Kid's say the darndest things

So I am up a week on iOS 7 and overall I like it.  From an Aging Hacker perspective the white glare caused by the thin fonts, results in a bit more page glare than I'd like An option to soften the white background would be great.  It gets tiring to read after a bit.  The bright colors will require an acclimation period too.  My least favorite iOS 7 converted app is the New York Times.  Absolute;y hate what they hav edoen with it, but not enough for me to unsubscribe.

But the best comments come from my favorite class of early adopters, kids.  Art Linkletter had a show with that title and he would ask children questions and would receive some stunningly honest and comedic answers.  This frank approach to life makes children intriguing for product feedback.  Therefore it was not totally a surprise to me that one of the members of my google group software-universe posted this comment:

To give you some background, my older daughter is 5 now and has been using my iPhone (and later iPad) since she was ~1. 

I upgraded my iPad to iOS 7 over the weekend. When she asked to play with it, I handed it over expecting her to react to the nice new wallpaper that I set up and new look for the lock screen. Instead, she was confused and no longer knew how to unlock it. Watching this unfold kind of soured the update for me...makes me think that there are fundamental issues with the design cues.

But then she acclimated:

...She hasn't had any trouble since that initial reaction, and is back to finding her Minnie Mouse puzzles and interactive books without issue.

Thanks Sean Kilpatrick for letting me blog those comments!  Another group member, Brad Bershad, creator of ZUMIC, pointed to this video of a child's reaction to the change.  Change is difficult!

On the hardware front I supported a project on indiegogo, $9 arduino leonardo compatible board (which was actually $11, I got 2, but he threw in some leds, buttons, a small breadboard, misc resistors, diodes, ..., and cables) from borderless electronics.   I took it for a spin this weekend and really liked it.  Looks like there is nothing in the way of moving to some Christmas lighting projects.

Sorry it was so long between posts, but I had a rough September.  Hope to do better in the coming months.  Later!