a crunch of awesome
Posts by Nadeem Bakhsh
The Devastating Effects of a Weak UX Research and User Testing Process
April 5, 2014
Stumble Upon Social Media Traffic via Mashable
Once upon a time in a galaxy far far away, StumbleUpon was awesome, it actually drove more traffic than Facebook. Then their UX process failed somewhere. The graph above was featured from a study carried out in the first three weeks of August 2011. It showed StumbleUpon drove more than 50% of social media referral traffic, while Facebook had almost 39% and Youtube, Twitter, Reddit and others had less than 4% each. Driving more traffic than Facebook? Nobody could argue against its throne of awesomeness. (more…)
Disappointing Windows 8 User Test & Expert Usability Review
January 17, 2013
Watch what happens when you get a Windows user drunk on tequila and take Windows 8 for a test drive. A blunt and hilariously awesome uncensored look at the broken user experience.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” I’m not sure what the goal of this Windows 8 update was, I love Windows 7 and when you give Windows 7 enough power, it is really good. In fact, OSX Lion was lacking a couple usability features which Windows 7 provided, that are now available in Mountain Lion. Examples you ask? Cutting and pasting files in finder – shocking ay! As well as pasting a bunch of files in a folder, where the same file name already exists – windows 7 allows you to replace, cancel or keep both by appending a number to the new file – Lion freaks out and gives you the option to replace or cancel. There are plenty more too. I still prefer Windows 7 to Mountain Lion.
I was very curious to check out Windows 8, but after trying it out at a store, reading Jakob Nielsen’s Windows 8 Review and watching this drunk user test of windows embedded below, I’m definitely skipping Windows 8. (more…)
How to set Google Chrome Omnibox Search back to Google.com in English?
September 2, 2012
Google’s regional language detection and change system drives me crazy. I live in the Middle East, but don’t speak Arabic. Yet if I install Chrome or use Gmail, Google Drive, Documents, Blogger, Apps or any of Google’s products in the region, it always sends me to the arabic version, with no way for me to switch back to Google.com in English – unless I speak Arabic, which I don’t.
It’s easy to fix though, go to chrome settings from the wrench icon on the top right, then Manage Search Engines. Add a new search engine with the name = Google.com English, keyword = hello and URL = www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%s . Set this as default and you’re good to go. (more…)
How to reset custom contact ringtones back to the default ringtone on Android?
September 2, 2012
AAGGGGHHHHH! If you set a custom contact ringtone in Android version 4.x – and apparently all other versions, it uses that ringtone for every possible notification from that contact. This includes calling, sms, emails and IM notifications from messaging applications like WhatsApp. Definitely a UX/usability flaw in the Android OS as I need call ringtones to be differentiated from messaging ringtones for obvious reasons. What makes things worse – there is no option to reset the ringtone back to the default ringtone. (more…)
Photography Posing Guides: Sample Poses to Get You Started
August 13, 2012
DPS Groups of People Posing Guide
Digital Photography School has created a great mini series featuring ‘posing cheat sheets’ for taking pictures of people. When shooting photos of people, it’s useful for them to have a look at the cheat sheets, to pick a pose and visualize the shot. They’ll feel more comfortable and relaxed modeling that awesome pose. (more…)
Mind Blowing Dance
August 10, 2012
Because dancing is awesome. These are a few dance videos that had every cell in my body wishing they were in sync.
A Shocking Mobile & Social Media Landscape Difference in 4 Years
July 30, 2012
We all know mobile and social media has exploded recently, but have you seen any data studies that portray the impact on a global event like the Olympics? Check out this iProspect infographic on Mashable.
Olympics Mobile & Social Media Landscape 2012 by iProspect
Instagram Style Lightroom & Photoshop Filter Presets
July 30, 2012
Instagram Style Lightroom & Photoshop Filter Presets via Casey Mac Photos
I love Instagram’s photo filters and wished my camera’s photos could be as cool. Luckily CaseyMac Photos has created all 17 Instagram filters and actions for Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. They aren’t free, but well worth the $5 charge.
The Short 3 Hour Lifespan of Social Media Links
July 28, 2012
Distribution of half-lifes over four different referrer types. via Bit.ly
There is a lot of noise on social networks these days with real friends’ updates getting lost in the chaotic streams of advertising and social media marketing. This is great for businesses but quite annoying as a friend.
Research at bit.ly analyzed a 1000 popular links to find: ‘In general, half life of a bitly link is about 3 hours, unless you publish your links on youtube, where you can expect about 7 hours worth of attention. Many links last a lot less than 2 hours; other more sticky links last longer than 11 hours over all the referrers. This leads us to believe that the lifespan of your link is connected more to what content it points to than on where you post it: on the social web it’s all about what you share, not where you share it!’.
So popular links live around 3 hours with an initial burst of attention within the first 30-90 minutes which slowly fades away while other links lose interest within minutes!
2012’s Best Apps & Programs for Windows, Mac, Android, iPads & iPhones
July 28, 2012
Every year Lifehacker creates a list of their favorite, most popular must-have applications for each popular platform. The apps are divided into categories of productivity, internet/communication, location-aware, music, photos and video, utilities and more.
If you’re setting up a new device or looking for a reliable recommendation check these out.
Android Pack
iPad Pack
iPhone Pack
Linux Pack
Mac OSx Pack
Windows Pack
