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

Magic Highway USA

What did we think the highways of the future would look like? Here’s a video from a 1958 episode of Disneyland TV. Surprisingly the first couple minutes are focused on human factors and safety concerns. For example, the video shows much larger, dynamic, and higher contrast highway signs. The rest of the video enters Jetsons territory, but it’s still an amusing vision with some good ideas.

[via Neatorama]

Video: The Decade in Seven Minutes

Transitioning online from printed journalism isn’t easy. Most companies saw this coming 30 years ago, so recent newspaper circulation trends weren’t exactly a surprise. Some companies have figured out how to survive in the age of digital journalism. One that I really enjoy is Time Video (see my previous post on Ze Frank’s video series featured on Time’s website).

This week, the Time video “The Decade in Seven Minutes” went viral. Check it out!

Making Recycling Fun

World Usability Day is this week and the theme is “Designing for a Sustainable World”. In North Carolina, I’ll be attending an evening event hosted by Tri-UPA and Carolina HFES. My company has been hard at work redesigning recycle bins for the annual design challenge. Last year, we took a stab at redesigning bus stops.

Technology used to be the driver of new products; it determined the industrial design and components. Now, the size of devices is no longer determined by the size of the computer chip. For example, the iPod Classic sports the same basic design from 2004. The iPod does its job well and the only thing that could (and probably should) be changed include improvements in software and components.

We are living in a period of re-emergence of design. We are realizing that we need to start developing products that are not going to end up in a landfill after 2 years. We also need to design products that will encourage sustainability. Here’s a great example from Volkswagen that makes a game out of recycling:

Volkswagen also created two other videos (Piano Staircase and The World’s Deepest Bin). They created them as demonstration videos for The Fun Theory contest. The contest encourages designs that change people’s behavior for the better. Pretty cool.

The end of handheld GPS devices: Google will practically shut down Garmin and TomTom

This week Google released Google Maps Navigation for Android. It’s only a matter of time before it’s available for other phones.

Gizmodo was quick to look at both Garmin and TomTom’s stocks on the day of the announcement:

When I bought my Garmin nuvi 660, I saw this coming. My digital camera is already collecting dust, since my iPhone 3GS’s camera is good enough for most purposes. There are GPS applications for my iPhone, but I still pull out my Garmin just because it is already paid for (and the iPhone GPS applications are not).

What’s the future for Garmin and TomTom? Well, Garmin attempted to create an iPhone killer called the nuvifone. It was a good idea, but very poorly executed. TomTom handled things a little smarter, and were the first company to announce a turn-by-turn GPS application for the iPhone (though not the first to release one). TomTom even managed to realize that they could make a little money on hardware by selling accessories (including the suction cup).

Garmin’s nuvifone will undoubtedly bomb, and the company’s future is uncertain. TomTom will probably scrape by, but they need to somehow stay on top of Google.

My 2009 NC State Fair Review

This week has been a little chilly in Raleigh, with temperatures hovering in the 50s during the day… so, most NC State Fair-goers were bundled up on an overcast Sunday (though I saw a few people wearing shorts). We decided to spend the $10 to park close near gate 9, which was a good decision because my legs were tired after 4+ hours.

Some of the highlights at this year’s fair:

• Pig lickers (chocolate dipped in bacon) — They mostly taste just like chewy chocolate with a hint of salt.
  
• The Barrel Monster (near the gardens/flowers) — This is surprisingly nearly identical to the famous Barrel Monster of Hillsborough Street.
  
• Rubik’s Cube Cake — It’s in the back behind some of the more elaborate cakes.
  
• 211 lbs. watermelon — I don’t remember seeing these last year, but the pumpkins were a little disappointing so this drew my attention.
  
• The food. — I had: a ham biscuit, hot chocolate (it was Swiss Miss…), BBQ plate with potatoes and apples, apple cider, fried cookie dough, and roasted corn. They were out of fried mac & cheese all day in the only two places we found that had it. We took home some fudge.
  

It started to rain a little heavier at about 2pm when were making our way back to the car. It was also noticeably more crowded, so I’d recommend our strategy of going on Sunday morning. We did a couple rides: a Ferris wheel and the “Super Shot” (a free fall tower).

I put my complete set of fair photos on Flickr.