"If you’ve ever offered technical support to other computer users, you might find yourself losing a slice of your sanity over their inability to describe the problem clearly. And most times it’s not the fault of the user, it’s just difficult to describe what you see with words. A feature new to Windows 7, called “Problem Steps Recorder” looks to be the missing tool for documenting where it all goes wrong."

This is pretty useful - and even machine-parseable. Could make for some much-improved support experiences.

"Just because there’s room on the dialog box, doesn’t mean you have to put something there. The Java installer starts off with a dialog box that manages to repeat the word Java six times without really telling you what it is, just that it’s “everywhere.”"

Precisely.

"Mozilla’s Head of User Experience Aza Raskin has just posted a video preview and extensive post covering the concept behind of one of Mozilla’s latest endeavors, Firefox Mobile... The GUI looks very cool, though raw... Firefox Mobile will be usable on touchscreen devices, keypad-operated devices and everything in between."

Cool little video. Although I'm convinced it'll work very well on mobile-sized devices. Mini-tablet-sized devices would work well though.

"Introducing Dash Express, the first two-way, Internet-connected GPS navigation system. Dash delivers traffic and destination information in exciting new ways, and offers a wide range of new capabilities available from the car that makes a typical GPS practically obsolete. Dash is the smartest way to get from A to B, and find everything in between."

Seriously, watch the intro video. This is what a GPS should be. Blows the existing TomTom, Navman, Garmin offerings right out of the water. Of course, it's US only right now :(

"The remote control is the perfect example of how complicated things have gotten within the consumer electronics industry. Most people probably have well over one hundred – more or less indecipherable - buttons on the remotes that they use every day for their TV, DVD, set-top box, stereo and so on. All they want to do is watch a movie or listen to some music, but sometimes it feels like you need a PhD to put it on."

I like the thinking. And the remote looks damn slick - not sure how well it'll stand when people start accidentally sitting on them, but what the hell, if you can afford one, you can replace it.

"With computers as common a household appliance as televisions now, who might be using your web-application has expanded beyond the realm of just the power user. Complicated menu systems, alert dialog messages that lock you out of the browser and flashy but confusing layouts aren’t necessarily going to help you make conversions. The Web user demographic has changed and to make your web application appeal to the masses your user interface needs to teach and to guide."

Nice article on the role of web user interfaces - some food for thought.

"Designing an account registration and sign-in process that doesn't frustrate users turns out to be very difficult to achieve. It looks easy at the outset, but a pile of subtleties can sneak up on your experience, making something that should be simple become stressful for the users... Here are 8 common design mistakes we often see as we watch users try to create accounts and sign into the site."

Nice list, good explanations. Don't agree with all of them - some can be security risks, but more sites should put this much consideration into signin systems.

"It's strange that we haven't heard a peep about this earlier, but apparently Microsoft's been working on a suite of bundled network discovery and configuration tools called Windows Rally, designed to ease ODM development of network devices and make them as easy to use as USB gear."

This is pretty neat; goes one step further than Apple's Bonjour/zeroconf. But at the end of the day, these things have existed in some form for years already, yet device manufacturers still haven't adopted them - will this change?

"My Macbook Pro has had multiple battery problems this year... I was annoyed by the problems, but the level of support definitely helped turn a negative situation into one that at least makes me feel like Apple’s got my back. It’s really reassuring to know I can go somewhere and get instant help if/when the shit hits the fan."

That's something you don't see everyday. But I'm kind of disappointed Apple opened up their distribution to any store that wants them. There's so much value that Apple could've gotten from consumers if they did it B&O style, as opposed to selling iPods at the local KMart. They would never be where they are if they didn't though...now where's the Melbourne Apple Store?