The Menlo Briefs

Tag! You're it! - The Library of Congress has initiated a pilot project to post public domain, copyright free images to Flickr -- a web photo sharing site -- in the hopes that the folks that view the photos will help them properly tag them. The Library of Congress Flickr page currently has 3,000 photos online. [more]

Whatever Happened to Common Sense? - A computer consultant driving a rental car drove onto train tracks in Bedford Hills, NY using the instructions his GPS unit gave him. The driver had turned right, as the system advised, and the car somehow got stuck on the tracks at the crossing. [more]

The Curse of Knowledge - “I have a DVD remote control with 52 buttons on it, and every one of them is there because some engineer along the line knew how to use that button and believed I would want to use it, too,” says author Chip Heath. “People who design products are experts cursed by their knowledge, and they can’t imagine what it’s like to be as ignorant as the rest of us.” Chip, along with his brother Dan, authored Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. [more]

Too Many Catalogs? - Do you feel like your mailbox is being overrun by catalogs? Now there may be help: Catalog Choice. They handle contacting catalog companies (for free) to tell them to unsubscribe you. I personally had more than 15 catalogs I asked them to cancel, and it seems that's barely put a dent in my mailbox. [more]

Learning to Look Back - Many ancient structures have long been enveloped by vegetation, soil, water, sand, or volcanic ash. Though no longer visible to the naked eye, archeologists are learning how to leverage tools such as Google Earth to find sites that might otherwise go undiscovered. [more]

Life in the Funny Papers - A friend of mine has a quote in the signature of her e-mails that always strikes a bittersweet chord with me: Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, 'Where have I gone wrong?' Then a voice says to me, 'This is going to take more than one night.' Charles Schulz wasn't talking about the IT Industry when he wrote it, but he might as well have been. Nearly all companies have failed investments in software initiatives--many in the six and seven figure range! The good news is that the leading causes of these failures can be avoided by applying Menlo's High-Tech Anthropology^® practice. Join us for the next FREE 90-minute presentation on February 21st to learn how our approach creates the right software for the right application.

Hang Up and Drive - We all know that being behind someone talking on their cell phone while they're driving makes it feel like things are moving slower, but did you know that they actually are? According to researchers people who use cell phones while behind the wheel impede the flow of traffic, clog highways, and extend commute times. [more]

Bloggers Behaving Badly - The writers over at Gizmodo pulled a stunt during the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Using the TV B Gone gadget they turned off a series of shiny new flat screens, including during a press conference. Good luck getting another press pass, guys. [more]

Even the Feds Gotta Pay - According to a recent audit the FBI routinely failed to pay telecom companies promptly for providing phone and internet lines to the FBI's impressive domestic surveillance architecture -- resulting in at least one phone company cutting off a foreign intelligence wiretap until the FBI paid its bill. [more]

And How'd That Work Out for You? - A computer systems administrator was sentenced to 30 months in prison on Tuesday for trying to sabotage his company's servers out of fear he was about to lose his job, prosecutors said. He was also ordered to pay $81,200 in restitution to his former employer, pharmacy benefit manager Medco Health Solutions. [more]