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Archive for category Software

Observing, Recording, and Sharing Usability Studies on Mobile Apps

Feb 16

Posted by Todd in HCI, iPhone, Software, User Interface | Comments off

When doing usability studies on websites or Windows or OSX applications, it’s easy to see what’s going on on-screen since you can just split the video signal to a display in another room and into some recording equipment. However, when doing usability studies on mobile apps, it can even be hard for the moderator to see what’s going on, since mobile device screens are relatively small and participants have a propensity to move them around as they perform their tasks.

For our latest mobile app project, I decided to get creative about how we record and allow remote observers for our sessions. We don’t have a big hardware or software budget for usability equipment, plus, I’m thrifty. icon smile Observing, Recording, and Sharing Usability Studies on Mobile Apps

I put together a pretty reasonable workflow that worked really well this past week.
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Travel Tip: Food on the plane

Sep 8

Posted by Todd in Software | Comments off

Here’s a quick tip to have some decent food on the plane that’s not nasty. Stop by a Starbucks and get the oatmeal w/o the water. They give you everything to make it yourself on the plane. Just ask the flight attendant to add some water when they come by with the drinks cart. There’s always hot water for tea. No need to “beef up” on JetBlue.

20120908 064144 Travel Tip: Food on the plane

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Set Lark on Sleep! Day 31

Jul 17

Posted by Todd in iPhone, Sleep, Software | 1 Comment

So, it’s been a little longer than I had thought, but here’s the completion of my review of the Lark. In short, I think it’s a great alarm clock, but I’m not so sure about it’s ability to help improve your sleep.

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Lark Up! – Day 1

Jun 11

Posted by Todd in iPhone, Sleep, Software | 1 Comment

What Is It?

Lark is a sleep monitor / alarm clock device hardware device and iPhone app combination. The hardware is a small bluetooth pod that you wear on a wristband while you sleep and a combination phone dock / Lark pod charging station. They also include a dock which holds your iPhone and has charging ports for both the the Lark and a USB port.  While there is only an iPhone app at the moment, the USB port could be used to charge any smart phone.

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Hi Lo vs Whole Foods: Fight!

Jan 22

Posted by Todd in Boston, Software | Comments off

So, there’s been a huge discussion going on online about the Hi Lo, a latin american-focused grocery store in Jamaica Plain, MA, closing and being replaced by a Whole Foods. Hi Lo has been in business for about 50 years and has decided to close. They’re not being forced out but are closing by choice. They’ve decided to lease their store to Whole Foods.

MS Office Ribbon Hero Game

Jun 15

Posted by Todd in Office, Software | Comments off

Microsoft has released another add-in to help people use MS Office with the ribbon: Ribbon Hero. Once installed, it presents you with certain challenges to try to attain and scores you for your efficiency. I wonder how it interacts w/ the search plugin…

Building an ergonomic workstation

May 8

Posted by Todd in Ergonomics, Software, Speech Recogntion | 1 Comment

Having an ergonomic workstation is extremely important. I’ve been fighting several different kinds of RSI for years. Here are some items to keep in mind when putting together your workstation. Read the rest of this entry »

The basics of SageTV

Apr 26

Posted by Todd in Software | 5 Comments

If you want to use a computer you own as a DVR, there are a few things that you’ll need and a few things that you have to decide or think about. While setting up a SageTV system is complicated, it’s mostly due to the complexities of computer hardware and networking. SageTV itself is fairly easy. I describe what SageTV is and how it works, some questions to consider when planning your installation, required software and hardware, and detail out various configuration options. If you’re not very familiar with DVRs and the current crop of options, take a look at my previous article.

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DVR history and your options

Apr 25

Posted by Todd in Software | Comments off

Digital Video Recorders (DVR) are also called Personal Video Recorders (PVR) and the two names can be used interchangeably. I currently use SageTV Media Center which I have installed on a server computer in my basement. They are effectively digital VCRs, but can have many other features, like:

  • multi-room access
  • music, photo, and video playback
  • access to online content like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, or Youtube
  • many hours of video recording
  • the ability to record more than one show at a time.

They’re great, and I suggest you get one.

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App Store Size Comparisons

Nov 24

Posted by Todd in Software | Comments off

Here’s a link to an interesting listing of app store sizes.

Palm still has fewer than 400 apps available.