Love this recap of the conversations that let up to the invention of the emoticon at the Computer Science Bulletin Board System at Carnegie Mellon University to decipher jokes from non-jokes in the chat room after a hilarious mis-understanding. Click the link for the whole article. 

via Rhizome

Don Hopkins has done some nice pie menu simulations using the One Laptop Per Child’s (OLPC) open source software environment. What really intrigued me about this is that he used it to create some amazing pie menu simulations demonstrating down the SimCity Zone taxonomy. The expanding pie menu model is such a perfect fit for how the SimCity Zone architecture works. Super brilliant. Props to Hopkins for making the connection. Some more info from Hopkins on the OLPC platform architecture for those who are curious : “OLPC user interface programming in Python. The OLPC’s open source software environment includes Linux (for operating), Python (for scripting), GTK (for widgets), Cairo (for structured/stencil/paint/outline graphics) and Pango (for formatted text with markup), and it totally rocks!”

via @elliot_winardtouch

This may be hard for some people to accept - I learned this the hard way. But once you realize it, it can be very powerful : Great work might get you far, but it seems like having a great attitude will get you further. Here’s Greg’s breakdown of things successful people do in no particular order :

They are humble. Their success doesn’t consume them. They are on time. On time for work, on time for meetings, on time for the train. They hate wasting their own time, and as a byproduct, anyone else’s. They always appreciate what they have. And as a result, they usually get more. They are universally respectful—to their friends, their boss, or to the person that makes their sandwich for lunch. They don’t let work consume them. They make sacrifices for the benefit of others. They are patient. They put in the extra effort when it’s needed, without any strings attached. They resolve issues or conflicts directly. They respectfully push back. It’s easy to push back. To do so with respect takes skill. They trust their colleagues.

Insightful PDF from AIGA outlining a set of 3 Principles for Designing for Meaningful Interactions from Chris Pacione’s Visual Interface Design class offered at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Design. According to the doc, Pacione’s central concerns in teaching is broadening the designer’s interaction palette, “to go beyond the overused design widgets and develop a grammar for creating rich, meaningful, usable interactions.” He has his students focus only on the interaction, which he suggests consists of three parts: “1. Semantics before interaction. This is traditional product semantics— considering how a product looks so that it communicates what it does (e.g., a hammer communicates how to hold it). 2. Feedback during interaction. This is how the object behaves so that it reinforces what it does, or what it’s doing (e.g., a light turns on as a result of a hand passing over a colored area). 3. Reflection after interaction. This is what the person should know after she has finished interacting.” By understanding these parts, Pacione believes designers can better manipulate their designs to influence different interactions.

From the site - “‘Dead Drops’ is an anonymous, offline, peer to peer file-sharing network in public space. USB flash drives are embedded into walls, buildings and curbs accessible to anybody in public space. Everyone is invited to drop or find files on a dead drop. Plug your laptop to a wall, house or pole to share your favorite files and data. Each dead drop is installed empty except a readme.txt file explaining the project. I  am a Berlin based media artist and started  the ‘Dead Drops’ project during my stay in NYC at EYEBEAM as artist in residence, October 2010.”

- Aram Bartholl