User Centered

Am I the only one that thought these: < > scroll selectors in this Visual Source Safe Option menu is a bit strange?

It's a case of window size vs. content visibility...and I say in this case, the tab visibility should have won out... there's just two small tabs tucked away in the scrolled menu, could they really not just expand the window out a bit further to accomodate them?

...and by "at last" I really mean: "yet again."

I really hate moving my hands back and forth from the mouse to the keyboard. It's why I've spent considerable time learning keyboard shortcuts for all my favorite applications. It's also why I love mouse gestures so much. I don't favor the keyboard or the mouse, I favor whatever my grubby hands are currently controlling.

That's why I thought I would like the fingerworks touchstream LP keyboard. I've known several friends that have them, they report various degrees of success. Of course, the reason I never got one (besides the price) was because of the lack of tactile feedback of the keys, and the fingerworks keyboard faded off as a distant memory as I consider a keyboard without the number pad on the right to minimize the "travel" of my hand.



But my interest was renewed this afternoon when I found (via a totalfark post) the "Combimouse."

I can't imagine a stranger looking device that I'd want on my desk, but I would like to play around with it for a while. I looked at the video they have available. Once you get used to the fact that your hands moving around when they're typing, it seems like an interesting approach. I think I would probably "re-center" or "home" the right half when I wanted to start typing... I'm willing to bet it would be a reflex for me to move the right side back in tune with the normal keyboard layout. I'd be fine with that- just as long as I'm not physically picking my hand up and moving it all the time. I know, I know, I've written about this in the past, on other sites and forums and I always get the "stop being so lazy" comments... it's not about that at all.

There's a very brief, not too terribly profound usability study (from 2004) that they post on the website that indicates for mousing:

There was no significant difference between the CombiMouse and the traditional mouse.

...and in regards to typing:

As a keyboard, the CombiMouse performed well, but results showed that the participants were significantly faster typing with the traditional keyboard. This is not surprising given the fact that users had little practice with the new device.

Looks like an interesting approach, although I think the scroll wheel on the left side of the keyboard should be rotated 90 degrees- seems like an odd orientation for it. Oh- I also thought about gaming. Maybe not for first person shooters, but this seems like a "poor man's" nostromo-type thing.


And in conclusion, neither one of these devices might not be any good (afterall, fingerworks is already out of business according to their website). But I at least appreciate someone taking the time and effort to solve this...and I'll keep continuing to track it until someone gets its right.

I've always wondered why infant/toddler jeans have pockets on them....I mean actual functioning pockets. Seems like a ton of wasted effort that could be saved by using a "pocket facade" (I just coined that, thank you very much). I suppose it's in case there are some keys to the 'ol stroller that need to be secured during naptime, or perhaps for smuggling an extra pacifier around (assuming you don't mind a little pocket lint on it)

I mean, the things only last like a week or so before they're too small. I'd rather we just saved the trouble and effort/cost of the pockets and roll the price savings in to the pair of jeans I'm going to buy next time.

I will admit though, I did put car keys in my kid's pocket on occasion. Because:

• I dont' like carrying things in my pocket, and well, he's not worried about fashion
  
• I wanted to make sure I never left without him
  

Updated

..it's nice to see someone harnessing the power of the sun to relieve us from...well, the power of the sun.

Whether or not this solar powered fan (warning- as with all "as seen on TV" webpages, it's horrible) does in fact keep your car cooler is not something I really care about- after all *I* live in Minnesota. I know, I know- feel free to email me when January rolls around and you're wearing shorts, sandles and sipping on margaritas. We'll call it equal.

No- I'm more concerned with the weather stripping that accompanies this gadget. Is my understanding correct that you have to lay out the weather stripping on your window every time you want to employ this thing? Seems labor intensive and not very user friendly. That might be why you can hardly tell from the commercial that you have to use it (they only show it twice in the video and rolled up at the end of the commercial).

Anyway, still a funny, strange, heart-in-the-right-place type of gadget. I'd be curious if anyone is dedicated enough to lay down the weather stripping and mount this thing instead of just cracking a window on your way into the grocery store to just grab some eggs. Seems like too much trouble for a what is probably not that terribly large of a problem.

As an update to this post-kmaage points out an "AskTog" (great articles there BTW) article on child safety seats and the "out of site out of mind" of children in the backseat. Buried in the comments is this great quote that goes along with this post-

The simple solution is a system that automatically keeps the interior of the car cool without compromising security. A small solar panel providing electricity to the A/C fan, to keep the air circulating, is cheap and simple. It has the additional benefits of preventing cracked windshields, keeping the car bearable for when you enter it, and reducing gasoline consumption from running the A/C at maximum when you get into a car that feels like an oven. All of these benefits accrue to those without children or pets in the car.

I don't see any need for fancy controllers--the more sun that hits the solar cell, the faster the fan turns. Sunlight is an excellent proxy for heating of the car's interior.

*Or nature is cycling through another "hot spell" or there is no problem at all. Take your pick depending on your beliefs- but dangit man, it sure is hot out there.

For the general officers that like to be situationally aware even while hitting the trails- now you can have access to all your major computer systems from the comfort of your mountain bike.

Ok, probably not. Maybe Jeff or some other avid mountain biker will chime in. I found this on Gizmodo today, the appropriately named, "RAM Mount" (appropriate because a)You look like you have horns or antlers or b)you will eventually ram into something)

Look- don't get me wrong here, obviously I'm all for helping users get things done, but there has to be a reasonable limit...and by reasonable, I mean not goofy.


This thing would make an elk envious. Would anyone ever consider mounting all this gear on your handlebars? What are you taking conference calls on your smartphone while out on the road? -have a penchant to get a second opinion on the map plotting? I can see wanting to see *a* map.. but both the plugger and the mapping device? I'm not into this scene, but I can't imagine this being useful for anyone and I'd love hear something to the contrary as to what three devices you need to have visible at all times (while riding anything with handlebars).

...and who would actually ride down the street let alone a bike trail with this thing strapped to your rig? I know anyone doing serious biking would be concered about this apperatus throwing off weight and getting caught on something, or just plain broken in the event of an ill-timed dismount. Again, I'm not exactly hip the the social norms here, but I'd imagine someone pulling up to the bike trail with this thing in tow would be the equivalent of some guy showing up at college party wearying a waist pack, phone w/clip attached to belt, same with a PDA and a Swiss Army knife to top it off.

Then again, what do I know? This could very well be the single greatest advancement in biking (of all sorts) in the last 20 years- feel free to set me straight.

wikipedia on NORAD