The Legend of Zelda taught me everything I need to know about UX
The Legend of Zelda taught me everything I need to know about UX
I miss the days when video games assumed their players possessed a modicum of intelligence and common sense. These days, elaborate tutorials sap the fun out of the early levels of modern games, repeatedly prodding users with instructions and tips as if we possessed the mental acumen of a stack of cinder blocks.
This is about the debate of walkthrough vs. let the user discover the app. I think that for games it makes sense for users to discover everything by themselves because, well, it’s a game.
But it quickly becomes frustrating if you’re using an app that delivers something valuable other than entertainment and you don’t know how it works. It’s a fragile balance.
The Legend of Zelda taught me everything I need to know about UX
I miss the days when video games assumed their players possessed a modicum of intelligence and common sense. These days, elaborate tutorials sap the fun out of the early levels of modern games, repeatedly prodding users with instructions and tips as if we possessed the mental acumen of a stack of cinder blocks.
This is about the debate of walkthrough vs. let the user discover the app. I think that for games it makes sense for users to discover everything by themselves because, well, it’s a game.
But it quickly becomes frustrating if you’re using an app that delivers something valuable other than entertainment and you don’t know how it works. It’s a fragile balance.
College students from the Columbus College of Art & Design took over a chalkboard in a classroom to illustrate quotes.
Click through the link for more.
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College students from the Columbus College of Art & Design took over a chalkboard in a classroom to illustrate quotes.
Click through the link for more.
inFORM - Interacting With a Dynamic Shape Display, an invention by the MIT Tangible Media Group.
inFORM - Interacting With a Dynamic Shape Display, an invention by the MIT Tangible Media Group.
Global population of people using the Internet against people not using the Internet.
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Global population of people using the Internet against people not using the Internet.
The people who challenged my atheism most weren't priests, but homeless addicts and prostitutes
The people who challenged my atheism most weren’t priests, but homeless addicts and prostitutes
I eventually left my Wall Street job and started working with and photographing homeless addicts in the South Bronx. When I first walked into the Bronx I assumed I would find the same cynicism I had towards faith. If anyone seemed the perfect candidate for atheism it was the addicts who see daily how unfair, unjust, and evil the world can be.
None of them are. Rather they are some of the strongest believers I have met, steeped in a combination of Bible, superstition, and folklore.
An interesting perspective.
The people who challenged my atheism most weren’t priests, but homeless addicts and prostitutes
www.theguardian.com/commentis…
I eventually left my Wall Street job and started working with and photographing homeless addicts in the South Bronx. When I first walked into the Bronx I assumed I would find the same cynicism I had towards faith. If anyone seemed the perfect candidate for atheism it was the addicts who see daily how unfair, unjust, and evil the world can be.
None of them are. Rather they are some of the strongest believers I have met, steeped in a combination of Bible, superstition, and folklore.
An interesting perspective.
We’d all be better off with our health records on Facebook
We’d all be better off with our health records on Facebook
There is no unified, single patient record—every doctor I’ve ever visited has his or her own separate copy of my records. And in an age where we can conduct banking transactions on my smartphone, many patients still can’t access or contribute to the medical records their doctors keep for them.$
Controversial but not baseless. Should a private company solve this problem?
We’d all be better off with our health records on Facebook
There is no unified, single patient record—every doctor I’ve ever visited has his or her own separate copy of my records. And in an age where we can conduct banking transactions on my smartphone, many patients still can’t access or contribute to the medical records their doctors keep for them.$
Controversial but not baseless. Should a private company solve this problem?
Brainlike Computers, Learning From Experience
Brainlike Computers, Learning From Experience
The new computing approach, already in use by some large technology companies, is based on the biological nervous system, specifically on how neurons react to stimuli and connect with other neurons to interpret information. It allows computers to absorb new information while carrying out a task, and adjust what they do based on the changing signals.
Really an interesting piece on the NYT by John Markoff. Fascinating to see how quickly things will be changing.
Brainlike Computers, Learning From Experience
The new computing approach, already in use by some large technology companies, is based on the biological nervous system, specifically on how neurons react to stimuli and connect with other neurons to interpret information. It allows computers to absorb new information while carrying out a task, and adjust what they do based on the changing signals.
Really an interesting piece on the NYT by John Markoff. Fascinating to see how quickly things will be changing.
The world's best footballers in 2013
The world’s best footballers in 2013
According to the Guardian.
Messi is first, followed by Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic and Ribéry.
The world’s best footballers in 2013
www.theguardian.com/news/data…
According to the Guardian.
Messi is first, followed by Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic and Ribéry.
Taken together, the revelations have brought to light a global surveillance system that cast off many of its historical restraints after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Secret legal authorities empowered the NSA to sweep in the telephone, Internet and location records of whole populations. One of the leaked presentation slides described the agency’s “collection philosophy” as “Order one of everything off the menu.”
It’s an interesting thing to imagine that we are being watched even more intently than we could have ever imagined in fiction.
Source: Edward Snowden, after months of NSA revelations, says his mission’s accomplished
Taken together, the revelations have brought to light a global surveillance system that cast off many of its historical restraints after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Secret legal authorities empowered the NSA to sweep in the telephone, Internet and location records of whole populations. One of the leaked presentation slides described the agency’s “collection philosophy” as “Order one of everything off the menu.”
It’s an interesting thing to imagine that we are being watched even more intently than we could have ever imagined in fiction.
Source: Edward Snowden, after months of NSA revelations, says his mission’s accomplished
Michelangelo’s Handwritten 16th-Century Grocery List, courtesy of Open Culture.
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Michelangelo’s Handwritten 16th-Century Grocery List, courtesy of Open Culture.
