Merging

Merging, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Give it a few more days of this weather, and it'll be impossible to tell where this pier ends and the sea begins.

Applauding the Effort

Applauding the Effort, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

The local dentist office had done their best to entertain nervous patients. Pretty impressive in thought, if not so much in execution. They said some regular customers had been asked for a screen running movies instead, which makes one wonder how much time people tend to spend in the chair.

Don't Google It

Don't Google It, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Spotted in a clothing store downtown.

Safety Lighting

Safety Lighting, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

That's what it says, or perhaps Emergency Lighting would be more correct. Some objects turn cool as they age, some can be perceived as dangerous.

Design-Led Innovation Seminar

Design-Led Innovation Seminar, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Heard some good talks by Nick Leon (Design London), Rama Gheerawo (RCA) and Onny Eikhaug (Norwegian Design Council) today at the Design-Led Innovation seminar. The subjects revolved around the theme of user-centered (or universal) design, which is pretty much the standard fare for us at work; no big revelations, but very interesting case studies with cool results and methods. What they forgot to mention, though, was that users always are good at complaining about features in interviews, but rarely good at envisioning solutions. You've got to read between the lines to get to the good stuff.

Life With Kindle

Life With Kindle, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Having spent some quality time with the Kindle these last weeks, here are some notes:

-Spontaneous reading has increased, it's easy to pick up, read a few pages and put down again in any situation. The downside is that some texts require a bit of time and thought from time to time, and reading can become fragmented with the Kindle.

-Notes and bookmarks are great. Dead simple to use, and all underlines quotes are saved to a separate folder in the main menu. Easy to pick fitting ones to presentations and such.

-The browser is kind of clunky, but I didn't really expect to use the Kindle for surfing the web anyway. Still, even gmail is a bit of a pain to use.

-Most people who have held the Kindle try to make some sweep gesture on the screen...

Old and New PEN

Old and New PEN, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

DigiExpo was if possible even more lame than SkiExpo when it came to the exhibitors. I mainly go there for the cameras anyway, but this year Nikon had scaled down and Canon was totally absent. Not much to see at Oly either, though they had dug out some old PENs to sit in with the newer ones.

Makia Stage

Makia Stage, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Luckily SkiExpo had something more than just a few planks on display. The Makia stage had some decent acts, and the snowboard kids trying the small rail nextdoor were entertaining too. And of course always nice to meet old friends who get to ski way more than I do.

Heads in a Row

Heads in a Row, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

SkiExpo time again. Not much to say about the items on display. While Rocker skis are interesting, and would be nice to try a pair in good powder, they don't really tell you a lot just lined up against a wall in a fair center.

Hello Kindle

Hello Kindle, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

New tool for actually getting some reading done on the train to work every day. Arrived today, so not much to say about the user experience yet, except hooking up to the Kindle Store was a breeze (as it should be, Amazon gets money that way). First up is Design Driven Innovation by Roberto Verganti. Thank's to Valerie about the heads up on that.