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WUI Woes

on Jul 02, 2001

Which would you prefer to write a letter to your grandma: A word processor, such as Microsoft Word, or a text entry widget in a browser? Or which would you prefer to read your email: Microsoft Outlook…

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Turnstile Trouble

on Jul 02, 2001

Turnstiles, New York City Subway



You can always tell an out-of-towner in New York’s subway. He’s the person that has to swipe his card five or six times through the turnstile, jamming the whole weight of his body against the immova…

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Microsoft .NET

on Jul 01, 2001

Has control of the desktop, including the browser. Extending this to other devices, such as palms (pocket pc), cell phones, and gaming boxes (xbox).





Expanding on the server side, with features that m…

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Registration Rules

on Jun 28, 2001

Accept Contributions Up Front



A lot of users turn away when they see a login or registration screen. On my site, the number of is around 94%. Part of the reason is probably that people are just tired …

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Contracts Everywhere

on Jun 21, 2001

I recently handed over my car to a valet parking at Venice beach in Los Angeles. Just before I let go of the key, I noticed a sign saying



This contract limits our liability. Read it.


The intenti…

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User Interface Fashion

on Apr 16, 2001

Looks Are Deceptive



When I bought my last car, I thought it looked slick, fresh, cool. But then, a couple months later, a friend of mine bought a new car that looked even slicker, fresher, cooler. I c…

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Subway Sounds

on Apr 08, 2001

New subway cars were recently put in service in New York city. I had my first ride with one of them today, on the 6 line from Astor Place to 59th st. And I don’t like them. It’s not that I generally h…

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MetroCard Mess

on Apr 04, 2001

MetroCard Vending Machines, Brooklyn Bridge station, New York





Metrocard Vending Machines. If you’ve been on a subway station in New York during the last year or two, you know what I’m talking about: The humongous boxes that people use to buy the MetroCards you…

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The Future of the Database

on Sep 24, 2000

New Groups of Users



Within the last few years, relational database management systems (RDBMS), such as Oracle and Sybase, has seen a whole new class of users. Up until recently, an RDBMS was primarily…

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