Jacek Spiewla

Using an American Express Gift Card on Amazon

admin — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 13:22:56 +0000

Amazon makes it ~~impossible~~ difficult to pay with an American Express Gift Card. Here's their policy:

Pre-paid gift cards can't be combined with credit cards on a single order.
American Express pre-paid/gift cards can't be used to purchase Amazon.com Gift Cards.

Here's my workaround:

Find a brick-and-mortar retailer that carries Amazon.com Gift Cards
Pay for the Amazon.com Gift Card with your American Express Gift Card
Apply your Amazon.com Gift Card to your order. Presto!

My Sneezes

admin — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 16:33:55 +0000

From Feb 16th to Mar 21, 2011, I kept record of the date, time, number, and place of my sneezes for a personal informatics assignment at school. Here is a visualization of the time and number of my sneezes over that period.

How the Computer Sees Us

admin — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 17:45:10 +0000

Alas, the sad state of desktop computing.

From Physical Computing by O'sullivan, D., & Igoe, T.

Announcing Infosilence

admin — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:14:30 +0000

I've started Infosilence, an experimental website that I would describe as an 'information-free sanctuary.' I was motivated to create it after listening to some of the lectures from the Conference on Information, Silence, and Sanctuary.

Thumbtabs – Mozilla Labs Design Challenge: Summer 2009

admin — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:58:33 +0000

This is my concept prototype for the Mozilla Labs Design Challenge: Summer 2009 - Reinventing Tabs in the Browser.

From the official Design Challenge website:

For this Design Challenge we are focusing on finding creative solutions to the question: "Reinventing Tabs in the Browser - How can we create, navigate and manage multiple web sites within the same browser instance?"

Mockup images:

Video:

Link [YouTube]

Siriusly?

admin — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:23:20 +0000

Apparently it takes four days to remove an e-mail address from distribution lists.

Non-visible displays and anxiety

admin — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:22:44 +0000

There are many situations in which you interact with another person and a computer at the same time. For example, checking out with a receptionist at a doctor's office, or paying the clerk at the check-out line in the grocery store. Do such transactional situations evoke anxiety (or perhaps distrust or fear) in the non-computer-operating person when they cannot see the display? Say, for example, a store customer is going through the usual routine at the check-out line: the clerk scans her goods, one by one, and then presents her with the tally. If only the clerk can see the final tally, does this effect the customer in any way?

Thumbtabs Concept Video

admin — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:15:27 +0000

Check out my prototype entry to the Mozilla Labs Design Challenge: Summer 2009 - Reinventing Tabs in the Browser.

GroupLoops Prototype Video

admin — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:47:03 +0000

This semester the University of Michigan GROCS (Grant Opportunities for Collaborative Spaces) program funded my team, GroupLoops, to develop a music application for the iPhone OS. Here's a couple of demo videos of our prototype:

Using cut-off text as a design element

admin — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 14:36:52 +0000

Especially on smaller devices with limited screen size, users may associate cut-off text or images to mean that there is additional content beyond the edge of the screen. Is this an effective technique? What are other ways that the user could interact with invisible - but present - content?