Google’s new design/experience: taking Chris Wiggins to heart
June 29th, 2011 by ravi

Google has progressed since the days of 41 shades of blue. At least in the user interface of their products. I had no insight into whether this reflects a change in the underlying process. But now there is some news on that front. Yesterday Chris Wiggins (Creative Director at Google) made a post to the “Official Google Blog” to explain the “new and improved Google experience … founded on three key design principles”: Focus, Elasticity, Effortlessness. I think the man, and the company, are serious, and I sincerely applaud them for it and wish them well.
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Is Fotopedia “the Wikipedia of photos”?
June 23rd, 2011 by ravi

Up in northern New Jersey is Pyramid Mountain, a trek up which yields a pretty amazing sight: Tripod Rock, a “glacial erratic” – a 160 ton boulder, to put it in simpler terms – abandoned by the receding Wisconsin glacier. What makes this massive rock amazing is that it is perched atop three comparatively tiny rocks, and this seemingly impossible arrangement has survived thousands of years.

On the left is a photograph of it, taken by me (click on the image for a larger version). Even to an amateur like me, it is evident that this is not a great photograph – among other failings, it is low on detail and sharpness. It has however one thing going for it on the photo sharing service Fotopedia: it is the only photograph of Tripod Rock that has been submitted to the site.

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Life with Gmail’s broken IMAP
June 12th, 2011 by ravi

It is I think by now well known that Google’s IMAP interface was an afterthought that was awkwardly grafted onto their splendidly useful label paradigm, and as a result promises chronic annoyances for those actually using it full-time. You could follow Google’s prescriptions for client configuration — here I will be talking about the OS X Mail app — to the dot, but find scant alleviation of your woes.
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