Autorip

I have to say that Amazon has a great thing in their ‘Autorip’ program. For those that are unaware, a good portion of the physical music they sell includes a free MP3 version of the album so you can start listening as soon as you order.  As well, it’s part of their ecosystem then so you can tell Alexa to play it and it just knows you own it now and queues it up.  Considering some of the physical cds on sale are super cheap and you get the original disc and the new fangled digital, it’s a great bargain.  I just wish they did this for book/ebooks too.  I’d be buying so much more from them if that was the case.

Inclusive Legos

I had to buy the following set when it was on sale recently… Fun in the Park  It’s basically just a bunch of mini-figures and accessories, but man it has some really good and strange ones.  I got out an old base plate and set them up and here is how they look.IMG_0990

Pretty snazy and inclusive of them which is really nice.

I hate bad ads…

Case in point, the latest car ad from equinox I think it was. They confuse diners waiting for their car at the valet by bringing them a different car, the equinox. One of the features is 360 vision, meaning it has cameras in front and back. One of the ladies then asked, “how do they even do that?” As if in this day and age, someone who can afford a car like that and pays to have it parked and retrieved is so clueless that they have never heard of cameras. Oh my god, they can see things we can’t! Bad, bad, writing. Of course, they say it’s real people, but I call BS.

A Troubling Trend

There seems to be a design trend that is taking root and seems counter-intuitive to a good user experience.  I don’t know if there is an official title for it, but it basic is about taking content and making it more ‘intimate’ or ‘curated’ or ‘decompressed’.  I’m honestly not sure what the best way to describe it is, but I’ve railed on it previously in regards to the horrific new Hulu redesign that I talked about in previous posts. Continue reading A Troubling Trend

Molding Young Minds

So this summer I’ve been helping at a youth camp for STEM / Game Design again and giving guest lectures on a variety of topics.  It’s great to see kids interested in games as a career and give them advice.  My most popular talk tends to be ‘Why you shouldn’t make an MMO’.

Beta tester.

I’m a sucker for beta testing; it’s the early adopter in me I guess. Like right now I’m going this on the beta of iOS 11.  Like most of Apple’s releases, it’s fairly stable and loaded with nifty new features.  That said it’s also full of questionable design decisions and relearning where things got moved or how changed features now work.  Case in point, they made multi tasking better but also less intuitive. Oh well, it’s just the first of many releases before fall so I’m sure things will get better, unlike the horrible Hulu beta.