Blog by Fredy Ore on Design, Tech, User Experience, AI & Innovation

Marine mammals don't see the ocean as blue

In Archive by Fredy OreMarch 26, 2003

More on colour vision: I came across one of the most interesting journal articles the other day whilst researching colour vision. I found that whales and seals don’t see the ocean as blue!. Marine mammals have a visual pigment loss which affects their vision. Consequently, the colour blue is seen as possibly a hue of green or grey.

The Reqwireless Webviewer for any J2ME mobile phone

In Archive by Fredy OreMarch 26, 2003

A look at the Reqwireless Webviewer 2.0 for any mobile Java J2ME device.

The WebViewer allows you to access the Web and any website for that matter, via your Java-enabled cellphone or PDA in a similar way to what a desktop browser can do. The browser is available for a multitude of phone including Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Siemens.

It’s important to note that the browser is not a WAP browser but a HTML browser. The website also contains an interesting demo java applet where you can test any site.
http://reqwireless.com/webviewer.html

First Monday: Discrepancies in statistics of the Digital Divide

In Archive by Fredy OreMarch 26, 2003

First Monday post an excellent article by Elizabeth Davison and Shelia R. Cotten titled, “Connection discrepancies: Unmasking further layers of the digital divide”. The article comments on misleading information during statistical surveys which show that often studies fail to account and ask questions regarding the way in which the internet is accessed and who is likely to spend more time online.
Davison and Cotten comment that,

the type of connection is more important than other digital divide demographics such as education, race or gender. Subsequently, those engaged in the exploration of our Internet society should start controlling for how Internet users connect to the World Wide Web.

Excert from abstract, Davison E., Cotten S. R. (2003) Connection discrepancies: Unmasking further layers of the digital divide [Online] Available: www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue8_3/davison

Stop Design comments on public design advantages

In Archive by Fredy OreMarch 26, 2003

Douglas Bowman from Stop Design comments on “Public Design” and the interesting ways in which public comments during development is helping commercial and non-commercial websites better develop, consider and design usability and accessibility.

Two websites which are currently doing this are, Jeffrey Zelman’s Zeldman.com and Macromedia.com
www.stopdesign.com/log/default.asp?date=20030317

Fast Company on Google’s growth

In Archive by Fredy OreMarch 25, 2003

Fast Company has an interesting article this week on the growth and growth of Google. One of the interesting points comments on Google’s strong focus on the User and also how the company lays out some rules which helps in its growth.

Rule1: The User Is in Charge
Rule2: The World Is Your R&D Lab
Rule3: Failures Are Good. Good Failures Are Better.
Rule4: Great People Can Manage Themselves
Rule5: If Users Come, So Will the Money

There are also some interesting links and further reading articles from the article.
www.fastcompany.com/magazine/69/google.html

AustralianIT: Telstra’s to spoil 3G launch

In Archive by Fredy OreMarch 25, 2003

The Australian IT comments in an interesting article on Telstra’s launch of their 2.5G mobile network as a way of disrupting plans for Hutchison launch of 3G at the end of March.

http://australianit.news.com.au

I don’t know about you, but I believe that 3G will be of something special in Australia, as we have one of the world biggest users (per capita) of mobile phone in the world. Is this attempt by Telstra to launch a slower network a way of milking the Australian public for a few more years?