By Jeremy Wagstaff (this is my weekly syndicated newspaper column, distributed via the Loose Wire Service.) Someone defaced my Wikipedia page the other day. Yes, it’s absurd that I have a Wikipedia page—ask my, er, fans, about that—but even more absurd that someone should bother enough to deface it. (Just in case you’re interested, they … Read more
Is it just me, or are software developers beginning to get their users? For a long time I’ve felt the only real innovation in software has been in online applications, Web 2.0 non-apps—simple services that exist in your browser—but now it seems that ordinary apps are getting better too. Evernote, I feel, is one that’s … Read more
I’m amazed by how word processing is still in the dark ages, considering it’s what we spend most of our day doing. Case in point is Microsoft Word 2007, which throws all sorts of weirdness—artefacts, I guess we’d call them—in text. Try scrolling through a longish document—anything over 5,000 words—and you get this kind of … Read more
Empty vodka bottles used for selling petrol, Bali Tools often serve purposes the designers didn’t necessarily intend — increasing their stickiness for users but in a way not clearly understood by the creator. Take the System Tray in Windows for example (and in the bar, whatever it’s called, in Macs.) And this array currently sitting … Read more
I’ve never seen this properly studied, and only rarely taken into account by software developers: the opportunity cost of committing to one service or program over another. In a word: Why is it software that’s in charge, not the data itself? An obvious one is Twitter vs Jaiku. Which one to embrace? Jaiku actually has … Read more