You might have noticed that despite my promises I haven't billed you all for the new year's access to '''the training materials'''. That's because it's not performing as awesomely as I hoped. So, I am going to switch sometime soon here to a new learning service. 

It is supposed to be much more focused on community and discussion, so they have a system for TA's (they have some other silly name for it I've forgotten). So, I'd like to invite any of you who wish to get free access in exchange for promoting, helping other students, etc. Just contact me and I'll get you on a list and give you a form to fill out in the next few weeks (I hope!) to get up on this. 



Monday my '''uxMatters column''' came out [[http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2017/01/build-a-mobile-device-lab.php|Build a Mobile-Device Lab!]]. The exclamation mark isn't my idea. It's got a lot of tips and tricks about building a device lab, but also talks about the principle of having one. My key tip is: if you have one phone, you are doing it wrong. You should have Android and iOS, and probably a couple Android OEMs. You should have Windows and Mac, and so on. Believe the global usage numbers (iOS is 20% of the smartphone market) and be able to design and test for what's in the world, not just what you love personally. 


 * [[https://twitter.com/tomiahonen/status/816246877544804352?s=03|The planetary median phone]] One key think I mention is that you can save money on your phone library by not getting brand new flagship models. Not just to save money, but because not that many people have that. The average phone is still 3G, is prepaid and 15 months old. And a 4" android with a 3 MP camera. If you are designing for 5.5" 4GLTE phones, much less only iPhone, and don't change now that you know, turn in your empathy card please.  
 * [[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-25/bill-ford-to-silicon-valley-the-future-of-cars-is-in-detroit|Silicon Valley Decides It’s Just Too Hard to Build a Car]] I need to have time to think about this for a few days or weeks, but my basic thoughts are that we've maybe found an undisruptable industry. Or maybe they self-disrupted. I've spent some time lately at big automakers and riding around in test cars, and the programs for multi-fuel vehicles say a lot as well. The big automakers, somehow, turned it around and make pretty high tech devices that address all market segments, and are ready for a changing world. No fuels? No drivers? It will probably still be a Ford, GM, FCA, Audi, Toyota, Honda, or Daimer built car as it is today. I would love to find out how they did this, as it's a roadmap for any industry to not be disrupted out of business. 
 * [[https://medium.com/@odannyboy/the-myth-of-invisible-design-c67d590babe9#.jvosbbkk6|The Myth of Invisible Design]] Dan Saffer talks about how design and interfaces are much more than pixels on a screen. I went to an event at Cooper right after Golden Krisha released his [[http://www.nointerface.com/book/|no UI]] article, and argued with Don Norman about it a bit. Interesting to think about, and apply if you are actually doing your job and making ecosystems, not just websites. 
 * [[http://fortune.com/2016/10/28/internet-use-mobile/|Three-quarters of Internet Use Will Be on Mobile by 2017]] Lots of data here really, but the best is in the title. Remember when it was 50%, when it was 10%? Mobile is the internet, tell everyone to stop defaulting to desktop/laptop, as the "normal computer."
 * [[https://www.1843magazine.com/features/the-scientists-who-make-apps-addictive?utm_content=buffer679ec&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer|The Scientists Who Make Apps Addictive]] "Tech companies use the insights of behaviour design to keep us returning to their products. But some of the psychologists who developed the science of persuasion are worried about how it is being used" Interesting rules for approaching design from a behaviorist pov, but also some scary ethics points.
 * [[http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161116005308/en/Report-Shows-720x1280-Smartphone-Screen-Resolution|New Report Shows 720x1280 Is Now the Most Used Smartphone Screen Resolution]] Best of the numbers (because who cares about resolution) "Samsung Browser is now the third most used mobile browser worldwide, after Safari and Chrome Mobile"
 * [[http://www.superlinguo.com/post/153441950023/what-do-emoji-sound-like|What do emoji sound like?]] Most text-to-speech (screen reader) systems cannot handle emoji (or as I still say: emoticons). The unicode standard set has no translation, so worse than normal photos! "With older punctuation-based emoticons, people who use text-to-speech have learned that “colon right bracket” means a smiley face is being used. Interestingly, my Mac OS doesn’t pick that up, so it’s actually doing better with the Unicode emoji set."
 * [[http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2016/11/q3-smartphone-market-numbers-top-10-brands-os-wars-installed-base-oh-and-our-brief-smartphone-market.html|Q3 Smartphone Market Numbers,...]] Tomi report time! World has 2.8B smartphones in use today. Android 80%, iOS 19%. Others 1%... and Android outselling iOS as before. Apple sales are flat, while market growth continues. iOS on track to be as important as macOS. I am typing this on a Mac, but who designs their websites to only work on Mac Safari?
 * [[https://medium.com/@jmspool/fast-path-to-a-great-ux-increased-exposure-hours-afde796f2e43#.9or5wk1zz|Fast Path to a Great UX — Increased Exposure Hours]] Advice to go see users, every 6 weeks. And everyone on the project team, not just designers. I like the sentiment, but it seems oddly prescriptive, and very much a well funded startup sort of thing. This is patently impossible a lot of places I've been. 
 * [[http://mediatel.co.uk/newsline/2013/11/27/dont-say-what-you-think-say-what-you-feel/|Don’t say what you think, but do what you feel]] I guess I am removed enough from the ad world I missed David Ogilvy saying long ago "The problem with market research is that people don't think how they feel, they don't say what they think and they don't do what they say." This article... Meh! But the quote is awesome!
 * [[http://hinessight.blogs.com/church_of_the_churchless/2014/06/five-simple-rules-of-science-from-neil-degrasse-tyson.html|Five simple rules of science from Neil deGrasse Tyson]] We are scientists, believe it! Otherwise, we're only acting on our opinions. This is a lovely set of principles to work off of. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dasQ7HnDoI|Video of the same]]. 
 * Brad Frost "Winced my way through this article against progressive enhancement [[https://www.viget.com/articles/the-case-against-progressive-enhancements-flimsy-moral-foundation|The Case Against Progressive Enhancement's Flimsy Moral Foundation]] Winced harder when I saw myself quoted." [[https://twitter.com/brad_frost/status/805778784226070528?s=03|Twitter thread]] with many fun responses, and also this rebuttal [[https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/notebook/insert-clickbait-headline-about-progressive-enhancement-here/]]
 * [[http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/12/07/information-overload/|Information Overload]] I have long thought very little of the many tech self help gurus who insist we're all overwhelmed with information and technology. Why do we keep buying such devices then? Well, it's broadly untrue. Pew now says 80% prefer their information. So keep it up. Send more info this way, please!
 * [[http://ethics.acm.org/2018-code-draft-1/|2018 ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct: Draft 1]] I have long thought that as designers and engineers we need to do what we can (usually, short of getting fired) to encourage ethical behavior. Partly as I've worked for unethical folks. While I have long promoted the ACM code of conduct, politics lately has drawn it to the forefront, and it turns out ACM has been revising it. As it stands, pretty good. This is one I really encourage you to read, in full. There's a lot not just about how to be a good practitioner, but how to be a good human, and how to build good systems.  
 * [[http://a11yproject.com/posts/understanding-vestibular-disorders/|A Primer To Vestibular Disorders]] - 35% of americans over 40 have one, so stop your parallax, etc. At least until you read this, and my Accessibility training, and start getting the basic gist of what is involved in it. 

While in China, a tour guide mentioned the difference between Qing and Ming design ethics. It seemed like it might be interesting to discuss in the sense of organic vs decorative design, but I can find nothing much about these from that point of view. Anyone got some background on this from their design school they can share? 


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