Category Archives: tech

Outdated Security Question

Posted on by under tech, usability, web site

I was creating a Minecraft account for my daughter (with her sitting next to me) and when we looked at the security question choices she asked, “Why does it ask for mother and father instead of just parents?” Indeed. For a security question “In what city did your mother and father meet?” there are  assumptions that belong in 1965 not 2013. My daughter has a Mommy and a Momma. If the question is “In what city did your parents meet?” then she could easily answer it.

Security questions for Minecraft registrationShe has an additional question to ask herself with security questions about your mother’s middle name or father’s middle name. Which mother? Or, for some of her friends, which father?

It’s not a problem when there are plenty of choices for security questions. The Minecraft registration form has some questions my daughter can’t answer and more than enough questions she can answer. However, I see a lot of security questions, for account registration, that don’t have enough options. In those cases I end up just making up an answer and then recording it somewhere so I don’t forget it. That defeats the security.

Coffee + Newspaper evolves

Posted on by under happiness, reading, tech

A few parts of what used to be my ideal morning: newspaper spread across table, plate or bowl food set on the part of the paper I’m not reading, coffee cup staining some text I’ll eventually want to read, large sheets of text and images and ads. It’s so familiar and comfortable for me.

coffee and newspaper

I’m reading less and less on paper. I subscribe to print magazines that I also read in either Play Magazines on my GalaxyS3 or Nexus7 or in the NewsStand on my iPadMini. I subscribe to a magazine on my Android phone/tablet (via Play Magazines) that I don’t receive in print at all.

I’m reading the print version less and finding it less valuable. I’m considering stopping subscription to the print magazine and just paying for access on phone and tablet.

For years we had the New York Times and SF Chronicle newspapers delivered on weekends. We cancelled our paper NYTimes delivery a year or two ago and switched to paying for “All Digital Access.” Now the NYTimes is delivered on our tablets and smartphones. We still receive the Chronicle in paper on weekends and our daughter reads the comics.

new york times on paper and on ipad

Now my ideal morning has me sitting in a comfy chair with a tablet and a cup of coffee. On a tablet (I currently use either a Nexus7 or an iPadMini), I read 2 newspapers, 3 magazines, and a multitude of news articles in apps and in a feedreader. I skim through all of that in 20 minutes, saving or forwarding articles I want to come back and read in detail. I can share, save, email, copy/paste content and consume more in one sitting from multiple sources. I don’t miss having so much paper in the house to recycle.

The only thing I miss about paper newspapers/magazines is a physical experience of the breadth of a fully open publication on a table or in my hands. It’s a nostalgic emotion. I wonder if my elementary school daughter will feel the same nostalgia when she starts reading more on devices/online than in print. She currently receives a few magazines in the mail each month and reads more books in paper format than on a device.

For me, because I didn’t grow up with handheld devices, my youth feels farther away as I give up consuming content on paper.

My old friend Newton

Posted on by under happiness, tech

I swapped out my Droid3 workhorse for a Samsung Galaxy S3 yesterday. When I found the handwriting option in the keyboard I experienced a wave of nostalgia for my beloved Newton MessagePad from the mid-1990′s.

Samsung Galaxy S3 channels Newton handwriting

(photo taken with iPhone4s – ha!)

My tech gadget dreams are coming true? So far I like the Galaxy S3 more than I thought I would. I desperately miss the physical hardware keyboard of the Droid3, but the zippy speed and nicer screen and the ice cream sandwich features make up for that loss.

My ultimate device would be a mashup of the Newton (I loved handwriting recognition), the hardware keyboard on the Skytel two way pager (“barbie computer”) I used in the late 1990′s (best keyboard I ever used), and the buttons and touchscreen of Android OS withOUT any default apps/settings (let me pick, please! I don’t want Color! I don’t want NFL Football! I don’t want Kies air! I don’t want WiFi always on!). At least Android Ice Cream Sandwich makes it easy to disable and hide apps I don’t want. iOS would be so much nicer if it had that feature.

I don’t like rooting my phones just to have more control. I like to know what the general/average/default consumer experience is. The OS should give me control.

I still have my Newton, in a drawer, in all it’s 4MB storage glory. Miss you, babe, you were what I accidentally left behind at a girl’s house once, and then I married her. Tech romance.

Newton MessagePad

Upside down sideways photos

Posted on by under mobile, tech, usability

When I take a photo (so rarely) with my point and shoot camera, or with my DSLR (even more rarely), usually the photos are taken right-side-up or just sideways because a point and shoot or DSLR has a button on top.

When I take a photo (almost always) with a smartphone, usually the photos are never right-side-up because a smartphone has a button on screen that moves as the hardware is rotated.

Droid1 has a hardware button for the camera on one side (Droid3 lost the button), and the iPhone4s can use the volume button for the camera, but I rarely use those buttons. I pickup a smartphone, turn it on, open the camera app, and take a photo from any every which way.

Then I post these photos, from a Droid or iPhone, to Flickr, to Facebook, to Twitter, and, frustrated sigh, the photo is posted upside down or sideways.

So I go to the app or the web site, on my smartphone, and there’s never ever a feature option to rotate the photo. (STILL AFTER ALL THESE YEARS OF MOBILE APPS!)

Then I go to the “full standard” web site for twitter, facebook, flickr, etc, and navigate it on my smartphone to rotate the photo. This takes a while. Flickr, in particular, has memory loss and asks me to login repeatedly. Facebook doesn’t always recognize my finger taps.

Any mobile or smartphone app with photos, simply because it is for smartphone use, and because smartphones are easily spun around in our hands, should have a rotate button.

Please.