Progress bar, meet traffic light

While progress indications are a crucial feature of most consumer software nowadays, they are not so common in public technology. Now the "Eko Traffic Light" has incorporated a circular progress bar around a the red traffic light. Designer Damjan Stankovic claims the device would reduce stress felt by drivers and could help the environment.  

The outer rim of the traffic light has segments which turn from red to black in a clockwise direction. The Serbian designer said the Eko can be easily installed onto existing traffic light systems that have a bigger red light.
 

He spent three years developing initial sketches into a prototype that was a winner at this year's Red Dot design awards. The designer is in negotiations with manufacturers. Similar versions are already operational in Ukraine, Thailand and Brazil. Source: Daily Mail, 19 December 2009. tinyurl.com/y8g466o

Photo credit: relogik.com/eko

Windows 7 tries to “create a Mac look and feel”, claims Microsoft executive

A Microsoft executive was quoted in an interview as saying "what we've tried to do with Windows 7...is create a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics". According to the BBC, there have been previous suggestions that Microsoft has borrowed technology ideas.

Many similarities exist between Windows 7 and Mac OS X. "One of the things that people say an awful lot about the Apple Mac is that the OS is fantastic, that it's very graphical and easy to use," said Mr Aldous. “What we've tried to do with Windows 7 - whether it's traditional format or in a touch format - is create a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics. We've significantly improved the graphical user interface, but it's built on that very stable core Vista technology, which is far more stable than the current Mac platform, for instance."

Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc countered the claims in a post on the official Windows blog. "Unfortunately this came from a Microsoft employee who was not involved in any aspect of designing Windows 7," adding that the claims were “inaccurate and uninformed." Source: BBC, 13 November 2009. tinyurl.com/yeye8kz

http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertnelson/ / CC BY 2.0

Facebook lite goes back to basics

A sleeker, trimmer, cleaner version of Facebook is now available. Facebook lite, initially developed for those with slow connections, is faster and simpler, offering fewer services than the classic site. The options are limited to letting users write on their wall, post photos and videos, view events and browse other user's profiles. There are no apps or special boxes.

"It appears, at a quick glance, to be a better site for Facebook newbies or for anyone who finds the current site overwhelming and noisy," said Rafe Needleman at technology website Cnet. Terence O'Brien at Switched.com said "The simple site loads noticeably faster, is easier to navigate, and is much easier on the eyes thanks to the lack of people sending you 'virtual booze' or asking you to join their 'vampire fraternity'".

Many industry watchers said they believed that even users with good internet connections might well flock to Facebook Lite because of its new look and ease of use. "It's good to see Facebook listening to their users," wrote one user. Source: BBC, 11 September 2009. tinyurl.com/krz7js

Yahoo gets user-centred treatment

Yahoo has given its front page a makeover in an attempt to consolidate its position as the main portal to the web. "We want to be at the centre of people's lives online," said Yahoo's consumer experiences head Tapan Bhat. "There is a destination for everything you are about in just a click or two. Now we are looking at Yahoo holistically, all centred around the user," Mr Bhat told reporters. Users are now able to personalise the page and customise links to Yahoo and other services they use the most from news to social networks to email to movies. There are over 60 applications, with more expected, and consumers can add their own. Yahoo has described the overhaul as the most "radical" and "fundamental" make-over of the site since it began more than a decade ago. Yahoo's front page is seen as vital to the company's future and is regarded as prime real estate because it serves as an entry point for users, and as a result commands premium advertisement prices. Users who want to take advantage of the new home page will have to opt-in and click on a link to select the new design. Source: BBC, 21 July 2009. tinyurl.com/lysf8g

Do social netwoking sites deliberately exploit poor privacy usability?

Bruce Schneier, BT's chief security technology officer, discusses "privacy salience" in The Guardian. Leslie John, Alessandro Acquisti, and George Loewenstein at Carnegie Mellon University demonstrated in a series of experiments that reassuring people about privacy makes them more, not less, concerned. In experimental online surveys, when privacy issues were made salient, people reacted negatively to the subsequent confidentiality assurance and were less likely to reveal personal information.

Schneier argues that this phenomenon does a lot to explain how social networking sites think about privacy. "From a business perspective, social networking sites don't want their members to exercise their privacy rights very much. They want members to be comfortable disclosing a lot of data about themselves."

Joseph Bonneau and Soeren Preibusch of Cambridge University have studied privacy on 45 social networking sites and found that privacy settings were often confusing and hard to access. Facebook was the worst. Privacy tends to increase with the age and popularity of a site. General-use sites tend to have more privacy features than niche sites. The researchers found that sites consistently hide privacy details, while promoting promote the benefits of disclosing personal data.

A two-track marketing strategy seems to obscure privacy issues from the general user, but reassure 'privacy fundamentalists'. "The marketing need to reduce privacy salience will frustrate market solutions to improve privacy; sites would much rather obfuscate the issue than compete on it as a feature", says Schneier. Source: Guardian, 15 July 2009. tinyurl.com/ml7kv4

Facebook sorts out privacy mess

Following many privacy bungles, Facebook is overhauling its complicated privacy controls to simplify its users' ability to control which information they share with their friends, family, colleagues and strangers. Facebook is consolidating its existing six privacy pages and more than 30 settings onto a single privacy page with standardised privacy options for various pieces of content. Previously, users had to navigate page after page to exclude bosses or co-workers from seeing their photo albums, status updates or shared links. One of Facebook's most notable privacy mishaps was a tracking tool called "Beacon," which broadcast information about their activities at other Web sites. "They are learning how to listen carefully to their users," said Jules Polonetsky, co-chairman and director of the Washington-based Future of Privacy Forum and former chief privacy officer at AOL. He added that Facebook has learned from the past that suddenly making big changes, whatever they are, has not been the most effective approach. The site is also getting rid of its regional networks, which have led to users inadvertently sharing information with network members in an entire city or country. Source: Sydney Morning Herald, 2 July 2009. tinyurl.com/nxyazl

Pedestrian crossings: Animal kwackers

Comedian Frank Skinner reports on the planned Tokyo-style ‘scramble crossing’ at Oxford Circus in The Times. According to Skinner, the crossings work in Japan and Canada because its inhabitants are, “extremely polite and civilised, so both crossings were a delight to use”. But in London, “It’ll only need a brushed elbow or a blocked step to spin the whole thing into a whirl of aggressive indignation”. In the 1960s, the Ministry of Transport developed ‘panda crossing’. Unlike its zebra-esque colleague, the panda road pattern took the form of triangles. It also had stop lights and a sign for pedestrians that said ‘CROSS’. However, it didn’t have a sign that said ‘DON’T CROSS’ because, quaintly, this would have contravened the existing right-of-way law. (The now defunct crossing used a coding mechanism based on flashing and pulsating amber phases which were subtle yet very significant.) Skinner laments the misuse of acronyms and lack of animal resemblance in this and other animal-inspired crossings, including the pelican crossing, puffin crossing, toucan crossing, and pegasus crossing. But “despite the DfT’s idiosyncrasies – maybe even because of them – I love pedestrian crossings. They seem to epitomise man’s struggle to tame technology”, says Skinner. Source: The Times, April 17 2009. http://tinyurl.com/czeahm

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kunel/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

“You’re always on your @#$&&$ computer!!!”

Microsoft’s Bill Buxton reflects that, in the pre-computer age, we had specific rooms in our homes for certain activities. Nowadays, for many everyday activities, social cues have disappeared as activities are centred around a single digital device. And this causes all kinds of trouble. So how can we redesign tools and technologies such that they encourage behaviours, and visibility of activity, that are consistent with our places and values? Buxton suggests extending the “persona” concept used in user-centred design with the notion of “placona”, the canonical set of physical and social spaces within which an activity might be situated. “If one of the purposes of design and innovation is to improve our lives – for business, artistic, or familial purposes – then design that does not consider the larger social, cultural, and physical ecosystem is going to miss the mark.” Source: Business Week. http://tinyurl.com/d78nud