Apple may build a Search Engine

Data Apple collects about users from its vaunted iPhone is so valuable that the company must build a special search engine just to keep Google from gleaning insight from that data, analysts say.
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said there is a 70 percent chance Apple will roll out a mobile search engine tailored for its iPhone within the next five years.

Google is currently the default search engine on the iPhone, which has tens of millions of users. Pairing the leading search engine -- 65 percent in the U.S., more share abroad -- with one of the most popular smartphones on the planet made good business sense.
Apple-May-Build-a-Search-Engine

OK, now this may be an interesting fight. Google needs some serious competition, Microsoft doesn't seem to be bringing the fight to them; maybe Apple will be able to do so.

Credit Card App for iPad

As someone working on a day to day basis with other small and microbusinesses this app hits home. One can now use a credit card machine with an iPad. We're seeing the day when we can "touch" phones and be able to easily transfer information (either contact or payment). We were able to "beam" information between Palms a decade ago but this is one more step forward, easing the way for small and microbusinesses.

I've blasted this to all my business contacts. Wow!

Twitter Creator’s Credit Card Scanner Comes to iPad

This comes right on the heels of Silicon Valley's report that soon you will be able to snap a photos of a check with your cell phone and deposit it by transmitting an encrypted copy to your bank.

Regulators were surprised when the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks caused delays in financial transactions. With air traffic grounded for several days, the bundles of checks that banks and other businesses needed to move around couldn't get cleared.

So in 2003, Congress passed a law commonly known as Check 21. It allows anyone who receives a check to make a digital image of it rather than having to deliver it physically. The law has led many companies to install scanning machines that digitize thousands of checks at a time for deposit.

Deposit money by taking a photo

eCommerce, the times are a-changin'

Scrolling verus Clicking, Again

Not too long ago I wrote that we should get away from scrolling and go back to the codex. Jakob Nielsen in Scrolling and Attention: Alert Box, March 22, 2010 wrote:

Today, users will scroll. However, you shouldn't ignore the fold and create endless pages for two reasons:

Long pages continue to be problematic because of users' limited attention span. People prefer sites that get to the point and let them get things done quickly. Besides the basic reluctance to read more words, scrolling is extra work.

The real estate above the fold is more valuable than stuff below the fold for attracting and keeping users' attention.

So, yes, you can put information below the fold rather than limit yourself to bite-sized pages.

In fact, if you have a long article, it's better to present it as one scrolling canvas than to split it across multiple pageviews. Scrolling beats paging because it's easier for users to simply keep going down the page than it is to decide whether or not to click through for the next page of a fragmented article. (Saying that scrolling is easier obviously assumes a design that follows the guidelines for scrollbars and such.)

Initially I was a little surprised by what Jakob Nielsen wrote as it differed markedly from what I've surmissed UNTIL I noticed that we were referring to two very different activities. He does use the term "article" but his examples refer to stores showing products versus a reader and an article. There is a considerable difference between reading an article and the quick scrolling through data that one does when going through a store's displays or a search engine's results page.

Usability, and General Best Uses

We generally don't think about usability issues when it comes to the 3rd Party systems. I found out that a client of mine, who uses a web-based email systems (because they're not tied down to one computer) had not been saving her "Sent" emails.

It got me to thinking about default values and prompting users to act in "their own best interests."

In case you have the same issues click on the 'Options' or 'Tools' link, usually located at the top right. (Yahoo and numerous other WebMail products.)

YouTube and Usability

There are many UX issues with YouTube. I've mentioned them before.

Here is a quote from a Google Employee responding to the frustration of YouTube users.

Here are a few ways your input has influenced the page's current design...

** YOU SAID:
The "Like" button (which initially not only rated videos, but also saved the video to your Favorites) was confusing. It didn't feel right to rate and add a video to favorites at the same time.

*** HOW YOUR INPUT INFLUENCED THE NEW DESIGN:
By redefining what “Liking” a video means and adding a “save to” button in the actions bar, rating a video ("Liking" it) and saving a video (Favoriting it or adding it to a playlist) are now totally separate actions. So when you want to rate something, use the “Like” button. When you want to Favorite something, use the “save to” button.

This is 2010 and Google still does not employ UX professionals? Who would, who could, possibly think to have one link do two such completely different tasks. Just because you may like a video in the context of general browsing doesn't mean that you want to add it to your playlist.

As an example I may *like* a video of a friends baby but that doesn't mean I want to save it to a site dedicated to Information Architecture.

Scrolling versus clicking

Site design has gone away from page turning format of the codex and back to the concept of scrolling. Is this an advancement? Should information be presented screenful by screenful? The problem in reading large amounts of information, whether scrolling or page turning / clicking format is the ease by which the reader may remember or mark his progress through the text. The advantage of “pages” is that one doesn’t lose ones place on the page. Scrolling requires our eyes to readjust to a new configuration of text. This is counter to our usual mode of acquiring information. Back in 2001 I wrote, while writing on the same subject:

The only reason for not “turning” pages is because presently response time is too slow. Only when the response time become nearly instantaneously (less than 1 sec) does turning the page make sense.

Well now that it is clear to everyone that “page turning” is preferable to scrolling, and we can present pages nearly instantaneous the question becomes how do we convince customers to incorporate this in their site redesign?

There is a price for converting a website and for most companies there isn't a ROI. Retrofiting a "scrolling" site into a "page-turning" site calls for more experienced developers and new IA design. As such changes will have to wait until the next major site redesign.

What can be done right now? Scale back on the displayed text. Eliminate as much text as possible EXCEPT in the posted articles.

Facebook surpasses Google

This week Facebook surpasses Google SE as the most used site on the internet.

Facebook becomes bigger hit than Google

I wonder - when will Facebook collapse? Certainly it will continue to rise in popularity for a while - but there will come a time (sooner rather than later) when privacy issues will come to the fore. There will be an "event" that will give people pause to be on Facebook. At that point Facebook will reach a fork in the road and must choose which path it will take: will it respect its user's privacy or will Zuckerman/Facebook continue down the path it's on.

I think that Facebook will continue down the path it's on, make it's money "today" and die out as it's replaced by a more privacy-friendly alternative.