Noscope is a bi-weekly journal serving up snacksized portions of pointless stuff since 2001.
I also do freelance design and usability via dejligt.com

Thursdays Mouse Tracks

    15:21 on February 18th, 2010 , ,

This is the path my mouse has travelled today. The dots indicate where my mouse took a rest. Dotsize, the rest duration.
This is all done using Anatoly Zenkovs Mouse Tracks, a little Java application records your mouse and draws pretty pictures.
Some observations:

Paul Fitt will be happy to note my excessive use of screen edges.
The bottom [...]

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Quick Thoughts On Windows Phone 7

    22:07 on February 15th, 2010 , , , , , ,

Windows just announced Windows Phone 7 (previously known as Windows Mobile 7). Here’s a video, and after that, some thoughts on the offering.
Musings:

I like how the lock screen is not a slider, but a “cover” you slide upwards.
I’m noticing the Internet Explorer icon, and thinking to myself: Why not rebrand Internet Explorer Mobile as simply [...]

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Android: On Context Buttons

    10:38 on January 20th, 2010 , , , ,

David Barnard complains about the capacitative buttons below the Nexus One screen. As I have done in my Motorola Milestone review. But it gets both more interesting and, unfortunately, worse, in the story of these buttons.
There are four buttons1:

Back
Context menu
Home
Search

While programmable, the back button mostly works as you’d expect. When in the browser, “back” goes [...]

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Firefox 4 Theme Mockups

    12:57 on January 06th, 2010 , ,

In case you haven’t seen it yet, Stephen Horlander — one of the interface designers for Mozilla — has put up a bunch of really interesting and lovely design mockups for Firefox 4, due late this year. I think I like the app button.

Conjecture: What To Expect From Google Chrome OS [Update: In The Ballpark]

    16:33 on November 19th, 2009 , , , ,

Google is showing off their Chrome OS at an event later today. Because I find it infinitely fascinating to see what kinds of rabbits the folks at the Googleplex pull out of their hats, I’m going to convert my anticipation into wild speculation:

The grand idea is to make Chrome OS to PCs what Android and [...]

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Google Wave Interface Probably Won’t Migrate To Gmail

    11:00 on November 09th, 2009

Engadget reports word of an anonymous tipster that Google Waves plasticky interface is bound for Gmail, Calendar and even Search. I’m here to tell you that that’s not going to happen.
Sure, Google is bound to migrate some features such as drag/drop file upload to Gmail, and it’s even more likely they’ll spend a great deal [...]

Quick Thoughts On Mozillas Firefox 3.7 Theme Revamp Mockup

    13:22 on July 22nd, 2009 , , , , , , ,

The next Firefox browser, 3.7, is apparently scheduled for a theme revamp. As indicated by the above mockup, Mozilla is pondering radical changes (see all mockups). Some thoughts:

Clearly, Mozilla looks to embrace Windows’ glass interface to make the browser look so much the more platform-native. The idea is nice, but the current implementation looks as [...]

A Few Quick Thoughts On Gmails New Labels

    21:03 on July 02nd, 2009 , , , , ,

Google just revamped their label system for Gmail, probably because only power users understood how to leverage their potential. The new system is more like Google Docs, which means labels now behave more like folders. Only, you can still file one email in two labels, which you wouldn’t be able to if they really were [...]

Like Tabs In the Rain: How Safari 4s Tabs-On-Top Could Have Worked

    21:45 on June 10th, 2009 , , , , , ,

It seems the general reaction to Apple pulling out their Safari 4 Beta “tabs on top” feature has been generally positive. The sentiment seems to indicate the feature to be so inferior to the workaday solution of having tabs below the address-bar, that tabs-on-top shouldn’t even be optional for those of use who understand their [...]

So Safari 4 Ditched The Tabs-On-Top Again

    11:40 on June 09th, 2009 , , ,

During last nights special Apple event, the final version of Safari 4 was released. And with that, they ditched one of the most interesting new features that was introduced in the beta, tabs on top (here’s a screenshot). Apparently they couldn’t make it userfriendly enough. Pussies.