Ecto
My buddy Peter Cooper turned me on to Ecto, a tool that might help me streamline and expidite blog posts. I’ve wondered about products like this, in large part because posting images can be a pain. I’ll report my experience…
Breadcrumbs
We’re working on a new web app called ImageKind and as part of that project I’m responsible for developing workflow, user interface and development progress. While designing the shopping cart, I was curious (hey, we are called Curious Office) as to whether or not I should incorporate breadcrumbs into the site to aid people as they moved through the check out process.
I found this interesting study which did the most thorough analysis I’ve ever seen on this subject. You are welcome to read for yourself but the basic summary is this:
“Breadcrumb users were found to use the Back button less often than users who did not use the breadcrumb; however, no differences were found in the efficiency measures of total pages visited, navigation bar clicks, embedded link clicks, or time to complete the search tasks. It is not known if all participants understood the function of the breadcrumb as a navigational tool.”
I think I’ll be leaving breadcrumbs out…
Does anyone use browser bookmarks anymore??
It was just bookmarking a photoshop site using Del.icio.us as I always do and it occurred to me that I’ve got plenty of old bookmarks in my Firefox browser that I need to get into del.icio.us. Then I had to wonder…what is the point of using your browser to bookmark URLs locally anymore? I haven’t done so in at least six months. Why would I? Surely there must be a reason. But honestly, I can’t think of any. In 5 years, I predict few people will be adding bookmarks to their browser the way they do now. At best, I could see downloading my server-side bookmarks to my laptop before I leave on a trip but otherwise, I wouldn’t consider managing my bookmarks the way I did two years ago.
What’s going on in IPTV?
For the most part, we at the office that’s curious focus on what some would call Web2.0 companies. However, those that know me know that I’ve mostly got a digital video background. After we sold Myrio to Siemens I decided to move on and work on some other projects. Curious Office is one such project.
But I recently had dinner with an old colleague from Siemens and we were talking about the war over the future of our TVs. One thing that he confirmed was that Siemens was losing the IPTV war even in their own backyard. For such a huge initiative, it would seem unlikely that Deutsche Telekom would rely on Redmond vs. their century old partners over in Munich. When it comes to IP-based television, the only games in town that really mattered were those from Myrio/Siemens and Microsoft. Now, it seems that Siemens is losing the battle in its own country and to me that suggests taht Microsoft may very well control our set-top boxes and possibly our future living rooms.
This Wednesday night
I’ll be at the ContentNext Mixer…these are the PaidContent.org guys. Should be kind of fun and expect to see lots of old friends. Hope to see you there, Feb 22nd, 6 PM sharp @ The Palace Ballroom, 2100 - 5th Avenue, Seattle.
Concept vs. perseverance
The goofy site over at http://www.jacquielawson.com/default.asp is an interesting study. A few days ago I mentioned that a former colleague from RealNetworks was launching a greeting card site. So, apparently this space is pretty hot because Jacquie makes nearly $4 million dollars per year with her site and Andrew Wright (of SmileBox) is a seriously smart and qualified guy who would have been successful in any manner of other business. But the thing I find interesting about Jacquielawson is that she says in a recent article that ‘It’s a bit of a crusade because there’s so much rubbish on the internet”…hmm. So, this really cracks me up because I find the site itself to be rubbish and the greeting cards to be absolute CHEESE of the highest order. The artistry of the animations is average and the typical card concept is simpleton and unoriginal. On nearly a daily basis I catch up with a number of artists and vector animators via my del.icio.us bookmarks that produce a higher order of artwork that has the same or greater potential than anything on these greeting card sites.
But businesses often have little to do with real art. $4 million USD per year is some serious smack. Does anyone look at Jacquielawson.com and think that it is anything OTHER than web rubbish? I say this is about focus and perseverance. Most great designers and developers I know simply do not have the discipline to see their way through to any level of success. They can’t stay focused. Congrats to Jacquie for being the turtle and not the hare.
Funny blog
Just tripped over this blog today - http://www.sandhillslave.com/. Pretty funny and appears to be written by an executive assistant at a firm on Sand Hill Road, Silicon Valley’s center for venture capital. The blog is new and doesn’t have a lot of posts yet but if she keeps going with this tone its worth following.
One excerpt:
A few years ago, I walked into a firm renowned for having attractive women as their admins. The woman who interviewed me was very pretty. I couldn’t really take her seriously because as she went to close the door, I noticed that her skirt was so short that I could have sworn that her tampon string was poking out….
CEO Behavioral Warning Signs
I posted this over at Curious Office but it struck me as being really valuable and interesting so wanted to link it up here too…
Grammys
Wow. I just watched a small bit of the Grammys. I tuned in just as U2 and Mary J. Blige were performing. I don’t buy U2 cds anymore but I used to worship them back in the days of War and Boy. I must say, they still sound great but it was Mary J. Blige who totally blew me away. She’s just totally out of this world.
Another car post
Ironic that my next post is also about cars - but in this case its my Audi that got hit by some drunk guy last night.
I was going through an intersection under a green light and somebody thought they’d try to make a left turn in front of me. I hit them right in the doors. Fortunately, there was a cop across the street who saw the whole thing but it wouldn’t have mattered all that much anyway. I was going straight while the other guy was making a turn across my lane. I had the right of way.
Neck’s a bit sore though!
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Rainbows
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Vanishing America
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Friends from Monaco
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Cadillac
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Old stamps
