Month: February 2009

I like the discussion here about an article finding that font choice influences how likely someone is to act on material they are reading. It is pointed out in the comments that the appropriate interpretation is not that Arial is the best font, but that cutesy fonts that get used to add interest or make documents look more “friendly” may actually be reducing the impact of the document. I have seen studies about reading comprehension based on font choice, but this is the first I have seen that talks about how likely a person is to take a particular action … Continue reading Who doesn’t love a little Zapf Chancery sometimes?

RouteShout is a new service being piloted in Pittsburgh (but available for purchase to any city) that lets riders text a number posted on a bus stop and get texted back the arrival time of the next buses scheduled to reach that stop. [via Pittsburgh Metblogs] I love how simple and yet useful this idea seems. They don’t seem to be trying to solve the entire “where is my bus” question – you can’t go to a website and see maps of all the buses, you can’t send complex queries about fares or what transfers are needed to get from … Continue reading Where is my bus?

From earlier this week, a report that Windows is producing a limited version of Windows 7 that will be cheaper and faster for netbooks to run. The big difference being discussed? You can run a maximum of three applications at a time…. The company claims most users wouldn’t be affected by the three-app limit. “We ran a study which suggested that the average consumer has open just over two applications [at any time],” Painell claims. “We would expect the limit of three applications wouldn’t affect very many people.” However, Microsoft told journalists at last year’s Professional Developers Conference that 70% … Continue reading I want allllll my apps