Not all New Yorkers realize that the omnipresent drugstore Duane Reade gets its name from its very first location in downtown Manhattan, on Broadway between Duane and Reade Streets. I suppose that’s why they think they can get away with this billboard ad that shows the intersection of Duane and Reade — which simply doesn’t [Keep Reading…]
NY Tech Meetup — February 2010
This month’s NY Tech Meetup was titled Rally for the Future. With almost 700 people in attendance at FIT’s Haft Auditorium, NYTM veered off its typical format of 7 presenters for 5 minutes each. Instead a wide variety of people gave impassioned arguments about how to bring New York to the forefront of the technology [Keep Reading…]
Photo of the day: Dollars and Cents
On June 28, 2009, the New York City MTA increased the rates for subway and bus rides. Apparently the ticket agent who dutifully wrote this sign is unaware of the one-currency-symbol-per-value rule. Is the new fare 2.25 dollars or 2.25 cents? A smart, frugal person might have recourse to argue the latter.
NY Tech Meetup: The European Edition
Last night, Dawn Barber and Meetup.com CEO and co-founder Scott Heiferman hosted a special edition of NY Tech Meetup at Meetup HQ. NY Tech Meetup: European Edition gave 11 startups from all over Europe the chance to wow us tough New Yorkers with 3-minute demos of their webapps. The companies are all 2009 winners of [Keep Reading…]
Photo of the day: Floor seats
Back in May, I snapped this photo on my subway ride home one evening. I don’t think he saw me, but even if he did I doubt he would have cared. His nonchalance amused me on so many levels: He’s sitting on the floor of the subway car. That’s even too dirty for homeless people. [Keep Reading…]
New to New York?
My new friend Dave Dawson recently graduated college and moved from Cambridge to NYC. While I was timid and intimidated when I first entered the working world, Dave is quite the opposite –– he is eager to put himself out there, meet lots of new people, and see what the city has to offer. Over [Keep Reading…]
Whit Hour – Week 6
Thank you so much to the 41 people who showed up for the sixth week of Whit Hour — my weekly one-hour video chat to answer any and all of your questions about user experience, consulting, and whatever else you throw at me. I really appreciate everyone’s flexibility in moving over to Ustream at the [Keep Reading…]
Seeking All Independent User Experience Professionals in NYC
Yesterday Lis Hubert and I got together at New Work City to talk about the ins and outs of being self-employed user experience designers. We realized that between the two of us we can count the number of indie UXers we know in NYC on one hand. Given how much networking we both do, it [Keep Reading…]
My DIY UX talk is featured in InformationWeek
Many thanks go to Allen Stern of CenterNetworks for covering my DIY UX presentation in the InformationWeek blog. He was in attendance when I gave the talk to about 25 people at the NYC Customer Development Process Meetup last week. Read his article: DIY Usability For Startups I will be giving the presentation again at [Keep Reading…]
SeamlessWeb Mobile Site: Easy to Use, But Impossible to Order
Usablenet is responsible for some of the most easy to use mobile websites your smartphones can find. They chose a good company name. Their platform powers mobile sites such as JetBlue and Northwest Airlines, Amtrak and NJ Transit, Hilton Hotels, 1800Flowers, and dozens of other sites you’d be surprised to hear. Just point your mobile [Keep Reading…]