Andrew Wirtanen is a usability specialist in Cary, NC More »

Netflix Lays Off Workers Because of Good Usability

Netflix will lay off 50 tech support workers not because of the recession, but because they simply don’t need them. The Los Gatos-based company claims that their Web-based player is so easy to use that they don’t need all of the tech support staff that they hired.
While this is clear proof that usability can improve [...]

Goofy in “How to Hook Up Your Home Theater”

Here’s a funny Disney mock-instructional video about how to set up a home theater system:

As silly as the video is, tech companies could actually learn a lot from it. Goofy encounters a wide variety of usability issues. Many companies (e.g. Dell) conduct out-of-the-box studies to ensure a good user experience. Some companies (like Bose) attempt [...]

Apple TV Take 2 Gets it Right

It’s taken a year and a half, but Apple has finally made the Apple TV (40GB $230; 160GB $320) worthwhile. Most of my original complaints are no longer valid, though I was correct in the device’s initial failure to grasp only but a niche market. With version 2 of the device, Apple has changed very [...]

Apple TV’s Niche Market

Last year, I predicted that Apple TV was going to fail. While I still may be right, my thoughts on the device have changed dramatically.
This weekend, I was listening to the latest UIE podcast (SpoolCast Crew Episode #6) and the panel was talking about Apple TV’s failure. The group cited the obvious reasons (it’s not [...]

Calibrate Your New HDTV

There is no denying that HDTV is confusing to consumers. Terminology that was once only known by tech geeks (e.g. “contrast ratio,” “LCD,” “DLP,” “720p,” “1080i”) is now being forced upon consumers. Millions of people are saying that they are disappointed by the picture on their new HDTV. This is mostly because consumers think that [...]