1. Almost nobody, looking at a computer system for the first time, has the slightest idea what it will do or how it should work. What people call an "intuitive interface" is generally one which becomes obvious as soon as it is demonstrated. But before the demo there was no intuition of what it would be like. Therefore the real first sense of "intuitive" is retroactively obvious.
2. Well-designed interactive software gradually unfolds itself, as in the game of Pac-Man, which has many features you don't know about at first. The best term I've heard for this is self-revealing (term coined by Klavs Landberg).

Can't recommend this highly enough. A bit crabby but what a clear thinker,

If you haven't read Ted Nelson you're not really a hacker.

Yeah, well, you know, chocolate!

Most People will give up passwords for a Candy bar

Four robots performing a quasi-traditional Japanese fan dance and something of an N'Synch routine. These aren't the robots of the 60's.

'Dance, Will Robinson!'

"That's why I call telephones an interrupting technology," said Patel, whose girlfriend always seemed to be in a meeting or driving her car when he called. "I didn't want to talk to her, necessarily. I wanted instead to find a way to feel connected to her, or reassured that she was there."

What I find most interesting about this experiment is its motivation...

Ubicomp tables interconnected via the internet

Who hasn't wanted to do this?

I'd put this on a banner ad over spying on the babysitter anyday.

] Intrigued by the possibility of transmitting live video
] and audio from a model rocket to the ground?

Strap a Tiny Camera to a Model Rocket and...

] There will be no final pictures from inside the
] World Trade Center in the instant replay.
] There will be no final pictures from inside the
] World Trade Center in the instant replay.
]
] There will be no RealVideo of 2600-reading,
] Linux-booting white hat hacktivists
] And Mickey Mouse in the public domain.
] The theme song will not be written by Jack Valenti or
] Hilary Rosen, nor sung by Metallica, Dr. Dre,
] Christina Aguilera, Matchbox 20, or Blink-182.
] Revolution is not an AOL Keyword.
]
] Revolution will not be right back after
] Pop-up ads about eCommerce, eTailers, or eContent.
] You will not have to worry about a
] Cookie in your browser, a bug in your email, or a
] Worm in your recycling bin.
] Revolution will not run faster with Intel inside.
] Revolution, dude, is not getting a Dell.
] Revolution will increase your Google rank.
]
] Revolution is not an AOL Keyword, is not an AOL Keyword,
] Is not an AOL Keyword, is not an AOL Keyword.
] Revolution will be no stream or download, dear Netizen;
] Revolution must still be live.

This is an update of the very famous Gil Scott-Heron Poem of the 60's "The Revolution will not be Televised"*. Though I believe our elcetronic connectedness DOES empower revolutionary ideas and movements in a way unlike anything in the past, there is still an amount of candy-coating that surrounds it and lulls people to inaction.

*"...The revolution will not be right back after a message
bbout a white tornado, white lightning, or white people.
You will not have to worry about a dove in your
bedroom, a tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl.
The revolution will not go better with Coke.
The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath.
The revolution will put you in the driver's seat."

Revolution is not an AOL Keyword