Media: The Register explodes Myths about Men with Featuritis

"Who cares what operating system a phone uses?" finds Rob Bamforth of Bloor Research arguing that it is not only women who appreciate usability over features.

Taking issue with the idea that men want the latest gadgets with as many cool features as possible, Bamforth says 'male tendencies are more prominent at the early adopter stage - hence the interest in the latest bells and whistles in any gadget. As the market matures, and the gadgets become daily tools, even men appreciate utility over feature overload.'

But, he says, early adopter versus conservative majority or male versus female are too simplistic a way to subdivide customers. He goes on to make the point by looking in some detail at the Symbian OS based F2102V phone from Fujitsu and the Xplore G18 from Group Sense International.

Is one 'better' than the other, he asks. 'The best technologies are those that are invisible or impose no additional complexity on the user. Ask any Mac user...or woman.'

Associated Link: The Register: Who cares what operating system a phone uses?

All change at the top for System Concepts
Source: System Concepts Ltd, 3 July 2009
 
Leslie Fountain has been promoted to joint Managing Director of leading usability consultancy System Concepts.

Life in UCD immortalised in fiction: you couldn't make it up
Source: UN, 2 July 2009
 
Sarah Herman's fictitious book on life in a user-centred design company has hit the shelves and The Guardian's book pages...

Interfaces Magazine - Issue 79: The Education Issue
Source: Interaction Group, 1 July 2009
 
The latest issue of Interfaces is now available as a free download from the Interaction Website.

Two new Behavioural research Tools from Noldus
Source: UN, 30 June 2009
 
Tool updates make on-site behavioural data collection easier.

Cell Phones that Listen and Learn
Source: MIT Technology Review, 29 June 2009
 
New software tracks a user's behavior by monitoring everyday sounds.

Top Six Don’ts for Usability Testing
Source: FutureNow Inc., 27 June 2009
 
Six tips for creating quality usability tests to ensure useful feedback from testers.

Usability: ‘Lovely software. But I can’t work it’
Source: FT.com, 26 June 2009
 
In a recent survey by Global Graphics, 77 per cent of office workers estimate they lose up to one hour a week because business software is difficult to use.

And what do you do?
Source: Dexo Design, 25 June 2009
 
How do you describe your job role? Here are the results of a recent 'Preferred UX/UI Title' Poll.

Most Doctors cite Usability as critical to Electronic Health Record Adoption
Source: TMCNet, 24 June 2009
 
It's all about 'meaningful use'.

Glossy monitors look good but can hurt
Source: QUT, 23 June 2009
 
A new advisory cites research which suggests high gloss monitors make users sit awkwardly.