On a scheduled day trip to some ruins including Moray and Tambomachyu, both vast and inspiring places in their own right, we were told of flooding in the valleys of the Andes. We saw the devastation first hand in Urubamba in Cuzco region (not the same as Cuzco city where we were staying) earlier that day. In fact, the hotel where we were scheduled to stay that night was effected by the flooding. What we didn’t know was how bad it was.

The massive rainfall, which we assumed to be normal but turned out to be the worst the country had experienced in over 15 years, had swelled the river to the point that it was wiping out crops, local homes, businesses, roads, the train track through the Sacred Valley and bridges. The damage had caused mudslides and trapped over 3000 people at Macchu Picchu, where we were scheduled to visit the next day.

The news hit us like a gut punch. Not only was our trip ruined, but we immediately felt the weight of how worse this situation could become. As a group, we thought about fellow travelers and local guides we had met along the way that were likely trapped in at Macchu Picchu. We worried for our safety, not knowing exactly where we were to go the next day and how we were going to get there. It’s at this time we were more focused on the leadership of our GAP guide, Simon Myburgh, than ever before.

In the lobby of the San Augustine hotel back in Cuzco, we carefully listened to the news, contacted loved ones and decided together that we didn’t have much options at this point other than waiting out the night and attempting to continue on with the tour, if possible.

The next day proved to be worse. Our bus driver, unwilling to take us to our next scheduled stop due to heavy rains and washed our roads in Puno, was the canary in the mine that we needed. The tour in our eyes was over. We needed more than ever to get safe passage back to Lima to ensure we got adequate time to get to our international flights home.

At this time, GAP Adventures, our tour operator had little to report. Checking their website and Twitter account at that time, we had no info from them or through our guide about what to do. Later we discovered they assumed we would just continue on to Puno as scheduled – despite the news coverage of damage and road closures that they now state wouldn’t have effected us. Emails to GAP’s Toronto headquarters were answered with the standard company terms and conditions that basically stated GAP isn’t responsible for a re-scheduled itinerary in the face of a natural disaster. We were told to contact our insurance company and begin the process of a trip interruption claim. This was not the news we wanted.

Acting swiftly, our guide told us that if we wanted to leave Cusco for Lima, we needed to get to the local LAN Airlines office. From there we’d be able to purchase one way tickets to Lima for the next day. (Side note: LAN is a wonderful airline that deserves praise for their efficiency and professionalism in an industry that is sorely lacking it.) Feeling we were being left out in the cold if we didn’t take that option, we agreed.

What happens following that will vary depending on who you talk to. Accusing our guide essentially going rogue, all of our correspondence with GAP Lima to date has amounted only to frustration in trying to lodge a complaint for what we felt was poor treatment given our options. It should be noted that the office was expending considerable resources helping aforementioned travelers who were trapped and needed shelter, food and water. However, the inability for the company to have an immediate and consistent communication with its groups, many of whom were savvy enough to use various channels like Twitter, email and the website to seek out information, was astonishing. During the crisis, wherever we turned we couldn’t get a response on how we should have handled the situation until messages from my Twitter account were finally answered by GAP’s chief, Bruce Poon Tip.

After the CEO got involved things moved much quickly. Reps from the local office were in touch and a series of meetings and assurances of refunds, make-up activities and coverage for our hotel in Lima were promised. Though fulfilling that promise resulted in even more back and forth between offices, with all parties blaming one another, from the head office to the regional office to our trusted guide, who remained the only one who appeared to working in earnest for our best interest.

Safe back home now, it may sound that we were overall dissatisfied with our trip but that couldn’t be further from the truth. GAP is an acronym for Great Adventure People, and that’s who we got to be in a beautiful country with a rich history and a strong people. The tour company’s efforts to aid those most effected by the disaster continue to be a success and our group all reached our destinations safe and sound. GAP’s head of operations has even agreed to meet with me to understand how they can improve their communication strategy to avoid the type of situation our group faced.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be booking my trip from a different brochure the next time around. But I’ll know that no matter what’s in the pages, nothing is guaranteed. Which is fine by me.

Not sure how long Dell has been running this program (I’m not a PC) but DellSwarm.com is probably one of the smartest online commerce ventures I’ve seen in a while.

By leveraging the power of bulk-savings and impulse buying, Dell offers the promise of lower prices based on how many committed buyers there are for a limited-time product special.

And of course they are using social media to help spread the work about new swarms and get people on board to help you lower the cost of your (and their) purchase.

Smart strategy with a great design.

More proof that low-budget, high-design makes for big profits. Motel 6 is projecting a 100% increase in bookings next year thanks to a down economy and a great redesign from the creator of Virgin Airline’s airplane cabins.

Read more at Dwell

When it comes to where I live, I’m considering my next space. I’ve reached a point with my current apartment now where I feel it’s comfortable and complete. Without revealing too much, I have an idea where that next space is and this time around I have a great tool to consider and communicate what that space should feel like: Image Spark.

ImageSpark was always meant to be a tool for us, by us that other people could find value in. Using the moodboard to collect inspiration for decor, lighting, furniture and layout was never my intention, although it feels like that’s what it was created for. To me, those are the best experiences online – the ones that provide a specific utility but are a blank canvas for how you want to use them.

I’m eager to see how other people are using moodboards on Image Spark…as soon as find the right dining table.

Apple will be hosting an event today at 1pm PT where they will announce the features of the upcoming iPhone 3.0 software. (You can follow a live blog of the event on Macworld.)

For those not a member of Apple fandom (or a shareholder), here’s what this means:

For the business, the event is aimed at keeping the luster on a product that has become the benchmark of the mobile phone industry but is at risk of losing traction as competitors come around to duplicating what made it a success. (Read: The Palm Pre)

For developers, many of whom have made careers out of developing applications for the iPhone, this will hopefully mean a few new tools they can play with to bring an even better experience to the phone. I’ve downloaded several great apps since I got my iPhone and whether I use them to tune my guitar, chat with friends, play a game, check movie listings or find a restaurant, they’ve all been worth it.

That brings us to the consumer. End users will benefit from today’s announcement in a mostly indirect way. I suspect a lot of features announced won’t be cosmetic but rather aimed at expanding the development feature set. Other than Kevin Rose’s (probably correct) prediction that copy-and-paste functionality will be included in today’s announcements, I can’t imagine there will be more tangible updates for the user to look forward to in the iPhone interface.

But of course, no one ever really knows until it happens. Especially when it comes to Apple.

Update: Macworld is reporting that Apple has over 100 features for end user including, as reported, cut, copy & paste and shake to undo. (Developers have over 1000 new features to play with including a notification system and peer-to-peer connections via WiFi or Bluetooth.)

Update 2: In the end it looks like there are a lot of great new features that users will immediately benefit from and a whole lot more that developers can sink their teeth into. Rather than summarizing all the new features here I’ll point you to the Apple site, now updated with all the features in the coming software update.

I attended the Canadian Autoshow today for the first time since I was in highschool. Just like old times, my Dad was there as we walked through the maze of cars, trucks and alternative vehicles spread out for kids and potential customers/fans to view.

This year’s show was definitely overshadowed by the economic changes affecting auto manufacturers. In the midst of re-structuring and declining sales, I was interested to see how automakers would woo buyers feeling the pinch from the economic downturn themselves. Would they provide useless incentives, empty “green” marketing and frivolous features? Or would they provide value through good design, truly efficient energy consumption and modest pricing.

On the flip side, I was also interested in how people at the show would react to the products on the floor. I was pleased to see the huddles around Lincoln Navigators and Cadillac Escalades virtually non-existent. But I also saw absolutely no one near the Ford Escape Hybrid, a very fuel efficient and well designed utility vehicle for it’s price, even in comparison to some subcompact cars. It seems at the end of the day, it’s easy to blame manufacturers, but it’s us who have the final vote on what sinks or swims when it comes to cars.

I’ve posted highlights on my Flickr, complete with my observations. Enjoy!

Kanye West, who was sitting front row at the Vuitton show, has designed a line of five LV sneakers. Only one design, above, was featured in the show — a monochromatic midtop with no frills, save for a quilted flap in the back, all the easier to tuck pants into. “The inspiration came from a jacket with a huge collar in the movie ‘Dune,’ ” West says. “Most sneakers focus on the tongue, so I wanted to do something different.”

West plays off the key part of his design here. He didn’t just do something different to be different. He addressed a specific need he knew other people might find value in (i.e. not sullying up the cuffs of your jeans) and used some inspiration from a different medium to come up with a creative remedy. Isn’t that what we’re all charged with as designers in the interactive realm?

Via The Moment

In my opinion, there’s two problems here:

1) There’s not enough behavioral studies, ethnographic research or just basic observation going on to decipher the needs of users on a day-to-day basis.

2) Consumers, lined with bloated credit over the years, have bought into the idea that every facet of their life can be improved by purchasing some new device or service that promises something faster, smaller, larger and/or more lifelike for cheaper. 

The solution to the first problem is simple. Companies need to identify true innovators in the industry, find out what they’re thinking and, more importantly, why they’re thinking that way. For example, when Steve Jobs said that Blu-Ray doesn’t make sense for MacBooks he’s saying more than one thing. First, and most obvious, Blu-Ray competes with HD movies from the iTunes store and that doesn’t make sense for Apple’s bottom-line. More importantly though, the demand for Blu-Ray is overblown. I, like a lot of friends, have the perfect setup for watching Blu-Ray media but aren’t collecting or renting a lot of HD movies on Blu-Ray. Why? Well, why do that when digital movies and rentals are available (legally and illegally) right from my couch?  People are downloading way more movies than buying Blu-Ray discs, despite the trade-off in quality because it’s easier. Jobs knows that placating the majority* means supplying for the true demand (convenience for now, picture quality when it’s convenient) and, in turn, making the most out of his business. This is what’s at the core of user experience design; Among other myths, it’s not just about the user, but also creating a legitimate market ecosystem based on real needs and behaviors.

As for us, the consumer, we need to really look at what a new service or product is offering and think, “Am I really going to use this?”  Aside from the Palm Pre and networked-TVs, nothing in Gizmodo’s Top 10 of CES Day 1 will actually make my life better. By curbing our consumption (easier done in the current economic climate) we can use the ultimate message, dollars, to tell companies what not to waste their time and effort on.

So what technology out there would I like to see that actually helps? At the the top of the list I’d love to see advances in cloud computing so, like Gmail, my preferences, data and software can be ubiquitously available whether I’m at work, on the go, or at home. 

Also, it would be nice to see offices ditch horrible, single-packet coffee machines in lieu of a nice, big, French-Press coffee pot.

Okay, I’m finally jealous of another phone. Palm just announced the Palm Pre and it’s clear they’ve done their homework. The Pre is everything you’ve come to expect from a sophisticated mobile device – easy access to communication, media, apps and web in a touch interface – but refines it by improving the human-machine interactions and the promise of technology doing more heavy lifting to organize your information.

Things like:

• Removing the (annoying) restriction of running one app at a time,
• Replacing buggy virtual keyboards with a slide-out, hard keyboard
• Unifiying IM and SMS-based chatting
• Partnering with Microsoft, Facebook and Google to unify your inbox, contact entries and calendar information

And more…

More details and pics available on the Palm Pre site