Simplicity Rules

Adam DuVander on keeping it simple

MythBusters keeps it Simple

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Adam Savage of MythBusters is interviewed in a podcast where he talks about how the show decides how to test myths.

MythBusters on Discovery Channel

“The first test we always look for is, ‘what would two guys in their garage on a lazy Sunday do?’

Then we start to try and bring more equipment to bear on figuring out what’s really going on. But we really always try and start from ‘what’s the dumbest way you could approach this? What’s the simplest possible thing?'”

It’s all about finding the core idea first. Subtract the obvious and add the meaningful.

Listen to the full podcast (23 minutes) to find out about some upcoming shows and how Savage used the community site MetaFilter to research when he needed more ideas.

The “halfway there” approach

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A lot of us Web people do it. We know we need an obvious feature, so we implement something quickly, but it only gets us halfway there. Maybe we realize it’s not a complete feature, maybe we don’t. Regardless, we leave it half done.

It’s pretty easy to pick on MySpace, so I’ll praise them first. For a service of immense popularity, it is bound to be a favorite place for spammers. They have become very good at finding these bad guys and wiping them out almost instantly. MySpace doesn’t even send me a real email to tell me about this MySpace email. Pretty cool.

So, how do I know they are catching so many spammers?

MySpace spam messages

For each message from a deleted spammer, I get an extra message in my box, cleansed of its spammy contents. Instead, each message explains…

The profile you received this message from has been deleted. Either this user deleted their own profile or MySpace deleted it for spamming and/or content violations.

To remove this message click the delete button below.

Thank you.

P.S. If you’re seeing a lot of old messages in your inbox like this, it’s because someone you know who has written you messages has been deleted. If the messages are new, it’s probably a spammer that MySpace caught in the act.

It’s like a mouse that the cat brings to the doorstep. “See what I did!”

This is a halfway there approach. Catching spammers is important to MySpace, so they don’t clutter my inbox. Yet, they clutter my inbox with their trophies.

A few ways to make this all the way there:

  1. Delete the messages, too
  2. Create a spam folder and move them there
  3. Keep a McDonald’s-like tally: over one billion spammers foiled

Whatever they do, they should go the whole way. Halfway isn’t far enough.

I dream in bad interfaces

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Right before waking up on this Saturday morning, I had a dream about bad interfaces. It was short and really just a one-liner. I was talking with my friend Tom when he complained about a web app: “I asked for driving directions and it gave me back stocks.”

Driving directions for stock tickers

Sure, it’s far-fetched and dream-like, but is has a hint of Web truth.

Self diagnosis with Web 2.0

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Who needs a real doctor, right? Just type your symptoms into Healthline, or click on body parts at WebMD. These tools are pretty cool, but I don’t think anyone expects them to replace the good ol’ Doc. You wouldn’t hire the neighbor kid to make your website, right? Right?

Those who know me personally probably know I had a bit of a tough January. I had Bell’s Palsy, which is the only one of four possibilities from this Healthline search that isn’t a medical emergency.

Bell's Palsy progression

If I had seen that list, I would probably have gone to the doctor anyway. When two possibilities include the word “stroke” and another involves a bloody brain, one takes precautions.

I probably would not have ever seen that list. “Facial paralysis” is what I put in a month after. My symptoms at the time were numbness around my mouth and neck pain I thought was unrelated. On WebMD I found Bell’s Palsy because I clicked on “facial drooping.” A lot of people get a droop, but I never had a droop. Neither tool would not have helped me figure out what was wrong with my face.

Several 'numbing' options

It comes down to terminology and a willingness to be a little fuzzy with translation. A human, like a doctor or web professional, does a good job of being forgiving, a computer does not. When a non-techy says, “my box thingy is gone from the Internet,” we hear that the location bar is hidden. When I said to the chest-hair-flaunting E.R. doc, “my face is all numb,” he asked the questions to figure out what I really meant.

While it isn’t very difficult to argue against computer diagnosis, I’m really pointing out where it could get smarter. As search engines have become pretty forgiving about speeling, these tools could work to add in symptom synonyms. Even though numbness and paralysis are very different, they can feel the same. And with most interface issues, what the user thinks means more than how things really are.

These health tools are still useful for some things, of course. Just don’t skip your check-up because a web site said your diseases are 404 (geek joke–you don’t have to laugh). At the very least, use Healthline to play a little Disease Jeopardy.

Lordy, lordy, look who would’ve been forty

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Today would have been Kurt Cobain’s 40th birthday. For a guy who is etched into our memories at 27, that sounds pretty old (sort of like imagining the forever young JFK, who’d turn 90 this year).

The Belfast Telegraph has a good look at Cobain’s short life and his legacy. In 2002, Pete Townsend reviewed Cobain’s published journals for The Guardian.

I was never much of a fan of Nirvana. A parody of their trademark song did make me a fan of Weird Al, who has a knack for getting the music right. So, through proxy, I came to appreciate the band.

Even more so, I appreciate the impact their music had on the 90s, leading away from the bubble gum 80s, at least for awhile. I have to wonder how Cobain would have continued to influence music and culture if he’d stayed alive. How would he have used the Internet? What would he be writing in his blog on the big Four Oh?

Of course, we can only wonder, so we’re left with the video below, Cobain’s crowning achievement. Sure, it’s Weird Al’s Smell’s Like Nirvana. The legend has it that Cobain realized Nirvana had “made it” when he heard the parody. I don’t want to put words in his mouth, but I think he’d agree this is as good as it gets.