Holger Struppek, an ex-Pentagrammer, shares some of their experiences on working on the interfaces. One of the features that I had envisioned back then was a single click cash dispensing option that suggests an amount based on the user’s transaction history. Its good to learn that this feature has been adopted in Pentagram’s work -

A great feature of the Wells Fargo ATM UI has always been the Quick Cash button. It allows you to quickly withdraw $40 from your checking account with the press of one button. There is no need to go through the steps of selecting an account, selecting an amount, and confirming the transaction. However, few people knew that this feature could be customized with a different amount and account.

The article talks about the research, decision on using grid-based visual design, color palette, user testing and other stuff that went in to redefining the ATM interface design paradigm.

It’s been more than a week since I got back from Udaipur, but I haven’t posted my photos nor written about the trip yet. Time for amends, so with due apologies, here’s my travelogue of the trip.

Ramp Attack at RGB was an opportunity for me to experiment on fashion photography. Since I was using a normal lens (which had no luxury of zoom) I had to be close to the stage in order to capture some decent photos. There was ample scope for experimentation and I did manage to learn to quickly switch settings on the fly to capture the images based on ambient light. I’m quite happy with the results and would love to hear your thoughts on it as well.

The ‘process’ begins the moment you step into the facility. Image capturing devices including camera-phones aren’t allowed in the premises. If you happen to have one, you need to surrender the phone before entering the facility and take it back on your way out. This is pathetic. For a person who’s work depends a lot on telephone, this really put me off. I’d rather ask the person I need to meet to come out instead. By asking visitors for phones, they are indeed inviting trouble. I was tempted to take some shots of the facility just for the heck of it and publish it online.

Then comes the register entries. Signing registers is a must and not doing so is almost sacrilige; before you actually get to the purpose of your visit. If your work involves moving to different floors within the same building, you need to sign-in and sign-out each time you move from one floor to another. They do this to track movement of visitors or contractors within the facility. All I see is, stack of register with pages and pages of crap. Small wonder, why forests in the country are fast depleting.

The point is, one needs to spend almost 15-20 minutes complying with these security procedures for a work/meeting that would hardly take 5 minutes. And this is repeated every time you walk into the building. A popular argument would be that this helps keeping trouble out. But does it really? Here’s the twist.

This particular organization (an MNC) that I’ve been frequenting for the past few weeks, have security personnel that work on a shift basis. I know most of them because of my frequent visits (duh!) and as such, they are quite easy with me on a few of the procedures. Now I happily carry my cameraphone, skip signing a few registers and even drink coffee whenever I feel like. Thats the level of security that we were talking about earlier. Now all I need is some RDX, a liquid that aids explosives (whatever that may be) and the media informed before setting off the bomb. The next morning, as we all can expect, the bombing will be somehow linked to Lakshar-e-Toiba/Al-Qaeda and the current peace process with Pakistan will come to an indefinite halt.

Ok, so whats the solution?

Instead of having a lot of security personnel hovering around each floor and inviting trouble from otherwise normal people (like me), they can reduce the workforce and increase the use of technology. Every visitor could be given a smartcard embedded with an RFID tag that gives them controlled access within the facility. Simply put, this means giving access rights to areas in the facility that the visitor wants to go. Other areas will be not be given access without prior approval. The access rights can be remotely programmed on to the smartcard. So all you need is a single card for entering the premises.

From the security company’s view, they can map the location of the visitor in real-time and even set alarms or activate closed circuit cameras upon intrusion into non-designated areas. The security company can maintain a movement log in a database and thus minimize use of paper. On leaving the premises, the visitor hands over the smartcard.

All this is an effecient and time-saving way of doing the same thing. It only invloves utilizing available technologies and making things work better.

I’ve cast my first vote ever for the 2006 State Assembly Elections in TamilNadu.

This has been a first not only for me but also for my family. Its only recently that we’ve moved back to India (all of us) and I’m pretty happy that we exercised our franchise. We set out early this morning and were pleasantly surprised by the security arrangements made for the voters. My only gripe is that the entire list on the electronic polling machine was in Tamil – a language that I unfortunately cannot read or write. It would be better if they had English in addition to Tamil as it would help a significant section of the population in casting their votes. I did, however, know the symbol of the party I wanted to elect and that helped. Nonetheless, it was a good experience and there is a sense of pride somewhere.

Much to my dismay, I couldn’t find the time to post while in Delhi. There were plenty of things to do on the work front and very little time to explore Delhi. However, thanks to a friend, I did do a bit of sightseeing on the last two days of my trip. Saw a few historic buildings and even did “mall-hopping” in Gurgaon, which by the way, wasn’t all that great compared to what I’ve heard about them.

Cannaught Place, referred to CP by Delhiites appears to be the business hub of Delhi. Its like this huge circle with radial roads spreading out in all directions. Its pretty confusing to drive through the area as most of them look identical.

Visiting the Taj Mahal was out of the question as one would need a whole day to travel to Agra and back, which I did not have. So, I’ve left that for the future.

On the last day of my trip, barely 4 hours before I left, a friend and I went for a drive to the India Gate. India Gate is a prominent fixture in central Delhi and cannot be missed. The excusite monument has an aura thats very hard to put in words. Inscribed on top is the following

To the dead of the Indian armies who fell honoured in France and Flanders Mesopotamia and Persia East Africa Gallipoli and elsewhere in the near and the far-east and in sacred memory also of those whose names are recorded and who fell in India or the north-west frontier and during the Third Afgan War.

We spent some time there looking at the splendid form and all the tourists who were spread around posing for pictures. It was a nice evening. There was a lake nearby where you could go boating for almost nothing. While walking around the place I noticed the Rashtrapati Bhavan (Presidential Palace) right ahead. We decided to go there and see it up close.

Where I almost met the President

The Rashtrapati Bhavan has a breathtaking architecture. While we were outside the palace, I got an opportunity to speak to one of the guards there. During the course of our conversation, I candidly asked him what it would take to meet the President. He laughed at first, but when he realised that I was serious, he asked me try another gate which was located at the far end of the palace. We went there and told the guards there our intent. To my luck, one of the guards happened to be from South India, so speaking to him in native language helped enormously. We were let in and asked to contact the Central Registry Office.

Now, normally one would need to take an appointment weeks in advance to meet the President and it should have to do with some issue that needs to be discussed. But we did not have any. We just wanted to meet our President and spend few minutes with him and we were very honest with that. I met a nice person at the Central Registry Office and told him my case. He turned me down saying that it was not possible to meet the President like that which obviously was right. But when I insisted that I’ve come this far, he asked me to write a letter and had it sent immediately to the Personal Secretary to the President (PSP). We were asked to wait.

We were excited with our prospects and spent few minutes looking around while waiting at the office. The palace was massive with lush green grass laid out as a carpet and a few peacocks straying around. After about 5 minutes I got a call from the PSP, saying that it was not possible to meet the President at such short notice more so as he had prior commitments with the visiting Bangladeshi prime minister. They asked us to come back the following morning. I knew at this point it would be futile pushing it any further as I was already getting late for my flight back home. We thanked and left.

Looking back now, I wish I had that one extra day so that I could have met the President. Hopefully some day, I will.

Bangalore Bloggers BLogged out last weekend and headed to Honnemardu. This was a “no-computer, no-phone” weekend. Yes, not even phones due to lack of network in the area.

We had loads of fun. The semi-periodic spells of rain coupled with the all-day water sports made sure that we were wet throughout.

View the Flickr photo essay

For writeup, check -
Suman’s travelogue, Anita’s take on the trip, Arnab’s tales from the blogout, Vasu’s Honnemardu blogout, Sathish’s water story and Kavitha’s poem.

More pictures available here.

My take on the trip to follow soon.