More than Numbers

Highlighting new functionality

Your website is always changing. Obviously, not all changes you make are obvious to the user. There are countless non-UI changes to be made; improving the algorithms that run behind the scenes or adding new non-obvious functionality. You want to promote these changes for a few reasons. The first being that hopefully your changes will improve customer behavior so you want users to be aware of the changes and ultimately become happier users. The second being to reverse conditioned responses. Just as Pavlov showed us many years ago, it is feasible that users found some part of your site so broken that they conditioned themselves to no longer using it. To reverse that response you must show them that things have changed and that maybe they should give it a second shot.

So what is the best best way to inform your users?

One way I've always supported doing this is having a blog. There are so many successful examples of this that I doubt I'd really need to list off specific examples.

But there is a slight problem with this approach. Let's take a look at some assumptions: 1: your audience understands what a blog is; 2: your audience knows how to subscribe to a feed; 3: your audience actually does subscribe to your feed. Even assuming these clauses are all true, this does not necessarily imply that they are up to date reading your feed (heck, I'm scared to admit how many unread items I have sitting in my feed reader right now).

I think Linked In figured out a pretty cool way of highlighting changes to their site. Literally. With highlighting. As you use the site, tiny unobstrusive popups with information on new functionality pointing specifically to the change made. There is no ambiguity as to what has changed and they really don't get in the way of your interactive flow. A very elegant solution.

Heart Attack Grill

At least they're honest. The Heart Attack Grill in Chandler, Arizona doesn't beat around the bush. They know their food is unhealthy and that seems to be what they pride themselves on. I really thought this place was a joke until John Stossel convinced me otherwise:

The owner must be a student of the "no publicity is bad publicity" camp. They are obviously getting a lot of press (being featured on Dateline and all) but obviously not in the brightest light.

An ecosystem for boxes

If you've moved recently, you can feel the pain that San Francisco-based BoxCycle is trying to solve for. It's generally expensive (and wasteful) to buy new boxes and kind of a hassle to hunt them down from grocery stores. After you move, you're stuck with a bunch of boxes to get rid of. Most are recycled but still there is a better way: create a marketplace for people to sell their used boxes to those in need. An excellent idea that I'm looking forward to trying out next time I'm need of boxes. I love ideas that are both eco-friendly and add convenience while saving time and money for the consumer.

yelp newsletter

I know it's not that crazy but still kinda cool to see myself featured in the yelp newsletter this week!

It's about the human heart

I couldn't have said it better myself. Keith Olbermann of MSNBC delivers a special comment and rant on the passing of Prop 8. I still can't believe there are that many hateful people in California.

Hemp-based kicks

I've been in the market for some new shoes for a little while and have been researching what is out there. I realized certain manufacturers are starting (or at least have the option) to ditch the canvas in favor of hemp. One of the cheaper ($50) hemp shoes out there are also a classic in the Converse Chuck Taylors. I think I might just give these a shot.

Hemp is a good alternative material for the environment as it is a sustainable crop since it is ready for harvest about 4 months after planting.

bamboo cutting boards

We've been needing a new cutting board, so we recently picked up two (one for meat, one for veggies) from the Totally Bamboo Greenlight series. So far, I'm very impressed. The boards are very thin at about 3/4" but also very sturdy and absolutely beautiful. They seem to dry exceptionally quick after washing and did I mention how beautiful they are? Very affordable at about $15. Replace your boards now!

For those that don't know the benefits of using bamboo are exceptional. Bamboo is actually harder than maple (by about 16%), yet is easy on your knives. It's also naturally anti-microbial, which is obviously a great benefit when preparing food. Best of all though, bamboo is eco-friendly. You're not destroying old growth forests. Bamboo is the fastest growing plant on earth, so it is sustainable. And no fertilizers or pesticides are needed in it's cultivation.

I'm definitely looking forward to using these more often. After just a few uses in, I already know these are some of the best boards I've ever used.

Chrome is picking up fast

I found it absolutely incredible that Chrome has already picked up approximately 1.5% of the browser market share; 1% of which was captured on the first day of release! Guess that's what happens when the #1 search engine begins to promote their browser on their home page.

I've played with Chrome a bit (through Parallels on my Mac) and I've got to see it does seem pretty quick. And I love how it looks different from every other Windows app - it actually looks decent! But it also feels very much like a software. Also, without wide third party support I'm not sure if I'd realistically migrate from Firefox. I consistently use a few Firefox extensions that I think would just be too difficult to give up cold.

I need to start skating

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Originally uploaded by jonnaro

I never really even considered skateboarding as it was something I could never really do. I used to skate but it was on rollerblades and not a board. Finally over the weekend I had the opportunity to jump on a longboard and decided to give it a shot. I wasn't all that good but it was fun. I think I did okay for my first time on a board and I'm pretty confident I could pick it up if given some time.

So i decided that I'm going to give it a shot. Skateboarding has always been on my list of skills to pick up. Now I just need to increase my skating knowledge and terminology. Yay internet.

Canon 50D announced

I've been waiting for Photokina to roll around as that is the time that Canon usually announces new products. This year it was a bit up in the air as the 40D was not released too long ago. But the trend continued and Canon officially announced the 50D to be released in about a month's time.

Some of the new stats to drool over include a 15.1 megapixel sensor with an ISO of up to 12800 possible. Additional improvements include a larger LCD, faster DIGIC processor and an HDMI output.

I still want to get a 40D though. It should be t least a few hundred less in price and hopefully the price will be driven down even more after the 50D is released to the wild. It's times like this that I'm glad I stuck through the 20D and 30D iterations.