Good for Blendle! Not the first Dutch start-up to be funded by US investors, but one of the most well known (in the Netherlands anyway).
As far as I am aware, there is no US-based Blendle yet? (An article aggregator where you pay per article). If so, they have a large market ahead of them!
In addition, in the step before where the heat is transferred away from the reactor walls to the turbines, a heat flux is needed of 100MJ/s. Assuming a contact surface of 100m2, that is 1MJ/s per m2. That sounds like a huge flux and I am not sure if there is any medium that could do this.
It looks like the interview parts were mixed up in the editing. To watch the interview in chronological order start at 13:44, watch till the end and then start from the beginning.
Nice, although I'd like some more explanation about what I see.
When I click the hint for the oldest object in the universe I get: [object Object], with the URL: javascript:Zoomers.map.setView([79.39604189337487, -122.98095703125], 5)
I haven't used BB10 yet, but I am willing to believe you. However, I think the issue is that success on the mobile OS market is determined in a large part by the ecosystem around it. The ecosystem is heavily influenced by network effects (i.e. the more users, the higher the value of the network) en BB is way behind in this aspect. They still have many users but the amount of apps pale in comparison to Apple and Android.
If Apple, Android, Windows and BlackBerry would all have started at the same time, we would have seen different results (maybe). But the simple fact remains that BB is very, very late to the game. And once market dominance is reached, as Apple and Android have, competitors can only change that dominance by being dramatically better. And I get the impression that BB10 is somewhat better.
This is of course part of the risk associated with Kickstarter, projects may fail or be delayed. As you seem to be an avid backer, do you feel satisfied with the general delivery of projects you backed?
My initial reaction is that this is a turning point in electric car technology. If there was one company suited to take the role in battery swapping like Tesla did for electric cars in general, it was Better Place.
With them gone, and battery technology rapidly improving, battery swapping for consumer cars may never take off.
There is fine line between creating a positive experience for the end user, and suggesting a positive experience. Some examples:
Cars: No, cheaper car makers will not degrade the experience, but they will direct less attention to the perceived experience by the end user, also because their margin is lower.
Your point about the audio plug: It annoys me too, but this depends on the target audience. Do they value an audio plug over a clean dashboard?
Toothpaste: Here a false claim is made. That does not convey respect to the user at all.
What complicates these discussions is that, for example on HN, they are discussed with people who often value features over a smooth experience. But I argue, that for the average high income user, the experience, the treatment is an important factor, next to features.
And to come back to the OP, treating your users properly will enhance the value of your application to this group.
Yes, we should, but my trail of thought tried to address the deeper (or tangential) rationale for humanized error messages. My argument was that if you humanize error messages, you are increasing the service towards your end user. You convey a message that says "I see that something limits the use of the application, how can I help solve this".
In general, the hierarchy of error prevention and solving should be this:
0. Treat the end user as a normal human being (obvious? well, I wish it was!)
1. Limit the steps a user has to take to a minimum, but no less then is required to execute the main goal of the application.
2. Focus steps as much as possible on doing something that satisfies a needed input by the user (i.e. minimize program management by the user)
3. Try to stop an error from happening before it occurs or asap. (Example: The stop sign when you drag a file in Windows where it can't be dragged, validation per form step).
3. When an error occurs, show a concise, friendly error-message, with is tells the user how to fix the issue or prevent it (if it can be done by the end user).
4. The level of apology should be linear to effect of the error: if the error makes the user feel disrespected, it stops him from finishing the task or delays him.
(i.e. apologise a lot if you application crashes, but a little if an e-mail address does not validate).
I think there is a strong causation between the way products address their users (not only software, but also cars, appliances, physical forms), and the perceived value of that product.
Step into a luxury car and ask yourself, why do I see this car as luxurious? Sure, it looks nice, but it will also convey a message that says: "When we created this car, we really tried to make you feel comfortable, treated well and respected".
This might seem like over stretching the question in the link, but underneath lies the question: "How hard do we want to try to serve the end user".
At first thought I agreed with you. But then I realised, that is how many of those names started: they were the dominant brand for a while and thus became the household name. I hear many people refer to portable audio players as an iPod.
I see no obvious difference for the iPhone, except that it has more competition.
- Do the bookmarks have any extra info? For example the links to the HULU pages. Do they contain parameters (such as ?campaign=fb) which could point to the origin of the bookmarks?
- Try to reproduce. Remove/save some bookmarks, and visit the same pages you visited before (esp. FB) and see if the bookmarks reoccur.
- Use little netstat to monitor connections. See if you spot something odd. But this is an time-intensive method.
It can be spooky when odd things like these happen on your pc. But many times it is just a confluence of circumstances. You could see this as an incident - when it reoccurs, then you have something to research. At that moment, put it on superuser or the likes. Probably you get better answers then here :)