Joe Ranft

New NY Times Electoral Map

2008-10-27T15:11:00.002-04:00

Here's the latest electoral map from the NY Times. I have to say I'm in the "weirded out by Joe Biden's hair" camp.

First Day of Kindergarten

2008-09-04T13:26:00.001-04:00

IMG_1228, originally uploaded by jranft.

Big milestone at the Price-Ranft household. Hal and Wes had their first day of Kindergarten at Driscoll School in Brookline, the best public elementary school in the world (or at least the best school half block from our house).

Following All Rules of the Road While Biking - A New Movement

2008-08-29T07:28:00.003-04:00

I've been commuting on my bike about half the time for about five years now, and I've never followed the rules of the road, especially traffic lights. It's faster to ignore them, but I'll admit that I've had a few close calls with cars I didn't see as I was blowing through a light.

It's arrogant and inexcusable to ignore rules we expect drivers to follow, while at the same time we demand respect from these same drivers. Each time a hostile driver sees a cyclist blow through a light, rage is built up in that driver toward all cyclists.

With more cyclists on the road than ever, and a lot of them new, it's important that we all start following the same rules, drivers and cyclists alike.

I started a few days ago. It's not much slower. I frequently catch up to cyclists who blow through the light in front of me.

Iowa Electronic Markets Take on Obama vs. McCain

2008-08-02T08:58:00.003-04:00

I'm obsessed with the election and a huge Obama supporter. Lately all of the negative McCain ads concern me. To make myself feel better, I check out the latest quotes from the Iowa Electronic Markets, which have predicted all of the presidential elections accurately.

Here is the current chart showing Obama vs. McCain, winner take all, not popular vote:
2008 Presidential Election Winner-Take-All Market.

If you believe in the accuracy of predictive markets over flawed polls, as I do, then this race looks like it's not even close. Keep up with the race here.

Compare this chart to the chart for Kerry vs. Bush in 2004, and you see that the Iowa Market did not show a race as close as it seemed after the conventions. Also, the race tightens up before the conventions.
2004 Presidential Election Winner-Take-All Market.

So don't fret so much over the race just yet. Wait until both conventions end. If anything McCain has turned negative too early, and the media will lash out at him for it, instead of giving him a free ride and free airtime playing the ads as news.

Comment on Shooting an Elephant: " Making Hyperlocal Work"

2008-07-17T12:21:00.002-04:00

Here's a commment I left on - Meghna Chakrabarti's blog: Shooting an Elephant, on her request for ideas about local radio.

First of all, forget about the radio as the medium, or don't worry so much about the medium. Radio or Internet, it doesn't matter. The content matters, and some consistency matters.

I really love what Leo Laporte is doing with all of his TWIT podcasts. He's build a one-man radio network using the Internet as his medium. I must spend five hours a week listening to his shows.

What I like about his approach is it's very consistent. He has shows that come out reliably, usually weekly. There's a core set of talent, usually Leo and one or two others, and then guests. The quality is first rate. I don't know how many podcasts, like the Gilmore Gang, I have stopped listening to because of poor sound quality. I have earbuds in my ears. I can't listen to a cell phone conference call. Think about the user experience.

Leo is very focused on technology, and I think this same model could work for local. Local, regular podcasts, with you and an interesting co-host, and then a different guest or two. I also think Leo has taken a very long view of what success means. For now he's just building an audience with the faith that money will follow.

Here are some suggestions for shows:

Boston Week in Business

Boston Week in Sports

Boston Startups

Boston Fun

Why Charge $0.99 for an iPhone App?

2008-07-13T23:39:00.002-04:00

I don't get why some Applications are $0.99. What's the point of charging? I think it would be better to just offer the app for free and then there's no barrier to downloading it. Money could be made with Medialets, the new ad platform for iPhone apps.

Moto Racer: Best iPhone Game So Far

2008-07-13T22:58:00.001-04:00

I've downloaded a few free games, and paid for one, so I thought I'd
send a round up of what I think so far.

First of all, Moto Racer is a great motorcycle racing game, taking
full advantage of the iPhone's accelerometer.

I also really enjoy Blip Solitaire, a super simple pong like game that
uses the touch screen, and Cube Runner, another simple game where you
steer clear of blocks titling the iPhone to steer.

Quick Observations on iPhone 2.0 Software Update

2008-07-12T08:16:00.004-04:00

I've been running the new iPhone 2.0 update on my iPhone. Here are my first impressions.

The App Store on the phone. It's actually easier to select and/or buy and install applications on the phone than it is in the iTunes store. You select your app and it installs wirelessly, even over the EDGE network. This is the way the phone should work, independent of an attached computer. I'd like the same behavior for iTunes, especially podcast updates.
Camera integration. Many of the apps, including the Facebook app, smartly integrate the camera. So If want to take a photo and upload it to Facebook, it's very fast. I no longer have to take the photo then e-mail it to a special Facebook e-mail address.
Geo-Tagging integration. Many of the apps, including the camera and Weather Bug, ask to use the location information from the phone. This is really smart. And since this works so well on my first generation iPhone (2G?), it's all the less reason to get the new iPhone.
Too many pop-up dialogs. Every time you use an app that wants to use the phone's location, you get a pop-up asking if the phone's location can be included, you get a pop-up dialog asking for permission. There should be a setting allowing all apps to use location by default.
Changes to the way the Airplane mode works. I use airplane mode all the time to save battery time, and then expect the phone to ask me if I want to turn off airplane mode if I'm checking e-mail or using the browser. In the old operating system, I could turn off airplane mode withe the dialog that appeared. Now the dialog takes me to the wireless settings, and then I have to tunr off airplane mode, and then go back to my original application. This ads about three more screens to the flow.

iPhone App Store Includes Kindle Killer

2008-07-10T16:00:00.002-04:00

In a quick look at the new Apple iTunes Appstore, I see that there are quite a few eBooks, with a reader, just as I was hoping. If the publishers start selling content for this reader, then this will kill the Amazon Kindle.

What would you rather have for $300? A dedicated eBook reader that looks like it was designed by Radio Shack in 1986 or a fully functioning mini-computer that also happens to be the best piece of product design in ten years?

The Trouble With Icons, Illustrated by an Example Found in Most Cars

2008-07-08T12:32:00.005-04:00

As a designer and creative director for the last 15 years or so, one conversation I've had more than any other is about icons. People love to add icons into a design to save space or add a visual element, but I've always felt that users do not know what most icons mean.

Now I think I've found a good example of this problem with icons. Below is a photo of my Ford Focus' gas guage.

I've been staring at a gas gauge like that for my entire life. But recently in a rental car, the gauge was slightly different. It looked something like this:

This was the first time I've ever noticed that the gas gauge on most cars points out which side the car's gas tank is on. Now, the icon makes perfect sense. It's an icon of a gas pump. I always thought that it was there to indicate that this was the gas gauge, but it was there, with the tiny arrow, to point out the gas tank.

I see the same problem on car locks, where icons of locks are always more confusing than the words lock and unlock.

When in doubt use words with the icon, and if you don't have room, keep the words and ditch the icon.

1 App I'd Like to See in the Apple iPhone App Store - A Kindle KIller

2008-07-06T11:56:00.003-04:00

The release of the 3G iPhone on Friday is overshadowing a more important iPhone release the same day, the Apple iPhone App Store. I have high hopes for the store. Back in the day I had dozens of applications on my Palm Pilot, Palm III, and Palm V. All were simple little apps that did one or two things very well.

Here is one App I'd like to see:

A book reader that reads several formats: txt, doc, pdf, and the Amazon Kindle format. I used to be able to drop Web pages, documents, and PDF's into my Palm V and read them in a simple auto-scrolling reader. I'd like to do the same with my iPhone. A bonus would be if somebody write an app that let me buy Kindle books from Amazon, so I could have the Kindle experience on my iPhone. Would Amazon allow this? I'd pay the same fees, just not buy the Kindle, and I get the impression that Amazon makes no money on it anyway. This would be Kindle Killer.

Comments on Robert Scoble's "Waiting in line for iPhones is glorious"

2008-07-05T09:23:00.002-04:00

Was there ever a supply issue last year? I thought after the lines died down people just walked in and out with a phone.

Apple better hope that the lines are not long this year, because they won't be moving as fast as an Apple employee swiping a credit card and giving you a phone. In-store activation is going to slow things down ten-fold.

Lines will not be as long because the 3G iPhone AT&T plans are too expensive and the cost of the phones are too high for people who do not qualify for an upgrade.

There are more details on my site here:

http://www.joeranft.com/2008/07/6-more-reasons-from-att-not-to-upgrade.html

5 Things I Miss About Windows XP Since Switching Back to Apple

2008-07-04T08:20:00.004-04:00

It's been about six months since I switched back from about 8 years of using Windows to an Apple MacBook Pro 15" laptop, and while I love the Apple for the most part, there are some things I miss from Windows. Here are a few:

File transparency. Apple's OS X seems to make a lot of copies of files and stores them all over the place, especially iPhoto, iTunes and Mail. One of the reasons I bought the Mac was to organize my years worth of photos, but that's a failure, and now I feel less organized than ever. When I imported all of my photos into iPhoto, it made a copy of each, and the same thing happened with iTunes. I've installed Windows XP with Parallels just so I can use Windows File Explorer and get a handle on things.
File Structure. Again, this is just my own ignorance, but the Mac has made a user directory for me and then a lot of sub-folders inside there. I like to keep my file structure simple and just store everything at the root level of the drive, but I've heard on the Mac that this is not safe. I have no mental model of the OS X file structure.
Alt-Tabbing. This is minor, but I miss it dozens of times a day. Alt-tab on Windows cycles you through each open window. Command-Tab on OS X cycles you through each application. When I have five or six open browsers or I'm cutting and pasting from one Word document to another, I want to switch back and forth more quickly.
Microsoft Outlook's Calendar and To-Do List Integration. While a lot of things about Outlook drove me crazy, I've always felt it was something Microsoft got right for the most part. it is a much better e-mail application than Apple Mail and a much better calendar than iCal. I also really miss being able to drag and drop from one application in Outlook to another. Like I can drag an e-mail to the Calendar or Task List to make an appointment or task out of the e-mail. Mail and iCal can do this, but it's not as fast.
Fav Icons in Bookmark Bar in Safari or Firefox. Again, this is minor, but I loved having just the icons for Web sites as bookmarks in my link bar in Internet Explorer, with no text. There is no way to do this in Safari or Firefox for Apple OS X. I can't believe it. I had dozens of sites bookmarked this way, and now I can only fit ten or so up there.

Update: I found a Firefox 3.0 Plug-In for this. Here's a link: Mac Toolbar Fav Icons (via Lifehacker)

Comment on NY Times Bits - What Is Facebook Worth? (Part 37)

2008-07-03T11:24:00.000-04:00

If you figure that Facebook is valued at $50 per user (which is higher than any social network has been acquired for), then if they have 60 million users, a valuation of $3 billion is fair. I don't know how $15 billion makes any sense.

Only 28 Sunscreens out of 952 Tested Are Effective and Safe

2008-07-01T23:17:00.004-04:00

In a new investigation of 952 name-brand sunscreens, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that only 28 sunscreen products offer protection from the sun and contain safe ingredients.

6 More Reasons From ATT Not to Upgrade to the 3G iPhone

2008-07-01T09:28:00.004-04:00

Crunchgear has the details on AT&T's 3G iPhone plans, and it's really full of great reasons not to upgrade. Here are a my six.

$5 Extra for 200 SMS messages. The rumors were right, so maybe they were not rumors.
My current plan is Nation 450 Rollover & 5000 Night/Weekend & Unlimited Mobile-To-Mobile Minutes for $59.95. This will increase to $69.95 plust $5.00 for the SMS messages. So I'll have to pay $15.00 more per month, for really bad reception.
The AT&T Web Site is unusable. It says I can log in and check for my upgrade eligibility, but I can't find it. But this policy really does punish previous iPhone customers, who all paid full price for their first iPhones. I could see limiting upgrades to one per every 2 years, but none of us received a single discount when purchasing our first iPhone.
If I am not eligible for an upgrade, I have to pay $499 for a new phone. That's more than I paid for my current iPhone. A Palm Centro is $99. I'm sure the Blackberry Bold will be less as well. Update: one of the commenters posted that all current iPhone owners are eligible for an upgrade. Still, I'm leaving this point. That's a lot for a new phone.
Upgrading will include an $18 upgrade fee. This is another low-class nickle and dime charge, like the SMS messages. These fees are added on so the main rates can seem lower, when they aren't.
Cheesy marketing writing on the AT&T web site, like this: "So, AT&T retail stores will be open at 8AM local time on the 11th, so be iReady!" iReady? That wasn't even creative in 2002.

Typical Morning Captured Easily by Apple and YouTube

2008-07-01T08:19:00.004-04:00

There's something about usability here, but I'll admit it's a stretch.

I left my MacBook sitting in the kitchen, and my 5 year-old son Hal started messing with Photo Booth. Between Apple and YouTube, it couldn't be easier to post this.

This is why Apple and YouTube dominate. It's the opposite of the Bill Gates memo, with the little things getting in the way. Both Apple and YouTube have focused on the little things and getting them out of the way.

Here's the result.

Bill Gates on Usability at Microsoft and Why It's Important to Fix the Little Things

2008-06-25T10:40:00.003-04:00

Here's a link to a great blog entry on Todd Bishop's Microsoft Blog. It's entitled "Full text: An epic Bill Gates e-mail rant."

Gates was trying to download Microsoft Movie Maker, which is a nice little piece of software that most people probably do not know exists. He runs into about 30 different usability problems, most of which would have caused a normal person to give up on the download.

I'm posting it here because it's a great illustration of what happens when you don't pay attention to the little things. I've been in a lot of meetings advocating for some small usability fix, only to have others decide that it's not worth fixing, not a big enough problem.

Here's an example. One of my clients has a trading screen, which we redesigned. The design included "buying power" at the top, because to trade, you really need to know how much money you have to buy a stock. Well, the developer moved buying power to the bottom of the screen at the last minute, because it was easier to calculate after the user included all of their trade info. But it's really of no use at the bottom. I requested that it be moved back to to the top, but my request seemed trivial, moving just one field, when everything else is fine, so it didn't happen. Now it's been like that for a month. Just a little problem, but if it's not fixed, it will be added in with all the other little problems, and you end up with something like what Bill Gates describes.

Comment on Subtraction: Investing Strategies for iPhone Customers

2008-06-23T22:56:00.001-04:00

Well, a cell phone is not a great investment these days, or ever. When I get one, I count on it being worthless, or breaking, by the time I get a new one, but one year is not long enough. Two years is more like it. Have you ever had a phone worth anything when you upgraded to the next one?

So what is one to do?

While I really want the 3G speed, I could do without the GPS. Is it worth 3G to be forced into another $300 phone purchase and adding a year and at least $10 per month onto my ATT contract (even though I do not get a signal in both of the locations where I'm currently working)?

Comment on Good Experience, "Customer experience review: Amazon Kindle"

2008-06-18T14:41:00.002-04:00

The Kindle sounds great, but not so great that I want another device. I'd like to buy books for my iPhone. I know it's not perfect for reading, but it's good enough. I read content with it fine, especially from Google Reader, which strips away formatting nicely, even when I go to site from the Google Reader snippit.

Why can't I do this? DRM. Digital Rights Management. If it wasn't for DRM, then Amazon would be selling text that could be downloaded and read on any device.

But because publishers don't trust their customers, Amazon has to invent a book safe called the Kindle.

Imagine the money publishers would make if all of the books on Amazon were available as PDF's or, better, TXT.

All the publishers have to do is ask their friends in the music industry, because Amazon currently sells DRM-Free MP3 downloads from most of the major labels.

Better Putting Change in My Hand Usability

2008-06-18T08:17:00.003-04:00

Life would be more usable if we would all just think a bit about what we're doing.

Here's an example. Change back when I buy something with cash. Here is the current practice. The cashier first gives me the receipt, then the paper currency, then the coins, so I end up with a pile of stuff that I usually just wad up and stuff into my pocket, and then empty into a junk drawer at the end of the day.

Here's the better way. Coins, then paper currency, then ask if I want the receipt, which I don't. Now I can slip the coins into my pocket and the paper currency back into my wallet.

Or it could all go on the counter, like in Greece, and I could just deal with it the way I choose.

This won't clear out my junk drawer, but it's a start.

Better Bagal Usability

2008-06-16T09:50:00.003-04:00

So I order a bagel with cream cheese at the Panera in Watertown. And what I get is an untoasted bagel cut in half with a container of cream cheese in a bag. I have to tell them to toast it and then I have to spread the cream cheese on the bagel myself. Dunkin Donuts pulls the same trick. This is outsouorcing the cream cheese spreading to the customer. Everybody who orders a bagel with cream cheese wants the cream cheese on the bagel and does not want to do it themselves, so you can go back to the old way and just schmear it on before you bag it. Thanks.

SEED Conference (Part 2) - Carlos Segura

2008-06-14T08:42:00.004-04:00

The first speaker was Carlos Segura. He gave a good rundown of T.26, his type foundry, and rebranding his agency did in 2004. The work for both was great, but I found the presentation to be disappointing, because it did not seem to be prepared for the conference. I know a lot of us have canned capability presentations we do for prospective clients, and this is what Segura's presentation felt like. Still, he was very inspiring and had some great advice for those of us running agencies. He said he does not respond to RFP's or do estimates. He asks the client for their budget and that's it. I totally agree with this. Estimates are a waste of time, and are usually wrong, or if you work on a detailed estimate all weekend, you don't get the work.

Say no as often as you say yes.
Make it clear to the client that they are not the end user of the design.
Don't worry about having a plan, or an ROI. Do what you love and the money will come.
Have some savings so that you can do what you love and fail.

I thought the most interesting work he showed were some photos of manhole covers made in China, India, and Mexico. He also mentioned his Cartype blog and photos of car door handles.

12 Reasons Why I'm Switching from iPhone to Blackberry Bold

2008-06-12T08:15:00.006-04:00

Now that the dust has settled on the 3G iPhone announcement, I'm seriously considering switching from my ATT first generation iPhone to the Blackberry Bold. Here's a good comparison of the two devices on Tech Digest. Here's why I'm thinking of switching:

Physical keyboard. I'll never be as fast on the iPhone keyboard as I was on a Blackberry.
Copy-paste. As I've written before. It's really unforgivable to release any computer without copy-paste.
Modem tethering. 3G is fast enough for most of my Internet needs when I'm on the road. It seems the 3G iPhone will be harder to jailbreak to enable modem tethering.
Bluetooth headphones for music. There are several great options of wireless headphones for the Blackberry. I'm tired of the wires with my iPhone.
To-do list. Again, it's pretty unforgivable not to have one on the iPhone. I know there are plenty online, but these are slower and sometimes not available.
Integrated notes. Although the iPhone has notes, they are not saved anywhere on my Mac. So I can't create a note on my Mac and have it appear on my iPhone. Very lame.
Instant Messaging. I can't tell if the SDK for the iPhone will allow instant messaging like AIM and Google Talk, but I doubt it. This would have been included in the WWDC demo.
Durability. The glass screen of the iPhone is a very poor choice. I'm surprised I have not broken it yet. A phone needs to be able to withstand a drop.
Camera quality. The Blackberry has a better camera with a flash. I use the camera on my phone more and more, especially to take photos of whiteboards at work.
Video. The Blackberry records video.
Voice Memos. This is a great way to record thoughts, or interviews.
Third Party Applications. I don't want to be tied down by iTunes and Apple's approval process for downloading third party applications. I'm a big boy. I don't need Apple babysitting for me.

Brilliant Move by Starbucks to Offer Free Wifi

2008-06-11T17:11:00.003-04:00

Starbucks has implemented a brilliant loyalty program. It's not some vague program with points and hard to achieve freebies. It's simple - two hours of wifi a day - and easy - just register a Starbucks card online. Before this I've only ever used Starbucks cards that have been given to me and then tossed them when finished. Now I have a card with $50 on it. I'm loyal.