July 2010

BMW Radio: “WHAT CODE! Where do I find the CODE?!”

July 26, 2010
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Recently a friend posted this frustration with the system that supposedly keeps car stereo thieves from using a stereo. Unfortunately, it kept the owner from using it as well. Driving home last nite suddenly the dash lights up like an xmas tree. Lights turn off, alarms go off, etc. Climbing partner & I: “This is not good”. 1/2 second later everything’s [...]

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Almost Here: Designing Displays for Older Adults

July 20, 2010
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After a long process and over a year of work, Anne’s and my book on user interface design for older adults is almost available!  The cover of our book has been finalized (shown below).  The book will be released September 21st, 2010 and will be available where fine books are sold or directly from our publisher CRC Press. We’ll give [...]

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Unusable Signs – Biking

July 20, 2010
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I took a snap of this sign while on a bike ride yesterday. It appears to be a map of the bike trail. But there are a few problems… The sign clearly points to the right. The paved bike path continues straight ahead (and turns left in about 200 feet). That little green triangle in the upper left says “North.” [...]

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The Human Factors of Weapons

July 16, 2010

James R. in California sends along a tragic story of police officer confusing his taser with his firearm.  The news story can be found here.  Here’s what James says: Here in CA there is a big to do over the shooting death of a young man (Oscar Grant) by a BART police officer Johannes Mehserle.  Apparently, Mr. Grant was being [...]

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Mining Tragedy Update

July 15, 2010
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There is new information on the West Virginia coal mine tragedy where the methane detectors were disabled to prevent automatic shut down of the machinery. This comes from NPR: Methane monitors are mounted on the massive, 30-foot-long continuous miners because explosive gas can collect in pockets near the roofs of mines. Methane can be released as the machine cuts into [...]

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Human Factors and Health care: Tackling Inefficiencies

July 12, 2010
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I came across two examples of human factors angles in health care. The first is from the NPR show Planet Money.  The show focuses on how much inefficiency and waste there is in medical billing. The whole podcast is worth listening to, but there is one bit that made me laugh out loud (fast-forward to 10:35). Codes (NDC number) are [...]

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Usability Potpourri

July 2, 2010

HF/Usability Potpourri returns with two recent items. iPhone Reception Display Reports from some sites suggest that at least some of the cellular reception issues of the new iPhone 4 are due to improper display of signal strength.  This is a neat HF issue because it involves user’s trust in automation (the display of reception bars is actually a computed value, [...]

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