Tuesday, November 11, 2003

Jakob of Useit.Com: The Ten Most Violated Homepage Design Guidelines. this time, I've used a different criterion: I've focused on the known usability principles that designers most frequently violate. Whether big or small, the very prevalence of these usability problems makes them worthy of attention. [via Tomalak's Realm] 5:34:10 PM    comment []

The Privacy Lawyer: Cyberloafing's Drain On Productivity. Some studies estimate that companies lose up to $50 billion annually in wasted employee time and resources online. To address the problem, Parry Aftab says, you need to know what your employees are doing and how much time they spend doing it. By Parry Aftab, InformationWeek. 1:49:27 PM    comment []

Parents ready to write Scholastic out of book-fair picture: Quality draws fire; schools' options few. By Eric Hübler, Denver Post. We're tired of being taken advantage of and held hostage, said Jody Lang, a member of the book-fair committee at Hulstrom Options School, a public magnet school in Northglenn. If I'm going to give my kids money to buy books, I want them to come home with something of quality. I don't really want Pokémon or Justice League or any of the other commercial things that are out there. Plastic see-through skulls, computer games and glitter pencils are also sold at the fairs. . . . Parents at Graland Country Day School recruited Tattered Cover, whose Cherry Creek store is a few blocks away, for this year's fair, which will be at the school next week. We as a community want to support a local independent bookstore, parent Laurie Zeller said. But it will cost them. Tattered Cover does few book fairs because we can't be competitive, and a lot of schools recognize that, said operations manager Neil Strandberg. Another local store, The Bookies, stopped doing book fairs 10 years ago because the accounting was too hard, owner Sue Lubeck said. The Bookies now has fundraising nights, when people from a school can come in for a discount. I know what's going on in this city, and it's not good. I have spoken with a couple of teachers who are interested, they think, in starting a book-fair company, she said. It's a big undertaking. You have to have a warehouse, you have to have a tremendous inventory. Almost all schools have book fairs, said Dave Sanger, former librarian at Denver's Baker Middle School and president of the Colorado Association of School Librarians. Schools typically keep 20 to 25 percent of a fair's revenue in cash or books. That can range from $500 in the inner city to $2,000 in the suburbs, he said. But, then, again, why not Lay off Scholastic (DP editorial) That's what a lot of the letters to the editor said. 12:49:18 PM    comment []

Gore to Bush: Rescind Patriot Act (AP). Big Brother/1984 invoked. 11:48:24 AM    comment []

Bizarre and inexplicable visions, by Mark Gibbs, Network World. Why is it that so many commentators, pundits and analysts want to try to peg down trends based on the flimsiest shreds of evidence? Is it for bragging rights, to be able to say, "I spotted that first"? Or is it an attempt to buy a ticket on the gravy train of consulting and writing? 11:48:20 AM    comment []

Silicon Valley economic espionage case to go to jury trial (AP). San Jose-area businessmen Fei Ye and Ming Zhong were arrested in November 2001 at San Francisco International Airport with suitcases allegedly crammed with trade secrets and at least $10,000 in equipment stolen from U.S. tech companies. Prosecutors said the men -- both originally from China -- stole microchip blueprints and computer aided design scripts from Sun Microsystems Inc., NEC Electronics Corp., Transmeta Corp. and Trident Microsystems Inc., and they planned to start a microprocessor company with the Chinese government. Defendants' attorneys argued in San Jose's federal court last month that the case should be dismissed because the 10 counts of criminal indictment were vague, and the Economic Espionage Act of 1996 was unconstitutional. They said their clients' suitcases contained routine reference materials any engineer might carry -- and that if the men possessed trade secrets, they didn't know it. But U.S. District Judge James Ware rejected the motions to dismiss in a Nov. 3 order. Ware noted that federal prosecutors had turned in an extraordinary depth and breadth of evidence, including more than 8,800 pages of documents related to the alleged trade secrets. 10:48:20 AM    comment []

Analysis of VeriSign's new Flash-based "Trust Mark" seal (Flash 6 required) 10:48:15 AM    comment []

Taiwan: Legal online music web site unveiled: iBIZ Entertainment Corp will provide access to a library of over 500,000 songs which can be downloaded legally for NT$10 to NT$30. By Jessie Ho, Taipei Times. 10:48:11 AM    comment []

Denver-based court hears no-call arguments (AP). 9:47:42 AM    comment []

(5) What Is Gravity, Really?. Gravity is our oldest and most familiar enemy, but for all its intimacy, it is a mystery. By Dennis Overbye. [New York Times: Science] 6:33:13 AM    comment []

Microsoft Seeks Deal in European Antitrust Case. Two days before key hearings, Microsoft said Monday it was still seeking a settlement of its antitrust case with the European Union. By The Associated Press. [New York Times: Technology] 6:29:58 AM    comment []

FCC Allows Shifting of Numbers to Cell Phones -- Cell Phones Cleared to Take Home Numbers, by Yuki Noguchi, Washington Post. [Washington Post: Front Page] 6:28:58 AM    comment []