Wow! Big response to my post, made with tongue only partly in cheek, accusing Microsoft of designing Office apps to crash on Macs. More on my experience as a crash test dummy, plus other perspectives.

It has to be deliberate: Almost nothing crashes on my Mac except Microsoft products, which do so frequently and with gusto.

Thursday, Nov 3 is the first World Usability Day, so designated by the Usability Professionals Association. A gimmick? Maybe, but let's face it, making technology serve humans instead of vice versa is a cause that needs all the help it can get.

After years working in high tech media I've come to value dumb questions. And the same dumb question keeps occurring to me when I look at the magnatune, weed and other net-based alternatives to record companies: How do you earn rewards without risk?

Interface guru Jakob Nielsen as published his Top 10 worst weblog design mistakes. "The web is not high school," says Nielsen, so drop the cliquishness.

The Flow Awards recognize technology that supports creative flow. This one goes to the beautifully simple Intellitouch guitar tuner.

The conclusion of a four-part series on how IP Relay, a system designed to help deaf and speech-impaired people make phone calls via the Internet, is being exploited by scammers & pranksters, who use it to conceal their identities.

Part 3 of a series on how IP Relay, a system designed to help deaf and speech-impaired people make phone calls via the Internet, is being exploited by scammers & pranksters, who use it to conceal their identities.

Part 2 of a series on how IP Relay, a system designed to help deaf and speech-impaired people make phone calls via the Internet, is being exploited by scammers & pranksters, who use it to conceal their identities.

A system designed to help deaf and speech-impaired people make phone calls via the Internet is being exploited by scammers & pranksters, who use it to conceal their identities. Part 1 of a series.