The curse of metal whiskers: "It's a done deal for any electronics industry player that wants to remain in the game, but all are moving forward with the nagging anxiety that they might be setting trillions of individual stages for the quiet, stealthy growth of metal whiskers that can do no good."

Include 2005: "The object of the biennial Include conferences is to strengthen and build on growing links between those researchers, practitioners and companies who have identified inclusive design as a strategy around which social and commercial objectives can converge."

The Zen of Jeff Bezos: "Bezos took what he calls 'the bold, stupid path' and stocked his shelves with a million titles."

I am a big fan of stupidity. Much as Larry Wall believes the virtues of a programmer to be laziness, hubris, and impatience, I think stupidity is massively under-rated. As a culture we don't like admitting that we can't foresee the consequences of everything we do; and as such we're driven to do smart stuff and ignore those consequences.

"More and more money will go into making a great customer experience, and less will go into shouting about the service. Word of mouth is becoming more powerful. If you offer a great service, people find out."

Miscellaneous interface-related stuff I've bookmarked but not had time to blog recently:

• PeterMe on folksonomies
• Mr Webb on wave messaging. The tilt sensor in the cover sounds really cool: imagine a handset interface where you shake it, etch-a-sketch-style, to return to your home screen... or flick the phone to answer (or finish) a call. (Where are gestural interfaces on PDAs, anyway?)
• Mr Jones on sparklines and Wikipedia

An extended piece from the Guardian on the EyeToy, by Andrew Losowsky: "Instead of studying the manual and tapping complicated combos, you should be able to record and then replay your own special moves in a dancing or a fighting game. With bonus points for style.".

Foe Romeo expands on this with specific reference to girl gamers: "One of my most enjoyable EyeToy moments was during my hen weekend, when the girls starting 'hacking' the boxing game by picking up objects lying around my livingroom - like a handbag - to increase the size and impact of their hits. It didn't exactly help them score higher but it was bloody funny so they kept doing it."

We found this with Donkey Konga - the fun of a roomful of friends helping a new player by clapping along for them (or hindering an expert by doing the same thing out-of-tune) adds to the game. It's all about distance and timing...