(TL;DR Tip: skip down to Updates to save yourself some time)

This past summer, after studying favorable reviews of the Samsung LED TV series 7000 and 8000, I decided to get one. I ordered the 8000 Series unit (UN55B8000) with 240Hz refresh rate. It arrived in perfect physical condition and worked great. I was thrilled with the picture quality.

But then, things went terribly wrong …

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This video illustrates how to make a difficult process a fun thing to do. What can we learn from this about web design?  We are so absorbed with form and function but have forgotten a critical third element.  If fun can increase traffic 66%, perhaps development dollars are well spent on making mundane tasks less dreary.

Yes, it’s 09/09/09.

A recent NY Times article reveals why some people are leaving Facebook.  In May, I deactivated my Facebook account when the signal-to-noise ratio had clearly gotten out of whack.  Ironically, I found myself back on Twitter which I had left for Facebook when the latter seemed to offer a bit more value.  That was a different time.  Now, Facebook has just gotten altogether too silly with quizzes and games and all the same high-school shenanigans your classmates would have outgrown over the last few decades.  Alas, I’m back on Twitter.

Update: OK, I’m back again on Facebook. They’ve added enough filters now so you can hide all the ridonculous stuff.  Rather than shutting my Facebook, now I can shut your Facebook, ftw.

Hilariously brilliant video that precisely nails real issues designers and developers face with clients all the time.  If this makes no sense to you, you’re not one of us.

A designer friend requested inspiration for creating posters that convince high-school kids to take math and science classes.  Here were my ideas…

 

I started this personal web site long before the advent of true blogging software. I finally spent a weekend converting it all into WordPress. Now maybe I’ll have one less excuse for neglecting it.

NB: There are some funky linkages between the new blog articles and old content references.  I’ll be ironing these out as I tweak and polish.  Apologies in advance if something breaks on you.

If it were possible to make CompuSoft books more fun, they would include cartoons by Bob Stevens. And that’s just what we did. Below are only a few single-panel illustrations readers enjoyed about every five pages. Stevens’ caricatures depicted him as the bumbling BASIC programmer, with occasional supporting characters resembling our dear Dr. Lien.

Chuck Yeager, a 25-year fan of Stevens’ work in Air Force Magazine, said, “Any guy who can make something humorous out of a gear-up landing has my vote as a first class cartoonist.”

I met Bob Stevens in my first year at CompuSoft. He died in 1994 at the age of 71 after battling cancer.

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