Really, I find this fascinating. Google has established such a strong brand around their minimalist design style, that something as small as this is (a) considered newsworthy, and (b) warrants an “official Google response” (according to the TechCrunchIT article).

This leads to an interesting task for the non-Googlers in the audience. Take this news back to your company, and ask: Is our design philosophy so firmly ingrained in the minds of our customers, that straying from it is newsworthy? Maybe being newsworthy isn’t the goal, but it says something about how solid your design is if your customers can recognize what does and doesn’t belong.

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In the interest of fairness, the clarification points out that these numbers may not be generalizable. But I still think they’re interesting, and I have a few ideas about why the numbers might actually be lower:

1. Social Games Require… People: There are certainly some Wii games that are single player, but I tend to have the most fun playing multi-player games with a big group of people, like Smash Bros, Guitar Hero, Wii Play, or Wii Sports. This can only happen as often as I have people over, which isn’t as often as I play single player games.
2. Shorter Average Playing Time: I don’t have the numbers on this, but I can say that adventure games on the Wii (so far) have come nowhere near the 100+ hour behemoths of the Final Fantasy / Dragon Quest franchise.
3. New Markets = New Habits: The Wii is applauded for breaking into non-traditional gaming markets. Well, guess what: Non-traditional gamers probably aren’t as obsessed with games as hardcore gamers.

The last point is particularly interesting, because it begs the question: Who cares? Just because Wii usage might be lower doesn’t mean that gamers get less value out of it, or that it’s not as solid of an investment. Personally, I like that I spend less time on the Wii than other consoles. It lets me focus on the real world from time to time.

Take how Safari handles tabbing. As part of an early draft of my portfolio redesign, I was considering including a brief blurb from my latest blog entry, so I was researching how to make an RSS feed reader in PHP. I referenced a 2-part article from Scratch Projects (Part 1, Part 2).

If you check each of the articles, you’ll notice that their titles are largely the same; only the part number distinguishes them. In fact, they’re both open right now in Firefox, and I can’t tell the tabs apart.

Someone working on Safari must have considered this case. With only one article open, it looks like you would expect:

But with both articles open, it cuts out the redundant information, only showing what you need to tell them apart:

Very nice…

If you know me, you know that I’m an Eddie Izzard fanatic. If you think you are too, then run through the abbreviated checklist below, and see if you’re ready to see him live. (more…)

Omaha is often thought of as part of “flyover” country – a different world within the United States. When I was in high school, a girl who transferred in from the coast was afraid she’d be riding horses to school.

Well, that’s one rumor I want to put to rest today. People in Omaha (and the rest of Nebraska) have cars, just like everyone else. What’s more, unlike Boston, we don’t feel the need to explicitly prohibit horses on the freeway – it’s generally understood that they aren’t allowed.

That’s a real sign on the on-ramp to I-95 / Rte 128 in Newton, MA, just outside of Boston. I would think the horse indication wouldn’t be necessary, but what do I know. I guess the culture in Omaha is just too modern for me to understand Boston’s ways.

These ads tell you a few things. First, there’s a change happening in February 2009. Second, if you use an antenna, you need to get a converter box. Third, there’s a government coupon program to help you buy a converter box. But it stops there, encouraging consumers to find out the rest of the information on their own; particularly about the price.

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The rounded edges combined with the hole at the top made it look and feel completely different to anything else that I keep in my pockets or desk drawers. To this day, I can grab my Listerine out of the center console of my car in short order without looking – the form is that unique. I imagine the same is true for purses (ladies?).

That’s why I was so mortified when I saw another, very different product cash in on that same form factor…

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A couple of things caught my eye. First are the Snood and Breakout games that they’ve included. Nothing new, until you see the news headlines flash across the screen. It’s an interesting way to pass the time without wasting it – at least you’re keeping up with the latest headlines.

More interesting is their new Spectra Visual Newsreader, covered yesterday at UX Magazine. Essentially, you pick your favorite news stories and they swirl about you, waiting for you to flick through them.

My only complaint is that, despite the fluid collection of news stories, you’re forced to flip through them one at a time, in order. I kept clicking on random stories trying to grab something different out of the cloud.

But really, I think MSNBC should work on fully immersive environments. How cool would it be to have news stories swarming around you!

Even though it’s old news by now, some of the pictures are pretty cool. Even if you saw them on my iPod, I’ve added commentary and interesting facts, so you should take another look. You can browse my entire Flickr stream if you want; after the jump, I go through some of the highlights.

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