Offtopic: While it doesn’t have too much to do with the usual topics in the blog, but as a Finn, it still touches me. Oh, wait. Actually, it has something to do with usability.
Anssi Vanjoki, the head of Nokia Markets unit, gave a speech today in Helsinki (Nokia exec: phones to make system cameras obsolete – Reuters) where he told that the camera phones would revolutionize the SLR (Single Lens Reflex – Wikipedia) market in near future. “There will be no need to carry around those heavy lenses“, Vanjoki said while pointing towards professional photographer.
Now, what gives? Could this somehow be possible? Are Nikon and Canon heading towards their impending doom? To answer that, we first have to figure out what does make SLR a SLR (apart from the definition, of course)?
What makes SLR a SLR?
Interchangeable lenses
The most obvious thing about SLR are interchangeable lenses. You might have wondered why is that so? Well, turns out there is a method in the madness: The simple reason is that because there is no such thing as a lens that can do everything (zoom, macro, low-light, wide-angle etc.). And, if there would be, the cost would be astronomical – we would probably be talking about tens of thousands of euros. Thus, not only it’s cheaper to get only the lenses you actually need BUT you actually can customize your camera to YOUR needs, which usually means something that’s a lot lighter to carry around.
Continue reading “Offtopic of the Day – Nokia: Camera phones will make SLRs obsolete”
Hello there, internet. Time for a bit of an update.
After Austria, and back in Finland, things have been hectic as hell (writing thesis, thesis project, seminar, two to four simultaneous projects at the same time – all this in 6-8 months) and finally, yesterday we got one of our big projects done. Freedom!? Well…
That (big) project was a concept design for real-estate business, revolving around future solutions. And yes, it is now done (for now, at least). The whole job was for big Finnish media corporation, and as such it was really interesting project to work on, specially the future aspect of it, which enabled us to fully go outside the box. Also, a demo platform was created, which was somewhat of a mad rush.
However… Lately I’ve also gotten myself involved as user interface designer, in a startup working on a social mobile platform. This is going to be interesting as it is the first time I’m properly involved with mobile platform UI design.
Lately I’ve been experimenting with several different themes, trying to find the perfect theme for the blog. No luck on that issue. At the moment I’ve settled to TLight with some quick customizations. The other themes that I’ve tested suffered problems with rendering with different browsers. The TLight seems to render correctly and quickly at least on major browsers, even though it lacks the option that the finer themes have. Oh, and it’s wide enough for the layout pictures, like on the Chrome Page Titles -post, so it’s going to serve the Mint Usability to the audiences for a while now.
I’ve also been building my own theme for the blog but that’s still in the pipeline, and prolly going to be still for a while since I also have other things to attend to. Like the concept that I’m working as my thesis: It’s going to be a concept design, instead of user interface design, that I originally planned to do.
Oh, and got the Lightbox issue resolved finally. Yey! Now it works like it should. Happy picture clicking!
Every now and then you just stumble upon something that you just can’t keep your mouth shut, even though it would be completely inappropriate to talk about it in the current context. Don’t you? I know I do. So… Enter the random thoughts part of the blog.
I spent sizeable chunk of today entertaining myself via YouTube. Me being the geek that I am, the entertainment didn’t involve videos that would actually have some entertainment values, instead amongst others I watched F-Secure Labs videos, featuring Mikko Hyppönen. Pretty interesting stuff, like the retaliation function of Storm botnet or the Targeted attacks; Using SQL injection (or any other type of attack) just for data gathering purposes (just like recon in the army), to prepare for the actual attack, thus making it personalized and more effective. Which email would you rather open, a random mail with weird topic or a mail from your coworker, talking about the project that you are working on? It seems to me that computer viruses are evolving on accelerated pace.
At the moment these are just couple of targeted attacks, and even those were directed to companies, the masses are still getting the anonymous “Click here” -link treatment. However, there is certain what if scenario where data gathering and “AI” are meshed together, and this might change everything in social webspace. Permanently.
Continue reading “Offtopic of the day: Viruses to permanently change social networking?”
Just bled for 550€ worth to Austria so you better come through ÖAD!
But enough of that, let’s get back to business!
When watching from the blogs point of view, it seems that nothing has happened for a month. This, however, is not what has been going on. Here’s why.
Reason one. Work has swamped me. Been doing 11-12 hour days. Though it’s hardly a good excuse not to post anything, but as it turns out it’s one of the reasons.
Reason two. I’ve bought myself an domain (www.mintusability.com) for the blog and the whole blog-project. I’ve been evaluating different platorms for the site and setting things up. When the decision was made I’ve spent some time on Photoshop but noting final has yet to emerge from that process. Made some mockup logos and layouts, still not liking it enough, so I’m using the default theme at the moment.
Reason three. I’ve started coding of completely new project, which I knew I would need to tackle at some point. It’s going to be a long process, including Java, touchscreens and mining companies. At the moment I’m working on designing the architecture and coding some user interface things.
Reason four. As the time approaches for me to leave Finland, I’ve been tying to take care of things. Apartment in there in taken care of, apartment at Austria is on it’s way. I’m hoping I’d get a room from Studentenheim Greenbox, which is a dormitory right next to the university of FH Joanneum.
So. At this day I’m officially moving to this new domain.
Some comments about the user experience of Life 1.0:
One. Nordic Game 2008 conference came and went, and what a journey it was! Learned a lot, experienced more and met tons of interesting people. And the free bar was a treat, not so much on the next morning though. Even fell somewhat in love with the city of Malmo, though it lies in Sweden and I’m a finn, down to the bone. Just gotta love the parks and the architecture. Come 2009 and I will be there again, if I just can find a way to get the funding and time sorted.
Two. Saw new Indiana Jones (The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) and got disappointed. I can’t even remember when was the last time I have felt so let down by a movie. I’m not even a hardcore fan of Indy franchise and I still I felt empty after, even though I wanted to love this one. The beginning was ok but the farther it went the deeper it burrowed itself. All the mystical feeling and smart dialogue just wasn’t there, the plot was hazy, characters insignificant (even down to Indy), too much too over-the-top/plain stupid scenes (like the fridge or “tarzan” scene not to mention the “great twist”)… the list goes on. To make a point, didn’t like it, happy to forget it.
Three. Mars Phoenix lander will make it’s thing tonight. I’m still wondering if I could stay up and watch the live coverage from NASA TV. The landing and live coverage should happen around 0200-0300 GMT +2 (Finnish time) and by 0700 I should be at work, doing my thing, so there would be hardly any time for shut-eye.
