Jason Hong's Confabulations

Bill Buxton has a YouTube channel with some amazing videos of old sketch-based systems, it's a great resource. Thanks to Gabe Johnson for pointing me to these. http://www.youtube.com/user/wasbuxton

I posted a new article on Communications of the ACM's web site about the increasing ridiculousness of stricter password policies .

I've written up a summary of a recent NSF workshop on improving computer science research between the US and China .

Larry Tesler gave a fantastic talk at CHI for his Lifetime Practice award . He presented a summary of his work in helping to develop the modern GUI, and focused specifically on modeless interactions and cut-copy-paste. It was really fascinating listening to all of the subtle issues and design challenges in something that we now take for granted. One example that really struck home was a description of how modes worked in Engelbart's NLS system . To delete a word, first you might hit "d" to put the system into delete mode. Then you might hit "w" to put it into select word mode. Then you could use the mouse to select the text you wanted. Then you would hit an accept button on the mouse to confirm the action. Compare this verb-noun approach to the noun-verb approach we use today, where we simply move the mouse to the right place, select the text (ie the noun), and then hit delete. Much simpler, less error-prone, and fewer clicks. I also liked Larry's takeaw...

This problem needs a higher pagerank, so I figured I would post the solution here. If your Toyota Camry trunk won't open, one possible reason is that it is set to valet mode. Valet mode means that you cannot open the trunk using the release lever inside the car. To set valet mode, you put the key into the trunk lock and turn it counterclockwise. You will know that your trunk is in valet mode if the lock is horizontal rather than vertical, and if you cannot open the trunk using the lever near the driver's seat. Of course, a problem is that sometimes the Camry can get stuck in valet mode, such that you can't use your key to get out of it. (You can see how I spent part of my Sunday morning ...) The solution turns out to be WD-40 . Spray some WD-40 on your key and on the lock. Put the key in, and jiggle it around, and happiness ensues. From an interaction design perspective, it sort of makes sense to have a valet mode. After all, the point of having a valet key is to limit the...

Like many others, my NCAA bracket went terribly awry this year and I have no teams in the Final Four. However, it did make me think that this is a really interesting failure of wisdom of crowds. According to ESPN : More than 5.9 million brackets were filled out for ESPN.com's Tournament Challenge, but exactly two went 4-for-4 in picking Final Four teams. Only 1,093 brackets had three of the Final Four correct, while 2.1 percent had two right. A total of 27.6 percent had one Final Four team, while the vast majority of you -- 70.3 percent -- don't have a single team left.

I saw this on a CMU website called Death Risk Rankings . The site " Calculates the risk of dying in the next year using MicroMorts (a one-in-a-million chance of dying). "