Here is a great little article about a cognitive scientist’s gripes with feature filled gadgets that take no account of the human consumer. I found myself laughing at this because despite paying money to have this guy consult, the design of the digital picture frame still went awry. Not to be bitter, or anything like that (no not me), but design rarely seems to start from how someone is actually going to use the product, but, rather, a set of features are settled upon and the engineers must cobble something together that contains the feature set. If you design something the way you would design a Frankenstein monster, then a Frankenstein monster is typically what you end up with.
Personally, I have forgone unneccessary features, for a clean design and ease of operation regardless of cost. I like to thoroughly play with gadgets before I buy them and if Ican’t figure it out within the first couple of tries, then I’m instantly turned off and move on. This would be the primary reason I hate trying to use an AIO beyond printing. I could never get one of those to scan to a file properly. Sigh …
More Rambling 