I love getting things in my email that just make me smile, don’t you? Well for being just a regular social media geek, spending some time on Twitter, I’ve earned a ton of badges through the Osnapz site. Through a connection to Foursquare, you could earn badges for Osnapz by patching in your information and the badges you’ve earned there will connect up to your list of badges. Check out my latest badge:
What’s impressive about this fun little service is the addicting way they get you to pursue more badges. They tell you what’s next and what you have to do in order to get there. Very cool. I’m expecting to see other social media activity badges.
Wow, I just realized they’ve turned me back into a Boy Scout, earning achievement badges.Outstanding!
As I mentioned, a similar badge system is in use at Foursquare.com, which encourages you to earn badges by earning points and competing with your friends to visit places (usually restaurants, but buildings are just fine) and you earn extra points for tasks and to-dos that get completed along the way that users generate. Foursquare is attempting to sweeten the deal by asking users for suggestions regarding new place-related badges with tasks for completion. You’re welcome to suggest alternate ideas and methods of acquisition. I ended up submitting my own idea for a series of badges geared toward people who love buffalo wings. I identified some restaurant chains they could track, and you could earn badges for progressive visits or the quantity of wings you could eat.
i.e. “Wing Commander” badge if you reach 300 visits to restaurants that serve up wings of all kinds.
At any rate, I’m impressed. Not only do they take us back to our youth (having just realized the connection as I write this) but it’s a fun way to share net-based, and real world accomplishments. I look forward to seeing how this service expands over the next year.
I just found out from @amalah and @finslippy that the New York Times is reporting that an H&M store in New York City is getting rid of perfectly good clothes by cutting them up and placing them in trash bags outside to be disposed of. Aside from the waste this creates, a ton of this scrap clothing could easily be re-purposed (if they absolutely must cut them up) by delivering them to Swap-O-Ramas, (where local artists and old clothes get together to be recycled and resold) and other similar community projects. Or better yet, make up for your corporate waste by HOSTING things like this and give back to the community you should be contributing to.
Wired on December 31st published an article called “The Mobile Decade: Greatest Gadgets From 10 years of Innovation“. Personally I think they’ve missed some things — They were basically trying to establish a top ten, and I understand that. They’re also trying to demonstrate a progression, which I see too. However, I think it’s important to look at things from the end of the decade, establish who actually changed the game, not just standards that really didn’t innovate. Here’s what was great about the last decade of gadgetry from Wired’s and then from my perspective:
Wired’s list in short:
2000: Sony Playstation 2
2001: Apple iPod (Gadget of the Decade)
2002: Microsoft XBox
2004: NintendoDS
2004: Palm Treo 650
2005: Motorola Razr
2006: Apple Macbook
2007: Apple iPhone
2008: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
2009: Amazon Kindle 2
My list:
2001: Apple iPod – Using an MP3 Player was finally easy and stylish to use. It was accompanied by iTunes for outstanding support.
2002: Apple Powerbook/Macbook (Titanium (G4) and in 2006, Intel) – Apple introduced a product that has been noticed by anyone seriously looking at laptops. This was a serious working laptop, was powerful enough to actually be used as a desktop machine, and it captured the imagination with a level of design unmatched by the competition. It did the job, had OS X under the hood as well. If you wanted a laptop that just “Did what I asked it to do” then you’ve got it. Other manufacturers have had to rush out competitive solutions — none of which really ever found a way to effectively compete or dominate. Whine all you want that Dell has the Adamo. Whatever.
2004: NintendoDS – I have to agree this was an instant hit and if you were a kid (or an adult) who wanted to take your game with you, it became easy to do so. Finally, real arcade games that fit in your hand.
2004: Palm Treo 650 – Once this got beyond Sprint to the other carriers, it became mainstream — but the Handspring/Palm software made this the tool you needed to get through your workday and have a quite nearly desktop experience with a personal organizer. A huge community got behind this product, which while Blackberry is a cult hit, it has always chased Palm’s cut and dry simplicity and ability to expand. Palm’s cult was just bigger, and while Blackberry was great at getting you your email, Palm’s overall solution as a whole was what everyone aspired to for most of the decade.
2005: One Laptop Per Child Project – This project changed the game and set off a chain reaction that put ideas like the Psion netbook into the history pages. Say what you want about the project. Anyone who paid any attention to it at all wondered about the possibility of getting a compact $100 laptop that did the basics. You want to surf the net? Get access to knowledge? Learn? Forget children, you had the ears of adults perking up at this one. The result spawned a competition — build a notebook for less than $100, and Companies like Asus (who were on the map for system boards and some video cards in the clone market) suddenly hit the big time with their EEE Netbooks. For about $300, an adult (or child) in the mainstream could have their very own Netbook. Acer and Hewlett Packard also jumped in the frey. Now the big three netbook makers are having it out for the best products. The race was on to put the cheapest components possible in these netbooks and provide incredible battery life. It’s forced Apple to consider solutions to lower prices and be competitive.
2006: Nikon D40 – What? You thought Canon EOS of any kind was the best? Think again. $2700 is still way too much more anyone to care about. You’ll sell 1 of those for every 400 of the Nikon D40. The Nikon D40 and D40x sets the standard of this decade for a pro camera in an affordable consumer range. This camera turns any of us regular folk into someone that can take a fantastic, rich, color picture. And for all people whine about 6 megapixels not being enough, enough for what, enough so that it filled up my SD Card too fast with pixels I won’t need as I’m a regular consumer wanting to print something that looked good enough for 4×6′s or 8×10′s? This camera outlasts everyone and is light enough to make people go back to it despite having purchased something in the higher megapixels too. And, it was easy to use.
2006: Flip Video – I’m sorry, Canon EOS/Rebel who? Who cares if a $2700 camera can do HD video, the general public can’t afford it, and it was never really on the radar. I can get a camera for under $200 that I can carry with me in my pocket without holding an equipment bag and it takes great personal video. In 2007 it went mainstream, but this addictive little camera boosted YouTube as well as put an incredibly easy to use, affordable, reusable, simplistic video camera, with good built-in transfer/management software to boot. Instant standard and to think it made Apple change it’s footprint for the iPod, where Apple realized a camera was necessary on a small device you kept in your pocket.
2006: Nintendo Wii – Nintendo saw a lot of people sitting down to play video games. They knew it wasn’t healthy, and injuries from repetitive stress notwithstanding, people needed to get moving. Nintendo was looking for a game changer, and it found one by encouraging people to break down the walls imposed by typical controllers. Sure, gaming gloves had been built but nothing really did what the Wii does. Suddenly sports of all kinds can be played indoors. People are getting in shape and moving their entire bodies. It could be argued that the dance pad for Dance Dance Revolution was the game changer at a mass level, but in my opinion it was the Wii. The Wii was responsible for moving your whole body and getting everyone excited about it. It’s made Microsoft (and others) consider full-body interaction without controllers at all. Just a camera (or cameras) watching your movements. The game has changed.
2007: Apple iPhone – For me, this was the product of the decade. This device is not only the hottest selling of all phones ever, but it takes seconds for people to fall in love with it. It’s a tremendous all around product, perhaps only limited by the fact that the first two versions couldn’t do video. At least in the 3Gs it does now. However, The level of support is fantastic in comparison to other services as far as providing consumable content — iTunes and the App store take care of that. The following this product has is rabid and once you’ve ditched your old phone, you’ll probably set your iPod aside as well in favor of this.
2007: Amazon Kindle – Amazon really wasn’t capitalizing on a new idea. The idea of reading a book on a digital device has been around for a long time. Other companies and products out there innovated on that front. What Amazon did was put all the pieces together, following in the iPod and iPhone’s footprint, the goal being to develop a device that would be as ubiquitous for books as the iPod was for music, and the iPhone is for media of all kinds on the go. The reality is while they fell short right away (and continue to follow) on color, they make up for that in terms of innovation by attaching wireless networks to the product — and you didn’t have to purchase a wireless contract to use it. Like magic, the Kindle rules the roost of the written word. For now.
I expect to see a few things emerging out of this decade into the next that are pretty exciting, and I’ll mention that list in my next post.
The list after that will be covering the most innovative software of the decade. And I think you’ll be surprised by what you find there. Stay tuned.
It’s disturbing what happened with Flight 253 — and reports are that the explosive was extremely powerful. We don’t know the full story yet behind the attack, but as I recall the immediate reaction from international security was to ban use of electronics for the last hour of the flight (forcing people who aren’t bored out of their minds to rent earphones or listen to songs and ads on their horrible in-flight networks or in-flight-potato-tubes), or once again enforcing a no-liquid ban, but really the ultimate solution is even more simple but economically sound than some have suggested (i.e. Banning all Passengers – good idea Mark ;D ) — which would be to put the passengers to sleep.
It’s been suggested before in some movies — and that probably wouldn’t be too bad, until of course the nurse administering the sedative (which might or not be an actual nurse) give the sedative to someone who has a bad reaction… But seriously, I expect this concept to be a Saturday Night Live skit pretty shortly. First class could be a small, private sleeping coffin *ahem* excuse me.. bunk… while the everyone else is just laying on top of each other like cargo to save room. Or in military-style bunks. Imagine the number of people you could put on a plane if they’re laying on the floor of the aircraft strapped down. What a savings in fuel and customer service efforts! No more stewards!
No wait, that would totally ruin the customer experience wouldn’t it?
Please TSA — I know you’re really concerned about security, but there have to be better ways of doing this. Are we learning anything from the Swedes? Or the Germans? Or anyone? I’d love to hear if any customers out there has had any good experiences with security despite how restrictive it’s becoming to just enjoy your flight somewhere. As a guy who loves to travel and would frankly love to go to Australia some day, I’d really like to know if there’s light at the end of the tunnel.
Nathan Bowers, a fellow UX Hero for Hire, posted this video about his experience at the Lego Store. First, You hold a box in front of the “Digital Box” kiosk. moving the box around, you’re presented with an image of you holding the box, and the constructed Lego set moving with you as you move the box so you can see the constructed toy in action. Amazing. He’s also absolutely right — this tech should be in use everywhere.
Can you imagine holding a suit up to a mirror (or holding it in your hand) and seeing the suit on you virtually? Wow, now that would be wild.
Brad Slavin has posted a few videos to YouTube (as any good Social Media marketer would do ;D) and appears to be promoting the customer experience at the new Microsoft Store in Mission Viejo, CA. Both Engadget and Gizmodo have added their take on it — and all wonderfully snarky comments aside — it’s a good effort at promoting the experience. The fact is, from all the pictures I’ve seen of the new Microsoft store and videos like the in-store dancing you see above — Microsoft’s making an effort to compete on what people perceive as Apple’s turf. When the Gateway stores failed here in DC, and while Dell kiosks in local malls abound, the fact is that Microsoft really does need to show that the experience of owning a PC can be fun, and perhaps no longer as painful as it’s been since the beginnings of the company.
The problem with Apple (from what should be Microsoft’s perspective)
A Complete Consumer Experience Strategy.
When Apple goes to war their strategy is by far the most part complete. And they adapt, at least in a manner quicker than Microsoft. Apple’s all about being able to actually do things with your computer and the software inside. It all starts with the OS. From the OS, Apple achieves a uniform simplicity. What you see is what you get. It’s not hard to do some incredibly powerful things with the system and it’s difficult to break. Apple’s software is easy to learn because all the basics for getting around and doing what you need to do remain the same – it doesn’t matter. Development of software for the Mac demands a similar user experience. Menus have to be the same. Work processes have to be similar, and always familiar.
You Can’t Complain About the Hardware Anymore. Apple needed to establish an even playing ground. For years the processors Apple was using were actually superior to the Intel and AMD chips but they couldn’t shake the stigma of being too slow when people talked about Gigahertz. Apple needed to stop the argument and level the playing field. So Apple adopted Intel hardware. The processors Windows and Apple’s OS run on are now the same. What separated these two operating systems was now little more than the code. How it’s written, designed and behaves. And people have been finding a Mac’s behavior to be far superior to the Windows experience.
Apple Does Windows, and Runs all things Windows.
For years, tools like Parallels, VirtualPC, RealPC and other emulation products have helped people use Windows applications on their Macs, but without the Intel hardware, using a Windows program meant a big processing-hog translation process if you wanted to run the software at the same time as the Mac OS. Add the Intel hardware, problems with processing are solved. In-comes “Boot Camp”, a bootloader that allows an Intel-class operating system like Windows 7, Vista, XP, or Linux to be run unimpeded. Some improvements allow the separate partitions to operate in cooperation. Over time, Parallels (and competitor VMWare Fusion) has been improved to run on the new hardware and the speed gain is significant — and now that Mac does Windows, it’s great. No more barrier. If can run any Mac and any PC app at the same time there’s no little reason to actually own a PC, not if your life’s going to be easier as a result.
Ubiquity through Content, Delivery and Function.
Apple has learned that despite good software, and fairly good, well designed and consistent hardware, there’s still the question of content, and in the end you need more than just content. You need a way to consume it. What’s the one thing you can’t do without? Your mobile phone. What was the most frustrating thing about your mobile phone? It was difficult to use, and every new feature is just that much more difficult to use and no new device released is quite good enough. Apple offers you an option. A superphone, a smartphone. Something so easy to use, has great applications, and runs on the same philosophy and operating system the Mac operates on. Fantastic. Applications are easy to get (Delivery), inexpensive and can be consumed just like music has been, through iTunes 99 cents at a time. Apple made it painless and somewhat inexpensive to buy the supporting content, be it music, movies or applications. Before you know it you’ve removed pain from your life by adopting an iPhone. Well that makes me as a potential convert pretty receptive to the overall Apple experience.
Windows users have started to add it all up.
For years the argument has been that up front, a Mac costs too much. The Mac argument has been quite the opposite. We don’t get virus. We don’t get botnets. A Mac is easy, it’s simple. It does what you ask it to do. I can pair it with my phone, I can use my phone like my iPod, heck it is an iPod! Look at the commercials. The “Mac” argument shows through because the song “PC” in sings in the advertisements is pretty common. He gets virii. He freezes all the time. He really doesn’t care about you. He spent a ton of money on advertising when he should have spent it on fixing the XP or Vista operating systems. In the end, if you want a new computer, or you want to end up spending less money over the long term you need to consider if buying a PC is the right thing to be doing. So you pay a little more up front — in the end it’s all easier and far less pain if not painless.
The Apple Store: Mystique, Style, Open Support and Proof at your fingertips.
Imagine hundreds of Mac faithful on hand daily to tell you how great it is to own one. Imagine a place where you can go into a store and actually touch a Mac in a pleasant, open setting where the isles aren’t arranged like a “Superstore” and knowledgeable people are on hand to openly support you with style, love of the experience and a little knowledge. When you can go in and touch all things Apple in an isolated but open experience lab, you can make the decision yourself if you should join the party, or in this case the larger Apple community.
As a result, more people are buying Macs every day, even in this horrible economy. People are finally understanding Apple’s KISS User Experience. The Apple Store makes inroads. PC users are being converted.
Conclusion:Microsoft has been running scared as a result.
What’s on the way?
Apple’s producing a tablet — pretty much everyone agrees with that. This means even more media being produced for it, and even more opportunities for catching someone’s attention and time will be driven to yet another device. One that’s likely to succeed.
Apple’s next steps are likely in the content, connectivity/delivery and application vein. Microsoft needs to follow up with an equal stroke of genius or beat them to the punch. It’s time to innovate or get out of the kitchen. According to the way things have been expected to play out, Apple isn’t about to purchase Adobe (but they should), they aren’t about to purchase TiVo (but they should), and they aren’t about to purchase AT&T, Sprint or T-Mobile (but they should). Acquiring these companies would put some new corners on the revolutionary hat that Apple’s been wearing, and solidify the overall value proposition of owning Apple products. Adobe’s product quality and a solid position providing the tools people use to generate all the media people are consuming on the Net (and TV), TiVo’s killer-timeshifting content app for collecting the results still has incredible reach and is still relevant. Also, adopting a Telecom network, bringing down the costs for delivery and establishing a stronger network would normalize and potentially fix the things that hurt Adobe, TiVo and AT&T the most, customer service and consistency, delivery and solutions. But wait! There’s more! Microsoft sensibly fights back.
Windows 7.
Windows 7 is proof that Apple’s way has won the day, but is it enough? We’ll see. The Windows 7 OS design has been seen as so much like Apple’s that pundits are commenting that Microsoft’s “ripped off the OS X dock”, and other features of the OS have become very similar. The jury is still out as to how robust the experience is.
“It’s my idea and I’m a PC” Advertising Campaign.
The last few commercials from Microsoft were a mess. Nothing even close to the brilliance found in the latest round — where commercial actors talk about this great idea they had and how Microsoft heard their ideas and turned them into Windows 7. They’re interesting, and even if they’re contrived at all, they still try convey that Microsoft is listening, and they are responding with something that makes sense, and it’s a no-nonsense approach.
The Microsoft Store.
Replicate the Apple style. Set up some “open” support and set up a place where PC users will feel welcome. A place where people can stay in there all day just like people do at the Apple store. Where a PC user doesn’t feel like a pariah when it gets sick, and everyone feels your pain when it does. So Microsoft is embracing community building models. Imagine that. Well as you can see from the video this blog post leads in with, someone’s trying to have some fun with the effort. However contrived.
What comes next?
The “M-Phone”? The “Zune Phone?” Probably, if they can ever get over their “Sidekick” problem.
Normalization of application behaviors? Likely. They will have to encourage developers to normalize their approach for UX and conform more closely to key operating system expectations.
Would Microsoft buy Verizon? That would be spectacular for them. The nation’s largest most complete telecom and Mobile solutions?
Conclusion: Microsoft is attempting to become relevant. They can no longer rest on their laurels of being the most-used OS on the planet. Most used is not equal to popular, and it is nice to see they finally understand what that means. Microsoft has been the tin can for too long, will it have a heart? Will it innovate?
We shall see. Apple for their end is not sitting still.
The general user experience for this Web Application/Blogging/Posting tool is really very, very good. I have always urged app makers to tie their sites more closely to email when it made sense to do so — intranets, or extranets for example. I would argue that usability-wise, if you want to produce a blog post, or post media of some kind it makes a lot of sense to go no further than your email app for preparing it, since
A) Almost all email programs or web-based services out there support rich formatting, with linking and upload capabilities. Formatting, spell checking and all sorts of features exist in your email program and generally they do it all quite well. Even Gmail. So, this makes posting correctly real easy.
B) You also spend a good chunk of your online life in email right? I think it makes all the sense in the world for your blogging access to be close by.
I’ll have to add more as I have thoughts on the subject. Now, all I have to do is fix it so if I’m sending a post out, it’s not including my signature line.
So Far:
The Good: Very quick setup. They’re absolutely right. And it ties into multiple services easily.
The Bad: I’m not always fond of the interface layouts, but it appears every effort is made to give you the power to make changes. And of course it helps if you know what you are doing with with HTML and CSS (which I do, but haven’t mucked around with yet.)
Next Steps:
Next steps are to consider adding other features.
