an American Football field would be fun to witness. And I’m not sure how flame retardant my MacBook Air is… (actually I am; it’s not).

This is the case where people misuse ‘literally’ to emphasise something.

Secondly

We passed the first test. The phrase *is* literal. The next test….

Are people likely to be confused whether what we are saying is a metaphor - or literally true.

Just because something is literally true - doesn’t give you cause to use ‘literally’.

Back to The Martian…

“Hermes will have their EVA specialist, Dr. Chris Beck, suited up and ready the whole time. If necessary he will literally grab the probe with his hands and drag it to the docking port.”

Ohhhh, you didn’t mean metaphorically grab the probe with his hands?!

Here literally is verbiage.

This is better:
“If necessary he will grab the probe with his hands and drag it to the docking port.”

Once you begin to see this literal abuse, it’s impossible to ‘un-see’ it. I’ve become a dick and I can’t stop myself.

Here’s some more…

“But then you got on a giant bomb that blasted you to Mars. And I mean that literally.”

No you don’t. Actually this is wrong in a different way. He is specifically saying something is literal - when it actually ISN’T. This gets an honourable mention as a third category.

He wasn’t put on something designed to explode. A rocket isn’t a bomb, although they share characteristics.

more…

“I felt that way all damn day today. 5km/h is literally a walking pace. And I drove that speed for eight hours.”

It might be - but I didn’t think you metaphorically meant a walking pace. GAAAA.

“We’re going to have to literally blow up one of the doors, Lewis explained.”

Oh jesus fuck.

I literally just shat my pants.

I mean metaphorically.

I need some metaphorical adult diapers.

A good one from Guy English to end on:

“I literally have the grinder app and I’m a straight male.”
Me? I metaphorically have the grinder app; that’s way better….

Door Instructions Reach New Desperate Low

Sat, 30 Aug 2014 00:01:33 +0100

If your door needs instructions; you really need to question both your level of failure in life, and the reason you haven’t ended it yet. (harsh?)

But if your door needs pathetic, pleading, desperate instructions like ‘Push Only’ you are not only a complete moron, but you’re too stupid to even have any idea *how* stupid you are.

ITS A DOOR. DONT PUT A HANDLE THAT SAYS PULL ON A DOOR YOU HAVE TO PUSH. Use a push plate.

It is, perhaps, no co-incidence that this bar is largely frequented by dumb rich people. This picture was taken at 'Chill Sky Bar’ at the Uber launch party in Saigon. This place plays your typically too loud AWFUL relentless Asian cheese 'dance’ - and whilst it’s not 'Chill’ - it is high up which is handy for throwing yourself off the 30th floor when you can’t stand the DJ anymore….

Apple - Fix Your Crappy Power Supplies!

Thu, 20 Feb 2014 08:55:00 +0000

I’m on my third power supply for my MacBook Air in 20 months.

Both ends of the cable went this time - it’s clearly too weak - or am I using it wrong?

You can tell just from looking at it it isn’t strong enough - I never had this issue with PC power supplies.

AirAsia.com - Bad Usability by Design to Steal Your Money

Sun, 26 Jan 2014 09:46:00 +0000

Budget airlines always try and rip you off, and add extras you often don’t want, like seat selection, food or checked bags (I always travel hand luggage only, and suggest you do too - recently having travelled a year this way - with 10 Tshirts and pairs of underpants included in the bag, if you’re wondering).

But this breathtaking abuse of website conventions and usability must be the best yet. We need a word for deliberately bad usability, designed to trick users into paying extra.

How about Abusability?

[Edit: Turns out there already is a term for this a ‘Dark Pattern’ - check out DarkPatterns.org]

Anyway, during the booking process there is a box vaguely covering insurance (above). My instinct is to uncheck the checkbox, a standard way to deselect something. But no - that is you accepting the Terms of the insurance, and if you uncheck it you get an error.

On flight 1 this fooled me into booking unwanted insurance. On a second flight I realised the grey on grey [ Cancel ] “button” didn’t actually cancel the form. It ‘cancels’ the insurance.

Usage of a ‘cancel’ ‘button’ (it’s not even a proper button) to deselect an element on a form is totally un-conventional. This is not the way people expect forms to work on the internet, and is -clearly- an attempt to rip users off.

This should be a checkbox, or drop down list.

There is no doubt here. This isn’t some absent minded web developer wanting to go home early on Friday. No - this is a room full of coked up execs at AirAsia.com - probably on their third bottle of Champagne, thinking “just how can we steal a bit more money from our customers”?

“We need to design a website form that confuses users to such an extent that they give us money they don’t want to, for insurance they don’t want or need”

“Getting money from selling insurance to our customers is like - free money [sips some Dom Pérignon] - lets press the button”

“Free money”

Guess what - you succeeded.

The problem is it makes you look like a bunch of dishonest criminal assholes.

I will be avoiding you in the future, I don’t like flying with people who are purposely trying to steal from me.

Is AirAssholes.com taken? I suggest you rebrand right now….

Why Apple iWatch wont use eInk

Sat, 13 Jul 2013 05:38:00 +0100

eInk Pros
Long battery life

eInk Cons
Low quality
Low speed

If Apple choose eInk the iWatch will have a long battery life (1 week+) - and will display the time 24/7. But it will suck at *everything else*. Phone control, simple web browsing, maps, photos, UI, responsiveness - it will all be a bit sucky like pebble.

Touching your iWatch to see the time is still better than taking your phone out. Perhaps it could display it 24/7 in a very low brightness mode?

If you’re charging your phone nightly, why not charge your iWatch too (also I don’t want to sleep in it so what’s the big deal).

The Sony Smart Watch uses OLED - I expect Apple to go that route, or a conventional LCD.

A 3 second productivity tip gets me hours more work done every week

Thu, 27 Jun 2013 18:28:57 +0100

Yes, yes - this probably sounds like one of those spammy link bait things - but I promise I just came up with this recently and it’s amazing.

You know the story - you have a split second of indecision of what to do on your computer so you click the Facebook, Twitter, News, [insert site here you spend too much time on] bookmark in your browser - and get sucked in.

So, for any sites you want to spend less time on, delete the bookmarks.

That’s it. From this:

To this:

You can always type the URL, but the added work does something magical. The effort of typing it makes it not worth doing in a casual way.

You can also make sure sites you want to spend more time on have prominent bookmarks.

Try it. I go on Facebook, Twitter and news sites way way less now. Used to be maybe 4 or 5 times a day. Now once every day or two (unless I have a specific reason).

I think this tells us a lot about human nature - make doing bad things inconvenient.

I’m getting hours more work done per week, literally. It’s amazing.

Why Strong Passwords Don't Matter

Wed, 29 May 2013 18:54:00 +0100

There’s been a lot of talk recently about how easy passwords are to crack.

Explanation

Sometimes, websites with lax security have their entire - or portions of, their database stolen. Best practice for databases is to salt & hash passwords (a one way process to obfuscate their value, while still allowing users to login). There are various ways to make that process stronger - and various techniques for ultimately finding out what people’s passwords are.

Great article over at Ars on this:
http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/05/how-crackers-make-minced-meat-out-of-your-passwords/?comments=1#reply

Where even passwords like ‘qeadzcwrsfxv1331’ or 'momof3g8kids’ can be 'hacked’ in a few hours.

Holy Shit

Panic! Right?

Actually, none of this matters. Not the excellent XKCD cartoon (top of this post - though I do agree passwords should be easy to remember), or what those hackers say.

There are only really 2 things to remember to be safe

1) Passwords should not be super easy to guess
Use multiple words (say 2 or 3), or include numbers or symbols and you almost certainly will never be hacked *directly on a website* (more on that in a minute).

Even single words are fairly safe as long as you don’t use one of the first few hundred most common passwords. (assuming the website uses access restrictions for multiple failed logins - which they should).

If the data in the system is highly sensitive, or you are a high value target like a celebrity - you should be cautious here and use multiple words - otherwise I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

2) NEVER use the same password on different sites
This is critical. If one site is compromised and hackers are able to crack your password and you’ve reused it - they could then gain access to your details on other websites.

Never use the same password twice - and getting your password for website X is totally useless to them.

There are two very different types of hacks here.

1) The whole database is stolen

In this scenario (eg Playstation Outage, 77 million records stolen) - the entire database is stolen. This means hackers already have most if not all the information you had stored on that website, because most of it *isn’t encrypted or hashed at all*.

Yes hackers can then spend days trying millions of cleverly devised passwords to find yours. But all they gain by doing that - is knowledge of what your password is.

If you don’t use your password elsewhere - this is completely useless information - they already have all your other information from the compromised website anyway - the password doesn’t get them anything else of value.

2) Logging into websites directly

The other option for hackers, is to directly login to a website as you. This is far harder than cracking passwords as above for two main reasons.

Firstly, due to the nature of the internet, trying a large number of combinations of username or email and password, will take a long time. Likely single number of tries per second (vs thousands when the hackers have the database).

And secondly, many websites implement access restrictions once you have a few incorrect password guesses - say 5 or 10. Or will start blocking your computer from logging in after many more.

This means a hacker might only get 10 or 20 guesses at your password before things slow down massively. Even if they have access to a botnet (co-opted computers under their control) - if an account is blocked, that doesn’t help.

You will almost certainly not be hacked this way unless your password is ridiculously bad (eg Monkey, or password1).

How you will be hacked

Far more likely, is a social engineering attack. For example - you get a Direct Message on twitter from a friend - you click the link and it looks like twitter so you login. But it wasn’t twitter, it was TWWTTER.com or something similar. It doesn’t matter how strong your password is in that situation, you just gave it to the bad guys.

This is the stuff we should be careful about.

Conclusion

So stop worrying about passwords, stop trying to out think hackers by adding a £ to your passwords - it’s all totally pointless. Make them unique, multiple random words (even single words are arguably OK - except the most used passwords like monkey) - and easily memorable and your ass if very well covered.

Why Apple iWatch Beats Google Glass

Sat, 11 May 2013 12:07:00 +0100

The road to retinal implants and face chips that clean our teeth starts here with wearable computing - the iWatch and Google Glass.

Incorporating 1 or 2 assumptions, here is the head to head:

Fixing a Problem

Why do we need wearable computing?

Personally, I listen to Podcasts & Music for several hours a day - often whilst walking, cycling or taking public transport around a city. I may take my phone out of my pocket to choose content to listen to, write a message, check messages, skip an ad, rewind something, look at a map (multiple times if I’m navigating somewhere) 50 or more times a day.

Each time I do I almost drop it, the earphone cable gets tangled, I have to unlock it, maybe type a code; in short it’s a total usability mess - and means you’re not paying attention to your situation (dangerous if driving or cycling - or walking on a pavement in most of Asia).

Here’s a look at some use cases…

Visibility

Glass is always there - iWatch can only be seen if you turn your wrist (but even that is far better than getting your phone out and unlocking it).

Whether ‘always on’ visibility is good or bad depends on your personality - and specific use.

Glass: 8

iWatch: 8

Control: Touch vs Voice

Unless Apple implement Knight Rider style Siri on the iWatch (which they might), here it’s touch vs voice. You can obviously do a lot more with touch, and you’re not irritating everyone around you, letting them know your private business, or susceptible to background noise interference.

Voice is also still in its infancy, you can do a lot less with it, less effectively. Of course if you are driving or cycling or doing sport (Snowboarding anyone!)…. voice is great. But you could probably use an iWatch quite comfortably there too.

iWatch will have a small screen though so what it can do will be relatively limited.

Unless you’re driving - touch wins here.

Glass: 5

iWatch: 9

Display

iWatch may, for example, have a 1/3 curved retina display in it - that would give it a resolution of (1136/3 = 379 x 640). Compared to 640 x 360 of Google Glass.

Strangely it seems you can fit far less on a Glass screen (I’ve never used one personally).

It’s hard to say here without using either but they may be roughly equivalent, and probably quite small & restricted for at least a few years.

Glass: 5

iWatch: 5

Quantified Self

Awful phrase, but recording aspects of our everyday life is another exciting new area both these devices enable.

Some level of this is already available with smartphones - some including external hardware - such as products like Nike Plus or Fit Bit - or apps like Run Keeper which track runs or bike rides, telling you distance and estimating calories burned.

Having something constantly in contact with your body (the Nike Fuelband already does this) - gives you even more activity data.

If you keep either device on at all times - the possibilities here are very exciting - and equally good for either device

iWatch: 8

Glass: 8

Use Cases - Face Off

(I have scored the winner 5 points in each category)

Choose music / podcast: iWatch should make it quick and easy to browse and select content with its touch interface. iW: 5

Play / Pause / Skip: Skip a track, forward past an ad, go back 30 seconds in an audiobook. iWatch is a comfortable winner here - even if these voice commands were available I’d much rather press something. iW: 5

Adjust Volume: Assuming you have earphones in connected directly to phone. Should be very easy to change on iWatch - glass, even if the voice command exists, no idea how they’d make that work half as well. iW: 5

Answer Call: Unless you always have earphones with a mic in - Glass wins here as it doubles as a bluetooth headset (battery allowing). GG: 5

Maps: iWatch should make looking up places on the map easier with touch - though actual navigation will be easier if it’s always visible. Turn by turn + voice in a car is a clear winner for GG, but overall - tie GG: 5 / iW: 5

Notifications: Whether you want notifications in your face 24/7 or not is a personal thing. I’d prefer to choose to look at a watch rather than be told in my eye (though I have very few notifications on in any case). Another tie GG: 5 / iW: 5

Recording Video / Photos: iWatch may have a front facing camera - making it good for calls. Glass has a camera that sees what you see. The latter will be far more useful, allowing you to capture moments you’d miss with a camera (I never use my iPhone front facing camera). Just avoid wearing it in the shower. GG: 5

Results

Glass: 46

iWatch: 55

Conclusion

It partially comes down to which eco system you’re committed to. If you’ve got an iPhone getting Glass will be hard - and iWatch probably wont work (at least fully) with any other phone.

Then it’s down to whether you prefer voice or touch. Touch gives you way more control, and is a lot more versatile, even on a small screen. I can see it being far more useful day to day than Glass.

The clear winner is iWatch.

Caveat: The main problem with Glass is its reliance on voice control - which isn’t appropriate for most situations. However, this is also a strength in some specific use cases, such as driving, cycling or various hands free industrial uses.

In those cases iWatch will already be an improvement & Glass with voice control will be revolutionary.

Either way this will be a fascinating fight, bring on WWDC.

(photo from The Verge)

Why Apple iWatch Will Be Awesome

Mon, 06 May 2013 13:07:00 +0100

I’ve no idea why everyone is being so negative about the prospects for an iWatch.

Every day I probably get my iPhone 5 out of my pocket 50 or more times - each time the earphone cable gets tangled, I nearly drop it, have to spin it round, unlock it, maybe type a lock code, then find the right app.

This is slightly less of an issue if you use an earphone cable with volume & a play/stop button (such as the awful shipped Apple earphones). But often that’s not an option with high end earphones.

75% of the time its for a trivial task.

Use Cases

Off the top of my head, an iWatch would be great for these use cases - and easily worth it for any 3:

Selecting a new tune or podcast to listen to.
Pause/Play audio.
Change volume.
Glance at a map while walking/driving/cycling.
Glance at a message or reminder.
Forward a podcast past an advert.

No One Wears a Watch

I keep hearing this as a reason why an iWatch is a bad idea. There’s some proper morons out there.

The iWatch will be a remote control for your phone - it’s not there to just tell the time.

The current situation of constantly taking out your phone is an awful user experience. If I can take my phone out 75% less during the day, it’s not only better - it’s safer.

The Status Quo is Broken

Fiddling with a phone while driving, cycling or walking and not looking where you’re going = not ideal. A wrist mounted display is far quicker here.

Dropping it removing it from your pocket (how many times have we done that!), or getting it stolen from your hand while using it, or out of your pocket (happened to me) - all real problems.

Wearable is the future…

If Apple have put as many resources behind the iWatch as some say, and based on their record of designing stunning objects, I have no doubt this thing is going to be extremely useful to anyone who uses their phone heavily.

Some people just have no vision.

How it will stack up against the also exciting Google Glass when it’s released to consumers in 2014 will also be interesting to see. I think iGlass is inevitable within the next 5 years….

…and hey, having the time on your wrist is also quite useful…

When will Apple fix iCloud Notes Syncing?

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 10:59:00 +0000

I just can’t trust the notes app with important data anymore.

Notes syncing between MacOS & iOS over iCloud was always glitchy, and IT STILL IS.

The above happened yesterday, one note was duplicated 10 times for no apparent reason. Notes are also lost regularly.

Come on Apple this isn’t good enough, it’s also not rocket science.

Lets hope Mr Ive kicks some butts & sorts this out (even if it is more a technical than design issue, someone needs to acknowledge & fix this).

While you’re at it how about killing the skeumorphism yellow pad and comic sans?!

Who 'designed' Google Glass & how can we kill them?

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 08:29:00 +0000

Who the f*** designed Google Glass?

The frames look like they’re off the glasses my 90 year old gran used to wear (with those transition lenses for extra ugly).

I thought Google got design now? Apparently it’s only their iOS team.

When is Apple Glass coming?

11 Ongoing Apple UX Fails

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 14:01:00 +0000

Apple’s perfect right? Well, not quite….

Magsafe 2

Aaaaarrrghnnnnnneeeeeemmmmp.

I guess Jony Ive doesn’t use his laptop in bed, or ever rest it on his lap. Well a lot of us do - and its virtually impossible without the power cord coming out - even spawning additional plugs to stop it falling out like the Mag Stay:

http://www.thoughtout.biz/products/MagStay-PRO.html

This is a shocking design flaw. It was a problem with Magsafe 1 but has been made worse by a seeminly weaker magnetic connection, and going back to the T connector, which places the wire at right angles to the laptop.

Not auto-updating iOS Apps

WHY? I don’t even have that many apps, and I have to manually click ‘update’ every day at least once.

I can see no reason for this (surely not bandwidth?).

If you’re going to put an app on everyone’s device (rather than a website), your life is already a lot harder as a developer. Ensuring everyone has the latest version of the app automatically helps users, developers - everyone. At least give us the option to auto-update, or allow devs to force updates.

iPhone lock screen (play/pause, back, forward)

If your phone is locked & you’re playing music, the buttons are way too close together. Constantly I click forward or back on a track by accident, instead of play/pause, and have for years. There’s space - just move the buttons further apart.

Turn off Cell, Keep WiFi on

Every night for the past 4 years I have put my phone on flight mode, then gone into wifi and re-enabled it - because you can’t turn the cell off - and keep wifi on (which I might like to do before I go to sleep, but not get woken by the cell).

It’s a constant, small irritation.

iTunes

iTunes is the dirty, smelly, unshaven dude of MacOS - sitting in the corner, resplendent in a thigh high pile of his own faeces. Only flies love him.

The new iTunes 11 has some nice elements - but you know what they say about polishing a turd. It’s yet more crap, layered on top of code that’s clearly ancient (just try right clicking on a song - then left clicking). And what’s with the tiny display?

Start again with a totally new app - maybe run it parallel to iTunes for a couple of years and hey - how about subscription audio?

Lack of Cases

My Bauhaus inspired MacBook Air, has a wetsuit case. WTF. What case does Jony Ive use on his laptop?

How many people have a cheap novelty case on their iPhone - partly because there’s no gorgeous Apple option?

I’ve never understood this - a good case is an integral, daily part of the user experience. You started with the iPad case, finish the job.

AppleTV Apps

Samsung TV’s have, here in the UK anyway, a BBC iPlayer App, Channel 4 and ITV (free to air channels - with iOS apps already). The AppleTV has virtually no useful apps. What about games?

If Apple are working on this area - why not move that forward now, it’s a no brainer.

AppleTV ALWAYS drops out

Enough said - it’s never been reliable to me. Neither has AirPlay/AirTunes - always dropping out or not being discoverable at all, on various networks. Very un-Apple.

Skeuomorphism

I’ve written about Skeumorphism before

Forstall is gone, Ive is in charge - hopefully this is gone for good

iCloud

Why can’t I backup / sync my Mac with iCloud? (like Dropbox)? Why can’t I share files on it? It seems like Apple did a lot of boring stuff with iCloud, without any of the cool stuff. It still feels glitchy, when I restore my phone for example, it suggests 5 email addresses for each service I have to log into - of other people?!

The notes App is STILL losing notes. I sync notes across MacOS & my iPhone 5.

Before iOS 6 it lost synched notes *all the time* - which can be serious. It improved a lot but this still has a bug and has lost 2 notes over the last 2 days. This isn’t rocket science Apple - why do you keep screwing this up?

Keys

Is it alt, option or some unmemorable symbol ⌥ (that’s not even on the key). Is it the Apple key (where’s the Apple symbol gone?) or the command key or the other weird squiggle key?

How many frikking names do you need for each key? Why have a symbol for each but only put one on the command key?

Why isn’t there a delete key (in PC parlance - there is only a backspace key). This makes text editing WAY more efficient - I have used a key remapping program to do this to my | key (but this is not without issues).

'Right’ Clicking

There is no good way to right click (or control click) on a Mac Trackpad. Having used a Mac as my only machine for 6 months, Windows is still better at this.

Two finger tapping is a little slower (I find fractionally staggering the impact of both fingers helps reliability but slows things down) - and doesn’t always work. You can map it to the right side of the track pad but that’s a long way over and not clearly marked in either a visual or tactile way.

I just don’t trust right click on Macs, often doing it multiple times if I get no response.

Maximizing windows

Another area that’s better in Windows. Maximize fills the whole screen area (without going full screen). No brainer, copy it from Windows (like you did with resizing windows from any corner).

No 3G/4G in laptops

Windows laptops have had sim card slots in for 5+ years now. I have to think this is coming but having a cheap plasticy dongle hanging out of my Air is gross; super inelegant - and it wont even fit in when the magsafe 2 power is in.

Podcasting iOS App

It took Apple years to come up with an app on iOS that allowed you to download podcasts directly. When it came out - it was awful, didn’t work on iPhone 4, crashed all the time and was full of ridiculous skeuomorphism. A tiny codeshop created Downcast - which was available years earlier and kills it - Bizarre.

iOS Stagnation

It looks basically the same as when it launched in 2007. A grid of icons. Others, specially Windows phone are doing a lot of interesting stuff with live tiles.

Now Ive has taken over all human interface design at apple, I expect to see some innovation.

oh did I say 11? Sorry they kept coming…

Apple - Fire Scott Forstall

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 16:47:00 +0100

Update 29 Oct - 2 weeks after writing this (Oct 15 2012), Apple do the two things I recommend in this post - Fire Forstall & put Jony Ive in charge of all ‘Human Interface’ design: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20132843

———

I use an iPhone 5 & MacBook Air - both devices which I am very happy with.

However, Apple has a large and growing problem. Incompetence and lack of vision in iOS - means it is being overtaken by Android and Windows Phone.

Scott Forstall, Apple’s head of iOS software, should be fired, not because of his questionable taste in shirts, but because this is his fault.

Problems with iOS

Total lack of innovation

When iPhone launched, it felt new, it lead the pack in innovation & execution. But it feels like it’s virtually stood still while the competition overtakes it. Case in point - last month iOS 6 launched with a lot of new minor features (panorama, call back reminders etc) - but nothing big or innovative.

Windows phone, in contrast, with its active tiles, is looking more modern & more interesting. It looks active, iOS looks like a dull grid of icons. Why can’t I see the weather without having to load the app in iOS, for example?

Skeumorphism

“An object or feature which imitates the design of a similar artefact in another material.”

Apparently there is a rift at Apple between Forestall & Jony Ive, the industrial designer who in league with Jobs transformed Apple from a company on the verge of bankruptcy to the most valuable company in the world.

Forestall loves Skeumorphism, Ive hates it - and for good reason.

Many iOS apps, such as notes, diary, podcasting & find my friends, use system resources to do things such as, show a reel to reel tape player playing a podcast, or have a stitched leather effect.

Form should follow function. At best this is a ridiculous gimmick, at worst it makes apps more confusing, bloated, cluttered & slow.

Very un-apple.

Podcasting App

Android has had 'download directly to device’ podcasting for years. It took apple until 2011 to copy this functionality. Even then, their Podcasts app was unusably slow & crashy on my iPhone 4 at the time (only 1 generation old).

In contrast, many 3rd party apps have been doing this better for years, eg Downcast. I wasn’t aware of these apps & thought you had to sync with iTunes for many years (I’m unlikely to be the only one).

Even with an iPhone 5, Downcast is comfortably better.

Basic iOS Usability Failings

iOS has had many minor but irritating usability flaws since launch. For example…

At least once a day, I want to turn my cell off - but leave WiFi on (eg before I go to sleep). To do this I have to first put the phone in flight mode, then go into WiFi and switch it back on.

When playing music or podcast while locked the forward/back buttons are so close to play/pause you often press the wrong one.

The keyboard is awful. Every time I write anything, I have to re-read then re-write it. On Symbian almost 10 years ago I was tracing letters with my finger (P800/P900) in a much more reliable, accurate way. Android has many input options, several of which seem more reliable.

iOS Notes syncing

I lost several important pieces of information that I noted on my iPhone - after setting iCloud up to sync notes between MacOS & iOS. This is BASIC stuff, and inexcusable in 2012 when you have Apple’s resources. I have heard other people talk about the same issues.

(this appears to have been fixed with iSO 6).

iOS 6 Maps

Much has been written about the problems with iOS 6 maps. I must say the application itself is well executed.

However, many people, me included, have had problems finding places. Addresses are marked in the wrong place in the street, businesses can’t be found, transit information is missing (I used Google Maps to find London busses daily).

Ultimately this is the right move for Apple, but they should have ensured Google Maps was available to users in parallel, or started their own maps project sooner.

Unlike antenna-gate, this is a real problem, and many people may actually decide not to buy an iPhone until this is fixed.

Lack of iOS 'Spotify’ style streaming music app

It’s unclear how central Forestall might be in the lack of this, but it seems bizarre Apple is standing still with iTunes & downloading music manually to devices - instead of streaming, caching & subscription.

—–

Responsibility for most, if not ALL these problems lies with Scott Forstall.

Many of them have been festering for years. For Apple to stay innovative they need a visionary who doesn’t make continuous mistakes. Forestall isn’t a visionary - and keeps making mistakes.

For this he must be fired & Jony Ive should oversee all design, software and hardware. iOS could benefit hugely from his minimalist, functional design ethos.

(Full Disclosure, I own shares in Apple)