Some random facts about how ebooks might be relevant for the Nintendo DS: According to this press release: "Darren Reid, author of the best selling Fantasy/Science Fictionfusion novel The Lord of Darkness and Shadow: The Chronicles of the Shadow Book One, today announces the release of a free ebook...
"design" at the WEF in Davos
The IHT reports on a discussion about design at the WEF last week in Davos. It lists some of the themes of interest there: "Alice Rawsthorn: designers will devote more time and energy to the underprivileged majority, the 90 percent of the world's population who can't afford basic products and servi...
Unconventional solution to a conventional problem
Just discovered this new "jugadu" term reading this article: "'jugad'-street slang for the distinctly Indian ability to find a way around the system. And in this case, as ironies go, the origin of the word that has come to define the can-do attitude of an entire country lies in a makeshift vehicle ...
Seamful design and cell phone reception bars
Different approaches have been developed under the "seamful design" term. Chalmers, McColl and Bell indeed proposes to reveal seams and technology limites to empower users. In a paper from Eurowearable in 2005, they give an example: "By revealing such seams, users can better understand when and whe...
Paul Dourish on reflective HCI
Been reading this paper from Paul Dourish tonight in the train: "Seeing Like an Interface" (a paper he presented at OzCHI 2007). The author concluded about "the burgeoning interest in a reflective approach to HCI" that would be concerned by the "critical dimensions of design". He basically describe...
Graffiti removal selectivity
Seen in Lyon, France last week: Some graffitis removed, some other still there. How to establish a hierarchy of what should be removed? Is it the cost to remove big graffitis? the possibly-offensive content? It gives an intriguing flavor of selectivity anyway. Stains are always curious as they ar...
Embracing innovation
In this NYT piece called "The Risk of Innovation: Will Anyone Embrace It?", G. Pascal Zachary deals with interesting issues regarding innovation. Some excerpts: "Even today, when adding video to a phone is a trivial cost, consumers may rebel. Video-conferencing often remains an activity forced on p...
How to kill an elephant path
The last step of a neverending story (see previous episode here and when it all started). The tagline for this would be "how to kill a an unofficial route, a path that is formed in space by people making their own shortcuts“ July 2006: February 2007: January 2008: (the last picture shows the sig...
Putting Space in Its Proper Place
Morning read in the train: "Toward a Geography of a World Without Maps: Lessons from Ptolemy and Postal Codes" by Michael R. Curry. In this paper, the author describes the implicit and widely accepted history of space: "the world (and, indeed, the universe) was, once upon a time, seen as vast, too ...
Old-schoold handheld electronic games
What does handheld electronic game such as Parker Brother's Split Second can teach us? The curious box/enclosure? the super straight select-start-4-arrows buttons? the rockin' analogic screen? the okay-for left-handed and okay for right-handed design? the symmetry of the system with sound on one pa...