DesignAday

My name is Jack Moffett. I am an Interaction Designer with over ten years of experience. According to Herb Simon, that makes me an expert, so I must have something worth sharing. I have started this venture as an exercise to spur critical thinking about my chosen profession. I hope that others may find it thought provoking as well.

DesignAday will present a brief thought about Design every weekday.
Apr 15
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Talking sMac

I love my Mac… which makes me all the more sensitive to its faults. I often commend Apple for their attention to detail. Now I have a question.

As smart as OS X is, why is it that if I am watching a video for several minutes, my screensaver comes on? Sure, I specified a period of inactivity after which it should start, but why is playing a video considered to be an inactive state?

Why does Time Machine perform a backup while I’m playing World of Warcraft? Or even worse, why can’t .Mac Sync and the Spotlight indexer understand that I’m doing something that will be adversely affected by the cycles they consume?

I want my system to prioritize its processes based on what I’m doing at any given moment, rather than blindly adhere to a timer.