The UsefulTechnology Blog

I'm fascinated by the human relationship with technology and how one helps shape the other. A recent example that got me thinking came after the Thames Valley Park Security team installed a speed camera on one of the roads approaching the UK Microsoft Campus. But this wasn't one of those widely despised 'Greed Cameras' that collects money from every motorist exceeding the speed limit. This was a happy/sad camera that displays an electronic smiley face whenever you pass at less than 30 miles per hour. If you go too fast though you will incur the wrath of the sign and see a very sad face instead.

Now, call me a crazed lunatic, but I really like seeing a smiling face in the morning. So much so that I now find myself deliberately slowing down on the approach to the camera so I can guarantee myself of some smiley feedback and enjoy every short second of our brief passing relationship. And one day when I was travelling a little too fast I found myself filled with regret that my 32MPH had made the camera sad. I even thought about go past once again so I could make it smile once more. (Even I think that's weird.)

But what intrigues me is why do I feel this way? It's a speed camera for heaven's sake! Why should I care whether it likes me or not? It has no feelings, no memory. And it's extremely unlikely that our relationship will ever go any further. Besides, I'm already married...

Yet the smiley face gets me every time. It's so instantly recognisable as human that I feel some empathy with what the camera is trying to do. A sad face reminds me of the possible consequences of driving too fast. A happy face reminds me that I'm a nice person, the sort of person that happy people would like to know.

There's a very profound insight into the human condition buried within the smiley speed camera experience. We instinctively respond to certain triggers. And every product designer and marketer should be aware of these triggers so their technology solutions can work harmoniously with our hard-wired human minds.

The Microsoft Office Online team has paired up with Laura Stack, President and CEO of The Productivity Pro, to deliver a webcast at 9am Pacific Time (that's 5pm UK time) on Wednesday 23rd August. The topic: Tips to Survive Information Overload.

In accordance with the webcast message, it will last just 30 minutes. You can register for free here. See you there.

This was recently voted Britain's funniest joke:

A woman gets on a bus, carrying her baby. As she pays her fare, the driver says 'Urghh, that's the ugliest baby I've ever seen.' The woman goes to the back of the bus, fuming with indignation, and sits down next to another passenger. She turns to the passenger, and says 'Did you hear what the driver said to me? I was so shocked, I couldn't even speak!' So the other passenger, sympathetic, says 'Never mind, dear, you go back there and tell him what you think of him. I'll hold your monkey for you.

It's official: I'm British. I laugh every time I hear the punchline.

It's Friday. And Steve Clayton writes today about how his Out of Office message has taken on a personality all of its own. Mine has too. We all get so many "OOFs" that the very least you can do is inject a little life into your own message. In the spirit of sharing, my most recent OOF is below. I received several blank emails from people just wanting to read my OOF. Weirdos. Some people really should get our more often ;-)

Hot diggety dog! I'm now out of the office until 14th August sheltering under a brolly at the Great British Seaside. I'll do my best not to check emails on my Windows Mobile Pocket PC but I cannot promise I won't have the occasional lapse. You'll have to wait until I'm back to join my wife in telling me I shouldn't read work emails while on holiday.

Who else might be able to help? LK's my right hand woman (email her at [email removed]) and for all other queries "The Other Superwoman" NT ([email removed]) is a goldmine of information. Bill Gates (billg@microsoft.com) probably also knows the answer to your question but he sometimes gets a bit busy so is unlikely to reply before I'm back.

BLATANT BLOG PLUG: Are you struggling to cope with multiple out of office replies? Enjoy one of my blog tips with my compliments! Get it here.

Warning: This Out Of Office message may contain nuts.

What will your next OOF say about you?

That was a big moon over the North Sea the other night. And it's amazing what you can do with a point and click camera these days. Thought I'd share this calming little photo as we enter another busy working day.

Alfred's been asking what's the quickest way to search for stuff online. Putting aside the debate of which search engine you prefer, there are some really neat shortcuts you can use to reduce the time from 'query to answers'.

If you use IE7 there's a handy search bar in the top right corner. You can tweak this to use your favourite search engine by default. Typing your query in this box will open a new browser tab containing your search engines answers to your query.

Faster still you can type "? raspberry sauce" (or whatever you're trying to find) in the normal address bar. Again, Internet Explorer will see the "?" as an instruction to launch your favourite browser and rapidly report its findings.

Even faster still if you use Windows Desktop Search you can type your query and simply hit SHIFT+ENTER. This will launch your browser, access your default search engine and report the results in a new tab.

Anyone know a faster way to get search results?

Contrary to one correspondent's theory, the lack of recent postings here is not evidence of my having been seized by British Anti-Terrorist Police. I agree that the liquids I carry onto aircraft may have a dangerously high alcoholic content that could blow your mind but I doubt they'd do much damage to a plane. No, I've simply been on holiday to the Great British Seaside. My contact with the Information Superhighway and this blog was temporarily severed, but my mastery of sandcastle construction has moved on a notch or two. The good news (or bad depending on your point of view) is that I'm back now.

After this short absence I should be chomping at the bit to share some words of Useful Technology wisdom. But I'm sorry, I can't. I'm feeling rather queer. Don't panic: that's what my grandfather used to say when he was feeling unwell. In fact, I've been so queer that I've been off work today. And during my waking hours lying in bed I've been wondering where to take my blog next.

As my regular reader will know, I love sharing tips on how to use Outlook and cope with email overload. But my new job at Microsoft has more of a marketing communications flavour to it. I now find myself thinking about different things like how Windows Vista will change our attitudes to technology and how advances in mobile devices will shape our digital world.

So the question on my lips—and almost certainly not on yours—is what should I write about on my blog?

Among the options under consideration are:

1. Tips for a successful blog
2. Marketing cool technology to consumers
3. Web 2.0 and the software as a service revolution
4. Brilliant design wot I love
5. Why I have 2 million hits but get so few comments on my blog
6. And, of course, the old chestnut: Outlook and Email Survival

Like any half-decent marketer I'm turning to you, my customer, to figure out what I can do better. Please let me know where we should go together by sending me an email using the, er, Email link above or leaving a comment by clicking the, er, Comment link down there. And if you like my blog, please click the Like It? button over there on the right to tell a friend.

Many thanks for your input. I'm off for a lie down. G'night.

[UPDATE: Feeling better now. And yes, I goofed. I had the 'anonymous comments are blocked' setting switched on, which explains why so few people commented previously. I've fixed it now, so comment away]

Congratulations to Blake Handler (yes, that's his real name) for the most shameless self-publicity move ever in the history of blogs!

Blake has been the victim of a regularly changing URL for his MSN Spaces (now Windows Live Spaces) Blog. Which has made it difficult for his readers to remain in touch. Frankly that's a shame, because Blake's blog houses some jolly useful stuff.

So what did Blake do? He wrote out to everyone he's ever been in contact with in the blogosphere and begged (Blake's word, not mine!) them to add a link to his new blog location.

And it worked! Here's my link to Blake's extraordinarily long post of the Ultimate List of Free Windows Software from Microsoft.

Now you know what to do on that annoying day that sits between Thursday and the weekend: download over 150 free things from Microsoft, all with the compliments of Blake's list. Good work Blake!

Is anyone else worried about whether to upgrade to the latest version (Beta 3) of Internet Explorer? I pondered (that's like thinking, but more posh) for a while then thought "what the heck, the worst that can happen is it destroys my PC and my life." But then I started installing from this site and learned that I would have to uninstall Beta 2 first. Which I started doing until I got this:

And that's when I really freaked out. This was bad. Very bad. Had I really installed that much stuff since Beta 2 entered my life? What possible damage would I cause by uninstalling something that so many other things depend upon? It felt like I would be removing a lung*, and you don't want to do that unless absolutely necessary.

Then I discovered this very lovely post from the IE team and saw their explanation about this mysterious warning message. So I re-read the warning message, took note of the couple of applications that might go a bit loopy and installed IE7 Beta 3. And do you know what? It only went and worked! And it's pretty cool too. Give it a go.

* Do NOT try this at home.

I have my annual performance review in half an hour. This reminds me of a great little non-technical tip that may help you get even more value out of Microsoft Outlook.

Every time you receive an email thanking or praising you for some work that you have done, save it in a special folder called (something like) "Hero". When the time comes round to review your performance, or perhaps when you simply need a motivational boost, take a look in that folder to remind yourself of all the great things that you've done. It's surprising how many things you do that make a big difference to someone else's life. And if you don't save these reminders, chances are that you'll forget all about them.

And remember, giving some love is even more fun than receiving it. So, if your Hero folder is looking a little bare, take 5 minutes now to email a quick thank you to someone who has made your life easier. And, before you know it, you might have something extra in return to file in your own Hero folder.

Slipstick features a comprehensive article detailing the latest known issues that people encounter while testing Outlook 2007 Beta 2. The most common problems I hear about are caused by incompatible add-ins which can be disabled in the new Tools > Trust Center window. If Outlook crashes while you are trying to disable an add-in (this is known as Sod's Law) you can edit the Load Behaviour for questionable add-ins in the registry at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins. Change the Load Behaviour value from 3 (active) to 2 (inactive). Any add-ins you see with a load behaviour of 9 have already been fully disabled.

Disclaimer Thingy: As always, Beta software should only be used for testing purposes and I don't recommend you use this on a production computer (i.e. a PC that you rely on!). Here at Microsoft we "eat our own dogfood" and experience firsthand the joys of using pre-release software on our day-to-day work machines. Having tens of thousands of colleagues complaining about a not-yet-perfect feature provides a pretty compelling incentive to the developers to fix things fast! Oh, and editing the registry should only be done if you really know what you're doing and have the necessary safety net (i.e. a backup) and protective underwear in place.