Seems like you are being a bit harsh Jared -- the equipment/tools do not generate the predictions and bad predictions are often due to poor choice of tasks, small samples, or lack of background in analysis and interpretation methods.
I would suggest getting the new Pulse pen by Livescribe (www.livescribe.com) that allows you to tape record as your take notes. The software highlights the association between your audio and your notes so you can do things like have a symbol for "good quote" and then click on the symbol to play the exact quote and not the paraphrase that so often happens when someone talks quickly. It is $179 at Target in the USA. At out last user conference, I had a user draw a sketch using the pen and narrating as he drew and it was extremely useful. Other suggestions might be subscriptions to remote collaboration tools like GoToMeeting, a good digital camera, and one of the new miniature and relatively inexpensive video systems that run for about an hour or so and have only a few buttons. A good tripod can be useful for documenting your work nicely. Chauncey On Mon, Feb 2, 2009 at 12:27 PM, Jared Spool <jsp...@uie.com> wrote: > > On Feb 2, 2009, at 7:04 AM, Rony Philip wrote: > > Even in this recession time, I have been given a decent budget for my user >> experience team. I have planned to invest in usability tools/ products >> (assets) for our team. E.g. Eye tracker. >> > > One of these days, I'm going to make a "Just Say No to Eye Trackers" > t-shirt. > > How about a Ouija Board? They run about 1/3000 the price and produce just > as good predictions of what works and what doesn't. (Hell, for that price, > buy two.) > > :) > > Jared > > p.s. Better not just buy two Ouija boards. What if they don't agree? You > need to buy 3, so that you can see which two are close to being the same > answer. Now, this is getting expensive, not to mention the cost of the staff > needed to run them. > > > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
