For Frak's Sake RSS

For Frak's Sake is a blog by BA Hellman devoted to critiquing the following three topics: Life, Technology, and Business.

Archive

Find BA Hellman

nobosh

twitter

facebook

email me

Nov
16th
Sun

permalink
What is it with online dating sites? Have you ever used the fish, Y! personal, xharmony or any other other sites available? The problem with the majority of these available dating sites is that they charge per use, which would be fine if they didn’t display ads but they do. So these sites are charging money while displays dozens of ads on every page, which result in slowing down the overall performance of the site. Its amazing that the online dating industry gets away with this kind of experience. That’s why I’m pointing out this new free online dating site called This Could Be HUGE!. Be sure to check it out. Let me hear your thoughts on This Could Be HUGE! below. 
What is it with online dating sites? Have you ever used the fish, Y! personal, xharmony or any other other sites available? The problem with the majority of these available dating sites is that they charge per use, which would be fine if they didn’t display ads but they do. So these sites are charging money while displays dozens of ads on every page, which result in slowing down the overall performance of the site. Its amazing that the online dating industry gets away with this kind of experience. That’s why I’m pointing out this new free online dating site called This Could Be HUGE!. Be sure to check it out. Let me hear your thoughts on This Could Be HUGE! below. 
Comments (View)
Oct
23rd
Thu

permalink

Sarah Palin Running in 2012?

Rumors our building that governor Sarah Palin may be gearing up for a run at the White House in four short years. All I can say to that is go for it Sarah, you continue to energize not only the Republican party for the Democrats.

Sarah Palin Gone Fishin

Comments (View)
Sep
15th
Mon

permalink
CNN, please stop serving obtrusive tear down ads that randomly move the entire page up and down making it impossible to experience your content. These types of ads are without question ineffective.
Not only do I feel victimized by the Chevron ad - I’m being trained by the ad to stop visiting your site. Normally, I visit CNN.com 5, maybe 15 times a day but today, that was not the case. After all your amazing work to redesign your site, working with the talent at the Adaptive Path design/ui agency, you literally throw it all down the drain with this Chevron ad that treats me the user like a victim.
If you want to make a little more money, use an effective ad unit that complement your page and doesn’t treat your users like victims. Try a background ad.
Brett

CNN, please stop serving obtrusive tear down ads that randomly move the entire page up and down making it impossible to experience your content. These types of ads are without question ineffective.

Not only do I feel victimized by the Chevron ad - I’m being trained by the ad to stop visiting your site. Normally, I visit CNN.com 5, maybe 15 times a day but today, that was not the case. After all your amazing work to redesign your site, working with the talent at the Adaptive Path design/ui agency, you literally throw it all down the drain with this Chevron ad that treats me the user like a victim.

If you want to make a little more money, use an effective ad unit that complement your page and doesn’t treat your users like victims. Try a background ad.

Brett

Comments (View)
Aug
28th
Thu

permalink
Pandora on the iPhone. I love it but I simply don’t understand why there is no way to sign off from inside the app. Once you log into the app, you can’t change accounts.
My significant other decided to download the app on my iphone during a road trip. We both feel in love with the app and later when I went to use the app I was unable to find the ability to sign off. Its a silly thing but, since her Pandora account is linked in her facebook account, whenever I listen to Pandora it shows her listening as a news feed item in facebook.
Pandora, we need the Sign Off ability. 

Pandora on the iPhone. I love it but I simply don’t understand why there is no way to sign off from inside the app. Once you log into the app, you can’t change accounts.

My significant other decided to download the app on my iphone during a road trip. We both feel in love with the app and later when I went to use the app I was unable to find the ability to sign off. Its a silly thing but, since her Pandora account is linked in her facebook account, whenever I listen to Pandora it shows her listening as a news feed item in facebook.

Pandora, we need the Sign Off ability. 

Comments (View)
Aug
24th
Sun

permalink

Interesting Links...

My lack of recent posts is attributed to my busy schedule and working to redesign nobosh - bear with me.

I want to take the time to make sure everyone read these interesting links:

Wireless recharging one step closer to reality - The next revolutionary wave in electronics

Avenue A Deal Could Give WPP, Microsoft What They Really Want - Relevant as I love all things related to my friends at Schematic

And that’s about it, I hope I’m not missing anything. It was a slow week.
Comments (View)
Jul
29th
Tue

permalink
Dear Yahoo!,
Where’s the relevance? I visit Y! daily and you know I’m a male, as my profile says so. So why would use the primary feature space on the Y! front-page to show me the article “Signs that he’s cheating?”
Looking forward to hearing back.

Dear Yahoo!,

Where’s the relevance? I visit Y! daily and you know I’m a male, as my profile says so. So why would use the primary feature space on the Y! front-page to show me the article “Signs that he’s cheating?”

Looking forward to hearing back.

Comments (View)
Jul
28th
Mon

permalink
Cuil, which is the latest search-engine Google killer can’t find itself. Cuil claims to have a bigger index than Google, where many of Cuil’s engineers previously worked. 
So why can’t Cuil find itself? A Cuil search for “Cuil” doesn’t find Cuil.
My recommendations to Cuil:

Focus on reinventing search technology and not the user interface for search results
Pick a name that is easy to pronounce and read
Don’t fix what isn’t broken

Cuil, which is the latest search-engine Google killer can’t find itself. Cuil claims to have a bigger index than Google, where many of Cuil’s engineers previously worked. 

So why can’t Cuil find itself? A Cuil search for “Cuil” doesn’t find Cuil.

My recommendations to Cuil:

  1. Focus on reinventing search technology and not the user interface for search results
  2. Pick a name that is easy to pronounce and read
  3. Don’t fix what isn’t broken
Comments (View)
Jul
26th
Sat

permalink
Digg is dead. You heard it here first. In addition to not being able to hook a buyer, Digg has become so bloated with unnecessary features that innovation hasn’t been seen in a long time. Many sites, Propeller, for example, are showing more innovation and drive than Digg. Digg’s product managers have severely generalized the product in a desperate attempt to appeal to the majority, leaving loyal Digg users in the dust. Factor in the lengthy time that it takes Digg release product updates - this week’s news on a custom Digg taking  6 months to complete being a prime example - and it looks like we should start the mourning period.  
RIP Digg: 07-26-2008

Digg is dead. You heard it here first. In addition to not being able to hook a buyer, Digg has become so bloated with unnecessary features that innovation hasn’t been seen in a long time. Many sites, Propeller, for example, are showing more innovation and drive than Digg. Digg’s product managers have severely generalized the product in a desperate attempt to appeal to the majority, leaving loyal Digg users in the dust. Factor in the lengthy time that it takes Digg release product updates - this week’s news on a custom Digg taking  6 months to complete being a prime example - and it looks like we should start the mourning period.  

RIP Digg: 07-26-2008

Comments (View)
Jul
21st
Mon

permalink

Amazon S3 - When in Doubt Reboot

I, like many others aren’t thrilled with Amazon Web Services at the moment. Amazon’s storage system (S3) was down most of the day Sunday, and brought down many sites alongside. Amazon has stated that they will investigate the cause of the outage and report back to the community. Over 24 hours later, there is no real update. What we have learned from Amazon is that their cloud communication protocol entitled gossip broke and that their system administrators were forced to restart and rebuild gossip to restore communications.

Amazon obviously needs to fix what’s broken, but more importantly introduce additional layers of redundancy. Simply restarting services and hoping for the best won’t solve the underlining problem. We are all lucky that S3 is still up and running especially since the fix was restarting the server and not making a single fix. I know cloud computing is the future and would be willing to pay the extra amount for that additional layer of redundancy. 

Comments (View)
Jul
20th
Sun

permalink
The “New Facebook” is a huge step in the wrong direction. First off, the page has no structure thanks to the abundance of whitespace. Second, the redesign has done nothing to increase advertising on the page, you’d think Facebook’s recent Google hire Sheryl Sandberg would have made advertising a top priority? 
The profile tabs are a nice update, but that doesn’t make up for the items mentioned above. 

The “New Facebook” is a huge step in the wrong direction. First off, the page has no structure thanks to the abundance of whitespace. Second, the redesign has done nothing to increase advertising on the page, you’d think Facebook’s recent Google hire Sheryl Sandberg would have made advertising a top priority? 

The profile tabs are a nice update, but that doesn’t make up for the items mentioned above. 

Comments (View)
Jun
30th
Mon

permalink

The AT&T USBConnect is HUGE - In a Bad Way

I recently purchased an AT&T USBConnect 881 device, allowing me to connect my Macbook Air to the internet on AT&T’s 3G BroadbandConnect and EDGE networks. The service provided by AT&T in Phoenix was pretty decent, no complaints. 

On the other hand the USB device has a huge battery. Help me understand - why does a USB device need a battery the size of a credit card?  I’d rather pay AT&T to tether my iphone to my Macbook Air. That would provide a smaller and more affordable solution. And we know the technology is there, as hacked iPhones have the ability to be tethered. 

Worlds Largest USB Device

4 days later, I returned the device. 

Comments (View)
permalink
What a pain, “Every iPhone 3G will have to be activated in the store at the time of purchase, and all buyers will have to sign a two-year contract to boot, before it can be taken home.” 
What a pain, “Every iPhone 3G will have to be activated in the store at the time of purchase, and all buyers will have to sign a two-year contract to boot, before it can be taken home.” 
Comments (View)
Jun
29th
Sun

permalink
Is CNN turning into TMZ again?
Is CNN turning into TMZ again?
Comments (View)
Jun
14th
Sat

permalink
“5 New Ways to Clip Coupons” That’s right, the above item is the wonderful story Y! Finance is promoting on their site’s weekend edition. I often wonder what happened to the Y! Finance I used to know and love. All I can say now is thank god for nobosh. When the time comes when I need to learn 5 new and exciting ways to clip coupons, I’ll be sure to visit Y! Finance.
For Frak’s Sake Yahoo!

“5 New Ways to Clip Coupons” That’s right, the above item is the wonderful story Y! Finance is promoting on their site’s weekend edition. I often wonder what happened to the Y! Finance I used to know and love. All I can say now is thank god for nobosh. When the time comes when I need to learn 5 new and exciting ways to clip coupons, I’ll be sure to visit Y! Finance.

For Frak’s Sake Yahoo!

Comments (View)
Jun
9th
Mon

permalink

UX Rule #2 - Always Link Your Header Logo

Nearly every web site has their logo in the header of their website, aligned to the left. Take a look at Twitter, Facebook, CNN - all which follow this unspoken rule by having their site’s logo in the header, aligned to the left. The majority of the sites on the internet (again, Twitter, Facebook, and CNN, just to name a few) also have the site’s logo linked to the site’s landing page. Take note: This is both good practice and expected by the majority of users. 

Twitter header

CNN Header

Facebook Header

Now, I wouldn’t be writing about this if I hadn’t found some sites in “violation.” The MLB and the BBC websites, for example, don’t follow this generally applied practice, leaving their user’s frustrated on a daily basis. The power of a single link is amazing.

BBC Header

MLB Header

With no assigned link, clicking on either the BBC or MLB header image has no effect. So remember, when building web sites, without question, always link the header image.

Comments (View)