users

The digital world has plenty of accessories that aren't strictly necessary, but Ten One Design's Pogo Sketch Plus caught my eye today.

It's a stylus for iOS devices that replaces your finger with something a bit more precise. I've been interested in the user-interface convergence between tablets, laptops, and drawing tablets. Such devices today are quite separate, but I foresee a future where they get closer together--and devices like the Pogo Sketch line could help.

The $15 stylus updates the two-year-old Pogo Sketch with a tip with "more consistent and smoother operation," the … Read more

Almost since it debuted, Google+ has wrestled with the idea of how users can identify themselves on the social network.

The company wanted to create a service without pseudonyms or impersonation. But Google+, which now claims 90 million users, had plenty of people sign up who are better known by some other identity than their real name. Google has suspended many of those accounts, much to their users' chagrin.

Google is changing the policy to "broaden support" for some pseudonyms, Bradley Horowitz, a co-leader of Google+, wrote this afternoon in a Google+ post. Now Google+ will allow users … Read more

RunWithParameters runs any program using a parameter without requiring you to open a command prompt. It integrates with shell menus in Windows Explorer, and it includes many preloaded parameters for popular utilities and browsers. It's free and open source, too.

RunWithParameters' installation wizard lets users enter any file types they want to associate with the program by typing them into a text field separated by spaces. By default, the program handles EXE, BAT, CMD, COM, MSI, and SCR files. RunWithParameters can support custom file types, too. Once you've installed RunWithParameters, you access this simple tool by right-clicking a … Read more

A consultancy has spotlighted difficulties people have using Amazon's Kindle Fire. But the "usability sessions" can hardly be considered exhaustive testing.

A summary of Nielsen Norman Group's tests said the Kindle Fire "offers a disappointingly poor user experience," and cites the size of the screen as the main culprit.

Then the group adds this caveat: "This was a small study, with only four users, but qualitative studies often generate deeper insights than bigger, more metrics-focused quantitative studies." The link to the findings first appeared on Daring Fireball.

Highlights of Nielsen Norman Group findings:… Read more

More and more people are becoming aware of the importance of having strong passwords to protect their e-mail, banking information, and myriad other electronic accounts containing sensitive data. The problem with strong passwords, of course, is that they can be hard to remember. There are lots of tools out there that can help with this task, and Save Users and Passwords is among the more basic options we've seen. It's pretty bare-bones, but it does a fine job of keeping all of your log-in information stored in a secure, centralized place.

The program's interface is quite plain … Read more

Lots of things have changed about cars over the past few decades. One that hasn't evolved all that much is the user interface that most of them provide. Garden-variety automobiles are still full of gauges and buttons and switches of the decidedly physical, old-fashioned sort.

And then there's Tesla's Model S. Due in showrooms next summer, the $57,400 sedan is the spiritual offpsring of the company's $108,000 Roadster sports car, in a more practical package. But when I checked it out today at GigaOM's RoadMap conference in San Francisco, I wasn't … Read more

Apple has begun seeding iOS 5.0.1 to select end users to begin battery testing, according to a report from 9to5Mac. Specifically the early release of the iOS update is going to users who explained battery issues to AppleCare after the release of iOS 5 earlier this fall.

9to5Mac also reports that the iOS 5.0.1 update brings improvements to Siri for Australian users as well as several other bug fixes and multitouch gestures for the original iPad. Apple Store employees are also being briefed on the situation and are instructed to tell customers to wait for the … Read more

Google recently added the multiple user account feature to the beta version of Chrome.

In the past some file structure hacking would have been necessary in order for multiple users to have a personalized experience in Chrome. Luckily you can start taking advantage of this new feature today by downloading and installing the beta and then following a few quick steps.

Step 1: Grab the Google Chrome Beta here: http://www.google.com/landing/chrome/beta

Step 2: After you finish installing, click on the wrench near the top-right corner and select Options.

Step 3: On the left-hand side … Read more

You know something went wrong with your Web site's redesign when two people who used to work on it publish detailed, scathing assessments.

Google Reader, revamped this week, falls into that category. Google gave the RSS site the new red-and-black look that's sprouting at Gmail and elsewhere and, deeper down, changed the mechanics of how people can share posts they're interested in.

Former Google Reader product manager Brian Shih took Google to task for a monochromatic user interface (UI) that squanders too much screen space on a header bar and for making it harder to share posts: &… Read more