ExperienceLab

Smoke signals

For me a hospital environment isn't usually a happy place. I imagine dreary walls, a quiet, dull, sterile environment, strange smells, boredom of waiting, and more waiting, pain... or is that just me?

However, I recently visited the nicest hospital I've ever been to and for someone like me, who's often waiting whilst another person has treatment, I found enough to do to keep me occupied and remove my worries!

An un-SIGHT-ly check up!

I visited the opticians for a regular sight check up and found myself in an awkward situation!

As the optometrist needed to examine my eyes, I was instructed to place my chin on the rest and put my forehead against another. No problem. Now it just so happened the device required a height adjustment so that I was sitting comfortably and in the correct position for the optometrist to look in to my eyes...sounds romantic doesn't it...but let's take a closer look at the device:

Mobile gaming downloads...weird wap connection!

I downloaded Tetris on my mobile over the weekend, it's one of my favourite games. I love playing it when I am out and about, on the tube, on the bus, waiting for others ... to pass the time.

So I downloaded the game and got ready to play, except each time I select the option to play Tetris it comes up with a weird message telling me that the phone needs to make a connection. It's FREE when in the UK but still, its an annoying extra step before playing my game and it doesn't give me a reason for making the connection. This is what the message looks like:

Dyson instructions not a design strong point

Trying to hurry up and finish household chores over a weekend isn't much fun, especially if your  tools aren't working as they should. In our case we noticed our Dyson hoover was not cleaning properly. We contacted Dyson, who identified the problem over the phone and sent us the necessary replacement parts. We were assured the parts would be easy to replace ourselves.

The parts arrived boxed up but with no instructions, except this:

   So we were presented with the task of working out how to detach the current hoover parts and replace them with new ones.  There were three parts we needed to fix to the bottom of the hoover.

Please don't stop the music!

This video blog tells the tale of a keen Bhangra and Bollywood listening driver on a desperate journey to save the world from usability problems.... As she drives from location to location her journey is ruined as the music wouldn't play. This tale wouldn't be complete without the other major stars - the car, the iPod, and my MP3 adapter.

A special thanks to Alessandra Millar for producing the video. I owe you chocolate :)

Corsa know how to use it!

My colleague Anna and I recently hired a car for client research we were conducting in the Midlands. We decided drive up, so we wouldn’t have to lug loads of cables, cameras and computers on the train. Plus we thought we could have a relaxed journey listening to some tunes on the way… most importantly, some Bhangra and Bollywood.

Our car happened to be a Vauxhall Corsa, which was OK - any car with a media player would have been fine. It was the radio we particularly wanted access to… but could we work it? No, not immediately and definitely not without endangering that relaxed journey we envisaged. 

Silver Sat Navers

Over the holidays it was the ideal time to visit friends and relatives, as everyone seemed to be on a break. My Mum and Nan, in particular, wanted to visit family in west London. So, not wanting to be the family’s permanent chauffeur service during my time off… I handed over the satnav.

While identifying the main roads wasn’t going to be an issue, the destination was in an unfamiliar part of town, and so that’s where the satnav was to come into play.

 

 

With mum at the wheel, they headed off from East London on the A406 towards some random part of Southall, using the satnav but not really paying closer attention until they had to locate the specific address. When it was time to make the return journey they set the satnav to go home…except now here’s the problem.

They wanted to return via the same route used to get to their destination because they knew the main roads that they needed to get to. However, a journey that should have taken maybe an hour, took three hours.

The satnav unhelpfully programmed itself to drive through central London. Mum didn’t think she needed to check the details of the route the satnav had planned for them as it took them through the A406, which was the ideal route, and just started driving. As they were unfamiliar with the destination area they trusted the satnav to take them home. What they really wanted was for the satnav to remember the route.

Why can’t satnavs be programmed to remember routes? Why can’t I save a journey? Why can’t it remember the route I want to travel by? Consequently, Mum's driving home, now even more confused when following the satnav, not realising until it’s too late that they will end up central London with a diabetic Nan in the car cursing the satnav. That’s an awful long time especially when it’s not expected.

Although, I am quite reliant on my satnav, it would be great if I could save a route. I just want it to take be somewhere and bring me back the same way. At least that would help me remember the route too...it’s just not as simple as I want it to be.

Windows 7 Startup won't let me be me!

I bought a cute little Windows 7 startup netbook over the holidays. I only really need it for surfing the web and iTunes and that sort of thing. In all honesty, whilst shopping around I would have much preferred to buy a Mac, now that I use one for work. However, the netbook suited my budget.

Now that I have it, the most irritating thing that Windows could possibly do is to prevent me from personalising my desktop. What’s that about? One of the first things most people - well I - do is change the background so its more ‘me’! I have Googled the problem and I know there is a work around but why should anyone have to do that… Windows. Grrr!!!

Just in case you're interested...I'd have this piece of cuteness as my desktop background: