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Alber Alert: Al Gore has disappeared!
"Al Gore has not been seen since the snow and the arctic blasts have pummeled the Eastern Seaboard in America, turning it into a frozen tundra."
My awesome Google wifi finder
Back in the day, I used to be so cool when I could find a wifi signal without even turning on my computer. One day, I will tell my kids about this little device and they will be amazed.
I need a website widget that tells people how likely I am to respond to email
I get a decent amount of email through my website (many for Posterous customizations), and I feel bad when I find a cluster of emails sent a while back that I never replied to. I hate it when this happens because many people take personal offense when they don't get a response, when in reality, I just ran out of time - it wasn't anything personal.
What I think I need is a Gmail plugin that would perform a calculation and display the result on my website to people who email me. (If something like this exists, PLEASE let me know.) Here's what it needs to do:
- How many emails does Cory have starred? (I use Gmail's starring feature to remind me what emails I need to reply to.)
- How many of starred emails have been replied to within the past week/month?
- Based upon how many starred emails exist, for what amount of money am I most likely to respond to an email?
But the problem that I see with this would be, if less people emailed me and I started responding to a higher percentage of messages that I receive, will the plugin start telling people that I'm more likely to start responding to messages? That's why I think it would be important for the system to know how much money I am likely to make from the messages I choose to respond to. If the plugin knew that I regularly respond to emails that solicit jobs banking me $10k+, then it could display a message indicating that trend and weed out cheapskates.
Like I said, if something like this exists, please let me know. I really think it would be useful. Just leave it as a comment - don't email me. =]
Humor is relatable
At the UX Book Club San Diego meetup last night, we got on the topic of how humor in website copy seems to make websites and interfaces more relatable to its users. One of the group's co-founders, Brie Ann Demkiw, mentioned how she has noticed using one line of humor in a string of text helps increase conversion rates and can increase user loyalty.
Google started doing this a few years back with Google reader. Their message read "Oops! That wasn't supposed to happen." Even Firefox has started incorporating this tactic. When Firefox asks if you want to restore your browser session after crashing, it reads "Well, this is embarassing."
I think it's 100% true. When I read a funny error message or sarcastic instructions in place of something standard and ordinary, not only do I get a chuckle out of it, but I am more emotionally drawn into those sites or applications (in a subconscious way), because of the humor used. Why is this? I'm no human behavior expert, but it seems to me like humor is more relatable and shows that there is a real person with real emotions/personality who wrote that particular error message. When we read a standard, boring old string of text that's been used on a million other websites, we aren't phased by it because it's "the norm" and is just the standard way of presenting information. Humor is different and people respond differently, whether they know it or not. So, to interface designers: go out and be funny. Do something out of the ordinary that users will remember. Although it might be cheesy or sound lame to your boss or clients, it just might have a profound effect on the users, without them even realizing it.Credit card fraud can happen to anyone
I am an extremely careful people when it comes to using my credit card. I'm fully aware of tactics that fraudsters use to capture card numbers, so I keep my eyes open and try to be extra careful. So when I got a call from Citibank, telling me my physical card had been used in Spain this morning with a "travel agency" for $1075, I was pretty surprised, considering I haven't been to Spain for a few years.
Now I get to tear my hair out to try to figure out where exactly my card might have been compromised. I recently went to San Francisco. Maybe at the BART terminal where I got my BART pass? But I checked the card reader against other card readers at the station. Maybe they were all bugged? It's really the only place I used my card recently that wasn't online or at a restaurant that I frequent.
I used to scoff at people who had their cards compromised. "How dumb can they be?" I thought. It just goes to show that no matter how careful you are, credit card fraud really can happen to anyone who uses plastic, even occasionally like me.
Thanks to Citibank for looking out, and for calling my cell as soon as they thought something was up. Now if I can just get them to NOT deny my charges at Fashion Island (where I shop frequently), so I don't have to call them to authorize another compulsive purchase and look like an idiot in front of fellow shoppers.
For those who have never seen rain before...
I know, a video of rain. Big deal. You've probably been dealing with it for months now. But rain of this magnitude is pretty unheard of for Orange County, any time of the year. I just love the sound. The next time we go through a drought, I am going to watch this video and remember the great January we had in 2010.
Why China shouldn't use Google
Manufacturers in China make some great stuff, but when it comes to writing product packaging in English, they might want to hire a native English speaker. Google Language Tools just doesn't seem to be cutting it.
These instructions were found in a package for the following remote controlled plane, purchased on eBay by @blinkfirst.
Storm Watch 2010
A collection of pics from news broadcasts here in Socal.
Huntington Beach
Ontario
When it rains in Southern California, the internet goes kaput
We're in our second day of rain here in Socal, and it's already started to wreak havoc on our infrastructure. I'm trying to download a 10 MB zip file (from a speedy, reliable source), and the transfer rate is around 3.2 KB/sec. People, this is worse than dialup in 1995.
It's times like these that remind me to be thankful for the incredible improvements in internet speeds that I take for granted on a daily
basis.
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