Media: Is Dan Gilmor giving up on Email?

"Spamming sleazebags ruining e-mail" by Dan Gillmor captures the mood that surrounds email these days... 'Like so many other people, I'm losing my patience. E-mail may be essential, but it's in danger of becoming more trouble than it's worth. I'm finding ways to work around it.'

Running through the many guilty parties... spammers, virus writers, poor software issued by indifferent companies, ISPs not set up to protect their customers... he paints a despondent picture.

'What will come from this crisis? I keep expecting the trial lawyers will find a way to break through the legal protection the software industry has erected to allow the sale of unsafe, shoddy goods. For years, after all, it was considered impossible to do anything about the arrogant tobacco barons and their lethal products. You'd think that the $50 billion in Microsoft's pocket would be a tempting target, at any rate.'

He has no real answers, but what he advocates for the moment are work-arounds and ways of protecting users locally.

Associated Link: SiliconValley.com: Spamming sleazebags ruining e-mail

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.