Ambient Dashboard is weird. It’s weird in a way that makes me tilt my head to the side. But, somehow, it feels right. People are good at reading dials. We do it every time we drive, look at our thermostats or check a thermometer. They’re just translating what we normally think of as digital data to an analog interface. What’s interesting is that they’re using analog paradigms to do so. They’re not trying to create pie charts or graphs, powerpoint slides or anything else that might feel digital. It’s strictly analog, which is the way to go. Use the tools of the medium to display the data.\
I’ve been talking at work about design and usability (on top of standards and accessibility). This is a perfect example of using the chosen medium to display information. Too many designers try to translate the medium instead of use the medium’s particular advantages to display their content. For example, if it’s a designer used to working in the publishing world, their web designs are going to use magazine conventions and not web conventions. Their web sites will look stale, out of place, and be neither compelling or usable. I see it all the time, all over the place. Instead of doing things the web does well (expandable, flexible display of content, interactivity, portability), they hamstring their products by ignoring those things and making everything look like a magazine page.\
I’ve been trying to come up with a better way to argue this point to designers, and I think I’ve hit a wall. The best I can do is point to products that feel “right” and say, “See?!” Yeah, that’s probably not productive either.
Author: Kevin Lawver
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Different Data
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My Boys
I’ve been slowly transferring our old MiniDV tapes into iMovie and then burning them on DVD. I’m currently importing the video from our trip to Virginia Beach when Max was about eighteen months old. It’s almost jarring how much Max and Brian look alike. I never figured that my kids would have a “look”. My siblings and I look nothing alike (lucky them, I know). If you hold up pictures of Max and Brian from the same age, they could be twins (or, in some cases, the same kid).\
There were these families when I was a kid where the kids all looked alike. When you saw one, you knew exactly what family they were from. It’s still really foreign to me to think that I’m going to have one of those families. There will be a “Lawver Look™”.\
At least it’s a good one… if we all looked like Quasimodo, I’d be worried. But, man, they’re cute. They’re really, really cute. -
Shake That Thing
I think I need to start a new playlist for songs that make you feel like you’ve just snorted two eucalyptus cough drops. You know the ones… make you wake up, no matter what state you’re in. They make you tap your foot, bounce your head (either up and down or side to side), and feel that rush of blood through your body. You’re alive as soon as that song starts, and awake until the final power chord.\
My latest addition to that list is Saturday Morning from Eel’s Shootenanny!:Saturday morning.\
Who’s going to play with me?\
Six in the morning, baby.\
I got a long day ahead o’ me\
…\
Nothing’s ever going to happen ’round here,\
unless we make it happen.\
Sleep away the day if you want to,\
But I got something I gotta do.You will get up and shake it, whether you got it or not. To round out this particular list:
- Uh, Zoom Zip – Soul Coughing
- I See You Baby – Groove Armada (Fatboy Slim Mix) – There are a whole bunch of Groove Armada or Fatboy songs I could put in this list, but I won’t.
- Back in Black – Living Colour’s cover of the classic.
- Breathe (like an Aphex Twin) – The remix of Prodigy’s techno heinie-shaker, without the slightly annoying lyrics
- That Song from Kill Bill – You know the one, where Ren is walking down the hall with her posse. It’s too darn short, but boy, it’ll wake the dead.
- Super Bon Bon – Soul Coughing (again)
- Shake Your Coconuts – Junior Senior – I could have put Move Your Feet in here, but this song cracks me up every time I hear it (and I go into conniptions when Max sings along).
- No Sleep Till Brooklyn – Beastie Boys – Another conniption song. When Max was learning how to talk, he’d sing along with the chorus. There’s nothing funnier than a two year-old, at top volume, from the backseat: “NO SWEEP TILL BWOOKWYN!!!!”
- Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day – Morcheeba – Starts a little slow, but the porn-bass is really really catchy.
- Rockin’ the Suburbs – Ben Folds – Come on, how can you not hop up and shake your pale ass to this one? Another great conniption song. Max knows this whole album… “WOCKIN’ DA SUBURBS!!!”\
Ok, enough of this fun. You can get all of these songs from from the Apple Music store if you’re too lazy to look ’em up. Really, you can.
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Lost Keys
I lost my keys. In the house. After using them. We tore the house apart, and we still can’t find them. I’m at a loss. I have no idea where they could be, and the worst part is, I can’t check my work mail without them (you know those SecurID things? Yeah, on my keyring). If you see my keys, nursing a scotch in a bar, skydiving, riding Space Mountain or mooning nuns, could you drop me a line? I’d really like them back.
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No Idea What To Say
I still have a job. A lot of people I know don’t. Layoffs are horrible, and I’ve seen a few by now. A lot of people I enjoy working with are no longer working here, and it’s a horrible feeling, knowing they’re not dead, but feeling like they are. I have no idea what to say. I talked to one friend who’s leaving, and I think I made her cry. It wasn’t on purpose.\
I still have no idea what to say. -
Superman (Yummy Chocolate Superman)
What did I do before work today? Did I take a shower? Did I get dressed? Did I take my medicine? Yes to all of the above. What else did I do? I made chocolate chip cookies! Yes, before work! I am Superman.
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Nana and The Kids
I can’t help it… Since Heather’s not posting it, I’m gonna do it. Here’s my grandmother trying to keep a grip on her great-grandchildren. Have they no respect for their elders? (There are a couple more, but this is my favorite… it’s a kid-splosion!) I love how Brian looks like he’s about to take flight.
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Cooking Shows That Don’t Suck
This Salon article on cooking shows was entertaining, and I can’t agree more with their take on Good Eats, but I think they missed one: Molto Mario. In 24 minutes, Mario can make you believe you can create good Italian home-cooking, and he’s right. He gives you the basics, and the tools for doing pretty much anything you want. After three shows, you’ll be braising to your heart’s content. And, he’s entertaining to boot.\
I don’t agree that you can’t learn anything from Iron Chef. I’ve learned a lot from it – how to cut up a chicken, carve a roast and some really cool ideas for soups, stews and roasts. Yeah, it’s out there, but when you break it down, it’s still a cooking show.
