I found the first banana vending machine in Japan at Shibuya. Operating by Dole, it offers a bunch of banana for ¥390, or one piece for ¥130. It seems that this machine is just the very first version, where the mechanical design is still not perfect and easy to get stuck. Or perhaps that is a feature to make banana split? I will check this machine out again later and try to record a video of it in operation. It will be pretty awesome to see this thing in major train stations. City people are rarely having enough fruit for [...]
Category Archives: Usability
Banana Vending Machine
I found the first banana vending machine in Japan at Shibuya. Operating by Dole, it offers a bunch of banana for ¥390, or one piece for ¥130. It seems that this machine is just the very first version, where the mechanical design is still not perfect and easy to get stuck. Or perhaps that is a feature to make banana split? I will check this machine out again later and try to record a video of it in operation. It will be pretty awesome to see this thing in major train stations. City people are rarely having enough fruit for [...]
Mobile Payment
![[2] Electronic payment sensor](http://www.calvin-c.com/media/2010/07/IMG_0608-150x150.jpg "[2] Electronic payment sensor")
It is obvious that the mobile payment system will be big and ubiquitous in the future. However, the current trend of convenient electronic payment is still focusing on proprietary RFID/near-field chips, so it is really difficult to truly get 100% penetration unless one giant company rules them all, makes hugh investment and implements such system in national/international basis. Example of such payment system includes OCTOPUS, SUICA, WAON [1][2], VISA chip card technology, just to name a few. However, my vision of true mobile payment system is based on mobile phone. Here is one example in picture [3]: You order a drink [...]
Time-axis Orientation (Part 3)
Regarding my previous posts about time-axis, Tadashi Kobayashi has pointed out that the design of temporal orientation, i.e. time-axis, is in fact specified in an ISO standard. The standard orientation should be left-to-right to indicate time progress. ISO 1503:2008 Spatial orientation and direction of movement — Ergonomic requirements Abstract ISO 1503:2008 sets out design principles, procedures, requirements and recommendations for the spatial orientation and direction of movement of controls and displays used in tool machines, industrial robots, office machines, earth‑moving machinery, transportation (automobiles, railway electric cars/rolling stock, aircraft, ships, etc.), information, daily commodities, public utilities and the operational components of building facilities. [...]
Time-axis Orientation (Part 2)
![[1] Safari](http://www.calvin-c.com/media/2010/07/t-axis-Safari-150x150.png "t-axis - Safari")
More observations on time-axis orientation in different desktop and web applications: [1][2] Browser has a long tradition of associating left to back and right to next. Since the first graphical UI browser Mosaic, this convention has been one of the golden standards of all browser implementations. [3] financial charts, business reports, scientific research results and many time-based charts use left-to-right to show time progress. The latest data is always appended to the right. [4][5] Music player, video player, media player…etc also associate right-pointing triangle to play, as well as doubling the triangle to indicate fast-forward. [6] Time Machine in Macintosh OS [...]
My name is Calvin Chun-yu Chan, also known as カルビー or Jeepu. I'm a web app developer by trade, with curious and enthusiastic eyes on design, usability, culture and creativity.
Local Map in Train Station with Mobile Phone “Touch Download”