Eye tracking technologies can be extremely expensive, making it inaccessible to those looking to broaden their understanding of user behavior and actions.  EyeGuide™’s under $1500 price tag (with additional discounts for multi-unit, education, government, and non-profit) creates a more feasible and affordable reality for everyone.  A few other bonuses:

• The system works with people wearing glasses, kids, and older adults.
• It is also the only product that currently runs on both PC and Mac platforms.

After sharing this video on my Google Plus account, my web designer friend Hyemin noted:

I like that it doesn’t rely on users’ ability to recall their recent actions in getting feedback on usability; it records their actions as they happen.

Capturing data and being able to analyze different outputs provides vital information in improving and understanding user behavior, particularly, behavior that may be beyond a user’s own perception.  EyeGuide™’s FAQ indicates a broad audience that can use eye tracking technology – “software companies, marketing and advertising professionals, web designers, educators, psychologists, usability researchers, even doctors.”

I’m pretty excited to see where this will take web design specifically, given the impact that it might have across a number of fields I work in – e-government, public arts, marketing, etc.  The more we understand about the user experience, the better usability we can implement.

-cct

**Yes, my website is featured on this video.

iphone 3gs from Flickr - ntr23

When Apple announced the iPhone 3GS earlier this month, along with the ooh’s and ahh’s were some hefty fees for AT&T’s bevy of current iPhone 3G users if they wanted to upgrade.  While LA Times Tech Blog recently reported that ‘AT&T Relents on iPhone 3GS upgrade pricing‘, the situation itself reveals that the iPhone has changed expectations and is waiting for things to catch up.

Trolling through some online articles, I caught many comments left by those who felt that the “irate” iPhone user was being grouchy over nothing.  Legitimately, the iPhone user signed a contract and AT&T was providing the circumstances to get out of that contract and into a new one, i.e. a costly fee.  While the above is true, it’s a perspective bounded by the understandings of a traditional cellular phone plan.  The problem fundamentally becomes that the iPhone isn’t a traditional cellular phone.  Ironically, the iPhone is only marginally seen as just a phone.

Don’t get me wrong, the phone aspect is definitely more useful than my Tap Tap Revenge 2 Application, but the reality is that the opportunity to have a decent phone and make phone calls isn’t why a customer purchases an iPhone in the first place.  It’s that desire to have a mobile online device at one’s fingertips.  With the recent roll-out of the iPhone 3.0 software, I’m reminded that no one talks excitedly about how many minutes are in their plan or how much their data component is a month.  We’re happy that we can copy-and-paste (while having better calendar synching, more applications, and landscape typing)!

In all honestly, I’m not riding from the wave of a desirous early adopter.  I have an original Edge-network phone and am swayed not to get a 3GS because of the additional monthly cost (not swayed for now anyway…).  As an electronics-minded consumer, I understand the extra cost is to change to a different internet network with better options.  In the case of 3G to 3GS, from the iPhone user’s general perspective, the desire to purchase a 3GS is simply a matter of getting a better device – like paying for a new computer.  No one demands that the person who buys a new computer has to upgrade their internet connection type too.

In a world of twitter and facebook, where people can geocode their location to upload photos on the go and in the moment, there’s still a technical divide – of old ways of thinking that don’t fall in line with changing/shifting expectations.  And there always will be this divide, but at Round 3 for the iPhone, it’s a little sad to see – even if they answered to the bedlam…eventually.

-cct

• Gavin Newsom Uses Facebook, Twitter to Announce His Run for Governor [laist]
  A politician I like using social media for announcements?  Heck yeah!

• Dear Perez: Miss California Gave The Right Answer For The Moment [huffingtonpost]
  I stand by people having their own opinion, even if I don’t agree with it and hope that equality prevails over upbringing, but Perez (did I mention how I hate Perez Hilton?) was just not fair in his judgment and Mr. Charles Karel Bouley puts him in his place.

• Free Streaming Video for Earth Day: Sprawling From Grace: The Consequences of Suburbanization
  From my buddy Nick who works at Cinema Libre.  Can’t beat free, right?
  

Screenshot: Downtown News Article

I had an impromptu interview this week with Ryan Vaillancourt of Downtown News about Twitter.  His article “All the News That’s Fit to Tweet” is now up, and a couple of my points about twitter were mentioned.  Great article for those who want to learn more about twitter or wondering if they should sign up.

Downtown News Article – All the News that’s Fit to Tweet

-cct