YouTube + New York City Ballet

I was aware that YouTube had a Channel features, but I didn't really get it until today. I kind of just thought is was a different way of organizing the videos. Today, strangely, it was an email from the New York City Ballet that made me look at Channels differently. The NYC ballet has launched its own YouTube channel (youtube.com/nycballet). This idea of a channel, which is more reflective of a specialized tv channel, makes a lot more sense to me. Maybe this was YouTubes idea of a channel all along, and I just wasn't getting it because "Floriparty74 Channel" just didn't mean anything to me. Bizarrely, I imagine that the NYC Ballet started a YouTube channel in an attempt to be more cool, but the effect it had on me was kind of the opposite... It made me take YouTube much more seriously.

What is all this Twitter about?

Everyone is talking about Twitter lately so I thought I would check it out. So far I don't really see the appeal but I'm willing to keep trying. If you are unfamiliar with Twitter, it is an online community (like Friendster or My Space) that basically revolves around one question - what are you doing? Yeah, that's it. People just login and state what they are doing (i.e. Watching TV, checking my email, brushing my teeth). This leaves me with two questions of my own. The first is why isn't everyone's explanation of what they are doing just say "I'm wasting time on Twitter narrating everything I'm doing"? The second question I have is WHO CARES? Seriously... who really cares what I am doing right this second? Unless of course you are a stalker, I mean a "Follower" as they call it. If there are any Twitter fans out there who have a more positive spin on the site, please leave comments.

Why do we put up with Hotmail?

I know that I am way behind the ball in admitting that hotmail sucks - but I have finally come around to admitting it. So do you want to know what pushed me over the edge? It's this... The (relatively) new (and definitely not improved) file attachment interface. The thing that I don't like about this is that they put the buttons in the wrong order. You have to browse, then see that the file name is correct, and then push attach. It is such a simple thing, why did they put the buttons in the wrong order? I'm 90% sure that they did this just to annoy me. The only other reasonable explanation I can come up with is that they are dumb asses. What do you think?

Things that are better in Japan

This summer I was in Tokyo. As our plane was leaving the gate at the Tokyo airport, the runway workers who has just helped us reverse all stood in a line alongside the airplane and as we turned to taxi towards the runway they all bowed to the plane and then waved. It was such a lovely send off! Why can't they do that everywhere?

Who ever invented Spell check is my hero

Who ever invented spell check is my hero. I don't know how I could live without it. Let me amend - I would cause myself further constant writing embarrassment without it.

According to Wikipedia, spell checker have been around since the first mainframe computers in the 1970's but didn't become universally accessible until they were incorporated into word processing packages in the mid 1980's. Now, thank goodness, spell check is becoming standard on most email and internet based programs as well.

Most recently spell check programs have started to include algorithms for context sensitive spelling advice. I will be so happy when grammar checking gets to the same level.

I still don't know who invented spell check but who ever you are, you are my hero.

Products that make me happy - Timex Alarm Clock

I recently bought this Timex alarm clock from Target. I don't want to say that this alarm clock makes me happy because I'm not a morning person and no alarm clock has ever made me happy. I was however pleasantly surprised when I pulled this alarm clock out of the box to find it already set to the correct time and date as well as preset to the local radio stations. Now that is a good out-of-box experience. Sure it is a good selling feature to say the clock is preset but this isn't exactly a top of the line alarm clock, in fact it was one of the cheapest I could find ($30).

The other feature in this alarm clock that makes me happy is that it it automatically switches to battery power when the main power is lost. This means I can unplug it and plug it back in somewhere else if I want to without losing the time settings. I never have to worry that a storm will knock out the power in the night and I'll be late for work (cause I worry about these things). Plus, if the power does go out... this is one less clock I have to reset.

Timex, thanks for the great out-of-box experience!

Suggested Improvements - NYC Fire Hydrants

I live in New York City where almost all parking is street parking and it's not easy to come by. Almost no one has driveways and it's not uncommon to spend 20 minutes looking for a parking spot, even in front of your own house. On occasion I have spent the better part of an hour trying to find one. Taking all of this into consideration, it is very exciting when you find a spot. There is nothing worse than thinking you have found a spot only to discover a fire hydrant.

Why don't they add a flag or post to fire hydrants so that you can see where they are? Just something that is high enough to be viewed over cars as you are driving down the street. This would let drivers know where the hydrants are so they don't get excited about potential parking spots.

I realize that my parking pet peeves are not a good enough reason for the city to spend more money on fire hydrants but a signed hydrant would also be of use to the fire department by making it easier for them to locate fire hydrants as they drive down the street. Plus, you could add value by using the sign to indicate how close you can park to the hydrant and what the fine would be if you do (i.e. No parking for 15 feet in either direction - $115 fine).

Are there any negatives to adding a tall flag or sign to fire hydrants? There would be an added cost but I'm pretty sure that my parking tickets alone would be enough to finance the improvements. What about problems with adding height to the low hydrants? There are already plenty of signs and poles on the street so one more shouldn't make a lot of difference.

NYC, I suggest you add tall signs or markers to your fire hydrants to increase their visibility to motorist and firefighters.

The New Editorials Section of One Floor Up

Being the design junkie that I am, I'm constantly trying to inflict my opinions about products and ideas on others. I've been know to utter the phrase "I'm going to write them a letter about that" on a pretty regular basis and quite frankly, I currently owe the world about 200 letters. I've decided to refocus that letter writing energy on this editorial section of One Floor Up and share some of those thoughts with you instead. Hopefully you will find some of them interesting... or at least entertaining.

The categories for these editorials are based on a few key phrases that tend to say quite a lot (apparently). A few examples are:

1. What took them so long?
(As in, this is such a good idea what took someone so long to actually produce it?)

2. Who ever invented..., is my hero.
(Dishing out props to the inventors of things that I wouldn't want to live without)

3. Suggested improvements.
(This product is cool, but a great improvement would be...)

4. Why doesn't someone...?
(Great ideas that someone should hurry up and develop)

5. Why do we put up with...?
(Products and experiences that are not very good but we have just gotten used to)

6. Products that make me happy.
(Products that have really great user experiences or features)

7. Things that are better in other countries.
(Based on my limited knowledge of the world, things that other countries do better that we could learn from)