Not gone, just gone dark
No posts since 2013, but not unreachable. See LinkedIn (link at left) for more.
Crude Technologies
Latest posts
Fix to remove or uninstall MacFuse on Mountain Lion when you get the error "MacFUSE Uninstaller: Can not find the Archive.bom for MacFUSE Core package."
If you've been upgrading OSX for a while, you may have some kernel extensions lying around that are no longer compatible, and may have been installed long enough ago that the uninstallers don't work. When upgrading from Mountain Lion to Mavericks I noticed MacFuse 2.1.7 which stopped development back in 2009. There's a 2.1.9 that works on Lion and a 2.2.0, but the project has been superseded by…
How not to launch your new phone — Facebook Home takes a lesson from the Google Play book
Facebook Home looks like a slick product, initially offering a first class experience exclusively on the HTC First, sold through AT&T: “The HTC First is the best Home experience possible. There’s no setup—just turn it on, log into Facebook, and see your friends. Available in matte black, white, red and pale blue with a 4.3″ screen, 5 megapixel rear-facing camera and LTE capability. Exclusively at…
Why, thank you, FedEx Manager Suraj Golden, I'll be right over
How is this obviously a scam? Even without getting technical and examining email headers, let's review: Is the email from a FedEx email address? No . Is the email sent to just you and only you? No . Is the email logo and branding all perfect? No . Is the email free of typos? No . (lack of space between date and Courier) Is the email in conventional English? No . (should be "The courier" our "Our…
We Built This!
I'm thrilled to share the results of what we've been working on this year: a live video transcoding and streaming service to take a broadcast quality source from a venue or live show and turn it into the multiple bit-rates and multiple protocols needed to serve the video stream to users watching on anything from a 3G Android phone to a Retina Macbook Pro. Our live video solution is being used…
YouTube asks for your real name, can't imagine you might want privacy
Back in 2009, YouTube started requiring a Google Account for new users. In mid-2010, YouTube forced original usernames to "connect to" a Google Account. Now YouTube's prompting you to supply a real name to go with that that account. They justify this by suggesting your username is hard to read, though in my case it's a dictionary word. They go on to tout "start using the name people know you by",…
iOS vs Android OS upgrade adoption rates as of June 2012
For me, this was the most interesting chart during the WWDC 2012 Keynote . Android 4 and iOS 5 were released at the same time. And as of now, here are the percentages of users still on each mobile OS version: // via engadget This is one of many reasons it's so challenging to support streaming video on Android. Even within version 2.3, various point releases fix and break significant chunks of…
Verisign seizes .com domain registered via foreign Registrar on behalf of US Authorities
At the end of the day what has happened is that US law (in fact, Maryland state law) as been imposed on a .com domain operating outside the USA, which is the subtext we were very worried about when we commented on SOPA . Even though SOPA is currently in limbo, the reality that US law can now be asserted over all domains registered under .com, .net, org, .biz and maybe .info (Afilias is…
The Constitution and Founding Fathers make Rick Santorum want to throw up too
JFK's famous speech on freedom of religion in America makes Rick Santorum want to throw up . In 1960, John F. Kennedy addressed Protestant concerns that he might try to direct American policies in the interests of the Catholic church: “I am wholly opposed to the state being used by any religious group, Catholic or Protestant, to compel, prohibit, or persecute the free exercise of any other…
Don't only practice your art ...
The year’s worst tech trend: complexity
In 2011 the entire tech ecosystem descended toward entropy. Devices and services had a harder time playing together, and simply choosing what to use became an occasion for a flowchart. Some of the simplest tech questions — How should I send a text message to a friend? Which video phone service should I use? — are now hopelessly fraught. There’s a big opportunity, in 2012 and beyond, for startups…
Richard Prince lawsuit focuses on limits of appropriation
Today’s flow of creative expression, riding a tide of billions of instantly accessible digital images and clips, is rapidly becoming so free and recycling so reflexive that it is hard to imagine it being slowed, much less stanched [by copyright law]. via nytimes.com
Hell freezes over: Forrester urges IT to support the Mac
Forrester Research, die-hard supporters of Windows in the enterprise, finally concedes that Macs help employees be more productive, saying: “Mac users are your HEROes and you should enable them not hinder them.” “HERO,” it turns out, is a Forrester acronym for Highly Empowered and Resourceful Operatives — “the 17% of information workers who use new technologies and find innovative ways to be more…
Steve Jobs at home in 1982
STEVE JOBS AT HOME IN 1982 — “This was a very typical time. I was single. All you needed was a cup of tea, a light, and your stereo, you know, and that’s what I had.” via digitaljournalist.org From his living room to the iPad in yours, Steve’s aesthetic, his quality, carried all the way through. The following words are from Steve Jobs’ Stanford commencement speech in June 2005: “Your work is going…
Steve Jobs’ best quotes - WSJ
On Technology “It takes these very simple-minded instructions—‘Go fetch a number, add it to this number, put the result there, perceive if it’s greater than this other number’––but executes them at a rate of, let’s say, 1,000,000 per second. At 1,000,000 per second, the results appear to be magic.” [ Playboy, Feb. 1, 1985 ] *** “The problem is I’m older now, I’m 40 years old, and this stuff…
Usability week ending August 21st
Friday, 19th August, 3:36 PM Key principles of digital #typography : http://j.mp/nEhiny #fonts #css #webdesign Wednesday, 17th August, 11:33 AM @ericasadun Your app page clearly shows it has OneStar, but your app didn't automatically call 911 after my car accident. ONE STAR Tuesday, 16th August, 6:39 PM What if nobody knows what your icons mean? Guess what -- chances are, they don't:…
Usability week ending August 7th
Friday, 5th August, 2:43 PM @sugarsock content aware fill, woo hoo! #cs5 Friday, 5th August, 2:04 PM Game mechanics a part of #design and #usability , takes understanding users wanting gratifying flow: http://j.mp/cJB4b0 #ux #gamification Thursday, 4th August, 2:25 PM Understanding how users learn can help us design experiences that support the user throughout the entire process:…
Microsoft Support article content disabled if you're not using the right OS
I get asked a lot of small business computer "how to" questions. Today I was asked how to access a Microsoft Access database file over the Internet, if the .mdb file is uploaded to a web hosting provider such as 1&1. After the "you're doing it wrong" part of the conversation yielded assurances they'd eventually at least upsize to MSDE, I forwarded a few URLs related to getting this bad idea…
Usability week ending July 31st
Friday, 29th July, 6:53 PM House committee approves bill requiring ISPs to spy on their users: http://j.mp/nafBhD #eff #privacy #internet #legal Thursday, 28th July, 3:09 PM With an LP, I possessed something tangible. When I download from iTunes, I can listen, but I possess nothing I can touch: http://j.mp/pLrhZf Thursday, 28th July, 12:31 PM Rethinking ad supported vs. web subscription…
Usability week ending July 24th
Friday, 22nd July, 1:25 PM Chosen is a fantastic #javascript plug-in for #jQuery and #Prototype to make long select boxes usable: http://j.mp/pULEaN #ux #ui Wednesday, 20th July, 7:49 PM Tom Anderson, MySpace founder, on whether Google will favor an algorithmic or user-controlled approach to your stream: http://j.mp/qYWDd6 Wednesday, 20th July, 1:07 PM Picking apart the TechCrunch redesign with a…
Usability week ending July 17th
Friday, 15th July, 5:27 PM Developer attention to #Android has dwindled significantly over first and second quarters of 2011: http://j.mp/nFecuF #stats #ios Friday, 15th July, 5:24 PM How web designers can handle the variety of #font weights available in professional quality web fonts: http://j.mp/oDAEJU #css #typography Friday, 15th July, 5:21 PM Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and many other online…
Improving Contacts management for Google+ Circles
" People not yet using Google+ " defaults to all your Gmail Contacts. This is a two-fold problem: 1) Gmail defaults to adding contacts for anyone you interact with. I had 1500 spurious contacts (newsletters, web service email endpoints, e-commerce sites, etc) to weed through. I couldn't easily find my actual friends. 2) There's no way to say "Don't recommend these contacts to me any more",…
Usability week ending July 10th
Friday, 8th July, 6:17 PM User testing in the wild -- when your user has never used a computer: http://j.mp/psldVH #usability #ux #testing Thursday, 7th July, 7:37 PM The inscrutability of Gmail Detailed Technical Info and Yahoo Error Code 15 http://post.ly/2M1dZ Thursday, 7th July, 5:18 PM How building a great admin #dashboard can lead to an amazing product: http://j.mp/p1Tv8i #ui #saas /via…
The inscrutability of Gmail Detailed Technical Info and Yahoo Error Code 15
I'm fascinated by the usability decisions of the web giants. With their volumes of users, effects of even the tiniest change can become the stuff of usability buzz. But sometimes their messaging has me scratching my head, wondering if the total lack of useful information must be deliberate. Perhaps it is purposely devoid of helpfulness as a way to brush users off without making them irate: "Oh, I…
Usability week ending July 3rd
Friday, 1st July, 4:36 PM #Android "freeloaders" don't believe in paying for content; #Apple customers an "ideal paying demographic": http://j.mp/jrZvWs Thursday, 30th June, 11:41 AM Demystifying #Android screen densities, learning fundamentals of Android #design patterns, taking #screenshots : http://j.mp/kHMjcl Wednesday, 29th June, 1:05 PM How sausage is made -- a detailed IA, UX, and UI design…
Google Plus is starting off on the right foot with "Takeout"
On day one, your profile, your contacts and groups, and your photos, are yours to take. This is a good start. Read more about the privacy issue, and fixing online sharing, in the 28 June 2011 issue of New York Times.
Usability week ending June 26th
Friday, 24th June, 12:09 PM If you exclude Facebook from the rest of the Web, minutes of use shrank by 9% from March 2010 to March 2011: http://j.mp/klRnSG #socialweb Friday, 24th June, 11:05 AM How to be an easy read -- making type look interesting: http://j.mp/lnRj3j #ux #ui #webdesign Wednesday, 22nd June, 6:41 PM A "portent of doom" for anyone that relies on multiple #cookies for tracking,…
Usability week ending June 19th
Saturday, 18th June, 6:44 PM Why does #Google keep giving me buttons that don’t do anything for me, the user? Serving engineering vs. user experience: http://j.mp/misq8X Saturday, 18th June, 6:31 PM Social content discovery is broken, but Instapaper could fix it and save itself from Apple in the process: http://j.mp/jiXpSq #socialweb Saturday, 18th June, 1:31 PM The world needs more weird people…
Usability week ending June 12th
Saturday, 11th June, 10:56 AM How to find iPad or iPhone device ID (UDID) when stuck on iOS 5 beta update: http://j.mp/lOAF21 #ipad #iphone #guid #udid #beta #ios #tip Friday, 10th June, 11:17 PM Why the new task UI in Taskrabbit has great behavioral design: http://j.mp/kH8LO7 #ux #ui #ia Thursday, 9th June, 6:46 PM Try "persuasive design" to change attitudes or behaviors of users through…
Usability week ending June 5th
Friday, 3rd June, 10:37 PM Using dominance, influence, steadiness, conscientiousness (DISC) to create #usability #personas from the Smurfs: http://j.mp/lPJwiO #ux #ia Thursday, 2nd June, 11:08 PM #iPad succeeds because it has eliminated #complexity , not because it covered up complexity with a touch-based shell: http://j.mp/lrEqI1 #ux Tuesday, 31st May, 11:54 PM #Personalization channels people…