Ahmed Shuja

Now we’re talking! Excellent job Leap. Awesome human...

Tue, 29 May 2012 01:39:51 +0500

Now we’re talking! Excellent job Leap. Awesome human computer interaction, I need one of those.

Deadly me! On the Obscure ‘dirty’ wall

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 23:54:25 +0500

Deadly me! On the Obscure ‘dirty’ wall

Pakistan Railways public notices

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:13:49 +0500

Pakistan Railways public notices:

I thought I had seen enough weirdness in my life when I saw the Pakistan Railways website. Then it happened… I accidentally clicked the “Public Notices” link. Lo and Behold… I clicked a very curious link on this page “Marriage Coaches”. It opens in a new window and a MS Word document gets downloaded. It’s a MUST read! I have never seen anything THAT ridiculous! Have a jolly good read.

Advice for Google and Google+ Team

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 18:40:00 +0500

Here’s the thing guys… if your product is not really ready for launch, then DON’T launch.

First of all, why exactly are you shoving Picasa photo albums down my throat? Why do I HAVE to link it? And if I HAVE to link it then why exactly are you asking me to press a button? It was the only possible button to be clicked for joining Google+ after I clicked the “Join” button! How about you just tell me… “Hey Ahmed, we will be linking Picasa photo albums”. Oops! You couldn’t really say that now could you? Especially the part where you say my name? It’s the name bit by the way that really ticked me off… keep reading…

My name is “Ahmed Shuja”. First name “Ahmed” and Last name “Shuja”. It has been this for more than 3 decades. Search for this name on your search engine (probably the only Google product that actually works) and you’ll find out this is the name I am “commonly referred to in real life”.

Guess what, you picked up my name YOURSELF from my Google Account information. I didn’t even have to type it into any text fields myself. How come my name doesn’t comply with your naming policy? You should probably talk to my parents about this one any way. Probably they didn’t review your extremely ambiguous naming policy back then.

Check out the screen capture below.

There’s a neat link, which says that I should provide more information if you’ve made a mistake. I clicked it. To my surprise and horror I ended up on a contact page that was so confusing that, yes, you guessed it, I closed it! hoping that you will figure out that my name is OKAY on your own some day and un-suspend my profile! because currently as per Google+ the brief description of Ahmed Shuja is “Your Profile is suspended”

Sorry lads, if not too much, I’m a little more than that.

Here’s the bottom line. I do not wish for Google to “Approve” my name. Even in the online world, my name is “accepted” by every other possibly website and social network. Yes that includes Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and many others.

I really don’t have so much time to wait for Google+ to “Approve” my name. Or even to delete my profile. I’d be happier ignoring it completely, considering the fiascos that I have had with the same some time back.

My last bit of Advice to you… Joining a web application is supposed to be the easiest for users, not the hardest. Focus on that in your product design if your product really is just a me-too product!

Best Wishes,

First name:”Ahmed” Last name: “Shuja”

UCD in the lavatory! LHE-ISB motor-way stopover

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 02:16:00 +0500

UCD in the lavatory! LHE-ISB motor-way stopover

Space age mannequin at a store window in Lahore - weird!

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 02:14:05 +0500

Space age mannequin at a store window in Lahore - weird!

Already broken fire alarm clumsily put together at a KFC #FAIL

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 22:17:27 +0500

Already broken fire alarm clumsily put together at a KFC #FAIL

The difference between Google and Apple. This ad would never...

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 17:53:21 +0500

The difference between Google and Apple. This ad would never have appeared on an Apple software/service.

Evania makes her first balanced structure… First time...

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 23:44:35 +0500

Evania makes her first balanced structure… First time playing with her lego blocks! Makes her baba proud!

Pakistan Tourism website selling Maldives!

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 14:26:01 +0500

Pakistan Tourism website selling Maldives!

I miss the 80s and the 90s

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 15:48:30 +0500

What I am trying to say is, that I almost hate this modern connected world we now live in. It is killing the joy of reality. The multidimensional interaction we have with people face to face is extremely rich. It literally excites us at all active senses.

The reason I am writing this post is that I prefer meeting someone to comment on their, for instance, new hairdo as opposed to looking at a photo on my BlackBerry.

Let’s take an extreme view point to elaborate the situation and give it more structure. For visually impaired people, for instance, who have developed their other senses manifold can never be satisfied by a braille or a screen reader. Even if talking over the phone or online voice chat, the clarity of real sound is certainly missing not to mention the smell we may be wearing.

The general focus that I see mostly in my line of work, i.e. Human Computer Interaction, Ergonomics, Usability, and User Experience Design is on the currently available interfaces and improving our direct manipulation of the same. Not much seems to be done in creating new more useful / usable interfaces. I understand and appreciate the facts like that creating scents and smells is extremely difficult, which is why I intend to talk about something a little more holistic and general.

I believe, to facilitate the full array that is life we need to stop thinking of computers to be the tube, pipe, or vehicle connecting people, transferring data between them. The wisdom of the crowds should we directed towards making the machine vanish, and immerse us. We need to step back and change the broader perspective. We need to look beyond the machine and focus on improving our interaction with other people and information.

Disclaimer: these were just some wandering thoughts in my head, you are more than welcome to comment, share your ideas, and hopefully correct me if and where I may be wrong.

Fascinating Problem Event Name! “BlueScreen”

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 18:34:42 +0500

Fascinating Problem Event Name! “BlueScreen”

The blue screen!! YIKES!

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 18:14:32 +0500

The blue screen!! YIKES!

Google Profiles is not available for your organization

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 14:56:33 +0500

This is completely whack!

We use Google Apps to host our company email, documents, calendars etc etc since years. Over the previous months Google has been nagging about switching our domain’s accounts to Google accounts. So now, when we sign in on our Google Apps for our domain we have to sign out of our Gmail accounts. Fair enough! Makes a lot of sense to me. I actually (somewhat) like it!

Here’s the drama…

Now they’ve come up with Google+. Sounds super exciting, with all the buzz going on about it. I have been getting invites. When I see my peers’ Google+ profiles, I want one too! Oh look, there’s a “You+” link > top left.

Brilliant! I’ll click it…

But hey, there’s a problem here. Google says…

Google Profiles is not available for your organization

So now what do I do? Poor feedback from Google doesn’t guide me to any solution. Possibly expecting that I am a power user of sorts who can figure it out on my own. Well I did. There isn’t much that can be done, but wait for it to happen.

But what about all the other users of my domain.

I know for a fact all accept 2 of them are going to get lost, and will be probing those 2 or me as to what they should do now.

Bottom line: I am extremely disappointed.

I love my workstation at Obscure

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 16:29:23 +0500

I love my workstation at Obscure

Initial sketches of a website

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 13:37:24 +0500

Initial sketches of a website

Jehan’s packaging center fold

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 01:08:52 +0500

Jehan’s packaging center fold

Now that’s what I call an out-of-the-box kinda creative...

Tue, 24 May 2011 16:59:01 +0500

Now that’s what I call an out-of-the-box kinda creative concept for a commercial!!!!!!!! Slimy but I love it!

BlackBerry Apps: Wordpress vs Tumblr

Sun, 15 May 2011 02:44:13 +0500

Just downloaded the WordPress for BlackBerry app and typing in the first post from my phone.
Here’s a bit of a background on the situation at hand. I have been a WordPress author for some years now. Since recently (a relative term which in my case means almost 2 years) however I never seem to get enough time to sit down in front of a PC just to write a blog post. Then suddenly I stumbled upon Tumblr. It was love at first sight! I intend to post my study comparing WordPress and Tumblr very very soon. So help me God! For now… Back to the point…

WordPress vs Tumblr BlackBerry Apps : first impressions

I have been using the Tumblr app since some months now. Its awesome. It let’s me do the job that I NEED to do – “Post my thoughts etc online”. I can instantly share/ post a photo or a URL or more by using the “Send to Tumblr” menu item added by the Tumblr app to my BlackBerry menu. If I wish to access the app first – Tumblr BlackBerry app is super fast to load and gives me the option i.e. Freedom and Control to switch the default view by simply checking a box. All the way down to the “advanced post options” (with a send to twitter checkbox) and the final act of posting the Tumblr app is designed to help me focus on the real job… Sharing content!

On the flip side however, while the WordPress app lacks in all things going in favor of the Tumblr app, the WordPress app allows me to do lots more. It let’s me format my post for starters. To top it all it allows me to manage my entire blog from my mobile device!

The WordPress app has a very clever multi-select option, but wait the check boxes don’t even look like check boxes! While being a technologist (as some may call me) I hesitated before selecting an item. I did wonder if I will be opening a detailed view of the spam entry in the comments section or will I select it? I reckon more I use this app – I will be able to compare the two much better. Right now (2AM) is probably not the best time to dig deeper.

To bring this post to a close… here’s my question: do I really need to manage my entire blog from my phone? Or is mobile blogging or micro-blogging all about “sharing content”?

Designing UI for an app to aid instructors in concept map...

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 04:34:59 +0500

Designing UI for an app to aid instructors in concept map creation of subjects