tadd giles archives
“You mean you pay for everything? I love girl’s preference!”
my son Mason, 16, on the phone planning his first date
posted by
tadd
on Monday, Nov 06, 2006
First Presidency Announces Support for National Adoption Month
“Adoption is an unselfish, loving decision that blesses the child, birth parents, and adoptive parents in this life and throughout the eternities.”
posted by
tadd
on Thursday, Nov 02, 2006
Looks like Motorola might have some brutal facts to face on their handset usability: Ease-of-use dogs Moto
That’s some pretty tough data on the very popular RAZR. Before anyone else gets comfortable, I’d be surprised if other handset manufacturers fare much better.
posted by
tadd
on Tuesday, Oct 31, 2006
Check this Ambient Clock Integrating calendar info into a clock with ambient alerts all while staying simple and easy to read. Brilliant! Now they just need to add more calendar source support.
posted by
tadd
on Tuesday, Oct 24, 2006
scrybe is a soon-to-beta organizer. It might just be a bar raising web app. Good thinking. The demo is pretty impressive.
posted by
tadd
on Friday, Oct 20, 2006
I want everyone to see this; girls, boys, women, men! Dove Evolution Reveals so succinctly how our perceptions of beauty are manipulated. Go Dove!!
posted by
tadd
on Monday, Oct 16, 2006
Freshen up bloglines with this new skin. OS X Skin for Bloglines Thanks, Mr. Hicks! You just made my daily life a little bit nicer.
posted by
tadd
on Tuesday, Oct 10, 2006
“Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful, and you will accomplish your objective. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
posted by
tadd
on Thursday, Oct 05, 2006
I watched the Curious George DVD with my family tonight. This is a great show for all ages. I know young children will love it, but my kids (ranging from 9 to 17) loved it too, as did my wife and I and my mother. The sense of wonder that little animated George portrays is just amazing. Highly recommended!
posted by
tadd
on Wednesday, Sep 27, 2006
I’m generally quite annoyed by most lawsuits that I see in the news today, but here’s one that actually did some real good. Federal Court Rules Online Businesses Must Comply with ADA Great news for the millions who need accessible websites to use the web.
posted by
tadd
on Saturday, Sep 09, 2006
Top ways to defend the status quo Quotes I still hear too often or even find myself guilty of saying. ack!
posted by
tadd
on Saturday, Sep 09, 2006
Future and Vision of the Church on the Internet
gives a summary of a lecture by Ron Schwendiman, one of the people behind our Church’s efforts on the Internet.
posted by
tadd
on Saturday, Sep 09, 2006
There’s a great story over at 37signals about how their webapp, Basecamp, is being used by Lotus Outreach to do some truly wonderful things around the world with a small international volunteer staff. I love seeing the Internet used for such good.
posted by
tadd
on Wednesday, Sep 06, 2006
Andrei Herasimchuk over at Design by Fire makes a simple request to John Warnock that would go a long ways towards improving the state of design on the web. Brilliant! I hope this goes somewhere.
posted by
tadd
on Monday, Aug 28, 2006
I don’t know if they still do this, but Microsoft used to hold an annual Design Day. The design community at Microsoft would come together for a day of talks, panels, food and fun.
The highlight, for me, was the Team Speed Design contest. Four teams of four designers each competed to show off their design skills. The teams came from different product groups around the company. It was held in an auditorium with a stage and some whiteboards. One by one each team would come in, receive the design problem, and be given 20 minutes to create and present a solution. The other teams were kept away from the auditorium so they wouldn’t see or hear anything until it was their turn. Each contestant wore a microphone and the entire process was carried out in front of a live audience.
After each performance a panel of judges gave critique on the design. Scores were awarded based on things like process, simplicity, and aesthetics. Finally, the winning team was announced.
This is an intense, challenging competition. Imagine compressing a design project into an utterly, ridiculous time frame and then being asked to allow a 100 people to watch and listen while you work. It was good fun, but there was a bit of team and personal pride involved. Teams would practice multiple times before the event. The teams came to win.
My favorite design problem was the parallel parking problem. Each team was asked to design a new system that would help drivers parallel park their cars. One team had three members who didn’t own cars. The hysterical moment was when the only team member who did have a car, pantomimed step by step for the others what its like to parallel park a car. As the “car” backed up, with her hands on the “wheel”, she slowly stepped backwards looking over her shoulder all the while talking the others through what she was doing. It was a “had-to-be-there” moment, but it was pure comic gold.
This week I’ve been taking in all the news on the self-parking Lexus. It has two parking modes: the “provide help for you” mode and the “do it for you” mode. I wish I could go back in time and compare the designs from that speed design contest to the shipping Lexus design. I wonder how close the Microsoft designers got with 20 minutes of work.
posted by
tadd
on Saturday, Aug 26, 2006