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I was recently lamenting to a friend of mine that I couldn’t go for a walk, because I’d inevitably end up at a Starbucks, where I would then buy a mocha that negated any benefits of the walk. My friend sensibly suggested that I leave my purse behind and just take my phone.

This is a picture of the fire escape route from a hotel where I recently stayed.  I am sure this image is perfectly clear to the architect or engineers that worked on this building.  Unfortunately, the designers of the information failed to understand their audience and, more importantly, the context in which the information will be consumed

The Kinect, for Microsoft’s Xbox 360, came out almost a year ago. It’s a control interface that uses only motion sensors and voice recognition to control the gaming console.

Recently a friend of mine asked me if I knew any freelance writers who would be interested in a temporary gig. He needed someone to write a few general audience pamphlets about his gaming company. Nothing too technical. 

I currently own a couple late 80’s three-series BMWs. What I love about these cars is how responsive they are to my inputs. Steering, throttle, brake, the car does what I want it to do. With manual transmissions and ABS and cruise control removed, there is only one entity controlling the car, me. If I want to threshold brake through a corner, I can push the limits beyond what ABS would allow.

Stanley Marcus, of Neiman Marcus fame, once said, “There are only two things of importance. One is the customer, and the other is the product. If you take care of the customer, he comes back. If you take care of the product, it doesn't come back.” These days, that focus on customers and products comes together in the User Experience.

I’m always amazed by the technology available in today’s smartphone, like video calling or playing games in 3D. The stuff you can do with a device that fits in your pocket is amazing.

One of the primary draws to mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets is the ability to download and install apps on the device. The paradigm of an application storefront began in early versions of Apple’s iOS, and has since been adopted by all smart device operating systems. Now what interests me the most about these storefronts is how people use them.

Mobile consumers these days are demanding faster browsing experiences. This study shows that a good number of users expect web pages to load on their mobile devices at speeds comparable to desktop browsing.

Most people give me an odd look when I say I took a class on “Science Fiction Prototyping.” It’s not exactly a clear term. Are you prototyping science fiction stories? Prototyping some other kind of fiction using science? Prototyping science with fiction?
Bingo!