Home » Archives for January 2008
slams web service in Egypt, India due to cable cut
A breakdown in an international undersea cable network has badly disrupted internet links to India and Egypt.Egypt's Telecommunications Ministry said a communications cable in the Mediterranean was cut, disrupting 70 per cent of the country's internet network.
The ministry said in a statement it was not known how the cable was cut but that services would probably take several days to return to normal.
India reported serious disruptions to its services and one Indian internet service provider linked the problem to the Egyptian outage.
"There has been a cable cut on several cable systems in Alexandria, Egypt which has impacted internet connectivity in India," Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL), an internet service provider, said in a statement.
VSNL said its service had been "largely restored" by diverting to another cable.
India said it had lost more than half of its capacity.
"There has been a 50 to 60 per cent cut in bandwidth," Rajesh Chharia, president of the internet Service Providers' Association of India, told Reuters.
He told the Headlines Today news channel that a "degraded" service would be activated by Wednesday night, but full restoration will take 10 to 15 days.
Chharia said companies, including some of India's many outsourcing businesses, had been affected.
Yahoo to lay off 1,000 workers
Yahoo Inc.'s financial funk deepened at the end of 2007, prompting the slumping Internet icon to draw up plans to lay off 1,000 workers.
The Sunnyvale-based company disclosed the upcoming 7 percent reduction in its 14,300-employee work force during a Tuesday conference call to review a 23 percent decline in its fourth-quarter profit.
Yahoo didn't specify which areas of its operations will be trimmed. Yahoo jettisoned 650 workers in the wake of the dot-com bust seven years ago. Management indicated further details will be released by mid-February.
"This is a necessary step in our transformation," Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang said during the conference call.
Yahoo earned $205.7 million, or 15 cents per share, during 2007's final three months, a 23 percent drop from net income of $268.7 million, or 19 cents per share, at the same time in 2006.
Reflecting the gloomy aura hanging over Yahoo, analysts had prepared investors for even worse earnings erosion. The pessimism prompted analysts, on average, to project earnings of 11 cents per share for the period.
Revenue for the period totaled $1.83 billion, an improvement of 8 percent over $1.7 billion in 2006.
After subtracting commissions paid to its advertising partner, Yahoo's revenue fell to $1.4 billion, in line with analyst estimates.
Yang, who returned as chief executive seven months ago, signaled the company has challenges ahead.
"While we will continue to face headwinds this year, we believe that the moves we are making will help us exit 2008 stronger and more competitive and return to higher levels of operating cash flow growth in 2009," Yang said in a statement.
Excluding ad commissions, Yahoo estimated its revenue this year will range from $5.35 billion to $5.95 billion. The average analyst estimate stood at $5.92 billion, according to Thomson Financial.
Yahoo shares plummeted about $2.21, or more than 10 percent, in extended trading Tuesday after finishing the regular session at $20.81, up 3 cents.
Last year marked the first time Yahoo's earnings have dropped from the previous year since the company lost $93 million in 2001 during the aftermath of the dot-com bust.
Unlike in 2001, Yahoo hasn't stopped making money. But the company's 2007 profit fell 12 percent to $660 million even though advertisers spent more than ever on the Internet, where Yahoo still draws one of the Web's largest audiences.
The bulk of that additional ad revenue has been pouring into Internet search leader Google Inc., a company that was smaller than Yahoo just three years ago.
Yahoo has been struggling to attract teenagers and young adults who are gravitating to more trendy online hangouts like Facebook.com and News Corp.'s MySpace.com.
Read more…
The Sunnyvale-based company disclosed the upcoming 7 percent reduction in its 14,300-employee work force during a Tuesday conference call to review a 23 percent decline in its fourth-quarter profit.
Yahoo didn't specify which areas of its operations will be trimmed. Yahoo jettisoned 650 workers in the wake of the dot-com bust seven years ago. Management indicated further details will be released by mid-February.
"This is a necessary step in our transformation," Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang said during the conference call.
Yahoo earned $205.7 million, or 15 cents per share, during 2007's final three months, a 23 percent drop from net income of $268.7 million, or 19 cents per share, at the same time in 2006.
Reflecting the gloomy aura hanging over Yahoo, analysts had prepared investors for even worse earnings erosion. The pessimism prompted analysts, on average, to project earnings of 11 cents per share for the period.
Revenue for the period totaled $1.83 billion, an improvement of 8 percent over $1.7 billion in 2006.
After subtracting commissions paid to its advertising partner, Yahoo's revenue fell to $1.4 billion, in line with analyst estimates.
Yang, who returned as chief executive seven months ago, signaled the company has challenges ahead.
"While we will continue to face headwinds this year, we believe that the moves we are making will help us exit 2008 stronger and more competitive and return to higher levels of operating cash flow growth in 2009," Yang said in a statement.
Excluding ad commissions, Yahoo estimated its revenue this year will range from $5.35 billion to $5.95 billion. The average analyst estimate stood at $5.92 billion, according to Thomson Financial.
Yahoo shares plummeted about $2.21, or more than 10 percent, in extended trading Tuesday after finishing the regular session at $20.81, up 3 cents.
Last year marked the first time Yahoo's earnings have dropped from the previous year since the company lost $93 million in 2001 during the aftermath of the dot-com bust.
Unlike in 2001, Yahoo hasn't stopped making money. But the company's 2007 profit fell 12 percent to $660 million even though advertisers spent more than ever on the Internet, where Yahoo still draws one of the Web's largest audiences.
The bulk of that additional ad revenue has been pouring into Internet search leader Google Inc., a company that was smaller than Yahoo just three years ago.
Yahoo has been struggling to attract teenagers and young adults who are gravitating to more trendy online hangouts like Facebook.com and News Corp.'s MySpace.com.
One Cute Dog Story
Disclaimer: The character (dog) and the story in this movie are just fictional. If it resembles any of the real life character, it is purely co-incidental.
Once lived a dog named 'Pug' a.k.a Hutch dog.
His life was so happy when he was a kid...
Playing.......Laughing......Sleeping....... 
He grew up...
One fine day he got a job in a company..
In...
He became so famous...
He was asked to follow a small boy where ever he goes....
He was seen everywhere...
on websites....
Roadside hoardings... desktops... etc...
One fine day...
A new company takes over the old....
Pug is panicked.. in a nail biting situation!!!!
It's been decided...
&
Pug was sent off...
-- The End--
Once lived a dog named 'Pug' a.k.a Hutch dog.
His life was so happy when he was a kid...
Playing.......Laughing......Sleeping....... He grew up...
One fine day he got a job in a company..
In...
He became so famous...
He was asked to follow a small boy where ever he goes....
He was seen everywhere...
on websites....
Roadside hoardings... desktops... etc...
One fine day...
A new company takes over the old....
Pug is panicked.. in a nail biting situation!!!!
It's been decided...
&
Pug was sent off...
-- The End--
Moral:
Never love your company, love your job, you never know when your company stops loving you...
Once they extract everything from u, they will throw u out!!:-))
Develop Signals
“They can because they think they can”- Virgil
People can interrupt your flow of work. Drop in visitor could take away your time. While you should handle such interruptions tactfully, you should also maintain good inter personal relationship and rapport.
Sometimes you may have an embarrassing situation where you are cornered by talkative people. You may find it embarrassing to tell them that you have some other work. You may think that the other person may mistake you if you interrupt his flow. At the same time, you may not be able to continue the conversation. How to deal with such a situation?
A busy company executive whom I know told me that he had a tactic for doing this. He had devised a signal with some of his assistants. When the assistants noticed him rubbing his ear lobe, it meant that they should come to his ‘rescue’. One of his assistants would barge into say that he was needed urgently somewhere! He said that it never failed. Another senior executive of a company will have his secretary to interrupt a meeting if extends beyond 25 minutes. His secretary will come and remind him about his ‘next appointment’.
You have to accept others as they are. They do not have the intention of wasting your time. However, they may not know your compulsions for your time. You need tact to deal with a situation like this.
Do you have any such tactic? Please Comment
Read more…
People can interrupt your flow of work. Drop in visitor could take away your time. While you should handle such interruptions tactfully, you should also maintain good inter personal relationship and rapport.Sometimes you may have an embarrassing situation where you are cornered by talkative people. You may find it embarrassing to tell them that you have some other work. You may think that the other person may mistake you if you interrupt his flow. At the same time, you may not be able to continue the conversation. How to deal with such a situation?
A busy company executive whom I know told me that he had a tactic for doing this. He had devised a signal with some of his assistants. When the assistants noticed him rubbing his ear lobe, it meant that they should come to his ‘rescue’. One of his assistants would barge into say that he was needed urgently somewhere! He said that it never failed. Another senior executive of a company will have his secretary to interrupt a meeting if extends beyond 25 minutes. His secretary will come and remind him about his ‘next appointment’.
You have to accept others as they are. They do not have the intention of wasting your time. However, they may not know your compulsions for your time. You need tact to deal with a situation like this.
Do you have any such tactic? Please Comment
share the good practices
Here's an article, which if applied to our lives, can bring out the difference and change the ordinary to the unique...
There was a farmer who grew superior quality and award-winning corn. Each year he entered his corn in the state fair where it won honor and prizes.
One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learnt something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors'.
“How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?" the reporter asked.
"Why sir, "said the farmer, "didn't you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior, sub-standard and poor quality corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn."
The farmer gave a superb insight into the connectedness of life. His corn cannot improve unless his neighbor's corn also improves . So it is in the other dimensions! Those who choose to be at harmony must help their neighbors and colleagues to be at peace. Those who choose to live well must help others to live well. The value of a life is measured by the lives it touches.
Success does not happen in isolation. It is very often a participative and collective process. So share the good practices, ideas, new learning's with your family, team members, neighbors... and enjoy the collaborative growth...
There was a farmer who grew superior quality and award-winning corn. Each year he entered his corn in the state fair where it won honor and prizes.One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learnt something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors'.
“How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?" the reporter asked.
"Why sir, "said the farmer, "didn't you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior, sub-standard and poor quality corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn."
The farmer gave a superb insight into the connectedness of life. His corn cannot improve unless his neighbor's corn also improves . So it is in the other dimensions! Those who choose to be at harmony must help their neighbors and colleagues to be at peace. Those who choose to live well must help others to live well. The value of a life is measured by the lives it touches.
Success does not happen in isolation. It is very often a participative and collective process. So share the good practices, ideas, new learning's with your family, team members, neighbors... and enjoy the collaborative growth...
Digg is a Game - Let's Play For Real This Time
We, the undersigned (comment to join) are ready to find out if there is more to social bookmarking than Digg. We are going to stop submitting to Digg. The alternatives are plenty - now is the time to venture into new territory. As we organize we will evaluate and find a new space.
When a digital identity, like a Digg account, becomes penalized through its consistent interaction with a website we assume that site falls into one of two categories. Either (a. The site in question is ill-suited to become a healthy social network. or (b. The premise of the social network is such that it is based on competition.
Digg is, in part, a game. It always has been - and that is one of the reasons we love it. That it helped us share useful, entertaining or interesting content only made it that much more fun.
Unfortunately the rules to the game have never been under the community's full control. As far as we can tell, the rule-makers barely listen to us. The latest change in the algorithm, along with rumors of secret editors, auto-buries, etc., have led us to believe it is time to break ties with Digg.com.
Here are a list of the main charges against Digg:
1) Lack of communication and disregard for the Digg community
Digg is not a newspaper, a magazine, or a blog. It produces no content of its own and is entirely dependent upon its users for traffic. Digg users hunt down the stories online, craft the descriptions and titles, digg the stories, provide all the comments. Despite this dependency, anecdotal evidence suggests that Digg has repeatedly failed to respond to its users and address their concerns.
2) Unexplained and unacknowledged banning of top users
cGt2099, Emobrat, and others who have submitted hundreds of quality stories to Digg were recently banned under suspicious circumstances. Digg did not acknowledge these bannings, nor make any public explanation as to why they took place. These are not the actions of a "democratic news site."
3) Lack of transparency – Digg only shows you the stories that people have dugg, but not the ones that are buried.
This has resulted in the birth and flourishing of bury brigades, whose existence has gone unacknowledged, but which undoubtedly have the capability to shape what content gets onto the front page without any interference or objection from other Digg users.
4) The auto-bury list – For months, dozens of sites have been on an auto-bury list, often with no explanation whatsoever.
These sites often get submitted to Digg and then are invariably buried after a certain amount of time. While it's up to Digg what sites it wants to allow, it's important that if it brands itself as a democratic news site, it makes clear why it bans these sites.
5) Repeated and flagrant disrespect of its top users
Digg's top users generate roughly 30-50% of Digg's front page content but repeated and unexplained changes to the Digg algorithm have penalized the ability of top users to get front page stories promoted. Perhaps worst of all, this has resulted in other stories from lower ranked users with less diggs being forced off the "Hot In Upcoming" pages and hurt their ability to shine.
In short - the site has become too powerful a media force and its lack of transparency and faith in the community is reason for concern. In addition, the allure of instant traffic has led to the manipulation and abuse of the site by tolls and spammers.
The colletive "WE" built this site from the ground up and while it is sad to leave it, the time has come to move on. We as a loose group of social bookmarkers will find a new community that will allow us to stay in touch and stay informed.
If Digg is a game then we are ready to play for keeps. What happens if the most powerful users in the community decide to leave? Will others join? Is Digg anything without us? Let's prove it.
When a digital identity, like a Digg account, becomes penalized through its consistent interaction with a website we assume that site falls into one of two categories. Either (a. The site in question is ill-suited to become a healthy social network. or (b. The premise of the social network is such that it is based on competition.
Digg is, in part, a game. It always has been - and that is one of the reasons we love it. That it helped us share useful, entertaining or interesting content only made it that much more fun.
Unfortunately the rules to the game have never been under the community's full control. As far as we can tell, the rule-makers barely listen to us. The latest change in the algorithm, along with rumors of secret editors, auto-buries, etc., have led us to believe it is time to break ties with Digg.com.
Here are a list of the main charges against Digg:
1) Lack of communication and disregard for the Digg community
Digg is not a newspaper, a magazine, or a blog. It produces no content of its own and is entirely dependent upon its users for traffic. Digg users hunt down the stories online, craft the descriptions and titles, digg the stories, provide all the comments. Despite this dependency, anecdotal evidence suggests that Digg has repeatedly failed to respond to its users and address their concerns.
2) Unexplained and unacknowledged banning of top users
cGt2099, Emobrat, and others who have submitted hundreds of quality stories to Digg were recently banned under suspicious circumstances. Digg did not acknowledge these bannings, nor make any public explanation as to why they took place. These are not the actions of a "democratic news site."
3) Lack of transparency – Digg only shows you the stories that people have dugg, but not the ones that are buried.
This has resulted in the birth and flourishing of bury brigades, whose existence has gone unacknowledged, but which undoubtedly have the capability to shape what content gets onto the front page without any interference or objection from other Digg users.
4) The auto-bury list – For months, dozens of sites have been on an auto-bury list, often with no explanation whatsoever.
These sites often get submitted to Digg and then are invariably buried after a certain amount of time. While it's up to Digg what sites it wants to allow, it's important that if it brands itself as a democratic news site, it makes clear why it bans these sites.
5) Repeated and flagrant disrespect of its top users
Digg's top users generate roughly 30-50% of Digg's front page content but repeated and unexplained changes to the Digg algorithm have penalized the ability of top users to get front page stories promoted. Perhaps worst of all, this has resulted in other stories from lower ranked users with less diggs being forced off the "Hot In Upcoming" pages and hurt their ability to shine.
In short - the site has become too powerful a media force and its lack of transparency and faith in the community is reason for concern. In addition, the allure of instant traffic has led to the manipulation and abuse of the site by tolls and spammers.
The colletive "WE" built this site from the ground up and while it is sad to leave it, the time has come to move on. We as a loose group of social bookmarkers will find a new community that will allow us to stay in touch and stay informed.
If Digg is a game then we are ready to play for keeps. What happens if the most powerful users in the community decide to leave? Will others join? Is Digg anything without us? Let's prove it.
Technology & Methodology
“The great end of life is not knowledge but action”- Thomas Huxley
It is important to distinguish between the two words ‘technology’ and ‘methodology’. Methodology is a series of steps or methods to accomplish a task. You can easily follow a few steps to get a result. For example, if you want to switch on the television, the steps you should follow are given in the manual. If you follow the steps, the television will be on. You do not have to know anything about the technological aspect of the television such as the circuit diagram. You do not need to know how picture tube is connected with the electrical circuit. In this world, you can survive just by knowing the methodology.
However, technology means how things work. Technology takes into account the principles under which things are configured and how the various components are connected with each other. While methodology will give you the barest minimum for survival, when you are stuck, you need the technology to solve the problem and trouble shoot. For example, when you switch on the television and the television does not function it means that your methodology has failed and what you need is the technology.
In every job that you do, the basic skills are the methodology. By knowing the basic skills you will succeed. However, if you want to excel you need the technology. Technology of living takes into account the range of your skill set and skill inventory. With ordinary communications, you can succeed to some extent. However, you should go into the various dimensions of communication so that you are able to communicate in most difficult situations. For example, assertiveness is a communication technology. Negotiation skill is a communication technology.
It is important to distinguish between the two words ‘technology’ and ‘methodology’. Methodology is a series of steps or methods to accomplish a task. You can easily follow a few steps to get a result. For example, if you want to switch on the television, the steps you should follow are given in the manual. If you follow the steps, the television will be on. You do not have to know anything about the technological aspect of the television such as the circuit diagram. You do not need to know how picture tube is connected with the electrical circuit. In this world, you can survive just by knowing the methodology.However, technology means how things work. Technology takes into account the principles under which things are configured and how the various components are connected with each other. While methodology will give you the barest minimum for survival, when you are stuck, you need the technology to solve the problem and trouble shoot. For example, when you switch on the television and the television does not function it means that your methodology has failed and what you need is the technology.
In every job that you do, the basic skills are the methodology. By knowing the basic skills you will succeed. However, if you want to excel you need the technology. Technology of living takes into account the range of your skill set and skill inventory. With ordinary communications, you can succeed to some extent. However, you should go into the various dimensions of communication so that you are able to communicate in most difficult situations. For example, assertiveness is a communication technology. Negotiation skill is a communication technology.
8 Ways Gaming Has Gone Mainstream
Gaming has moved from your parent's basement to the limelight. Here's the eight reasons why gaming may just supplant all other forms of media in the near future.
8- Legitimacy of Competition
The fact that the term, "cyberathlete" exists is a clear indication that gaming competition is becoming a serious business. From small Guitar Hero tournaments at local bars to massive Halo competitions with millions worth in prizes; gaming competitions are not only gaining momentum as accepted activities, they're attracting crowds and even syndication. A tournament company called Major League Gaming has a contract to broadcast gaming competitions on the USA Network. The market is large enough for a good enough gamer to earn a living and Starcraft is practically Korea's national sport. Sooner or later those who pwn will be cutting in line at clubs.
7- Social Networking
Remember those news stories about couples who met on World of Warcraft? Did you hear about that guy who was arrested for stalking a girl on Xbox Live? How about Republican Ron Paul who held a campaign march in the Alliance city of Ironforge on World of Warcraft's Wisperwind server? Most gamers have friends on Xbox Live or PSN that they've never met in person. We all know of the phenomenon of online social networking led by sites like Facebook and MySpace. Along with these sites, online video games will surely play a large part in the future development of people's online presence. Soon many people will be better known by their avatars than their faces.
6- The Tech-friendly Media
More than any other form of media, gaming has adapted masterfully to the new technologies of the 21st century, particularly when it comes to high-definition displays and the penetration of broadband and Wi-Fi. No form of media has taken to both of the big innovations of the last few years like gaming. While folks are still hooking analog cable to HDTVs and using America Online with their cable internet, most gamers are using the technologies of today properly, which is why consoles are performing more multimedia functions. The media companies are learning who its audience is, and it's usually holding a controller.
5- More than Just Entertainment
Games are no longer considered simply as tools for killing brain cells. Today there is a rapidly growing market for games as tools for education and fitness. Companies are looking to develop video games that are educational, while schools are looking to the gaming industry for new kinds of educational tools. Games like Wii Sports and Wii Fit are melding exercise with gaming. As games become useful outside the realm of entertainment they not only become more socially accepted, but more important to society. Educational films, fitness tapes, and even instructional manuals will soon be totally obsolete.
4- Declining Competition
Box-office returns are down. Cable and network ratings aren't exactly through the roof either. Most folks wouldn't touch a book to save their lives, so how are they entertaining themselves? More and more, gaming is becoming an acceptable means of entertainment, due in no small part to the staleness of its competitors. With no end in sight to the Hollywood writer's strike, the steady influx of videogames could convert many couch potatoes growing tired of three nights a week of "American Gladiators."
3- Gaming Goes Big
While the increase of independent, low-budget games has been critical in the industry's success, the big-budget blockbusters are also a key part of keeping the core gaming audience satisfied. While the conglomeration of big companies and the rapidly-increasing budgets for triple-A titles has led to game creation by committee, there's no denying that catering to the largest audience possible is an excellent business decision. It's the Transformers effect& many will be entertained, even if it isn't forwarding the art form an inch.
2- Increasing Cultural Relevancy
Remember the games of the past? They were all about jumping over alligators and eating jelly beans. Today, more video games are using politics and current events as subject matter. Call of Duty 4, for example, portrays the horror of nuclear war inspired by America's conflict in the Middle East. Think about Metal Gear Solid 4's plot about private military companies perpetuating war for profit. Not only are games daring to cover "real-life" topics, they themselves are becoming "real-life" topics. More and more you'll see game reviews in newspapers, indy-made video game spoofs, and television shows centering on gaming. This all indicates that games are normalizing in the world's collective consciousness.
1- Capturing the Casual Audience
Did anyone honestly believe that this would be the console generation that catered to the elderly and&:gasp:: girls? Yet that's exactly what's happened, due largely to the success of Nintendo thinking outside the box with the touch-screen Nintendo DS and the motion-sensing Wii. Before those systems hit it big, it seems as though Sony and Microsoft had resigned to competing over the same sect of hardcore gamers into perpetuity, but Nintendo's amazing success has broadened the audience considerably, and given its competitors reason to delve into more easy-to-enjoy games. And that's why we have dozens of Bejeweled clones on Xbox Live Arcade.
8- Legitimacy of Competition
The fact that the term, "cyberathlete" exists is a clear indication that gaming competition is becoming a serious business. From small Guitar Hero tournaments at local bars to massive Halo competitions with millions worth in prizes; gaming competitions are not only gaining momentum as accepted activities, they're attracting crowds and even syndication. A tournament company called Major League Gaming has a contract to broadcast gaming competitions on the USA Network. The market is large enough for a good enough gamer to earn a living and Starcraft is practically Korea's national sport. Sooner or later those who pwn will be cutting in line at clubs.
7- Social Networking
Remember those news stories about couples who met on World of Warcraft? Did you hear about that guy who was arrested for stalking a girl on Xbox Live? How about Republican Ron Paul who held a campaign march in the Alliance city of Ironforge on World of Warcraft's Wisperwind server? Most gamers have friends on Xbox Live or PSN that they've never met in person. We all know of the phenomenon of online social networking led by sites like Facebook and MySpace. Along with these sites, online video games will surely play a large part in the future development of people's online presence. Soon many people will be better known by their avatars than their faces.
6- The Tech-friendly Media
More than any other form of media, gaming has adapted masterfully to the new technologies of the 21st century, particularly when it comes to high-definition displays and the penetration of broadband and Wi-Fi. No form of media has taken to both of the big innovations of the last few years like gaming. While folks are still hooking analog cable to HDTVs and using America Online with their cable internet, most gamers are using the technologies of today properly, which is why consoles are performing more multimedia functions. The media companies are learning who its audience is, and it's usually holding a controller.
5- More than Just Entertainment
Games are no longer considered simply as tools for killing brain cells. Today there is a rapidly growing market for games as tools for education and fitness. Companies are looking to develop video games that are educational, while schools are looking to the gaming industry for new kinds of educational tools. Games like Wii Sports and Wii Fit are melding exercise with gaming. As games become useful outside the realm of entertainment they not only become more socially accepted, but more important to society. Educational films, fitness tapes, and even instructional manuals will soon be totally obsolete.
4- Declining Competition
Box-office returns are down. Cable and network ratings aren't exactly through the roof either. Most folks wouldn't touch a book to save their lives, so how are they entertaining themselves? More and more, gaming is becoming an acceptable means of entertainment, due in no small part to the staleness of its competitors. With no end in sight to the Hollywood writer's strike, the steady influx of videogames could convert many couch potatoes growing tired of three nights a week of "American Gladiators."
3- Gaming Goes Big
While the increase of independent, low-budget games has been critical in the industry's success, the big-budget blockbusters are also a key part of keeping the core gaming audience satisfied. While the conglomeration of big companies and the rapidly-increasing budgets for triple-A titles has led to game creation by committee, there's no denying that catering to the largest audience possible is an excellent business decision. It's the Transformers effect& many will be entertained, even if it isn't forwarding the art form an inch.
2- Increasing Cultural Relevancy
Remember the games of the past? They were all about jumping over alligators and eating jelly beans. Today, more video games are using politics and current events as subject matter. Call of Duty 4, for example, portrays the horror of nuclear war inspired by America's conflict in the Middle East. Think about Metal Gear Solid 4's plot about private military companies perpetuating war for profit. Not only are games daring to cover "real-life" topics, they themselves are becoming "real-life" topics. More and more you'll see game reviews in newspapers, indy-made video game spoofs, and television shows centering on gaming. This all indicates that games are normalizing in the world's collective consciousness.
1- Capturing the Casual Audience
Did anyone honestly believe that this would be the console generation that catered to the elderly and&:gasp:: girls? Yet that's exactly what's happened, due largely to the success of Nintendo thinking outside the box with the touch-screen Nintendo DS and the motion-sensing Wii. Before those systems hit it big, it seems as though Sony and Microsoft had resigned to competing over the same sect of hardcore gamers into perpetuity, but Nintendo's amazing success has broadened the audience considerably, and given its competitors reason to delve into more easy-to-enjoy games. And that's why we have dozens of Bejeweled clones on Xbox Live Arcade.
Offer To Meet People In Their Place
“The world is full of willing people. Some willing to work, the rest willing to let them.”- Robert FrostVery often you would have experienced a situation where the drop-in visitor is not leaving the place even after the purpose of the visit is over. One of the embarrassing things to do is to ask a person to leave your place. They may consider you impolite and mistake you. Owing to power and other equations you may find it difficult to ask people to leave your room/cubicle. At the same time, you may not be able to concentrate on your work.
Whenever you have to meet a person, meet him in his seat rather than in your seat. Whenever somebody says he will come to meet you, offer that you will go to his seat. This will give you an option to get back to your seat after the meeting is over. When an outsider wants to meet you, consider whether you can have the meetings in a common place such as a mini-conference room.
You may design a sticker reading ‘I do not want to waste any more of your time!’ Your visitor will be intelligent enough to understand the hidden message!
Remember that the time management has to be combined with tact and in trying to save your time you should not land up making enemies.
Remember: enemies are not born, but made and developed!
Trim, Edit, Compress, Simplify, Improve….
“Beware, lest you loose the substance by grasping at the shadow”- Aesop
Your activities cannot take the same amount of time it took sometime back. You need to constantly innovate and find out how to do the same thing in a different, but more effective way. We need to believe that work and time are not directly proportional.
More work need not mean more time. This is possible only by being flexible in the process of our working. We should be focused on our goal and be flexible in our approach to reach the same. This is possible only if we are willing to trim, compress, simplify and improve our approach.
Recently I came across an interesting skill called ‘competitive intelligence’. In simple terms it means collecting intelligence from our competitors to know how they are better than us in what they are doing and applying the same to our work.
You should watch others performing and notice in what way their approach is better than yours. We do it day in and day out observing competitors websites, but somewhere we are not following the same competitor intelligence with in our organization. We should also apply the same thing in our personal lives.
If you are a trainer, watch how others are training. If you are a manager, watch how other managers are managing their work and teams. Take the best processes from others and then apply the same to your job.
Keep an open mind to learn from others; seniors, peers and even juniors. Somebody said that mind is like a parachute and it works only if it opens! Innovation and improvements apply not only to organizations but also applies to individuals in the organization. Consider the whole world as a large university where you can learn a lot from others.
This mindset not only gives you the much needed variety, but also takes the boredom from your job.
Your activities cannot take the same amount of time it took sometime back. You need to constantly innovate and find out how to do the same thing in a different, but more effective way. We need to believe that work and time are not directly proportional.More work need not mean more time. This is possible only by being flexible in the process of our working. We should be focused on our goal and be flexible in our approach to reach the same. This is possible only if we are willing to trim, compress, simplify and improve our approach.
Recently I came across an interesting skill called ‘competitive intelligence’. In simple terms it means collecting intelligence from our competitors to know how they are better than us in what they are doing and applying the same to our work.
You should watch others performing and notice in what way their approach is better than yours. We do it day in and day out observing competitors websites, but somewhere we are not following the same competitor intelligence with in our organization. We should also apply the same thing in our personal lives.
If you are a trainer, watch how others are training. If you are a manager, watch how other managers are managing their work and teams. Take the best processes from others and then apply the same to your job.
Keep an open mind to learn from others; seniors, peers and even juniors. Somebody said that mind is like a parachute and it works only if it opens! Innovation and improvements apply not only to organizations but also applies to individuals in the organization. Consider the whole world as a large university where you can learn a lot from others.
This mindset not only gives you the much needed variety, but also takes the boredom from your job.
Form The ‘Completion’ Habit
“Get a good idea and stay with it, and work it until it’s done and done right”- Walt Disney
We may have a habit of leaving things incomplete whenever we are interrupted and going to the next issue. A normal day is a day full of interruptions. A perfectly uninterrupted day is not possible.
As you are working, you may be interrupted by telephone calls, visitors or any other type of interruptions. While you are doing a job and if you are interrupted in between, go back to the same job which was interrupted and do not pick up the next job unless you complete it.
It is likely that you will be asked to handle an equally important task in hand. Do it accepting it as a reality. However, after the interruption is over, go back to the interrupted task.
It is something like undertaking a travel. When your journey is interrupted due to traffic jam, or diversion, you accept it as a reality and take a deviation. You join the main road after the interruption is over. Keep this example in mind next time you are interrupted.
Remember what Edward Deming said: ‘Constancy of purpose and consistency of action’. The ability to bounce back after an interruption is a very critical skill for succeeding in life.
If you do not follow the above tip, it is likely that you may not find time to complete the interrupted task.
We may have a habit of leaving things incomplete whenever we are interrupted and going to the next issue. A normal day is a day full of interruptions. A perfectly uninterrupted day is not possible.As you are working, you may be interrupted by telephone calls, visitors or any other type of interruptions. While you are doing a job and if you are interrupted in between, go back to the same job which was interrupted and do not pick up the next job unless you complete it.
It is likely that you will be asked to handle an equally important task in hand. Do it accepting it as a reality. However, after the interruption is over, go back to the interrupted task.
It is something like undertaking a travel. When your journey is interrupted due to traffic jam, or diversion, you accept it as a reality and take a deviation. You join the main road after the interruption is over. Keep this example in mind next time you are interrupted.
Remember what Edward Deming said: ‘Constancy of purpose and consistency of action’. The ability to bounce back after an interruption is a very critical skill for succeeding in life.
If you do not follow the above tip, it is likely that you may not find time to complete the interrupted task.
Anticipate Interruptions
“If you are going to panic, at least panic intelligently”
It is ideal to think there will be no disturbance during the day. In reality, there could be interruptions such as excessive traffic, lack of cooperation, power failure, vehicle break down, etc. As you get up in the morning, think what are the things that are likely to go wrong and anticipate them. At the same time, do not become too pessimistic. Anticipating interruptions will help you plan your day despite external situation. Anticipation is different from ‘looking forward’ to interruptions. That will make you pessimistic. When you get an opportunity think and take preventive actions.
Keep an interruption log. As you work in a day, you may come across many interruptions such as telephone calls, visitors, etc. It is likely that we may be under the wrong impression that a specific thing or a specific person is interrupting us. It may or may not be true. For one complete week maintain a log of interruptions, wherein you put the name of the person and the time when you are interrupted. Also mention whether the purpose for which you were interrupted was for ‘A’ issue, ‘B’ or ‘C’ issue. After collecting data for one full week, analyse the same. You will know the pattern in which your interruptions took place.
You may find that one particular person interrupted you most often. This will indicate what you should do to stop this interruption. This will help you to find a solutions to prevent this interruption. Try for a week and see for yourself.
Please note that you have to manage people interruptions tactfully without sounding arrogant.
It is ideal to think there will be no disturbance during the day. In reality, there could be interruptions such as excessive traffic, lack of cooperation, power failure, vehicle break down, etc. As you get up in the morning, think what are the things that are likely to go wrong and anticipate them. At the same time, do not become too pessimistic. Anticipating interruptions will help you plan your day despite external situation. Anticipation is different from ‘looking forward’ to interruptions. That will make you pessimistic. When you get an opportunity think and take preventive actions.Keep an interruption log. As you work in a day, you may come across many interruptions such as telephone calls, visitors, etc. It is likely that we may be under the wrong impression that a specific thing or a specific person is interrupting us. It may or may not be true. For one complete week maintain a log of interruptions, wherein you put the name of the person and the time when you are interrupted. Also mention whether the purpose for which you were interrupted was for ‘A’ issue, ‘B’ or ‘C’ issue. After collecting data for one full week, analyse the same. You will know the pattern in which your interruptions took place.
You may find that one particular person interrupted you most often. This will indicate what you should do to stop this interruption. This will help you to find a solutions to prevent this interruption. Try for a week and see for yourself.
Please note that you have to manage people interruptions tactfully without sounding arrogant.
The Best Free Software for Windows
We pick some of the best software programs and utilities for your Windows computer that are completely free and still extremely useful. Given all these wonderful choices, why pay?
Audio Editing:
If you ever wanted to do some basic audio recording, look no further than Audacity - it can record, remove noise from audio and also mix multiple sound track. With little effort, you can use Audacity to record live streaming music from Internet radio stations.
Video Editing:
For videos, Windows Movie Maker from Microsoft is a good choice. It has all the basic video editing tools plus a good collection of transitions and video effects. For advanced usage, get the powerful VirtualDub - it has a number of filters (like video rotation), can create videos from image sequences, split videos or even extract sound from video tracks.
Instant Messenger:
If your friends are spread across different services like Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN and others, get Pidgin and connect to all popular IM services using a single software. Pidgin provides a tabbed interface so the desktop won’t look cluttered even if you are simultaneously chatting with multiple buddies.
Computer Security:
Your computer needs a firewall program like ZoneAlarm or Comodo Pro to stop spyware programs from connecting to websites secretly and for blocking any Internet intruders. For removing viruses from infected systems, AVG Antivirus and Avast are very reliable and unlike other commercial software, they are not heavy on system resources.
Multimedia Players:
You may already have Windows Media Player and iTunes on your computer but they are not capable of playing all audio and video formats. For this reason, I recommend VLC Media Player that is light-weight and supports almost everything including DVDs and Flash Videos that you have downloaded from YouTube. Another option is GOM player.
Digital Photography:
Taking photos with your digital camera is just half the job . For organizing your vast picture collection, get Google Picasa or Windows Live Photo Gallery. With Picasa, you can create Screensavers and Picture Collages while Live Gallery has a wonderful photo stitching feature for making panoramas. Both let you transfer pictures from the desktop to Flickr. For advanced photo editing, use Paint.NET or GIMP.
Windows Enhancements:
If you like using keyboard more than the mouse, get Launchy - it helps you start your favorite programs (and documents) without touching the Windows Start Menu. TweakUI is another desktop enhancement to help you control the appearance of Windows, change the location of default folders and so much more.
Spring Cleaning:
WinDirStat gives you a visual overview of files and folders that are consuming the bulk of space on your hard drive so you know where to hit the delete key when the drive is full. CCleaner with automatically find and remove all the unnecessary temp files from your computer reclaiming valuable hard drive space. It also clears all the junk from Windows registry so your system runs faster. MyUninstaller will help you remove software that do show up in Windows Add Remove control panel.
Desktop Email:
If you like checking and replying to your web email from the desktop, Windows Live Mail and ThunderBird are worth considering. They let you check multiple e-mail accounts in one place, apply filters to incoming email, add another layer of protection from junk email, built-in RSS reader and best of all, you can work offline.
DVD Tools:
For creating backup copies of your DVD video disks onto the hard drive, use DVD Shrink. For extracting movie scenes and MP3 music from DVDs, HandBrake is a good choice. It can also be used to export your DVDs into portable players like the iPod.
Other Worthy Mentions: HTTrack helps you create a mirror copy of any website on the hard drive for offline reading. Orbit Downloader lets you save streaming music and videos from almost every website. Copernic Desktop is an excellent software for finding emails, documents, photos and other multimedia files on your computer. Microsoft SyncToy provides a visual interface for synchronizing file folders between computers and external drives.
Do you think we are missing some really good software here ? Please share in the comments.
Audio Editing:
If you ever wanted to do some basic audio recording, look no further than Audacity - it can record, remove noise from audio and also mix multiple sound track. With little effort, you can use Audacity to record live streaming music from Internet radio stations.
Video Editing:
For videos, Windows Movie Maker from Microsoft is a good choice. It has all the basic video editing tools plus a good collection of transitions and video effects. For advanced usage, get the powerful VirtualDub - it has a number of filters (like video rotation), can create videos from image sequences, split videos or even extract sound from video tracks.
Instant Messenger:
If your friends are spread across different services like Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN and others, get Pidgin and connect to all popular IM services using a single software. Pidgin provides a tabbed interface so the desktop won’t look cluttered even if you are simultaneously chatting with multiple buddies.
Computer Security:
Your computer needs a firewall program like ZoneAlarm or Comodo Pro to stop spyware programs from connecting to websites secretly and for blocking any Internet intruders. For removing viruses from infected systems, AVG Antivirus and Avast are very reliable and unlike other commercial software, they are not heavy on system resources.
Multimedia Players:
You may already have Windows Media Player and iTunes on your computer but they are not capable of playing all audio and video formats. For this reason, I recommend VLC Media Player that is light-weight and supports almost everything including DVDs and Flash Videos that you have downloaded from YouTube. Another option is GOM player.
Digital Photography:
Taking photos with your digital camera is just half the job . For organizing your vast picture collection, get Google Picasa or Windows Live Photo Gallery. With Picasa, you can create Screensavers and Picture Collages while Live Gallery has a wonderful photo stitching feature for making panoramas. Both let you transfer pictures from the desktop to Flickr. For advanced photo editing, use Paint.NET or GIMP.
Windows Enhancements:
If you like using keyboard more than the mouse, get Launchy - it helps you start your favorite programs (and documents) without touching the Windows Start Menu. TweakUI is another desktop enhancement to help you control the appearance of Windows, change the location of default folders and so much more.
Spring Cleaning:
WinDirStat gives you a visual overview of files and folders that are consuming the bulk of space on your hard drive so you know where to hit the delete key when the drive is full. CCleaner with automatically find and remove all the unnecessary temp files from your computer reclaiming valuable hard drive space. It also clears all the junk from Windows registry so your system runs faster. MyUninstaller will help you remove software that do show up in Windows Add Remove control panel.
Desktop Email:
If you like checking and replying to your web email from the desktop, Windows Live Mail and ThunderBird are worth considering. They let you check multiple e-mail accounts in one place, apply filters to incoming email, add another layer of protection from junk email, built-in RSS reader and best of all, you can work offline.
DVD Tools:
For creating backup copies of your DVD video disks onto the hard drive, use DVD Shrink. For extracting movie scenes and MP3 music from DVDs, HandBrake is a good choice. It can also be used to export your DVDs into portable players like the iPod.
Other Worthy Mentions: HTTrack helps you create a mirror copy of any website on the hard drive for offline reading. Orbit Downloader lets you save streaming music and videos from almost every website. Copernic Desktop is an excellent software for finding emails, documents, photos and other multimedia files on your computer. Microsoft SyncToy provides a visual interface for synchronizing file folders between computers and external drives.
Do you think we are missing some really good software here ? Please share in the comments.
Mascots in Modern Web Design
Mascots in Modern Web Design
A mascot can provide a site design with a fine and nice
detail which the site would miss otherwise. This detail is used on private pages as often as in an online-shop or by a web-service. It’s important that the final mascot design is clean and fits to the overall site design. For instance, a laughing beaver doesn’t really help a site which tries to sell some underwater accessories.
We have collected a number of cute, well-designed and visually appealing mascots. The images are linked and lead to the pages from which they’ve been taken.
Justin Bird — animated. Don’t forget to hover your mouse over the bird.
Potato Parade — Flash. This is an McCain’s advertisement.
Mooourl — the mascot supports the logo.
How to use headings in HTML
Many of web standards rookies feel that passing validation is good enough to call their work web standards compliant. Those who are more involved in web standards know that there's more than that. Use of headings is a good example. While validator will not show any warnings or errors for headings, you can't say that your page is valid if your heading structure fails.Meaning of headings
Some say that the largest role of headings are their SEO meaning. I am not going into that. They maybe right, but I say (since I am not a SEO expert but a web standards enthusiast) that their importance lies in semantics. What are headings anyway? Headings are elements that describe the content that follows and also define a document's structure. Similar to large headings and subheadings in printed newspapers, html headings should briefly describe what the page or sections are about, making it clear to the reader (human or non-human) what to expect if he continues to read. We have h1 to h6 heading tags. The numbers in the tag name carry a certain "weight", where h1 is the "heaviest" and h6 is the "lightest". That hierarchy is the principle that we should follow when structuring our document.
Document structure
So how to properly structure a document? Let's compare document's heading structure with some well formed XML file.
H1, H2, H3 and H4 represent heading tags (titles) while boxes represent content where darkest box carries more "weight" in terms of importance then lighter ones.
First heading, h1 defines a large section, usually an entire document. I believe that it should be used once per page as a top level heading, describing the content of entire page. Exceptionally, if you have separate large sections on the same page you may use two or more h1. Choosing which heading tag to use on a specific spot shouldn't be a matter of thought. You simply use the next one in line. If the content you're describing could be treated as a "child" of the previous content, then use the heading that is one step down in hierarchy. If we are talking about "sibling" content than you should use same one. That creates a certain logical flow that shouldn't be broken, otherwise your document will make less sense.
"Don'ts" when using heading tags
As some of you know, and some of you guess, the power of CSS is rather large. There's no need for compromises when we're talking about headings. One of the thing that I see a lot is using heading tags based on browser's default styling. Some will use h4 instead of h2 on a
Document structure
So how to properly structure a document? Let's compare document's heading structure with some well formed XML file.H1, H2, H3 and H4 represent heading tags (titles) while boxes represent content where darkest box carries more "weight" in terms of importance then lighter ones.
First heading, h1 defines a large section, usually an entire document. I believe that it should be used once per page as a top level heading, describing the content of entire page. Exceptionally, if you have separate large sections on the same page you may use two or more h1. Choosing which heading tag to use on a specific spot shouldn't be a matter of thought. You simply use the next one in line. If the content you're describing could be treated as a "child" of the previous content, then use the heading that is one step down in hierarchy. If we are talking about "sibling" content than you should use same one. That creates a certain logical flow that shouldn't be broken, otherwise your document will make less sense.
"Don'ts" when using heading tags
As some of you know, and some of you guess, the power of CSS is rather large. There's no need for compromises when we're talking about headings. One of the thing that I see a lot is using heading tags based on browser's default styling. Some will use h4 instead of h2 on a
certain spot just because they need a smaller headline. What we should do is use h2 and use
CSS to make it smaller. Simple, right?
Further more, not all content belong in the heading. i.e. if you have a blog post title and you decided to put it into h2 or h3, don't worry what heading to use for the date and publisher info. Don't use headings for that type of content. Even in newspapers you will not see large and bold "Written By John, Aug 22nd".
The largest error that I see often is separating headings from their belonging content because of design compromise i.e putting some floated navigation between heading and the paragraphs. You shouldn't make compromises in that area. Make document structure a priority and don't bend it just because you have complex design. In most (I would say "all") cases CSS can give you a hand. Just make an extra effort and pretty soon you will be happy.
CSS to make it smaller. Simple, right?
Further more, not all content belong in the heading. i.e. if you have a blog post title and you decided to put it into h2 or h3, don't worry what heading to use for the date and publisher info. Don't use headings for that type of content. Even in newspapers you will not see large and bold "Written By John, Aug 22nd".
The largest error that I see often is separating headings from their belonging content because of design compromise i.e putting some floated navigation between heading and the paragraphs. You shouldn't make compromises in that area. Make document structure a priority and don't bend it just because you have complex design. In most (I would say "all") cases CSS can give you a hand. Just make an extra effort and pretty soon you will be happy.
Account Sign-in: 8 Design Mistakes to Avoid
Along with their popular line of high-end networking equipment, Cisco Systems offers something else for Cisco.com visitors to buy: a line of Cisco-brand leisure wear and accessories, everything from wind breakers to golf balls. The only problem is, to see the line of logo-emboldened products, you need to first fill out a registration form.
Yes. You read that correctly. Just to *see* the available products, you need to create an account by filling out the four-page, 45-question form. (You have to tell Cisco your job role twice, your job title once, and the language you prefer to speak 3 times -- all in English.) Then, if you can find your way back to the online marketplace, you can see the selection of laser-light key chains with the Cisco logo.
There are many great business advantages to having users create an account and log into the system. You know who is using your system, how often they visit, and what they do on the site. You can store information they might need later, such as their order history and their billing info for future purchases. And, you can offer them content and services reserved for only your best clientele.
Yet, in usability test after usability test, we see the registration and sign-in processes to be consistently problematic. It's the most common thing that scares users away from shopping on e-commerce sites. It generates the most calls to the customer-support call center.
Designing an account registration and sign-in process that doesn't frustrate users turns out to be very difficult to achieve. It looks easy at the outset, but a pile of subtleties can sneak up on your experience, making something that should be simple become stressful for the users.
Here are 8 common design mistakes we often see as we watch users try to create accounts and sign into the site:
Mistake #1: Having a Sign-in In The First Place
It seems the reason Cisco requires you to log in just to see the golf balls for sale is not all products are available for the general public. Some are only for employees (who also get a nice discount). Some are only for certified Cisco engineers. To know what products and prices to display, the site needs to know who you are.
Fortunately, most sites don't take this approach. On most sites, you can do many things without identifying yourself.
And, that's the way customers like it. They hate having to create an account to do something simple, such as download a white paper or pay for a product they've chosen. As one online shopper said recently during a usability test, "I don't want to develop a relationship with these guys. I just want to buy something."
Practically unheard of in the travel industry, Midwest Airlines doesn't require their customers to register to buy an airline ticket. Instead, customers can make a purchase as a guest. Of course, they still have to enter their name and billing info, but they aren't forced to create a username and password if they don't want to.
Mistake #2: Requiring Sign-in Too Soon
Yes. You read that correctly. Just to *see* the available products, you need to create an account by filling out the four-page, 45-question form. (You have to tell Cisco your job role twice, your job title once, and the language you prefer to speak 3 times -- all in English.) Then, if you can find your way back to the online marketplace, you can see the selection of laser-light key chains with the Cisco logo.
There are many great business advantages to having users create an account and log into the system. You know who is using your system, how often they visit, and what they do on the site. You can store information they might need later, such as their order history and their billing info for future purchases. And, you can offer them content and services reserved for only your best clientele.
Yet, in usability test after usability test, we see the registration and sign-in processes to be consistently problematic. It's the most common thing that scares users away from shopping on e-commerce sites. It generates the most calls to the customer-support call center.
Designing an account registration and sign-in process that doesn't frustrate users turns out to be very difficult to achieve. It looks easy at the outset, but a pile of subtleties can sneak up on your experience, making something that should be simple become stressful for the users.
Here are 8 common design mistakes we often see as we watch users try to create accounts and sign into the site:
Mistake #1: Having a Sign-in In The First Place
It seems the reason Cisco requires you to log in just to see the golf balls for sale is not all products are available for the general public. Some are only for employees (who also get a nice discount). Some are only for certified Cisco engineers. To know what products and prices to display, the site needs to know who you are.
Fortunately, most sites don't take this approach. On most sites, you can do many things without identifying yourself.
And, that's the way customers like it. They hate having to create an account to do something simple, such as download a white paper or pay for a product they've chosen. As one online shopper said recently during a usability test, "I don't want to develop a relationship with these guys. I just want to buy something."
Practically unheard of in the travel industry, Midwest Airlines doesn't require their customers to register to buy an airline ticket. Instead, customers can make a purchase as a guest. Of course, they still have to enter their name and billing info, but they aren't forced to create a username and password if they don't want to.
Mistake #2: Requiring Sign-in Too Soon
Part of Cisco's issue was requiring the customer to sign in (and new customers to register) before they could see the products. Had they required it later, maybe after clicking on a link labeled "Show me my employee discount" or "Checkout", the shoppers would have been less frustrated.
Amazon set the gold standard by waiting until the last possible moment to require sign-in. Clicking on "My Account", users sees the entire list of account support options before they identify themselves. In some cases, such as one-click shopping, they never have the user sign-in. The cookie on the machine is good enough.
Mistake #3: Not Stating the Benefits to Registering
Creating an account puts a burden on the user. They have to answer the questions, many of which have nothing to do with their current task. They have to come up with a user name they'll remember. They have to pick a password they'll easily recall. They worry about getting email or having their information sent to the deepest, darkest regions of the Internet. Watch users for any amount of time and you'll notice a huge resistance to registering.
What do they get in return for this added burden? At Midwest Airlines, they say right on the sign-in page: access to your frequent flyer account, booking award travel, changing reservations after they are made, and hold reservations for 24-hours, just to name a few benefits.
Mistake #4: Hiding the Sign-In Button
Frequent customers of Netflix usually go straight to their personal home page, showing status information and movie recommendations. Yet, when cookies are deleted or they access the service from a different machine, they need to log in.
The default page, in that instance, was designed to sell potential new customers on the site. It had a very visible registration button. Unfortunately, the member login link was much harder to see. This caused frequent calls to the Netflix call center, until the team made the member sign-in link more visually distinct.
Mistake #5: Not Making "Create New Account" or "Forgot Your Password" a Button or Link
At Spirit Air's web site, the good news is they provide users with an easy way to create account and retrieve a lost password. The bad news is the links to these functions, which appear in a pull down menu, don't really look like links. They look to users like explanatory text. Several users didn't realize they were there and searched elsewhere on the site, to little avail.
Mistake #6: Not Providing Sign-in Opportunities at Key Locations
We've observed many users will prefer to log in at the last possible moment. Maybe its because they don't want the distraction of remembering their login information or possibly because they're immersed in their tasks. It's at the instance when the account can help them, such as preventing them from re-entering billing information, they suddenly desire to log in.
The best sites anticipate these moments and have an easy login capability. Orbitz lets their customers get well into the purchase process, and then has a simple login option to retrieve flying preferences, like meal selections and aisle or window choices.
Mistake #7: Asking for Too Much Information When Registering
A common trap we see site designers fall into is thinking that, once the user starts filling out questions, we want to ask them everything we could ever want to. (Cisco, during their four-page registration process, asks the users to specify the number of items presented in search results.)
Yet, users typically want to answer as few questions as possible. The best sites just ask for a username and password (or just a password if they are using the email address and already have it). They later ask for any profile or personalization information, when the need arises.
Mistake #8: Not Telling Users How You'll Use Their Information
"Why do they need to know my home phone number?" the user asked when trying to download a technical white paper for work. Naturally, the user was quite suspicious.
At Virgin America, the designers explain why they need a phone number, "In case we need to contact you, provide at least one number." While they prompt for a mobile, home, and business number, they are giving a reason.
Midwest Airlines is even clearer: "Please provide a phone number where you can be reached in the event of a change to your flight reservation." Who wouldn't want to have the airline call them for that?
Finding the Mistakes
Creating a perfect registration and sign-in process takes tremendous work. The best way to identify the problems is to conduct periodic usability tests, with regular registered users, infrequent users, and first time users. If your tests are like the ones we've conducted, you'll see these mistakes (and probably others) emerge almost instantly.
