Microsoft Office 2013 : Disappointing UI

What happened to Microsoft’s usability team? The color choices, particularly the single glaring white background everywhere make it appear as one giant screen instead of meaningful sections on the screen. Why dumb down so much in terms of user experience? No more round edges, gradients, shadows, contrasting backgrounds or easy on eyes highlighting. 

I am not a designer, but I see an UI element communicate by its color, shape, position, contrast, focus and of course text. The new UI in 2013 definitely eliminated some of those attributes for some elements.

Word 2010 vs. Word 2013

So far, the only big difference I see is the integration of SkyDrive so that documents can be readily saved in to the cloud and retrieved any where.  At another level, going towards subscriptions could be a game changer for Microsoft.

But when it comes to the UI, I find it boring and am little disappointed.

Black Friday Begins ….crashes SAMs Club servers

Black Friday deals began at SAMs club online at 10 PM central and the website is already down within 20 minutes.

Heard about cloud computing ?

Video : Score a zero, you can still become an engineer in Andhra Pradesh

Scoring a zero will still entitle you to get an Engineering seat, with fees fully paid by the government, in Andhra Pradesh, India. If you belong to a certain caste group. (SC/ST) Hmm!

In Andhra Pradesh, you can get zero in an entrance exam, but still get a place in the state's engineering colleges in the reserved quota.

Video : India's love affair with gold

Its a love affair. I guess its fair to call it a love affair. Unreasonable. Blind. And mad.

"No gold, no wedding," is a saying in India, indicating the importance of gold to Indian culture and tradition. Byron Pitts reports on India's obsession with gold.

Video : LeBron asks about free throws versus three pointers

Wonderful video. I knew the principle of multiplication of probability for repeated occurrences. But when looking at this specific example, it struck to me why the multiplication makes sense in the first place.

LeBron James asks Sal Khan whether it is easier to make three free throws or one three pointer

Satyamev Jayate : What makes the difference?

Quite thrilled and optimistic about the possibilities of this show: Satyamev Jayate. Novel angle of commercial TV on social aspects.

Its worth researching more on why and how those states that stay clear of the bloodbath of innocent and unborn girls at an alarming rate, while rest of the country is so full of it.

from Satyamev Jayate inaugural episode

Ferry Boat - Images tell the story

Technology changes fast. But infrastructure, probably take a life time for many parts of India. Beauty is life goes on with the best we have.

via 65899947@N08@Flickr