Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Friday, May 25, 2007

I'm just not that kind of person...

from Seth's Blog by Seth Godin

Craig writes in with a story about a Dyson vacuum:

I have a question for you about buying decisions.

A while back I upgraded my Dyson vacuum cleaner when I got a great deal on the latest model. I had been using my old one for about 5 years or so but it was still in perfect working order. I had even replaced a couple of attachments for it via the Dyson website. I gave my old Dyson to a friend. She had never used a Dyson before and she loved it. So much so that the very next day her own vacuum cleaner was put outside ready for the refuge collection!

But here’s the thing: a few months later the Dyson I gave her stopped working (not sure why, that thing was indestructible) so she decided to buy a new vacuum. Even though the vacuum I gave her was the best she had ever used, she didn’t buy a Dyson.

I was amazed how someone could love a product so much but replace it with an inferior product. I don’t think it was about cost because I told her where she could get an excellent deal on a new Dyson.

This just doesn’t make sense to me so I thought I’d ask if you had any thoughts as to why this happens?

My take: Craig’s friend didn’t see herself as the kind of person who would buy a Dyson. Sure, she might use one, especially if it was free. But buying a weird, fancy-looking vacuum is an act of self-expression as much as it’s a way to clean your floors. And the act of buying one didn’t match the way his friend saw herself.

So many of the products and services we use are now about our identity. Many small businesses, for example, won’t hire a coach or a consultant because, “that’s not the kind of organization we are.” Wineries understand that the pricing of a bottle of wine is more important than its label or the wine inside. The price is the first thing that most people consider when they order or shop for wine. Not because of perceived value, but because of identity.

Internet Explorer 7: Put IE7's menubar in its place

from Lifehacker

The rare times I do use Internet Explorer 7, I can't stop reaching for the missing "File|Edit|View" menu, which is hidden by default. It's easy enough to turn it on, but it appears below the Address Bar when you do. The How-To Geek explains how to reposition the menubar to the top of the window with a registry hack.

Registry edits shouldn't be done lightly, so for those of you who want an easier point and click method, check out the previously-mentioned IE7Pro. (Once IE7Pro is installed - restart required - from IE7's Tools menu, choose IE7pro Preferences, and in the Settings area, check off "Top IE menu." Restart IE7 to see the menu relocation.) —Gina Trapani

Place IE7 Menu Bar Back On Top [The How-To Geek]

Can CAPTCHAs solve book-digitizing?

from Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow

Cory Doctorow: Here's an interesting proposal to replace the text in CAPTCHAs (those boxes where you type distorted words) with text that has stymied the optical character recognition software used to digitize old public domain books.

It's a clever hack, but there's one thing I don't understand. CAPTCHAs are supposed to contain a word known to the computer. You key it in and the computer confirms that you're a human being by comparing your entry to what the computer knows the CAPTCHA to be.

But if CAPTCHAs contain text unknown to the computer -- and any text that stymies OCR software is, by definition unknown to the computer -- then what's to stop you from entering anything in the CAPTCHA box and gaining entry?

Instead of requiring visitors to retype random numbers and letters, they would retype text that otherwise is difficult for the optical character recognition systems to decipher when being used to digitize books and other printed materials. The translated text would then go toward the digitization of the printed material on behalf of the Internet Archive project .
“I think it’s a brilliant idea — using the Internet to correct OCR mistakes,” said Brewster Kahle, director of the Internet Archive, in a statement. “This is an example of why having open collections in the public domain is important. People are working together to build a good, open system.”

Link (via /.)

Update: Alex sez, "the system works by having two words displayed. One that is computer generated (hence the computer knows what it is) and the other a scan from a book to be solved by the human (you do not know which is which). You enter in both words, if you get the computer generated one correct - the system knows your a human and lets you in. It can then also assume you entered the other non-generated word in correctly and can use it."

Wall-Mountable Wireless Printer Saves Space, Frames Up Your Print

We're usually not too stoked about printers, but this slim wall-mounted wireless printer is different. This design concept is thin enough to hang on the wall like a picture frame, or you can prop it up on a tabletop. When you've printed your page, it displays it for you right there as if it were a work of art. Push the printed paper out the slot on the side, and you're good to go.

We are a little curious about how it gets its power; surely this is not a battery-operated printer, is it? Could it run on a mini fuel cell? For a perfect plug-in installation, perhaps you could fish a wire through the wall to feed it power from behind. Nevertheless, a design like this could be handy, reminding you that you've printed something by displaying it right there in your face. This is a design concept whose technology is here today. Somebody, please build one of these. – Charlie White

Wall-Mountable Wireless Printer [They Should Do That]

Corona Lamps Are Like Sunflowers For Your Tortured Soul

These lamps from designers Emi Fujita and Shane Kohatsu are shaped like sunflowers, sort of, and collect solar power so they can light up your garden at night. The best part about these outdoor lights is that they don't have to be outdoors. You can attach these to the wall, as shown above, and they'll still do a good job collecting solar energy in order to be used at night.