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I was reading the Metro yesterday and I noticed this column on page 35 by a guy named Anthony Gibson.

Now I’m not entirely sure what his background is and why he gets to define ‘the best sites’, but the suggestions he makes are almost laughable.

If you didn’t read it, here are his recommendations in summary:

www.addyourface.com - best because it aims  to “break the world record for the largest mosaic  of faces”

www.befunky.com - best because it can “manipulate a photograph to make it resemble a cartoon”

www.photobucket.com - best because you can “share them with absolutely everyone”

Now, I hate to be pedantic but breaking a world record and turning my photo into a cartoon isn’t a major user goal for me. I’ll also stick my neck on the line and say it probably isn’t a big deal for the majority of the Metro audience.

‘Sharing’ on the other hand is a major user goal; but why choose Photobucket as ‘the best’ option?

In this country, the major websites for storing and sharing photos are (according to ComScore) Facebook photos and Flickr. Both of which have huge existing user base. Surely, you need friends to share photos…and surely you are more likely to find them on Facebook or Flickr?

On a product level Photobucket, is weak. Just how someone can evaluate those three site and come away thinking Photobucket is ‘the best’ product is either naive or ignorant.

Last week I installed Apple’s latest release of iTunes; version 8.

After the installation, I noticed that the ‘Genre’ browse window becomes active once again. No problem, I thought. I’ll simply turn it off again.

But alas, no.

Apple have decided to remove this option from the application menu, forcing all users to use the genre browse window whether they like it or not

A quick search on the net establishes a solution, but its not one for the faint hearted.  Because now, instead of turning off this ‘feature’ from the application menu you now have to edit the iTunes preferences XML with an appropriate text editor.

Does Apple believe the iTunes audience is more advanced than those of its competitors products or; does it believe that users preferences are a luxury which is it not required to support?

Today I needed to complete a simple Photoshop exercise: Trim the background from a number of bitmap files.

However…Adobe has decided to ‘hide’ the Trim function from the image menu and replace it (along with eight other menu items) with a ‘Show All Menu Items” prompt.

Why has Adobe done this? I’m certainly scratching around for reasons why. It seems completely contrary to a consistent product experience.

I’m starting to notice that some programmes become ‘available’ on the iPlayer much quicker than other programmes.

Whats the deal here? Is there copyrighted material which needs to me edited out? Or does news coverage take longer than lifestyle programmes to encode Either way, it’s becoming less like news the longer I wait.

I love watching the BBC 1 o’clock news during my lunch break at work. Its an excellent service and one which the beeb has provided for a long time via a its ‘Newsplayer’ pop-up or, if you are clever enough, via a direct Realplayer stream. They have never promoted it heavily; in fact, I believe I first found the Real stream URL on the Yahoo! News website a number of years ago.

For me its the most natural user expectation of the BBC audience i.e. “I want to watch/listen to a program live, but I don’t have a TV near me.”. BBC Radio has been providing a live internet service for a number of years…but I guess TV is always little bit slower to catch on (heightened copyright and distribution complications).

So its good to see that with the arrival of live streaming embedded flash players, we can now watch the broadcast on a proper page with a bookmarkable permanent URL.  Brilliant.

However…as I watch this new service the more I wonder why they stream the signed version rather than the full 16:9 experience. They don’t do that on BBC One, so why is the internet audience so different? After all, they never had subtitles on the old Realplayer stream…so what’s changed? And…why should the majority of the audience be forced to download all this redundant data, at the expense of the full live experience?

Well. As the accessibility department at the BBC will probably tell you; There are around 9 million people in the UK who are either deaf of hard of hearing and the BBC has a duty to provide a service to this audience.

I completely agree that the BBC has a duty to support all audiences- but, to what extent can an interactive proposition be degraded by the the requirements of the minority?

According to the RNID website only 50,000 people in the UK actively use or understand sign-language. This is 0.6% of people with hearing difficulties in the UK (9 million) and 0.08% of the UK population.

Imagine you are at the cinema and the screen is reduced to a quarter size, because 0.6% of the audience uses sign language. Would you see that as an over reaction to the problem? Surely, the cinema has time in its schedule for sign-language-only films specifically catering for this audience.
Another problem with using the signed video stream for all audiences is the often understated power of lip reading.

“People with normal vision, hearing and social skills unconsciously use information from the lips and face to aid aural comprehension in everyday conversation, and most fluent speakers of a language are able to speech read to some extent.” Wikipedia

I don’t think I’m being dramatic when I say that we all use lip reading subconsciously - whether or not you have hearing difficulties. Listening is not simply the reserve of your ears; lips, movement and body language all play an important role in providing the whole picture - but when the lips are confined to a quarter of the screen  - it becomes next to useless.

I’m not in any way suggesting that signed programs should be abolished. Quite the reverse in fact. If the Beeb really wants to supports the hard of hearing, it should think more clearly about the requirements. Sign language only solves a problem for the 0.6% of population who understand sign language, but in doing so it also reduces clarity for the other 99.4% of the audience (some of whom also have hearing difficulties). Go figure.

Two weeks ago I found myself at Heathrow Terminal 5 bound for Los Angeles.

Much has been said about this new building in the past month…most of it negative. So naturally I was on tender hooks wondering firstly if my flight would ever actually leave the UK and secondly if my luggage would accompany me on the same plane.

On entry to Terminal 5 from the Heathrow express, I found a confusing array of signs badly positioned so that I had to walk in the opposite direction to find out where I had to go. There were also a number of steel barricades at every entrance, meaning that you had to squeeze or lift all of your luggage over them to get through. As I went up the escalators, I ended up on a floor which had no way out. Looking confused, I wandered around looking for clues in what to do next. After a few minutes of walking the extremities of the floor, I realised the only way to departure was up…in fact via a lift - cleverly hidden from the view of oncoming pedestrians.

Finally on the floor I went to the BA desk, dropped off my bag and then looked for the way to through to security. “This way” the BA representive politely advised. Again no signage…

Eventually, found myself at the security check-in where I found a rather odd looking stainless steel conveyor belt manned by 6/7 people. I was asked to put my belongings and shoes into the standard plastic tray and continue though to the other end via the metal detector. In front of me I noticed a backlog of empty plastic trays which were holding up myself and the people behind me from picking up our belongings. So politely I picked them up and started to stack them on the side of the conveyor belt. I then heard a voice from the lady in front saying “No leave them there!, the machine will take them away”. So I put them back and the three of us watched as the machine processed the trays in a painfully slow manner. As my tray appeared, I attempted to grab my shoes and put them on - but the tray kept moving and I almost lost my balance trying to take everything out before it dissapeared at the other end. The lady then explained that the cameras above can detect any items left in the trays and will stop the conveyor belt if they are not empty. I looked at the lady, as I put my things back in my pockets and enquired ‘how I was suppose to know that?’. She replied that the process is meant for regular travellers, not one-off travellers. Hmmm, interesting…I wonder how they cope with one-off visitors who can’t speak english.

Bemused by this response, I decided that I wanted to remember this ‘experience’. So I took out my camera and took a couple of pictures of this ‘high tech’ machinery and then walked into the Sony Centre opposite to purchase a PSP.

“Oi!…OIIIII!!!!” I heard from behind me. I turned around to see a fuming BAA security guard who informed me that I was not permitted to take photos in Terminal 5 and that I had to delete the pictures in front of him. ‘I had no idea I couldn’t take photos’ I told him. After all, there are no signs informing me otherwise. But, I complied with his demands whilst the Sony Centre staff looked over in disbelief. After the security guard had left, a Sony employee came over to me and said that BAA are ‘very touchy’ about bad press right now.

So which is worse? A gentle blog post about security check-ins and passenger mental models or this one? And of course, blogs rank higher in Google and Yahoo! search…so I’m going to get a lot more relevant readers than any traditional journalist will.

After I’d composed myself, I realised I had to send an important letter in my bag…so I went to WHSmith and asked for some first class stamps. The cashier informed me that they do not sell them, so I looked around the rest of the airport for a shop that sells stamps. It got a little desparate when I asked in the Sunglasses Hut - so I thought I had better ask at the information desk. The guy I spoke to said I should try WHSmith I told him I had already tried there, so he used his CB radio to call his colleagues and ask them the same question. ‘Try WHSmith”, I heard several times through the crackle of the loudspeaker. So the guy said sorry he couldn’t help. So next I asked another information guy who informed me that because of the Queens visit a few weeks ago, all post boxes had been taken away as a security precaution - and therefore, there was no need to sell stamps.

Great. Thanks for that. A terminal built for business travellers indeed.

Ok, so despite this story the Terminal five building is spacious, modern and the retail outlets are some of the best I’ve ever seen at an airport. However, I suffered a 2 hour wait for my luggage when I returned from Los Angeles, the BA flight felt like it was run by Ryan Air and the rather pointless train to the gate made me and the carriage laugh as it travelled a whole 10 metres to its final destination. What was the point in that!!!

Terminal 5 will probably get better in time…it has to. A lot of money has been invested in this ‘pinnacle’ of British engineering. I just wish they had spent as much time thinking about the passenger as they did about the technology and retail space.

Every now and again, I think… where’s the flippin’ Recycle Bin?! After a bit of searching around, I usually find the control panel which allows me to add the Recycle Bin to the desktop and voila!

…but hold on, didn’t I have a Recycle Bin already? Hmm…Ok, I’ve got bad memory so maybe I never had one.

Then, yesterday I twigged what was happening:

Look closely at the contextual menu on the Recycle Bin in Windows Vista. One option says “Empty Recycle Bin” and the other says “Delete”. The delete option is a new ‘feature’ which Microsoft kindly added to make it easier to get rid of the Recycle Bin. Nice one!

I’m not quite sure why Microsoft thinks that there is a big user case for deleting the Recycle Bin off the desktop, but they do…and they’ve included it on the new ‘improved’ version of Windows for the whole globe to use. How nice of them.

Now in case you haven’t guessed, I have been mistaking the ‘Delete’ function for the ‘Empty Recycle Bin’ option. Hence it disappears, and I’m left dragging files with no-where to put them.

Stupid boy you are probably thinking; but a quick search on the net shows I’m not alone. Thousands of people seem to be deleting the Recycle bin by mistake.

This sympathetic site which seems to be aimed at IT managers with poor grammar skills suggests…

an ideal solution for when you have an incompetent user, who keep on deleting their Recycle Bin, and then pesters you to cure their clumsiness.

How kind of them. I’m not entirely sure it is the users fault though - as stupid as we are. I believe its simply poor navigation logic, something that should have been corrected in the numerous product beta tests Microsoft must have conducted. Easily missed, but also easily corrected.

Anyway if you are suffering the same problem. You can correct it by executing a simple reg script. (Yet another hack to make a Microsoft product usable)

On my way into work this morning (Charing Cross station), I was handed two packs of Three mobile branded post-it notes.

My immediate thoughts were, why would I use these when my company kindly provides me with non-branded post-it notes with more space to write my messages. Plus, I don’t pay for the stationary so I have the luxury of choosing the most appropriate option.

Isn’t this freebie marketing drivel completely pointless? More so, doesn’t it just contribute to already huge waste problem and therefore global warming. Even if I recycle this crap, I’m still using more energy to turn in it into something more useful - like toilet roll.

Shouldn’t companies display more social responsibility with their marketing initiatives? I mean…did anyone ask for more post-it notes? Well I certainly didn’t. I’d like to see the research that led the marketing executives at Three mobile to the conclusion: ‘the people of Charing Cross station need more post-it notes’.

We are all too aware of recycling and re-using items to cut down on waste - but what about making items which are ‘fit for purpose’. If you buy or produce an item, shouldn’t it fore fill a human need or requirement? Further still, shouldn’t it be engineered to fore fill that need for as long as possible? I know this kinda goes against our consumerist society, but surely its the most green principle you can have. This efficiency of production is epitomised by something my old design tutor used to say…

buy cheap, buy twice

.

Every now and again I have a trip into work which sends me loopy. I start thinking about: other means into work, different public routes, change of lifestyle…change of countries blah blah blah. Then I think, hmm…I like my job, friends and flat so I should probably stick around for a while.

Even so, I though it would be worth documenting my beef with that sad abyss of daily life we like to call the ‘commute’.

So here’s my top ten commuter bad habits:

10. Calling your ‘bessie’ for a loud and largely vacuous conversation to tell them you think your boyfriend is cheating on you

No.

I don’t want to hear about your personal life. Its boring.

You know as well as I do that this half-hearted ‘cry for attention’ will not change anything. Yes, he’s shagged all your friends including the one your are talking to right now. He’s even passed on a nice STD in the process…but we all know you won’t leave him, cos…wait for it: “you love him”.

So get off the phone and stop wasting our ears with your aimless witterings. You have a victim mentality and until you get some self respect you will continue to attract people who treat you like shit.

9. Large rucksacks

Ok, so your going to Glastonbury or back-packing around the world - so you have a rucksack the size of your nan’s bungalow on your back. Good for you…but wait, did you know that during peak hours there is limited room on public transport? Did you also know that by putting the rucksack by your side or inbetween your legs you can let an extra 4 people board the train? It will also prevent you from knocking that poor ginger girl (who is attempting to apply her makeup) to the floor every time you turn 90 degrees.

8. Loud iPod earphone

Yeah, we all like to block out the commute with our favourite sounds - I’m as guilty as the rest. But did you know that when you are listening to your favourite Leanne Rhymes track at full blast - those of us who forgot our iPods have to put up with that god awful wailing crap as well. Then we spend the rest of the journey wondering why your life is so bad that you have to listen to such tripe…maybe its just because you haven’t been introduced to any decent music for a while or you haven’t figured out how to add new music to your iPod.

7. Repeatedly touching my hand when holding on

Sometimes the train ride is a bit rocky. Generally I never get a seat, so I need something to hold on to. But oh, the nearest bar to hold onto already has a hand attached to it. Damn. Ok, so what I’ll do is I’ll put myself at full stretch and put but hand 5cm above yours so you don’t feel I’m invading your personal space. So…do you stay there or do you look at the situation and give me a little more space on the bar which will in return allow me a more relaxed poise? No neither. Instead you decide to move your hand up and touch mine - meaning I have to further extend myself and not only that, once I’ve moved you do it again.

I’d really like some personal space but since we can’t have any on this train will you just agree to stop touching me?

6. Eating or drinking loudly / smelly food

This didn’t bother me until other people mentioned it to me. Now I’m really conscious of it.

The worst offenders are people eating cheese and onion crisps or peanuts in the mornings. Didn’t your mother every tell you what constitutes a good breakfast? Its certainly not that crap. Plus…it stinks and make everyone else on the train feel nauseous. So thanks for making me feel ill and munching on it so loudly that even my iPod can’t block out the distress.

5. Asking people to move down the carriages with a condescending or aggressive tone

There one thing most of us understand when we initiate our morning commute: Our place on the next train is not guaranteed. Yes, we know it should be - but it just isn’t. So get used to it.

If you are late for work, its not the peoples job to magically creating more space in the carriage…its yours. Get up earlier if you really feel that bothered about it.

Granted, commuters are responcible for optimising the space as much as possible - but when the carriage is full, its full and no amount of aggresive posturing will improve this situation.

I can’t stand people who blame everyone else but themselves for there own misfortune. Sort your own life out and show a bit of empathy then maybe you might get more sex and chill out a bit.

4. Boarding the train/tube before people have finished getting off

Britain is known across the world for spreading etiquette and manners. Ok, so football hooliganism kinda shafted that cultural value. Even so…the rest of us are still able to display some decorum.

The trouble is that no one told the people of London. This is mainly due to the fact that people from London aren’t actually British, therefore they haven’t experience the polite civil culture/upbringing of our country (Yes, I know - I’m starting to sound like Al Murray).

So let me spell it out. If there is a que: you politely establish the last person in it and wait patiently behind them. It doesn’t even matter if they are queing for a reason, if it has the form/shape of a que us Brits join the party. Its second nature, ‘like honey to a bee’. Secondly, if you are getting onto a train or public transport of any kind let the previous passengers off first before boarding. If you fail to do this, you will be outcast from society, especially if the person attempting to get off is elderly, disabled, a mother with a child (in a pram) or just a rather dipsy but attractive looking female.

3. Body odour

Ok, so you have been cheating on your wife or you have been out clubbing every night and you haven’t been home for a few days. Good for you, I’m really pleased you are having fun in your life.

But please, before using PUBLIC transport have some decency and use dioderant. Better still, you could have a shower. However, I do understand problems with the limited water and soap supples in developed countries - so I won’t labour that point.

I don’t care if you have braids and you can’t wash them. Wrap it in cling-film or something. I don’t want that horric stink in my face for 30 minutes. Besides…if your wife notices that smell when you get home, she’ll know you have been cheating and will cut your balls off with the steak knife.

2. Playing R&B or Rap music through your mobile loudspeaker

So…you’re on the train going to work and for the first time in ages, there’s a free seat and everything seems to be going swimmingly. Then the train stops and on jumps a 17 year old kid. He’s wearing a hoody, staring at his feet but maintaining a polite and passive presence on the train. Very good so far - ‘your mother did a great job’ I hear you say.

But then he reaches into his pocket pulls out his mobile phone and starts blaring some gansta rap through speakers which were designed to send the simple shrill of the nokia ringtone - not mp3’s with heavy bass.

The resulting noise is not only highly irritating, but technically a cardinal sin. All we can hear is the tinny crackle of the 1 watt speaker struggling to deliver the full spectrum of the sub-woofer experience accompanied with lyrics such as ‘Come and lick my lolipop’ or ‘ Shoot ma’ bitch ho, yo!’.

Now I’m all for youths enjoying good music, but I don’t need this crap early on a Monday morning. More so, I’m really shocked that the youth of today don’t understand the benefits of a good sound system. I’d be more than happy to start a hi-fi mentoring scheme, teaching youths of London the basics of audio engineering.

In the process of applying their minds to something constructive, they might start to appreciate decent music as well. Double bonus! I’ll contact the department of social services tomorrow.

1. Pushing to get on the train/tube

You are waiting for your train and there is a large sprawling mass of people attempting to board the next train.

People want to get to work on time. We’re all late and we all want to reduce the commuting abyss as much as possible

So tell me. How does aggressively pushing the people in front of you help you achieve this goal? Does it not just piss off everyone and make them more likely to pull out that knife or gun and slaughter the lot of us? I mean - come on, some people in London are REALLY stressed and at the tipping point. Just one small shove could mean the end for all of us. I don’t want to die just yet, I’m young and I have a lot to offer the world (see number 2).

If you want to get to work earlier, I suggest you get an early night and get up earlier the following morning. No amount of pushing or shoving is going to help you achieve your goal.

As my idol and mentor Ian Collins might say “At what point did you believe that was acceptable behaviour?”

I’m a big fan of open source software, so it will come as no surprise to hear that I have been using Mozilla’s Thunderbird as my main mail/calendar client for a number of months.

What I particularly like about Thunderbird is the large number of third party add-ons which allow you to adapt the software to your own needs - in much the same vain as its big brother, Mozilla Firefox. One of the most persuasive plugin’s being Lightning (a calendar plug-in, which really should come as standard) and Plaxo, which allows me to sync my contacts directly with my Windows mobile phone over the 3G network. All sounds brilliant doesn’t it?

Well…it also has a number of extremely awkward short comings:
Firstly, you can’t sync your calendar with Google mail without it reverting all your repeating appointments into a one-off appointments (and yes, I have missed meetings because of this). Secondly, it cannot accept meeting updates like changes to times, dates or simply cancellations. Thirdly, you can’t accept a change requests with first deleting the old meeting from your diary (a long-winded and painful task).

…and thats only the start of it. The software crashes or hangs erratically and doesn’t seem to like me typing a message when there are attachments included in the mail. Handy.

So what keeps me using Thunderbird? There’s something really positive about open source. When it works (ala Firefox), you really do see the product evolve from the communities wishes and advances from competitors. When it doesn’t, the user base is neglected or they don’t have enough resources to impliment the changes or fixes they need to.

The Thunderbird roadmap suggested that version 3 would be released Q1 2008. Sadly, that doesn’t look realistic even though Mozilla has recently set-up a confusing initiative called Mozilla Messaging. I can’t make head nor tail of this site - but from what I can fathom it essentially mean puting more resources into Thunderbird 3, with a revised released date of Late 2008. Thanks. Why not put the effort into the Thunderbird road map instead of some pointless Marketing website? I’d rather see bug fixes than PR. After all, what makes us advocate Thunderbird to others?

To Mozilla: Only the third party developers are keeping Thunderbird afloat right now. If you want to avoid hermeraging your passionate activist user base, you need to step up your bug fixes to keep us on-board. I for one, am seriously thinking about going elsewhere - despite the numerous problems it will cause me. Remember, you need to retain your open source activists to recommend your products to others. Without them, you’ll end up with a Turkey.