September 2010

Keep up with the madness

September 30, 2010

HFES madness continues at the annual meeting in San Francisco. Visit the site to see the pictures.

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ATM Alarms and Signal Detection Theory

September 23, 2010
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My favorite folks over at The Consumerist posted a nice writeup on why ATMs do not have alarm buttons. According to a FTC report, at about $1,500 a pop, they’re expensive to retrofit, the police usually don’t have the resources to respond in real-time, and they result in more false alarms than real calls. In one pilot program, an alarm-equipped [...]

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HFES Madness–There’s still time!

September 20, 2010

The annual Human Factors and Ergonomics Society meeting is next week in San Francisco.  If you’re attending as a presenter (of a lecture, a poster, or a symposium), consider participating in the HFES Madness Sessions!  These new sessions (organized by Anne, Kelly Caine, and me) are short-burst advertisements for your talk.  We’re borrowing this idea from our friends at SIGCHI. [...]

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HF Potpourri

September 20, 2010

Social networking for your car? As if we need another distraction while driving.  A new system (Bump.com) connects drivers by license plate so you can text message that person that cut you off (Thanks Paul!). Harry Brignull (of the 90percentiseverything blog) collects egregious examples of evil interfaces in his Dark Patterns website. Dark Patterns: User Interfaces Designed to Trick People [...]

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Impending Disasters Announced Via Computer

September 3, 2010
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I had no idea that there were automated disaster warnings on planes, such one telling passengers to prepare to crash. Apparently they exist. Apparently it’s not too difficult to mistakenly broadcast them. From one article on the event: “This is an emergency announcement. We may shortly need to make an emergency landing on water.” … Passenger Michelle Lord said: “People [...]

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11 feet 8 inches

September 2, 2010

A train trestle in Durham, NC has a clearance of 11’8″. The typical height of a large rental truck ranges from 11’6″ (don’t bounce!) to 13’6″. How often do you think about clearance when driving? Do you think you could adjust to thinking about it 100% of the time in your rental truck? I’ve seen parking garages that have a [...]

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“Clomiphene” vs. “Clomipramine”

September 1, 2010
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Found at the Consumerist blog: The words “Clomiphene” and “Clomipramine” might look similar, but if you work in a pharmacy, you should know that they stand for very different things. Clomiphene is the generic version of the fertility drug Clomid. Clomipramine is a tricyclic antidepressant. A woman in Pittsburgh says that the pharmacy at a Giant Eagle grocery store gave [...]

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