McDonald's filed a patent application for sandwiches. I think this is one of the clearest indicators of the absurdity of the current intellectual property system so far [this month]. I believe that people should have the right to their ideas (the Earl of Sandwich can file a patent if he wants), but that the system is currently being abused.
Just one of the many fun games over at Wiicade, Ellipsis is a rapid fire survival game (my favorite flash games genre by the way). Though not addicting as some, it is still worth playing... for hours. Play Ellipsis
Marketing is the shock and awe campaign in the war for your dollars. The most powerful weapon in "their" arsenal is a list of features. That list helps the lowly consumer differentiate between the 101 hammers available from Home Depot and choose which iPod suits their "needs".
Everything has features now. There are no simple products anymore that serve a single function. Features have evolved from a simple advertising ploy to actually being what is sold. There is some sort of macabre competition to see how many "features" can be packed into a single device, piece of software, or automobile.
I don’t deny that many of them have useful functions, but simply adding more features is not necessarily an addition of value. For instance: I do not need fifteen cup holders in a Mini-van that seats seven. Most people aren’t very good at dual wielding beverages. However, even more than physical products software thrives on features.
Software with more features than useful elements does the same job as software that only has the same useful elements. The problem is that features often cost more whether you want them or not. I am not necessarily referring to price. Unnecessary features can cost you space (on your desktop), time (on your CPU), or simply brain power (learning the darn thing).
Google has had remarkable success because at the surface it is extremely simple and easy to use. While it has quite a few features packed under the hood, they don't need to be used or understood to fulfill the primary functions. The features are not intimidating and do not "clutter" the interface, but they are there for those who want them.
The argument can be made that features are simply "additions" to the primary purpose of the product. However, the marketing world promotes those features over the product because it is often not a question of buying the particular item, it is deciding which brand to buy (as in the case of hammers from Home Depot).
Next to the digital world, cell phones are the worst offenders. Despite the convenience factor, I do not want my entire life to be built around one Camera/Phone/MP3 Player/Organizer/Browser that has the tendency to break or get lost. Are all those feature really necessary? Has our information overload progressed to the point that every device must have multiple simultaneous functions?
I like simple and elegant solutions. Beating a problem to death with a bludgeon of features is effective, but not exactly the most efficient solution. That probably makes me the marketing world’s worst nightmare. I hope I'm not alone.
It seems rather asinine to entirely revamp the UI of a product that is so widely used, but that’s what Microsoft did in Office 12. I'm not really sure why they declared war on menus, as they have worked wonderfully for years. Here is the new layout:
The net result is so wildly different from the traditional UI that I fear a lot of people will have a hard time adapting. If nothing else, the redesign will intimidate many of the non-nerd-folk of the world and cost Microsoft sales.
One of the chief features of menus was that they would display their functions in reasonably plain text. However, with the Ribbon, everything is suddenly a button.
Personally, I don't care how it looks as long as the keyboard shortcuts are the same. However, the crux of this issue is consistency. For most people, switching their brains is difficult enough even when they have similar interfaces.
The problem arises when it is discovered that the traditional ways are inefficient. The modern keyboard is a perfect example of the problem of consistency. It was designed to be horribly inefficient yet remains the standard because it was the first to be universally adopted in the days of typewriters. However, since it is the standard, most people are loathe to change because they have already learned how to type once (and that was hard enough).
In Office 12, Microsoft seems to have focused on adding pretty, bubbly crap to the suite and helping users add pretty, bubbly crap to their documents. Here are a few of the features in Office 12.
Office 12 Features
Automatic Ribbon switching based on what is selected - This looks handy, and could prove to be useful, so long as the fundamental commands are not covered up (it appears that copy and paste are always visible).
PowerPoint upgrades - PowerPoint features two new and interesting and useful features: Image Reflections and IGX Graphics. IGX Graphics are apparently an extremely simply way to add relevant graphs and diagrams to presentations.
Conclusion
Prettiness looks like more of a priority than consistency. I will need to experiment with the new version for awhile before I can really determine its worth.
In the meantime here is a [canned?] demonstration of some of the new features:
One of my favorite blogs as of late (Get Rich Slowly) has an interesting post on his site's use advertisements. It explains how they serve as motivation for his writing and how he hates when there are "get rich quickly" type ones on his site. Both points are quite logical, but it was the comments that got me thinking.
joshua Says: "Sorry JD, but like many (most?) Firefox users, I have adblock plus installed, with a full community driven filter list installed, so I don't see any ads on your site."
My first thought was: "I'm with him," I haven't seen an ad on GRS since I started reading it a few months ago. That thought sent me on an ugly tangent though.
A lot of websites pay for their bandwidth with advertising. An increasing number are professional bloggers who rely on sponsors for their bread, butter and AMD Barton processors. Does that mean that I'm stealing content by automatically blocking just about every advertisement on the internet?
What is it about work that is so boring? Moreover, what is it about video games that are so enthralling? From office workers engrossed with Spider Solitaire to college students that find everything from corny flash games to Halo 2 infinitely preferable to actual productivity, people would rather play games than work.
The most obvious explanation is that humans, college students, and their professional contemporaries are... lazy.
Why Video Games?
However, when it comes down to it, what is so enthralling about digital, interactive entertainment? What makes it so much more appealing than what needs to be done? A case could be made for the deteriorating moral standards of American society just as readily as it could be made for a fundamental level of sloth that is the result of something in the water supply.
I'm sure there are deep seated psychological explanations for this, but the bottom line is that video games are more stimulating.
Even the simplest of today's video games require high level problem solving, fine tuned visual observation skills, and fairly precise motor control (depending on your sensitivity settings). That is for the least complicated of games. The more complex ones involve auditory stimuli, tactile feedback in the form of vibration, and usually emotional involvement (ever been angry when your character died?).
Any 100 level psychology course will teach you that each one of those functions requires a different part of your brain. Despite how it may seem come finals week, the brain LIKES to be used.
While destroying the curve on a multi-variable calculus test theoretically provides a certain rush of pleasure (I'm just assuming here), a similar feeling can be achieved following a round of Ragdoll Avalanche II. The point is that video games provide more concentrated stimulus than most tasks in the real world, despite comparable rewards .
The Big [60" HDTV] Picture
It is no small wonder that the first symptoms of stimulus addiction are beginning to show through (ADD?). Like a drug that can be taken in through any of the senses, excessive stimulus can distort reality and make the "user" long for just one more round, one more instant message, or one more email.
We live in the Information Age. Stimulus is everywhere, and when it isn't we experience withdrawal on some level. How many hours can you go without checking your email or cell phone? Stimulus addiction is not a problem limited to gamers. We may have the most advanced form of this addiction, but it is by no means an isolated problem.
As society continues to move faster, the information deluge will intensify. More stimuli in shorter and more concentrated doses will be required until some breaking point. Whether it’s the societal version of the point of diminishing returns or some other catastrophe; productivity will not be able to compete with stimulus unless productivity becomes more stimulating.
This is a random list of clichés that Sean, Lynn, and I noticed about Star Trek.
Metaphors, no matter how esoteric, are always right.
Breaking the Prime Directive is the right thing to do (except when required by the plot).
Ejecting the warp core solves almost all problems.
If ejecting the warp core doesn’t work, reversing the polarity does.
Random scientific words used in conjunction are always “true”.
Everyone speaks English, especially previously unknown alien species.
Every planet is "M-Class."
The Enterprise flies at the speed of plot.
In the great nothingness of space, there are always convenient nebulas for hiding purposes.
It isn't ironic to worry about your career when there is no money.
There aren't any Arabs, because Star Trek takes place in the future.
Weapons are powered by dramatic tension. The more powerful the shot, the longer it takes to get ready.
In the 24th century, fish (especially those owned by Piccard) will feed themselves and be invisible 70% of the time.
Spacesuits are an unnecessary encumbrance in a space battle.
Energy is never conserved (even with perfect fusion reactions).
Projectile weapons, swords, and chainsaws are completely underrated when dealing with the Borg. (I’d like to see them adapt to a katana)
The holodeck is never used for what everyone knows the holodeck would be used for. That is because everyone in the future is secretly an English major.
The crew can be taken over by mysterious forces multiple times without any emotional or psychological damage.
Warp limits are meant to be broken.
What happens when the Laws of Physics are broken is shown, how they are overcome is not.
Wesley can always save the day, especially after nearly getting everyone killed.
There are no paradoxes in Star Trek, especially when time travel is involved.
Giant unknown probes will always try to destroy Earth.
Worf, no matter how badly wounded, cannot die (permanently).
I am in the habit of posting extremely addicting timewasters in my blog from time to time. However, this one is not one of those times. QWERTY Warriors is in fact a great way to improve your typing speed and accuracy, especially since your "life" depends on it.
Oh, and try to beat my high score on the Impossible difficulty... Click to Play
I finally installed Firefox 2. While not as unpleasant as my pessimism predicted, it did take a toll on my extensions. However, it is possible to help your favorite extensions rise from their ashes like a phoenix (or a Firefox).
Download the extension to your desktop (right click->save as)
Change the .xpi to .zip (make sure that you have "Hide Extensions for known File Types" unchecked in Folder Options)
Open the compressed folder
Open install.rdf with notepad or equivalent
Find out what version the extension is for, e.g. '1.5' or '1.6'
Find that version number in Notepad.
Change the maxVersion to 2.5
Save the install.rdf (back in the zip)
Change the .zip back to .xpi
Open the extension with Firefox (open with->browse->firefox.exe)
This is a rather vague process, and I can't guarantee that it will work. However, I assume that you will understand most of these steps if you know what extensions are. If you're having more issues than a magazine rack, post a comment and let me know.
I am a sophomore studying Computer Science at Grove City College. My passions are programming, graphics design, video production, writing, politics, and education.
