Google Reader knows when you made a mistake

Google Reader knowing what you did not mean to do. 

Back in the day if you accidentally pressed Shift+A in google reader you would find that you had just marked all your items as read. For some people this may not be a problem. For me, it is. I often have 1000 or more unread items, some of which I am deliberately saving so I do not have to keep track of them.

So, just a few moments ago I accidentally pressed Shift+A when going for Shift+S and I got the popup pictured above. Yay for Google's UI team.

Haptic Interfaces that do not try to trick

A Crayola Keyboard for Children.

So I often love old button interfaces, the interfaces that have well labelled buttons that go click when you tap them. One of my favourite interfaces in the world is that of the Bang and Olufsen BeoCom 1401 and 1400. The buttons are firm and they offer sublime haptic feedback.

I don't know much about the Crayola keyboard above but I love the design language and I think it is highly representative of reasonable interface design. Perhaps the grid is a little too strong on the alpha keys and perhaps the arrow set is a would take a moment to get used to but I think the idea is much more respectful of users than that of something like the new top end keyboard from Mircosoft. Interestingly as you pay more for a Microsoft keyboard the features become less stupid and in some ways the product is altogether more elegant. You would however, still have to give me one for free to get me to use it.

A really short rant with links I guess. I think interfaces, haptic or not, should not trick people unless they are tricking them into performing better (which Microsoft is obviously not doing)

Google Design School

Google Logo for Lego's 50th Birthday

I am in the midst of applying for a interesting looking job. I hate writing cover letters, however I did think of something a little interesting. Google Design School.

Google, as everybody knows has a great line-up of really usable services and they have consistently kept the user at the centre of their design requirements. Being a large company and one that claims one of its core fundamentals "don't be evil" there is a need for a well defined path to avoid the expected corporate evils and ensure a future of great user service. Google has published their interpretation of this path on their corporate home-page and in doing so created a defining structure for others, in the same space and in my opinion, in almost any other industry. My personal interest lies in two of their documents which I think combined could be used to teach comprehensive design thinking, and hence the prospect of a school of design based on the methods and thinking of Google. The two articles are as follows

1. Google User Experience - A casual documentation of what google holds important when considering the user in their products. 
2. Google Philosophy - Seen as "ten things Google has found to be true" and some great insight about good strategy for almost anything, business, design and whatever else. 

I think it would be fun to discuss this more. If anyone wants to help me put together a course outline for a Google Design class it would be a lot of fun. I really think there is a lot of design learning available there and that it could be used to create something really interesting.