When you use the Kelley Blue Book to price your used car, you go through a series of steps: Year, Make, Model, Value Type (Trade-In, Private Party, Retail), Trim and Condition. It’s pretty straightfoward, but there’s one usability blunder that bugged me: This screen is a waste. If there’s only one possible trim, well, just …
Author Archives: paulschreiber
Day and Night (Out)
I received this email from the Howie Day mailing list: HOWIE PERFORMING AT ‘NINA’S NIGHT OUT’ Howie will be playing “Nina’s Night Out” sponsored by Mix 94.1, with all proceeds to benefit the Rape Crisis Center. Oh, the irony.
Carbon dioxide worst in 800,000 years
Researchers in Antarctica have analyzed ice cores going back 800,000 years, 150,000 years further than before. The news isn’t good: “Ice cores reveal the Earth’s natural climate rhythm over the last 800,000 years. When carbon dioxide changed there was always an accompanying climate change. Over the last 200 years human activity has increased carbon dioxide …
Taken is the new single
When you log in to Friendster, just below the fold is the People section. The first—and default visible—tab is “Local Singles.” Except it isn’t. Update: it gets worse:
One is the new zero
Apparently MySpace is using the the same algorithm as the Diebold voting machines:
Hertz discount codes
Here are a few Hertz discount codes I have lying around. Most of them aren’t really that special, but I figured writing them down here will benefit someone, and I won’t have to keep a few scraps of paper lying around. CDP numbers: Wells Fargo Card Services, Inc. CDP 65331 USA Hockey CDP 8972 CAA …
Free movie from Ironweed Films
Get one free month of month of Ironweed Films.
Mailman mailing list backup script
I’m sure there are some of these around already, but I have written a script to back up your Mailman mailing lists. It dumps the member roster and list configuration into separate text files, zips them up, emails them to you, and cleans up after itself. The script is called mailmanBackup.py, and its syntax is …
MySpace and its shit-ass design
Sean Bonner rips into MySpace, calling out its poor usability (far, far too many clicks to do anything). Sean was inspired by Evan Williams’ analysis of how MySpace gets so many page views. Evan was in turn building on Mike Davidson’s analysis. Mike’s characterization of MySpace as an “Unnecessary Click Factory” is spot-on. Oh, and …
fun at the indy state fair
lyle writes: I heard and saw a lot of funny things yesterday… One of my favorite moments was when a carnie, upon seeing my camera, yelled to me, ” do you work for National Geographic or The Rolling Stones?” The Rolling Stones. Yes, I am walking around the Indiana State Fair, shooting pictures…because I work …