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06 August 2002 |
Speech rec apps being used by the military for speech synthesis (text-to-speech), biometrics, etc. Usual story, but these lessons on user-oriented design and explanation from the military are absolutely spot-on (paraphrased directly from the article):
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government users must better define their requirements to get applicable tools into warfighters' hands
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understand what a users' requirements are or they will take the systems out there and the portions that it applies to [will use it] and for the others that it doesn't work, it becomes a doorstop. One piece of equipment can't satisfy everybody.
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if a vendor suggests a device is "all things to all people" military users will quickly be disappointed when it doesn't meet expectations, and then they will throw it in the back of the truck
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target a device towards an environment: if a Marine understands what he's got and how to use it, even if it's only 70 or 80 percent, he can deal with that.
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dependability is equally important as a small footprint, reliable power source and usability
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It must also be user-friendly: if you need a Ph.D. to use it and you hand it to a 19-year-old Marine who is used to five or six sentences explaining how to use [equipment], that's not the right environment (... but that tool could work for a senior intelligence analyst: have to understand the target)
11:37:42 PM 
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Telegeography has some excellent maps showing telco tariffs, telco and IP traffic etc. This one distorts the world map to show that in terms of how much it costs to call, Austrlaia is far closer to the UK than Africa is. [via Sterling]
11:25:40 PM
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The world’s mobile industry is pinning its hopes on a new generation of camera phone. Chris Gent (Vodafone) certainly is in Sat 3 August's Guardian.
11:20:12 PM
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As expected it either catches everyone or no-one, depending on its sensitivity.
11:17:38 PM
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© Copyright 2003 rodcorp.
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