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Frustrating as Heck

Palm SucksIf Microsoft added Macintosh functionality to their PocketPC line of PDAs, it’s almost a sure bet I’d make the switch from the steadily declining Palm OS platform. Despite all of my patience with their dimwitted take on serving their customers, Palm Computing’s Mac OS support continues to be abysmal. Their USB implementations are screwy and unpredictable and result in terrible synching performance — I’m fed up with the frustration of trying to get my Palm Vx to talk to my Power Macintosh G4. It’s all nearly enough to make me want to chuck in the whole PDA thing for a DayRunner.

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If You Like This, You Might Like…

Media Unbound is at the forefront of a new kind of personalization, according to Salon.com, but the traffic resulting from that article has their system maxed out. It sounds promising though: a recommendation engine that actually refers you to obscure music that you like and that you might not have heard about otherwise. Speaking of which, it’s been a hell of a long time since I’ve heard any new music that’s really gotten me excited.

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Waiting for My (Cable) Man

Linksys Etherfast Cable/DSL RouterThis coming Friday, my excruciating exile from the land of home connectivity is scheduled to end when Time Warner Cable finally installs my cable modem. Knowing that broadband installations are fraught with mishaps and aborted attempts, I’m keeping my fingers crossed and my expectations low. All the same, I ordered myself a Linksys BEFSR41 4-Port Etherfast Cable/DSL router a few days ago, and if everything goes well, I should have a nifty little home network by the weekend.

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A Place for Everything

Schema for Common Web ObjectsDeveloping Schemas for the Location of Common Web Objects” is a pretty enlightening bit of user research. Michael Bernard polled a group of novices (less than one year of Web experience) and experts (three or more years of Web experience) and asked them to indicate where on a blank Web page they would expect to find some common interface elements (or “Web objects”), e.g. home page link, internal links, search box etc. The diagrams are pretty telling.

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Excuses, Excuses

I can explain my poor blogging habits of late. See, having just returned to New York City, I’ve spent most of my time looking for and moving into my new apartment. At this moment, you could say that’s all still in progress, and I’ve been preoccupied with loading up on housewares. It’s not just that, either. Until Time Warner Cable installs my cable modem next Friday, I’m also without Internet access from home. Believe me, it’s hard for me to explain exactly how I’m getting by.

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