Yep. That's Windows 98 keepin' this kiosk alive.

This past Thursday evening, I visited my local Albany, NY movie theater to go see State of Play with a friend. What I was expecting was to be entertained, what I was not expecting was to have my evening nearly ruined by a klunky user interface (UI).

If you just thought to yourself, “this girl is totally exaggerating,” you are 50% correct. I am, but I’m not, really.

It was at this point when I realized that not all movie ticket kiosks (kindof like men) are not made equal. Post-Google research showed that there are many companies who design and distribute these handy machines, but it just so happened that I happened upon a sub-standard one.

Sure, this situation vaguely reminds me of a Kurt Vonnegut novel, but there is some truth to it- there are some things that movie ticket theater kiosks should keep in mind.

1. Touch Screen Monitors are a Must: This local albany kiosk had some sort of old-school “the buttons on the sides do not line up with the items on the screen” issue. Not cool.
2. Don’t Time Out after 15 Seconds: The kiosk timed out while I was looking for my credit card. By the time my hand emerged from my (huge) purse with my visa ready to go, I was back to looking at the home screen. really? really?
3. Maintain ‘Em: After a flikr search on the subject, I found a hilarious picture of one kiosk running Windows 98 (see above- embarassing…shouldn’t it be showing the app dashboard) and a friend sent me an iPhone photo that depicts another with the blue screen of death.

Bottom line: Sometimes, it’s OK to embrace when something has reach it’s EOL (end of life)… and it’s ok to move on (like in the case of windows 98). We all did.

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Blogging Tunes: Kate Nash – Nicest Thing
via FoxyTunes

I do love you, blogs & tea.

Finding something for your mom (ok, well, any woman) can be a struggle. We’ve all been there.

I have a reputation @ the wig company as a “gift consultant” for colleagues with girlfriends (let’s just say that

I live vicariously through these gifts)… so I want to help pass along some of my ideas for Mother’s day to all of you who read the Techyness.

As mentioned in previous posts, I’ve been on a real Etsy kick lately… so here are a few ideas for all you Moms out there (because what’s better that something handmade, local, and helps out real people!?!).

On the techy side, what about a great USB flash drive? Even the non-techy moms will be a fan of the LaCie Key-Shaped USB drives. Simple, flawless design.

BUT. Never give a woman JUST a gadget or a technological device. Add a fun twist- if you’re buying your mom a digital camera, preload the sd card with some photos to flip through, or a pre-recorded video of you telling her you love her This was the same advice I gave to a fellow IMLP- lets just say it worked out well with his girlfriend!

Not sure what to buy Mom!?!

What about technology lessons? I usually help my mom out with blackberry 101 and 101.1 lessons whenever I’m back in Ohio. (Last time I gave a live demo of Kayak, she’s a huge fan now.) Or what about installing Skype on her computer and buying her a cute headset (alongwith some skype credits!?) Your mom would like to SEE you sometime, you know.

Want to show your madre you <3 her?  I’ve included some non-techy ideas…

I’m loving these posters that are silk screened by hand, especially this one. Or what about a photo locket (moms love a mix of classy/corny) – like this fleur-de-lis vintage locket, a mixed media locket, a tree locket for the nature types, and a classic long chained oversize locket.

If you’re looking for a photo to put in the locket, you can order photos via snapfish, or my personal favorite, mpix. These sites also offer fun photo gifts that ship fast- like photo albums, inexpensive photobooks from snapfish, or try vistaprint for endless possibilities (ships fast too!)…

Happy Mother’s Day – and comment with what you’re buying your mom this year

While browsing new posts from my favorite preppy fashionista, I realized that it’s about time to tackle the “Web 2.0 chain letter” that seems to be invading collaborative outlets everywhere.

Chain letters have evolved over time… first with cheesy letters, then emails, and now in social media, where one can attach multimedia to answer questions or provide additional information.

Sure, it started with the Facebook – 25 random things about me, that we were all tagged in, and I’ve come across another one- “Show Your Heart.”

The directions state to show your heart…

Show your heart in one picture:

There's just something about these two trees that gets to me.

...one item of clothing:

Anything Jackie O had in her closet(s)

...one Disney Princess

Sleeping Beauty. No contest here. Maybe I'm just waiting to wake up too? (corny, had to say it, c'mon).

...one place (it’s a tie for me)

#1. Villa San Michele, Fiesole, Florence, Tuscany.

#2. Belhurst Castle, Geneva, NY (this one is more feasible)

...one poem:

for the sake of irony, my poem is about poems…

As a tool of cognition, poetry beats any existing form of analysis (a) because it pares down our reality to its linguistic essentials, whose interplay, be it clash or fusion, yields epiphany or revelation, and (b) because it exploits the rhythmic and euphonic properties of the language that in themselves are revelatory.  — Joseph Brodsky

…one quote:

Voici mon secret. Il est très simple: on ne voit bien qu’avec le cœur. L’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux. -Le Petit Prince (Antoine de Saint Exupéry)

And I can’t forget the final piece… to tag a few bloggers to follow up… so I know George will take this one on…

I've graduated from 2 years of blogging!

Last week, I gave a presentation on “Managing Gen Y” to a group of CIOs, and while talking about social media and collaborative technologies, the Techyness came up in conversation.

And then I realized something… I’ve been blogging for over two years. 2 years!

Here is a throwback to the first post on the Techyness, with backward compatibility as the subject matter. And, If I remember correctly, I referenced Time’s Person of the Year 2006 shortly afterwards.

So, why blog?

Just a simple google search on the phrase leads me to this result from the New York Times about how the blogger who started Stuff White People Like landed a book deal… because of his blog (the full list is actually pretty funny).

Sure, I haven’t won a Weblog award, like this list of winners for 2008… but

The Techyness has also allowed me to coach other people in their blogging endeavors, and I love the whole “blogging mentor” thing.

So, what’s in scope for the future of Techyness? I think it will grow with me. As I learn (graphic design, code, life, etc), these skills will have a direct effect on the blog.