2006 Hall of Fame and Shame voting

Okay, I am declaring the nominations closed for the 2006 User>Driven Hall of Fame and Shame. And I'm going to declare the winner for the Hall of Shame, based on popular outrage, to be the Comcast HD set top box with DVR.

Hall of Shame winner: Comcast HD set top box with DVR

Reader Lars summed up the user experience well when he said the "Comcast succubus has drained the life force out of my media experience." Users cited frequent crashes, unresponsive remotes, poor navigation and searching, and the lack of basic features found on competing DVRs that have been on the market for many years. Worse, people would switch, but this is the only 2-tuner HD DVR on the market.

Hall of Shame runner up: CVS.com 

I will personally choose CVS.com as runner up for the Hall of Shame as well, based on reader Barry's multiple attempts to place and verify an order on the site. Barry cited a single-session shopping cart teamed with a 10-minute session expiration, repeated time-outs, and hand-generated email confirmations "when they get around to it."

Hall of Fame voting 

As to the Hall of Fame, we have 17 nominations with none receiving more than the vote of its nominator. So, I'd like to throw open voting for the Hall of Fame as of right now. As before, the criteria are some product or service that you've used in 2006 and that you think is both highly useful and highly usable, that's "so elegant in its design and operation it must be the result of a good feedback loop between the product designers and its intended users."

Here are the nominees. There's more software and online services than any other category, but it's quite a diverse bunch overall. Remember, it's an honor to be nominated!

1. Shutterfly greeting card service
   
2. iRobot Roomba vacuum
3. Blogger blogging service
4. Slingbox media streamer
5. Netflix DVD service
6. Lee Valley Tools Website
7. Flickr photo sharing site
8. Backpack online to do list manager
9. Beauty's Pizza
10. ING Direct online savings account
11. iTunes TV Season Pass
12. Yelp online restaurant reviews
13. Yojimbo organization software
14. Steel head hammer
15. Nintendo DS Lite handheld game player
16. Sugar operating system
17. Ubuntu Linux

Reply to this blog entry below by clicking on comments, entering your pick for the Hall of Fame and, if you like, typing a few words about why you picked what you did. Oh, and try not to vote for what you nominated unless you really feel strongly it is the best of the bunch.

My vote

Upon reflection, I'm going to vote for Netflix. I started using it a couple of years ago and stopped when I found I wasn't watching the esoteric list of movies I put on my list because I thought I should. I started again this year when my parents (yes, the older, less technologically savvy generation) told me they were renting whole seasons of TV series they'd missed like The West Wing and The Sopranos. Turns out Netflix is great for that. Now my wife and I watch an episode of something good from Netflix nearly every night. (This week it's Battlestar Galactica, Season 2.)

What's your vote? Use the Comments link below...

Comments

[Ben Brophy]

I am going to echo your pick: Netflix. I am impressed by their constant iteration and experiments aimed at improving user experience (even when I think they could do better: http://www.benbrophy.com/item-detail.php?id=20070116031711 ). They attention they paid to making the Queue, the one page at the heart of their app is indication of their style, as are their envelopes which are brilliantly designed.

[Claire Gribbin]

Of course, I'll have to go with Netflix, too, since I nominated it originally :). After reviewing the list, I found it rather surprising and interesting that I had experience with so many of the products. Of those listed, I have incorporated the following into my everyday life -- ING Direct, Nintendo, Backpack, Flickr, Blogger, Yelp and roomba. I am amazed to see how quickly these new technologies can become indispensable. Must be a testament to good, user-centered design.

[Bruce McCarthy]

A word about Roomba, nominated by Kinhong. Based on Kinhong's strong reference, I bought a Roomba. We've tried it out on 4 rooms so far and I must say it lives up to expectations.

Many reviewers said it was slow compared to doing it yourself, but that seems to me to be missing the point. We do have to move a few chairs and pick up a bit (just like if we wewre vacuuming by hand), but after that we just let the robot do the work.

And it even finds its charger and plugs itself back in when done. It is truly set and forget.

Great product. Clearly designed with users' real needs in mind -- not taking the time themselves to do the vacuuming or babysit the robot.