Author: Vince Kimball

Michael Fraase.  This is a general rule: As Jay Walljasper, Utne’s editorial director, pointed out in a meeting yesterday afternoon, the problem with mainstream media isn’t how it covers the stories it covers. Rather, the problem can be found in the stories it chooses not to cover. This opportunity space is the elephant in the… Continue reading Michael Fraase

Still clueless after all these years. Quote from this article about the broadband market: “We're still finding that most broadband customers are attracted by speed and other practical benefits,” he said. “It's not viewed as a content-driven medium yet.” I have broadband so I can upload pictures, download freeware and share stuff quicker. Buying content… Continue reading Still clueless after all these years

Presenting to Win.  Harry Pierson reflects on a bad presentation. This reminds me of a book I recently read, and loved: Presenting to Win, by Jerry Weissman.  Jerry used to be a Hollywood producer, and was hired by his friend Ben Rosen, founding VC of Compaq, to help Compaq's CEO on the analyst tour before… Continue reading Presenting to Win

Dictionary of names. Ever struggle to find a name that fits a design persona perfectly? The Kabalarian Philosophy site has a useful name dictionary. You can view male/female names in alpha order or browse by category, e.g. ethnicity or geographic location. Looking for last names? You might find some interesting ones at Vitalog.net's surname database… Continue reading Dictionary of names

A Smart Room to Boost Design Productivity. Environments that enhance collaboration between people are nothing new. For example, SGI's Reality Centers exist since 1995. But this prototype meeting room developed at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), the “Barn,” is a new example of an IT-assisted workspace specifically designed for brainstorming and idea generation. Computerworld wrote an… Continue reading A Smart Room to Boost Design Productivity

Tank, I need a pilot program for a B-212 helicopter.  Used to be, it was hard to find stuff out, especially in a hurry. Now Google makes it so easy to find stuff out in a hurry that I often feel like Trinity in that scene in The Matrix where she barks: Tank, I need… Continue reading Tank, I need a pilot program for a B-212 helicopter

Using CSS for prototyping. Jeff Lash takes on the perennial question of what prototyping tool should IAs use. While not abandoning Visio or Omnigraffle, in Prototyping with Style Jeff suggests that Cascading Style Sheets have a lot to offer and should be looked at seriously as a prototyping medium. One advantage Jeff offers is that… Continue reading Using CSS for prototyping

First Test for Freshmen: Picking Roommates. Some colleges now let freshmen pick their own roommates in an online roommate-selection system that works on the same principles as computer dating. By Tamar Lewin. [New York Times: NYT HomePage]

Charitable Deductions. Are there too many charities? Trent Stamp thinks so. Find out how Charity Navigator dares to hold the nation's nonprofits accountable for their fund-raising. [Fast Company]

Chicken and egg. When I look at today's Web, I see precious little metadata. We mine the scraps we have — email addresses, URLs, HTML metatags — for all they're worth. We know intuitively that with more and richer metadata, we could build more and richer applications. People much smarter than me imagine what it… Continue reading Chicken and egg