So Much Stuff http://benchinn.posterous.com Most recent posts at So Much Stuff posterous.com Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:09:32 -0700 How To Pretend You're Riding a Fixie http://benchinn.posterous.com/how-to-pretend-youre-riding-a-fixie http://benchinn.posterous.com/how-to-pretend-youre-riding-a-fixie So you live in San Francisco and ride a bike but it's got gears and brakes and can go up and down hills. Don't you wish you rode a fixed gear bicycle like all the cool kids? Of course you do! Here's 7 ways to satisfy your fixie urge without having to shell out for a new set of wheels.
 
1. Stand and pedal even when you're not going uphill.
2. Don't wear a helmet.
3. Lose 20 lbs.
4. Find any opportunity to give the finger to an automobile driver.
5. Wear a kryptonite lock in your back pocket.
6. Paint your bicycle black.
7. Confine your bicycle riding to Valencia street between 16th and Mission. 24th street between Valencia and Bryant is also acceptable.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/26767/benSimpson.jpg http://posterous.com/people/KESTN7TPih Ben Chinn Ben Ben Chinn Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:37:43 -0700 Entertaining yes... http://benchinn.posterous.com/entertaining-yes http://benchinn.posterous.com/entertaining-yes I can't help feeling that airlines have given up on effectively providing safety information during their safety videos. I wasn't able to pay attention to any of the instructions in the Air New Zealand video below and have the same experience with Virgin America's video which is so cute it's difficult to pay attention to what's being said.
 
Sure, these videos are creative, but the goal should be education, not entertainment. I'd rather watch a duller video and be confident that most people on the plane knew what to do in case of an emergency.
 
Bottom line: flight attendant demonstrations beat safety videos hands down.
 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/26767/benSimpson.jpg http://posterous.com/people/KESTN7TPih Ben Chinn Ben Ben Chinn Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:19:35 -0700 This brings back memories - but in Italian. http://benchinn.posterous.com/this-brings-back-memories-but-in-italian http://benchinn.posterous.com/this-brings-back-memories-but-in-italian

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/26767/benSimpson.jpg http://posterous.com/people/KESTN7TPih Ben Chinn Ben Ben Chinn Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:03:31 -0700 It's the Smoke! http://benchinn.posterous.com/its-the-smoke http://benchinn.posterous.com/its-the-smoke

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/26767/benSimpson.jpg http://posterous.com/people/KESTN7TPih Ben Chinn Ben Ben Chinn Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:44:16 -0700 Koko Taylor R.I.P. http://benchinn.posterous.com/koko-taylor-rip http://benchinn.posterous.com/koko-taylor-rip I had the pleasure seeing Taylor perform a couple of times when I lived in Chicago. Queen of the Blues is a tough title to live up to but I don't think anybody would dispute it in her case.
 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/26767/benSimpson.jpg http://posterous.com/people/KESTN7TPih Ben Chinn Ben Ben Chinn Thu, 30 Apr 2009 17:07:26 -0700 Jon Stewart's Extended Interview with Cliff May http://benchinn.posterous.com/jon-stewarts-extended-interview-with-cliff-ma http://benchinn.posterous.com/jon-stewarts-extended-interview-with-cliff-ma
The interview with Cliff May was not shown in its entirety on the Daily Show but can be seen online.  One more reason we love the web.

I'm a big fan of Jon Stewart but not of his interviewing style; he spends less time asking the tough questions than he does giving his own answers.  Nonetheless, this is a great interview, mostly because Cliff May is able to present a cogent and reasonable argument for the treatment to which we have been subjecting suspected terrorists.  I think his argument is wrong for many of the reasons that Stewart does, but at least May was being honest in his position.

What's sad is that Comedy Central is the forum in which this conversation is taking place.  

I think there's a problem here that has been missed, which is that these terrorists represent a class of prisoner for whom there are no clear rules governing their treatment.  We don't want to treat them as prisoners of war and we don't want to treat them as common criminals.  Cliff May rejects the Geneva Convention because Al Quaeda is not a signatory and we have to interrogate these folks somehow, right?  Terrorism is not included as an act governed by the International Criminal Court so there's no help there either.  Maybe we need to treat terrorists differently from other prisoners – I don't think so but I think there's a case to be made there.  The point is: who gets to decide?

Surely, in the United States, these kinds of questions should be addressed by elected officials in conversation with the American people.  They should not be addressed behind closed doors by White House lawyers in memos that we only find out about after a leak.  By all means lets decide what to do with terrorists, but let's have rules for all of them that everybody knows about, rather than sending mixed messages to soldiers and intelligence agents.  

Because then you get Abu Ghraib and Gitmo and do we prosecute or don't we and how much is too much and now we can't prosecute these bastards in the courts even if we wanted to.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/26767/benSimpson.jpg http://posterous.com/people/KESTN7TPih Ben Chinn Ben Ben Chinn Wed, 25 Mar 2009 09:59:00 -0700 This is how to Talk about Technology http://benchinn.posterous.com/this-is-how-to-talk-about-tech http://benchinn.posterous.com/this-is-how-to-talk-about-tech

Obama's White House has employed the internet in ways not imagined by previous administrations. It's too early to tell if this will be effective but one thing is for sure: Obama knows how to talk about what he's doing. Check out his video clip explaining his "Open for Questions" project. It's clear what he's doing and why and doesn't get caught up in the technical process of making it happen. "We're going to take advantage of the internet to bring all of you to the White House to talk about the economy". This one sentence sums up the project stating its goal by using a metaphor that everybody can understand. He could have said "We will leverage technology to provide personal input to public policy decisions". But he didn't – that's one reason he gets to work in a round room.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/26767/benSimpson.jpg http://posterous.com/people/KESTN7TPih Ben Chinn Ben Ben Chinn Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:29:02 -0700 Home Pages and Navigation http://benchinn.posterous.com/home-pages-and-navigation http://benchinn.posterous.com/home-pages-and-navigation The folks at Plumbline Studios just posted an article a few weeks ago, Just Click the Logo! which argues that web sites should to the home page from a logo image and not include an explicit "Home" link in the navigation.  I've worked with Plumbline a few times and respect the work that they do but in this instance I have to disagree with them.

The article is in response to those clients that don't know to click on a site logo to get to the home page and insist on having a home page link.  I would agree that generally people overstate the importance of a web site home page.  A home page should get people off the that page and into the deeper content of the site.  Unfortunately stakeholders in a web design often become obsessed with that page to the detriment of more crucial parts of the site.  Even though it may not be the most important page, there are still many good reasons for including a global link to home.  

A home page often serves as a sign post, showing visitors the way to points of interest.  after visiting one of these points, visitors may want to revisit the sign post to find where else to go.  Plumbline's post states that "in the case of an editorial or news site, there is usually something new to see when you hit the home page" and only for those sites a link back there would make sense.  This assumes that for other sites, the visitor sees the home page first.  What about search traffic?  Search engines drive visitors to any page of a site that matches their search, often bypassing the home page entirely.  At that point they may very well want to check out the home page, because they've never seen it before.

Another argument Plumbline makes is that the home link "entices the user to back out" of the site content rather than drilling deeper in.  (Entices?  Really?  I don't think I've ever been enticed by a simple textual home link to do anything at all.)  This is the same argument I've heard against including external links on a web site – that you are encouraging the user to stray from the path you've chosen for them and leave your site entirely.  The truth is that the user is always one click away from leaving your site and the only way to keep them there is to hold their interest in what you have to offer.   If the user stops digging into the content of a site it's because she isn't interested in what she's found or is looking for something else.  In that case going back to the home page may provide another path through the site that could be more useful.

Even if getting to the home page is useful, why include a textual link in the navigation?  Isn't a link on the logo good enough?  After all this behavior is a widespread design convention and people should know that clicking the logo takes them to the home page.  But they don't.  Even the author of Plumbline's post admits "I find myself explaining to people that to get home, they just click the dang logo. Is it not intuitive?"  Well clearly not intuitive enough.  

It makes sense that for a designer clicking on a logo is easy – it requires responding to a visual image based on its character and position.  But not everybody is as visually oriented as your average designer - there are more verbally focused users who scan the words on a page to orient themselves.  For these people text can be more useful than imagery (especially if the imagery is not clearly representing the desired action).

Text link or logo link?  The answer is going to be different for different web sites, but there's arguments to be made on both sides.  Plumbline presents a good case for the a logo link – I hope I've balanced the issue a little here.

 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/26767/benSimpson.jpg http://posterous.com/people/KESTN7TPih Ben Chinn Ben Ben Chinn Thu, 04 Dec 2008 10:25:00 -0800 A Little Extra Marks a Major Change at the NY Times http://benchinn.posterous.com/a-little-extra-marks-a-major-c http://benchinn.posterous.com/a-little-extra-marks-a-major-c

The New York Times has added a feature called Times Extra to its website.  Khoi Vinh gives a nice rundown on his blog but what's really amazing about this is how this moves the Times closer to a fully exploiting the website as a medium.  Basically, Times Extra adds related links to certain stories, and many of those links come from the Times' competitors.  The image I've included below of a Times column shows stories from the New York Observer and The New York Post.  I think this is huge.  The paper of record has, in a small way, relinquished its claim to the exclusive attention of its audience and accepted that all content on the web is connected no matter where it comes from.  Web content succeeds not only by what it says but by how reveals other content.  This is what makes the web unique: it's not about text, or images or even video – it's about links.  Good to see the Times shifting to accept this reality.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/26767/benSimpson.jpg http://posterous.com/people/KESTN7TPih Ben Chinn Ben Ben Chinn Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:05:00 -0800 Break the tyranny of the Mac Default Browser with Choosy http://benchinn.posterous.com/break-the-tyranny-of-the-mac-d http://benchinn.posterous.com/break-the-tyranny-of-the-mac-d

Bloody Brilliant. http://www.choosyosx.com

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/26767/benSimpson.jpg http://posterous.com/people/KESTN7TPih Ben Chinn Ben Ben Chinn Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:10:23 -0800 Cat Riding a Roomba http://benchinn.posterous.com/cat-riding-a-roomba http://benchinn.posterous.com/cat-riding-a-roomba

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/26767/benSimpson.jpg http://posterous.com/people/KESTN7TPih Ben Chinn Ben Ben Chinn Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:56:00 -0800 Google + Life Magazine = Awesome http://benchinn.posterous.com/google-life-magazine-awesome http://benchinn.posterous.com/google-life-magazine-awesome

Images from Life magazine from the 1860s through the 1970s now fully searchable in Google Images.   Add 'source:life' to any google images query to search within the Life magazine database.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/26767/benSimpson.jpg http://posterous.com/people/KESTN7TPih Ben Chinn Ben Ben Chinn Sat, 15 Nov 2008 11:34:23 -0800 Did You Know? http://benchinn.posterous.com/did-you-know-10 http://benchinn.posterous.com/did-you-know-10

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/26767/benSimpson.jpg http://posterous.com/people/KESTN7TPih Ben Chinn Ben Ben Chinn Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:53:21 -0800 lynchPhone http://benchinn.posterous.com/lynchphone http://benchinn.posterous.com/lynchphone Here's a man who knows how to use a well placed profanity.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/26767/benSimpson.jpg http://posterous.com/people/KESTN7TPih Ben Chinn Ben Ben Chinn Thu, 13 Nov 2008 09:43:00 -0800 The Adventures of Burn-E http://benchinn.posterous.com/the-adventures-of-burn-e http://benchinn.posterous.com/the-adventures-of-burn-e

This was a video of the new short to be bundled with the DVD release of WALL-E.  But then youtube took it down, probably at the behest of Pixar.  Guess we'll all just have to buy the disc.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/26767/benSimpson.jpg http://posterous.com/people/KESTN7TPih Ben Chinn Ben Ben Chinn