#OCD #UX #KEURIG

Confession: The reason I wanted to get a Keurig single serve coffee maker isn't for the convenience or for the variety of flavors, but rather because I wanted to organize the little pods.

Going Up?

1) Shouldn't units 118, 116 and 109 be on the first floor?
2) What happened to the 3rd floor?

 

Signs of a Modern World

The Power of the Pen

I recently had dinner at Manuel's - a yummy Mexican restaurant in Austin, Texas. Outside the restroom area was a cork-board holding a bunch of letters from various organizations thanking the restaurant for hosting or catering an event.

It struck me that the shorter handwritten note stood out and seemed more sincere than the longer typed out letters.

Just thought I'd share.

Pasta Tips

• Don’t add oil to the pasta water. It will make your pasta slippery and the sauce won’t coat it well.
• Don’t add the salt to the water, till after it boils. Salt slows down the time it takes to come to a boil. Also, salt leaves deposits in the pot if you add it before boiling.
• Cover the pot while boiling. It will come to the boil faster. But uncover when you add the pasta.
• Don’t add the pasta till the water has reached a rolling boil.
• Always save some of the pasta water in case you need it to thin out your sauce.
• Stir the pasta occasionally, while boiling, so it won’t stick.
• Under cook your pasta, so you can add it to your sauce and have it continue cooking together.
• Don’t drain your pasta too much and certainly don’t rinse it. The sauce will coat it better if it still has some of the starch on it. Lasagna is different. Do drain it. Do rinse it. Do dry it on a towel.
• You don’t have to cook lasagne noodles. Just soak in hot water for about twenty minutes. (I spill out the water and add new hot water, half way.)
• 4 oz. (weight) small pasta (penne, shells, macaroni etc.) = 1 cup dried = 2 ½ cups cooked.
• 4 oz. (weight) long pasta (spaghetti, fettucine, angel hair etc.) = 1” diameter = 2 cups cooked.

 

Cursing CAPTCHA

Another bad CAPTCHA. n??

Pop Up Bowl

Clever.

 

Did You Mean "Customize" or "Deny Access"?

Haven't seen something this terrible since circa 1998:-/

 

Whole Foods - No Sale For You

First off, is a 2 cent saving worth a printout? Second, the math doesn't really work out.

Privacy Please

What kid hasn't turned over the "privacy please" sign on a door somewhere between the elevator and their hotel room? Well, the hotel Modera in Portland put an end to the classic prank with this nifty system.

Inside the room are 2 buttons, labelled:
1. "Privacy"
2. "Make up Room"

A light outside the door lets housekeeping know if they should knock or not!

Inside the Room:

"Privacy" and "Make Up Room" Buttons

Outside the Room:

 

(Ironically, housekeeping didn't clean my room my third day even though the proper light was lit. Guess there are still some kinks that need to be worked out!)

Write on. Wipe off.

Next time you bring a plastic container to a party, make sure you get it back, by writing your name on it with a dry erase white board marker. After you get it back, just wash it off.

Salt or Pepper?

I was at an advertising award show the other day and the table was split into 2 camps:

1. Those who thought more holes meant salt
2. Those who thought more holes meant pepper

A quick google search didn't turn up a definitive answer. But I have one...

One should have an "s" and the other a "p". Or there should be a window that allows you to peak in and see if the grains are white or brown. (I'm sure my creative teams could come up with a dozen other solutions.)

And that my friends, is the difference between design and user experience.

 

A Better Way to Butter

Know the difference between a good cook and a great chef? Oh, about a pound of butter.

We all know the secret of what the addition of a little blob of butter can do to just about anything, from soups to roasted veggies. When you put a pound of butter into your butter dish, instead of leaving that rectangular baby intact, cut it randomly into assorted sized blobs. Then, anytime you want to add a blob for that extra flavor and coveted ‘fat feel’, just grab the size blob you’re looking for. No knife required.

No, you have some issues that need fixing!

I'm a big fan of Nike + and their Nike + GPS iPhone app is quite impressive for something that costs $1.99. Not having HTML5 compliant site is their prerogative (though I hope one is in the works!), but they should have at least detected that I was on an iPad and served a more appropriate message and CTA (call to action), like a link to iTunes to learn more about their mobile app.

 

Parking Sign UX

Montreal vs. Portland. 2 cities. 2 parking meter signs. 1 UX fail and 1 UX win.

 

Twitter: To # or Not To #

Two people recently asked me to explain hashtags on Twitter (mostly related to search queries). To best understand that it's a matter of context, take a look at the following 2 examples, each with and without a hashtag.

Search "#Random": people tweeting about things that are random; random is the subject, or tag, the defines their tweet.
Search "Random": the word random so happens to be a word in their tweet and therefore displays in the results page.

In the above case, the # is important cause the context of the word is different in both cases.

Search "#fml": people tweeting about how shitty life is (fml = fuck my life; originated from www.fmylife.com); fml is the subject, or tag, that defines their tweet.
Search "fml": pretty much pulls up the same types of tweet cause fml only has one meaning so even if it's used without the #, it still pulls up similar results.

So, at the end of the day, the hashtag will likely give more accurate search results since people are tagging their tweet with a specific subject, vs just using the word in there.

I think the 2 images speak for themselves (click to enlarge).

Size Matters

Learn to eyeball sizes and weights. There are about three medium apples in a pound, about two large baking potatoes in a pound. Learn to recognize smaller amounts too. The next time you need a teaspoon of oregano, after measuring, dump the contents of the measuring spoon into the cup of your hand and learn what that teaspoon looks like. What a pleasure to be able to cook a sauce or casserole, adding spices accurately, yet without any measuring. When your recipe calls for a cup of shredded cheese, picture what a one cup measuring cup looks like. That will really help you recognize how much cheese you need. Learning all this takes a bit of practice, but really worth the effort.

Religious Faux Pas

Ham and Channuka don't seem to go together.

Lift for Service

Target: Looks like a shopper took "Lift the phone for assistance" too literally.

Easy as one, two, three

One cup of rice, cooked with two cups of liquid, will yield three cups of cooked rice.

Tomatoes

Never let a tomato see the inside of your refrigerator!

 

Arrow Confusion

Toronto Convention Center: Hmm, the sign says "straight ahead" but the arrow is saying "right".

Even Yogurt has UX

Am I the only one who never knew that these packages were designed to be flipped? So much for dipping the spoon on one side and then the other.

UX in the Sun

Brilliant. Double bloody and water spritzer in one. I'll drink to that.

Measuring Cups and Spoons

So many people keep a coffee measure in their coffee tin. But for some reason, they just stop there. What I recommend, is go to the 99¢ store and buy a bunch of measuring cups/spoons. Then, keep them in all the foods you use often (or not even so often). I keep a half cup in with my rice (I usually make 1.5 cups at a time), in my sugar, flour, barley, quinoa, etc. A half teaspoon in my baking powder, baking soda, etc. It's both the convenience of not taking those extra steps to get the utensil, and then of course, no need to wash it after.

Nowhere To Go But Down

Macy's in SF: If you saw this sign at Macy's next to a down escalator, wouldn't you assume that there was an up escalator to the right? Wrong. We were on the top floor.

AppleCare Protection Plan

I was contemplating (aka researching) getting Apple's extended warranty (AppleCare Protection Plan) for my new MacBook Pro and came across some good advice I thought I'd share...

Yes, it is recommended to get the warranty, however, since you can purchase it within the first year of device ownership, it's best to get it at as late as possible. This way, if you do something in the first year that would have voided the warranty (e.g. spilled liquid on it, dropped it, cracked the screen, etc.,), you won't have wasted your money.

Learn more about AppleCare here.

Tip for kitchen newbies

Always adding salt and pepper? Save time by filling a shaker with salt AND pepper. Three parts salt to one part pepper or whatever proportion you like. Then, you only have to reach for one shaker, instead of two.

Bathroom Smarts

Love it. The Bathroom at Nordstrom has small sheets of paper towels and a trash right by the door, while the main bathroom uses air dryers. You really get the best of both worlds.

Leave it Nordstrom to even have great bathroom UX!

Note Taking App: Evernote

Evernote has been my preferred note taking app for a while now. It allows you to write, and more importantly, access your notes, on any of your devices.

Is it perfect? No. It kind of holds your content "hostage" in that you can only view your notes from the app or on the web-based version. However, for me, the convenience outweighs this drawback.

Notes are saved in notebooks, which is especially useful for work purposes. I have different Notebooks for each project I'm working on. There are some other neat features like the ability to record audio and attach them to notes - something that has come in handy in meetings. You can also save actual webpages to a notebook in Evernote (I personally don't use this feature).

Anyhow, if you're looking for a good cloud-based note taking app, try this one out. As a simple alternative, Plain Text is a basic note taking app that synchs with Dropbox.

Let me know if there's another one you prefer.

Visit evernote.com or get the app here.

MacBook Pro: Changing Folder Icons

Changing a folder icon is a fun way to customize your computer.

My desktop:

 A. USING ANY IMAGE:

1. Find an image you want to use as your folder icon (I like to use google images) and copy it to your clipboard*
2. Select the folder whose icon you want to change and click CONTROL+I (or right click and select Get Info)
3. Select the icon in the upper left
4. Click CONTROL+V (or Edit>Paste)
   

B. USING THE ICON OF ANOTHER FOLDER:

1. In Finder, select the folder whose icon you want to use (there are a bunch of interesting options in your App folder) and click CONTROL+I (or right click and select Get Info)
2. Select the folder icon in the upper left and click CONTROL+C to copy it (or Edit>Copy)
3. Now, in Finder, find and select the folder whose icon you want to change and click CONTROL+I (or right click and select Get Info)
4. Select the folder icon in the upper left
5. Click CONTROL+V (or Edit>Paste)

That's it!

*The quickest way to do this is COMMAND+SHIFT+4, while holding the CONTROL key, use your mouse to select an image (or part of an image) that you like. Let go of your mouse. Your selection is now ready to paste.

Cursing CAPTCHA

Another example why I hate CAPTCHA. Seriously, what is that between the 5 and A?

Drink @ Checkout

BRILLIANT. At the check out out at Ikea. You can pay for your soda when you pay for your items and fill your drink at the soda fountain on the way out. This allows you to bypass the huge line at the Bistro.

Macbook Pro: Multi-touch Trackpad

I love my MacBook Pro. Mostly, I love the mutli-touch trackpad.

Many friends who also have this computer aren't making the most of the all available features. Here's a reminder of the great things you can do with the trackpad. (3 finger horizontal scroll is my favorite - never use the Back button again!)

Click images below or watch the demo video here (demo is with a MacBook Air).

 

 

Parking Garage Fail

Sherman Oaks Galleria: How uncreative were these garage planners? What about a letter and a number. Or a color. Or a cartoon character. Or a famous movie. Did I park on FG or GF?