A good friend of mine is getting married in a couple weeks, and I was discussing what gift I would be getting from her registry. This opened up a can of worms. The world of gift registries is out of control.

We knew people who sent out graduation invites with “registered at <fill in appropriate store>.” People with new apartments are registering for housewarming gifts.

And the kicker? A wedding that someone was invited to and recieved a deposit slip in the invite. What?! Unreal.

You’re probably wondering at this point how this has anything to do with interactive…. Northworst, uh I mean, Northwest Airlines has started a program for more than just couples getting married:

“Wedding, graduation, retirement, anniversary, family vacation – whatever the occasion,
TRAVEL is the perfect gift to give or receive.”

Gift-givers can go to nwa.com and give money to the happy couple/person to a travel fund. They can’t, however, donate World Perks miles. That seems like a no-brainer, but that’s just me.

Now the Pentagon has banned the troops from using sites like YouTube, MySpace, Photobucket, etc. due to “sapping too much bandwidth.”

YouTube’s co-founders on Thursday challenged the Pentagon’s assertion that soldiers overseas were sapping too much bandwidth by watching online videos, the military’s principal rationale for blocking popular Web sites from Defense Department computers.

“They said it might be a bandwidth issue, but they created the Internet, so I don’t know what the problem is,” Chief Executive Chad Hurley said with a hearty laugh during an interview with The Associated Press.

I can only imagine how appealing snail mail is for troops when they’re watching their children grow up in another country.

[source: randomgoodstuff]

I can imagine getting lost in the rain while walking is a scenario we’ve all been in numerous times and this is the gadget we’ve been waiting for.

My only question- how usable is this? I like the idea of watching people walk down the street  staring up into their umbrella watching CNN or the lastest episode of Family Guy and running into people.

Looks to me like a great (yet annoying to consumers) way to advertise.

Would you buy it?

Occassionally something is posted there that I feel like sharing with the interactive community. And I think this is a pretty good one.

What a way for Yahoo! to advertise. Seriously.

Enjoy!

Search Engine Smackdown 

About a month ago (yes, it’s taken me this long to post about this) I received the MySpace Newsletter in my Inbox. Seriously.

I’m pretty sure I said I was scared to log in to MySpace for fear that they would automatically renew my membership. I’m still scared.

But notice that you have to log in to stop receiving the MySpace newsletter:

I’m also annoyed by the use of bright blue links on the MySpace blue background. Can this really be intentional? My guess- yes. It seems to me that the use of blue links on this blue background is in fact a usability nightmare that is done on purpose. Perhaps the idea is that if users can’t actually see the links, then they won’t click on them.

In the end, you have to be very persistent (or ignorant) to cancel a MySpace account. Come on, Rupert. Throw me a bone here.

“To put it simply, technology has changed the way we market. Customers gather information from multiple channels and expect it to be customized. This makes it critical for you to be able to answer these questions: Who are your customers? How do they make purchase decisions?

Once you’re armed with accurate customer personas and a map of customer purchase processes, you can strategically deliver the right information at the right time using the right channel.”

Registration begins at 7:30 am
Presentation is at 8 am
Networking is at 9:15 am

The cost is $20 for Members/$40 for non-Members.

This exhibition focuses on the design and planning of culture and civilization. It is very powerful in its message and it raises many questions about how we view and interact with space and how we live in our world.

When I saw this show in September, I thought out loud, “I always wondered why no one is designing anything really useful. I guess I was wrong.”

A few highlights and observations I made of the show:

1. In one particular room, I loved the overwhelming graphic quality of words/phrases covering every inch of the walls. I didn’t feel the need to read everything. In fact, I took away an appreciation of all the text for its graphic quality and design. Its placement at the beginning of the show is also foreshadowing. It set up a mindset that even in chaos there is order.

2. I enjoyed the interactivity of sound incorporated into the show. In another room, there were boxes suspended from the ceiling that stopped about 8 or 9 feet from the floor. When you walk under one, it starts an audio recording. I loved this simply for the fact that it was information available to me when I asked for it. I hate walking halfway into videos in museums. This presentation solved that problem.

3. The final room of the show includes a series of 2 sides to an argument. For example, one issue talked about designing better food to provide more food worldwide. Each issue has 2 large plexiglass boxes. One is labeled “Yes” and one is labeled “No.” In the middle is a stack of yellow pieces of paper the size of Post-it notes. Viewers are invited to answer the question: “Do you agree?” to each issue by putting a piece of the yellow paper into either the Yes or No box. It’s visually interesting to be surrounded by stark white walls and see 2 clear boxes filled with yellow pieces of paper. In a way, you feel like you’re taking part in the massive change.

4. This show changed my opinion of all the building of condos that is currently happening in Minneapolis and everywhere else. I realized it’s a good thing that it’s happening. By condensing our living space and leaving open spaces for the environment, we can leave a positive imprint on our world.
Check it out. It’s very relevant to today.

About a year and a half ago, I heard about this site called MySpace – a couple college friends invited me to join. The first couple weeks it was fun, like any other new project. Then I grew bored. Then I found out Rupert Murdoch recently purchased MySpace. I promptly tried to cancel my account, but I had no idea how to (they don’t make it easy).

I maybe visited MySpace once every 6 months (so…3 times?) and I finally had it. I tried to cancel my account. This time I think I succeeded. I think:

STEP 1. Try to locate the “Cancel” link:

It’s hidden way up above all the important information.

STEPS 2-5. Repeatedly click “Cancel My Account” to no avail – how many times do I have to do this? It seriously takes 4 click throughs to get to what seems like the end.

STEP 6. Then they send you an email. At this point, my account is still active.

STEPS 7-9. Again, I have to keep clicking “Cancel My Account” (same screens as before).
10. Then I get a screen that says it will take up to 48 hours to cancel my MySpace account. Huh?

Note that it still doesn’t say that my account is cancelled.
Come on! If the goal of their website is to have as many members as possible, they certainly do a good job of deterring users from cancelling their accounts.

What I don’t understand is all the news about parents telling their kids to cancel their MySpace accounts. Do these parents have any idea what their children will have to go through in order to cancel that account? No wonder they keep finding their kids on MySpace. It’s next to impossible to get away.

I still don’t know if I successfully cancelled my account. I’m afraid to try logging in for fear that I might *undo* my cancellation.