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Month: April 2010

The Future of Shopping

The Future of Shopping

I am often amazed at what other people find amazing. For example, my mother recently sent me the below video entitled “The Future of Shopping.” In this video a women is at a clothing retailer and browsing a digitised catalogue of their wares. She is able to “turn the page” by waving an arm and interact with on-screen buttons to select an item.

However cool such an interface may be– do not get me wrong, it is very, very cool– I fail to be as taken as the people around me. The reason behind this is probably the fact that I tend to view things as their individual parts rather than the subject as a whole. Take, for example, the Google Sky Map application on my phone. This application allows you to point your phone in any direction and show you what stars, constellations, planets, ect one would see if the Earth was not in their way and in the absence of bright lights. All the required technologies have not only existed for a while but everyone is familiar with them in one form or another. Google Sky Map is just a clever application of nearly static images combined with a compass and GPS; They are old horses with new tricks. A neat application but hardly as amazing as everyone seems to think that it is.

Is everyones head that far in the sand? There seems to be a huge market for companies intentionally underestimating people…

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The Future of Shopping

Web Design with No Images?

Web Design with No Images?

I am working with a local business. After some back-and-forth it was decided that the web page has to go. In its place should be a new, simple, easy-to-use site.

While pondering this– and considering I have absolutely zero ability when it comes to these things– I decided to propose an image-less site. CSS can do some pretty neat things in a standardised way but not everything works in every browser. On the other hand, if done correctly, the desktop and mobile versions of the site can be one.

Can I pull this off and have something appealing to show these people?

Developers of Facebook

Developers of Facebook

Facebook maintains a large community developer base. Some of these developers are responsible for the well-off Farmville and the like. If the user base is there so will there be developers with dollar signs in their eyes.

Anyone who likes can view the API for free and start writing code. This availability– plus the large user base– is proving to be a fertile ground for mom ‘n pop-style, web-based applications. Perhaps this is worth a look?

Update 2010.04.10
After spending days researching this I have come to the conclusion that there is virtually no documentation of substance. Even the Facebook-supplied examples do not function as promised. Although there are some great, complex applications out there I do not consider this worth my time right now. My hat (and my pitty) go off to the people who got a job working with these APIs. May your families find another way to eat.

Bitch, Bitch, Bitch

Bitch, Bitch, Bitch

I have bitched about it before and I will bitch about it again: I have no free time. This past week has been one non-stop head ache after another. I all but slept in the office all last week under very stressful conditions. I had to try to do everything I did not get to do over the work week during the weekend (which I failed at, thank you Easter).

That is all.