Category Archives: Consumer Electronics

Self Checkout: Now Serving a Bad UX

Self checkout systems at supermarkets and hardware stores are becoming ubiquitous.  They all deliver a horrible user experience.  I was in Lucky recently and after swiping my credit card I was prompted “Credit 6.98 OK?”.  It took me three three tries to get it right (I know – I’m slow).  But here’s what went through my mind:

  1. The Debit button’s arrow it pointing toward the “OK?” on the screen.  I’ll press the Debit button.  Fail.
  2. Are they asking me, “Debit or Credit?”.  I press the Credit button.  Fail.
  3. I press the green Enter button.  Success!

But I have to ask myself:

  • Why is “OK?” the approval phrase?  The button they want me to press is labeled Enter AND Yes.  Why didn’t they use either of those words?
  • In addition to allowing the Enter button to be a valid input, is there any reason not to have Debit and/or Credit be a valid button too?
  • And they couldn’t be bothered to add a dollar sign to the display?  To wit “Credit $6.98”

“Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” Unwatchable Due To Audio Problems

Tonight we tried to watch Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs on Blu-ray. It was unwatchable due to audio problems. The sound in the trailers and menu were fine. But when the movie played the “DTS-HD Master Audio Multi Ch” decoding was horrible. It was like a needle scratching a record. The Disc was played on an LG Network Blu-ray Disc Player (Model BD370V, Driver Version: H42301, SW Version: BD.8.16.693.A) which was connected via HDMI to a Sony STR-DA5400ES Multi Channel AV Receiver. I have access to the same Blu-ray Disc Player connected via HDMI to an Onkyo TX-SR806 AV Receiver I will try out in the coming days and update this post.

Update 11/5: It turns out the problem is with the LG Blu-ray Disc Player.  The audio scratching also happened with a different LG (same model and software revision level) in a different setup.  The disc played fine in a PS3.  I tested chapter 1 and chapter 19 to rule out the possibility of a localized disc defect.  I have contacted LG and they are escalating.