"Home" with the WA plates...

Seriously, how often does the chance come along when the Olympics are this close?!

Here are a couple sites, a couple mobile sites and a couple iPhone apps.

http://www.vancouver2010.com

(mobile) http://www.vancouver2010.com/mobile

(iPhone App) 2010Guide – Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games: The Official Mobile Spectator Guide

http://www.nbcolympics.com

(mobile) http://m.nbcolympics.com

(iPhone App) NBC Olympics on AT&T

It’s also looking like the weather in Vancouver, BC and the weather in Whistler/Blackcomb, BC might be a bit on the warm side for ‘winter’ games.  I hear they are trucking in snow.  Regardless, it will be festive… that’s pretty certain!

UPDATE: Here is the official Facebook page for the 2010 Olympics.

This trip back was done with everything I own able to fit into my truck with the top carrier.  It was not really that tight of a fit.  That’s mostly because I don’t have very much stuff.  I love that (for me).  I know that most people (in America) chose not to be that simple.  However, for me, it has become a mantra of the past few years.

I think this mantra carries over into the tech world.  Simplicity rules.

As a technologist and consumer of various technology, I have watched a lot of gadgets and programs and computer systems.  I’ve watched as people design and build things.  I’ve watched as end users gobble up or reject things.  The one solid constant is that simplicity rules.  That doesn’t mean that there should not be advanced options.  It does mean that defaults should be secure and simple, not just fastest to completion and fastest to sell a product.

Part of our information overload is due to too many products that are not designed well and ’simply’ put, have too much crap.  For me, I decide to simplify and not consume as much.  I decide to make a personal choice to have less.  That is not for everyone.  But, it is one idea to help the glut of unorganized chaos not have such a negative force in my life.

Now, my motives and thoughts are not always to be the most profitable.  I’ll give you that.  My motives are not always to get the biggest numbers of users.  I’ll give you that.  My motives are more often to make the best, to solve a problem or to fill a niche.  Designing systems and processes that have a smaller scope is a different complexity that designing for the masses.  (That’s something that I hope to learn a lot more about in the near future and in the coming years!)  For now, I’m commenting on some feelings and some observances, not on everything and not totally comprehensively.

When we put in a CD or DVD and want it to play, we push play.  When we leave the house and want to secure it, we lock the door.  When we want to go online to view something, we want it to just work and the Internet to just be there.  Yes, I do understand the work it takes to make technology be simple.  But, I think there are things that we’re doing wrong – like making devices and systems and processes with too many options.

This post speaks more to the point of what I’m trying to say here.  Computers shouldn’t make people feel like idiots

Here are a few quotes that I think we should take to heart and should make it into the new systems we build.

“People don’t know how to use computers. And not just stupid people. Millions of people. People who are adults. And that’s pretty damn lame.”

“For those of us surrounded by the minutiae of computers all day, it’s easy to forget there’s a world of people out there who just don’t get it. And it’s not their fault. It’s ours.”

“(Note: It’s not just about making a computer or an app more accessible for people who don’t get it. It’s also for people who do get it because this way is better.)”

“You can crank up the snow machine. You can set up the slalom course perfectly. You can shape all the moguls so they’re just right. But if people can’t ever get on the ski lift, there ain’t gonna be any race.”

In short, we need to cut features.  We need to eliminate designing for false target users when our audience is not “everyone” and we need ot make things that work for a real group of target users.

We need to shape the market and redefine the market and help the market by making simple things that just work.  We need to educate the market and facilitate growth by making things that people will use… We cannot just feed the market and expect that it will figure it out.  Many times it will not.  And, many times it will find another way – if we don’t adjust and make things to be simple.

When the consumer says, “I don’t get it.” that is our fault as designers.  It is not the consumer’s fault. We need to take responsibility as technologists and designers and developers and IT pros and builders of any kind.

Take note: Simplicity rules.

P.S.  It’s been a little bit since I’ve posted here.  There have been very few times like this, lasting longer than a month, even going all the way back to 2003 or 2004, when I started blogging.  And, when it has happened, it’s been due to a good reason, like I have a bad attitude or I’m burned out or I’m moving across the country or, or, or… The point is, that it’s a new year and a new season and, well, here I go again…  (Actually, I do have several other blogs where I did post.  So, it’s not like I have not been blogging.  It’s just on this particular blog that it’s been a little while.  Anyway…)

“A German computer engineer said Monday that he had deciphered and published the secret code used to encrypt most of the world’s digital mobile phone calls, saying it was his attempt to expose weaknesses in the security of global wireless systems.”

…hmmm… More perspective is in the full article.  However, it does make one think a little bit more.  Who is listening?  ;)

Researcher Translation

http://xkcd.com/678/

We need to make information simple.

We need to listen and organize and purge.

We need to be patient with those around us who adapt at different rates.

We need to revisit our approach.

I just watched this “Web 2.0″ video again.  It is information overload.  Yet, it also is about managing external perception.  It is about social networking and Twitter and blogs and hyperlinks and sharing information.  (It’s also linked with several other FAQ related videos, right here on this blog.)

The Machine is Us/ing Us

We need to slow down.  We do not need to speed up.

We need to stop multi-tasking.  We need to say no.

We need to say less, spend more time being the expert, and less time marketing.

I’ve said “we” a lot here.  That’s because “I” think “I” have some ideas that “I” think will help make other people’s lives more enjoyable, more simple, more balanced, more about what “we” want our lives to be about.

Stay tuned!

Here’s there video about the contest.  I think this video is pretty cool on its own.

And, now the contest is extended through December 4th.

And, if you want more info, here’s the subscriptions support page.

HT: Awards honor top 10 Internet moments of the decade

Also, (note from me, not the quote below) this same decade was the one where SharePoint took off!

The Ten Most Influential Internet Moments of the Decade

Craigslist expands outside San Francisco (2000)
In 2000, the free classifieds site broadened its reach outside of San Francisco into nine additional U.S. cities, sending chills down the spines of newspaper publishers everywhere. Today Craigslist serves free listings in more than 500 cities in 50 countries, serving as a model for no-frills business and community success and the catalyst for countless jobs, apartments, and just about anything else you can think of.

Google AdWords launches (2000)
With the launch of AdWords in October 2000, Google turned advertising on its head. The self-service ad program opened up the marketplace to any business, no matter how big or small, and allowed advertisers to target their customers with laser-sharp precision.

Wikipedia launches (2001)
Containing 20,000 articles in 18 languages by the end of its first year online, Wikipedia today boasts more than 14 million articles in 271 different languages. The free open-source encyclopedia epitomizes the Internet’s power to bring strangers from around the world together to collaborate on projects both big and small.

Napster Shut Down (2001)
Although Napster was shut down in 2001, it opened the file-sharing floodgates. Its demise sparked a wave of innovations that forever changed how we obtain and experience music and video – from Hulu to iTunes to Radiohead famously dropping its label and self-distributing their “In Rainbows” CD online for free.

Google IPO (2004)
Google’s IPO, one of the largest in history, put the six year old search engine on the path to becoming the most dominant and influential company of the decade. From gmail and YouTube to Google Earth, Google Maps, and Google Android, the Internet giant and constant innovator is the engine that powers countless aspects of our everyday lives.

Online video revolution (2006)
In 2006, a perfect storm of faster bandwidth, cheaper camcorders, and the groundbreaking use of Adobe’s Flash 9 video player by YouTube combined to launch the online video revolution. The trifecta led to a boom in homemade and professional content – the Diet Coke and Mentos guys, lonelygirl15, SNL’s Lazy Sunday, and Senator George Allen’s “macacagate” – that has reshaped everything from pop culture to politics.

Facebook opens to non-college students and Twitter takes off (2006)
In September 2006, a social networking site for college students changed its user qualifications to include anyone 13 and older with a valid e-mail address. Facebook struck an immediate chord — and almost overnight, social media went mainstream. Less than a month later, the creators of Twitter acquired the company and its assets from its investors, paving the way for the service to take off in 2007. Both companies took social media mainstream, radically changing the way we connect, collaborate, and communicate with everyone from friends to colleagues to customers.

The iPhone debuts (2007)
The iPhone was released on June 29, 2007. By the end of the weekend, half a million had been sold, and smartphones had gone from a luxury item to a necessity. The iPhone inspired the development of operating systems like Google Android, as well as an app for just about every aspect of modern life. Over the next decade, it’s estimated that a billion new users will come to the Internet for the first time through mobile devices.

U.S. Presidential Campaign (2008)
The Internet altered presidential politicking in 2008 much as television had forty years earlier during the Kennedy/Nixon race. From videos like “Obama Girl” and the Reverend Wright clip shaping the debate, to social media mobilizing voters, to record-breaking online fundraising from small donors, every facet of the way campaigns are run was permanently transformed.

Iranian election protests (2009)
When Iran’s 2009 presidential election produced fishy results, the opposition took to the tweets — and the “Twitter Revolution” was born. In fact, it was so vital to organizing demonstrations that the U.S. State Department asked the company to delay planned maintenance.. The protests also highlighted Twitter’s key asset as a protest tool: Since most users don’t access it through a central website, it’s nearly impossible to censor.