Month: October 2011

An idea for banks

Last month I posted a status update about how Bank of America froze my credit card after an $18 purchase for Alfred’s Powerpack. The purchase was a UK-based transaction which apparently was too much for a Visa card to handle.

It gave me an idea though. What if a bank gave its customers the ability to set a threshold for fraudulent activity? The bank would let me say, “Do not freeze my card for any purchases below this dollar amount.” Seems easy enough.

If my card or account information was stolen I really wouldn’t be worried about an $18 purchase. What I’m concerned about is someone stealing my information and going on a shopping spree at an Apple store. If they want to drop $18 to support an indie software company that’s fine by me.

While ideally I’d like to not be liable for an $18 fraudulent purchase I don’t need my account frozen because of it. Send me a non-urgent email or a text message but don’t cut off my access.

Baseball vs real life

I don’t think we can afford to view politics or technology as we view baseball. In baseball, I can personally insult Yankees fans, or condescend to Cubs fans, or feel a soulful affinity with fellow Mets fans, and it’s all fun. Because we know it totally doesn’t matter. But these other things do matter. So we really can’t afford to think of it as Us vs Them. It’s not Republicans vs Democrats, it’s Americans deciding what we want our government to do. And in technology, it’s the people of the world, in very much the model of Jefferson, deciding what we want to be. And not having corporations and their need for profit, be the sole determinant.

Dave Winer – Baseball vs real life

What’s Next for Apple

When I walk through Best Buy, which I try to do once every few months, it feels like it’s technology at its worst, the magic of progress used as smoke and mirrors to confuse and dupe consumers rather than make their lives better.

Matt Mullenweg – What’s Next for Apple.

Responsive Design Testing. Cool site that allows you to test a URL in various widths and device sizes. Really handy for testing a responsive design you’re working on.

A seriously cool present that was on my desk this morning

Each card has a term on it with a fun definition on the back. There’s a matching 1GB USB drive as well. PIE and W+K rock! 🙂

The bane of my existence right now

Why create an icon that doesn’t open like an…

Why create an icon that doesn’t open like an app, can’t be put in a folder, and basically breaks all icon interaction conventions in iOS?

Newsstand in iOS 5 is the biggest piece of UI/X…

Newsstand in iOS 5 is the biggest piece of UI/X vomit I’ve seen in a long while.

Installing the Lion update. Here goes nothing…

Installing the Lion update. Here goes nothing…

Apple’s fourth interface

Steve said that each of the three user interfaces made possible a revolutionary new type of product. The mouse enabled the Macintosh. The click wheel enabled the iPod. Multi-touch enabled the iPhone. What will Siri enable?

Shawn Blanc – Apple’s Fourth Interface