When in Doubt, Act as If...

A recent Michigan State University grad was clueless about what career he wanted and was living on his parents' sofa, unemployed. So, when a relative asked, "Do you want to work in a dashboard manufacturing plant?" he said yes–even though he had no particular interest in dashboards. However, he acted as if he were passionate about dashboards: He carefully observed his coworkers, asked questions, and read articles on dashboard manufacture. He pursued dashboard expertise like an unleashed tiger pursues a cross rib roast. Soon, coworkers started coming to him with questions, and he eventually became the go-to guy on the factory floor. Not surprisingly, our dashboard dude soon got promoted. Now, also not surprisingly, he's passionate about dashboards. Lesson: Act as if.

Ref: USnews.com

Video on ‘Stanford Design Thinking Process’

Eco-friendly Web Design

Eco-friendly search launched - Blackle

As noted, an all white web page uses about 74 watts to display, while an all black page uses only 59 watts. Take at look at Google, who gets about 200 million queries a day. Let's assume each query is displayed for about 10 seconds; that means Google is running for about 550,000 hours every day on some desktop. Assuming that users run Google in full screen mode, the shift to a black background will save a total of 15 (74-59) watts. That turns into a global savings of 8.3 Megawatt-hours per day, or about 3000 Megawatt-hours a year. Now take into account that about 25 percent of the monitors in the world are CRTs, and at 10 cents a kilowatt-hour, that's $75,000, a goodly amount of energy and dollars for changing a few color codes.

Ref: ecoIron

Web Conference on Second Life

Interesting to see how internet trends are affecting communication mediums. Check out the following conference happening on Second Life.




I'll go for the balcony seat ... [;)]

More pics here

HFI Usability Buttons

HFI is famous for its colorful and popular usability buttons, the first one being released in 1982. I designed two of its recently released collection.



Know more about HFI Usability Buttons.

The World's Thinnest Notebook

Behold the Razr of laptops. The thinnest notebook computer ever, this new machine created by Ziba Design and Intel, packs enough futuristic features to make a geek's head spin.

On the outside, from its no-rim screen to its groovy keyboard, the notebook is gloriously smooth and streamlined. A special accessory - a leather-like folder that wraps around the laptop and attaches with magnets - serves as a wireless charger and an external screen that lets users check e-mail without opening the computer. Add a strap, and the whole thing turns into a bag that can be adorned with a favorite picture on the screen.

If it catches on, Intel's sleek laptop could be a game changer for PCs

Check out the images

Map of Online Communities

Click Image for bigger version.

Crucial for guys who are sailing in the choppy seas of Online Communities - a map of Online Communities. It draws a gamut of social networks as nations and represents the size of each according to its member base.

Ref: Blogging4Business