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Hard to believe, but Mac OS X is now 5 years old. Version 10.0 was released on March 24, 2001, and four major revisions later, Mac OS X is at 10.4.

Next up is Apple’s 30th birthday on April 1. Surprise announcements??

Technorati Tags: Apple, Macintosh

I just got through writing about Jakob Nielsen’s three design priorities when this article about the popularity of ugly web sites surfaced.

Due to human nature, there’s some evidence that people trust ugly web sites. But beyond the homeliness and trustworthiness, these popular sites also adhere to the three design priorities. These sites are simple to use and are functional, but they’re ugly.

Technorati Tags: usability

Reading through Jakob Nielsen’s most recent Alertbox newsletter about web usability, I came across his three simple recommendations to fix a business’ web site.

Indeed, the biggest design flaws destroying business value typically involve:

• Communicating clearly so that users understand you. Users allocate minimal time to initial website visits, so you must quickly convince them that the site’s worthwhile.
• Providing information users want. Users must be able to easily determine whether your services meet their needs and why they should do business with you.
• Offering simple, consistent page design, clear navigation, and an information architecture that puts things where users expect to find them.

Get these three right, and you’ll enhance your site’s credibility, ease a user’s way through the site, and thus do far more for the site’s business value than any JavaScript trick.

Pretty basic but very true.

Technorati Tags: usability

The Honolulu Advertiser again has some interesting, business-related articles in today’s edition.

• Finding the hidden talent in your organization. “Those workers whose ideas and interests aren’t tapped by management will only retreat into their cubicle shadows and become ambivalent about their jobs. What a waste.”
• Be happy and get promoted. Being happy leads to success, but success doesn’t necessarily lead to happiness.

Technorati Tags: workplace

Nike and Google have partnered together to form a social network dedicated to soccer aka football. Joga.com is currently an invitation-only site for soccer fans. Nike maintains the content of the site while Google provides the brainpower.

Here’s a brief description of Joga.com:

Joga is unique, because it’s an organically growing network of trusted friends. It is one of a kind network that focuses solely on a common interest around the game of soccer. Joga will help you connect to people who share the same passion for the game and also access exclusive content around athlete profiles, video clips and photos.

I’m no international football fan, but I like the partnership of Nike and Google to try something different. I do think some of Nike’s soccer lifestyle-inspired apparel is catchy. I especially like this shirt, matches these well.

Technorati Tags: Google, Nike

No really! According to this column on CNN Money, taking a step back and slowing down at work may be better for you and your organization.

With innovation now our main competitive strength, creativity is crucial for anyone who wants to move up… You can turn a smart person into an idiot just by overworking him… On the organizational level, what you get is, everyone is so focused on running flat-out to meet current goals that the whole company is unable to step back and think… in the era of knowledge work, the most prosperous companies will turn out to be those that encourage people to build some slack into their days.

So why not take a step back to unleash your subconscious mind, see the big picture, and effect change for the better.

Be sure to take the accompanying Stress Quiz to see how stressed you are.

Technorati Tags: workplace

Here’s the deal. Do you think it’s strange to call your Significant Other by his or her last name? (just going out, not married) We got a family member who’s BF calls her by her last name. Me and my SO thinks that’s weird. What do you think?

Every Tuesday, new content is released on the iTunes Music Store. Looking at this week’s selections, I came across these gems.

The Definitive Collection: Bobby Brown
Featuring his old goodies like Don’t Be Cruel, Roni, Every Little Step, and Humpin’ Around. I couldn’t find the exclusive remixes of My Prerogative (to beat Whitney) or Rock Wit’cha (my crackhead wife). Still a good collection when Bobby was sober and clean.

Devo 2.0
Seems like 2.0-themes are popular right now, but Devo 2.0? These are kids who are singing Devo classics like Whip It. Please, stop, stop now.

Technorati Tags: iTunes, music

CompUSA has a Midnight Madness Sale on Friday 3/17 6pm-Midnight.

Seagate 200GB hard drive $29.99AR
802.11g wireless router $9.99AR

A little old info, but don’t forget that you can buy abbreviated NCAA Tournament games on iTunes for $1.99 a game. Or you can get the Season Pass for all the games at $19.99.

There’s a free NCAA preview show available now,

Technorati Tags: iTunes

I’ve been on the lookout for new apps or tools to help manage the whirlwind of information that pops up everyday. I’m looking for stuff that’ll help me find and consume info and also stuff that helps me organize information and generate knowledge. I’m talking anything from reading web sites and email to finding information to writing blog posts to jotting down ideas. I recently talked about Microsoft upgrading their Mac Office suite to take advantage of Mac OS X Spotlight search and .Mac sync features. I’m also playing around with a new RSS reader called Endo and the information organizer Yojimbo.

While I still use the RSS aggregator NetNewsWire Lite and like it, I heard about Endo (from the makers of Ecto). Endo has some appealing features that NetNewsWire doesn’t yet have, namely synchronization of RSS subscriptions and articles. I use NetNewsWire at home and at work to quickly read news items, but each instance of the app is separate and unique. When adding subscriptions, I have to add them both at work and at home. When marking items as read, I have to do so at work and at home so there is some duplication of effort. It’d be nice if my feeds and read articles could be synchronized so that I’d get a consistent state of my news items. That’s the main reason why I’m looking at Endo. Only thing is the sync feature of Endo is disabled until you purchase and register the product. I have the 21-day demo version. 🙁

Getting used to Endo’s interface is taking me awhile. I notice I’m making things look like NetNewsWire. I disabled showing the summary and tags so now Endo looks like NetNewsWire. I have to get accustomed to the keyboard shortcuts as well. I like the color coding feature but don’t like the rotating group icons on the top. I rather have my icons stay put and not move around. I kinda remember where icons are physically located so when they move around, I feel like I have to hunt them down again. Irritating.

Another problem I have, partly due to the reading, researching, and writing for blogging, is a good way to organize and capture ideas. While reading news from the Web, I may come across some interesting tidbit that could be useful somewhere and somehow. In the past, I’ve copied and pasted the info or web links into my Microsoft Entourage Notes section, but that really didn’t work out well. I considered using OmniOutliner to jot down the ideas then send the Outliner file to myself, but that feels cumbersome. I was thinking of signing up for a web service like 37 Signals Backpack or Ta-Da Lists but never did. I ended up emailing myself the information and forwarded this list as I updated it. Confusing and a hassle!

Then I read a review of Yojimbo on MacCentral, and it sounded promising. There’s some room for improvement with this new app, but guess what feature Yojimbo offers? That’s right, synchronization using .Mac. I can update Yojimbo at work, do a sync, and sync up my home copy of Yojimbo and vice versa. Now I have all my notes, ideas, and links handy at work and at home.

Technorati Tags: blogging, endo, Yojimbo

The NCAA March Madness is underway. As a tribute to the crazy hair of Adam Morrison of Gonzaga, I offer this imitation.