March 31, 2004 12:12 AM

Broken: Easy CD-DA Creator

Martijn de Visser writes:

This is an error message displayed by Easy CD-DA Creator complaining to the user that it can't perform an operation, because it is already doing so...

March 30, 2004 12:12 AM

Broken: Epcot Center exit sign

Kevin Frye writes:

Here is a picture of a confusing exit sign that I saw while on vacation in Orlando, Florida.

The sign is in the Epcot Center "Journey into the Imagination" gift shop. The sign seems ambiguous if you are not handicapped and just want to leave the building. The door to the right of the sign is simply an exit that is adjacent to the entrance for another attraction. Most of the people who I observed reading the sign were temporarily confused about which way to go.

March 29, 2004 12:12 AM

Broken: Detroit airport keycard instructions

Ryan writes:

I took this photo at Detroit Metro Airport. Odds are pretty good that a non-English speaking person or two are going to be in direct contact with this usability disaster.

March 26, 2004 12:12 AM

Broken: Stockholm subway buttons

Sarah Jensen writes:

These images are from the subway, or "tunnelbana" system, in Stockholm, Sweden. Two types of trains are in use these days: the old ones and the new ones. Both trains come equipped with "Open" buttons outside the trains' doors. Here's how the buttons work:

On the old trains:
During the winter the doors are kept closed, to keep the heat in, until the user presses the open button. During the summer the doors open automatically.

On the new trains:
The doors always open automatically, making the button completely irrelevant. In addition, there's a strange, circa 5 second pause (an eternity in the AM rush hour!) before the door opens, and I have often seen hopeful passengers pressing the "open" buttons to no avail. Since these buttons don't work I have no idea why they are on the trains at all!

March 25, 2004 12:12 AM

Broken: Apple's iPod repair costs

Dave J. Lowe writes:

This screenshot from Apple's Support page shows the cost to have any out-of-warranty iPod repaired. To have my first-generation 5GB iPod repaired (faulty hard-drive), I would pay $255.95 to receive a replacement first-generation 5GB iPod. That's roughly the same price as a brand new third-generation 10GB iPod! When I called their repair hotline about it, they eagerly advised me to just buy a brand new iPod. An Apple Store employee advised me to sell it on eBay. Good customer experience? Something's definitely broken here.

March 24, 2004 12:12 AM

Broken: RV park pavement

Bob Sifniades writes:

A recreational vehicle (RV) is best enjoyed when it's parked on a level spot. If it's not level, you can always drive up onto a board or two. When we pulled into the Park Avenue RV Park in Prince Rupert, BC, Canada in 2001, we found the spots to be very un-level-- as demonstrated by our very brave neighbors! We chickened out, not wanting to drive up on 15 inches of teetering boards. Sites specifically designed for parking RVs should be a lot flatter! This was by far the worst we saw in our three weeks of touring.

March 23, 2004 12:12 AM

Broken: Healthcare website login

J.E. writes:

Got this message when I entered in what I thought was my username and
password. Great security requirement-- the password needs to be the same as the username!

March 22, 2004 12:12 PM

Broken: Microwave start-stop button

Jerry Morrison writes:

How long can it take to figure out yet another microwave oven? I tried this one for a while and had to go get help. It turns out that only a little area around the "/" is actually touch-sensitive. "Start" and "Stop" are not really buttons, though they feel the same as "/."

The design is so bad that people at work incorrectly concluded that the unit was broken, and it was replaced with the exact same model!

Update March 24: Jerry Morrison writes:

I checked out the oven's back panel today: "HEC Model MWG1001TW, Haier America Trading, Made in China."

Googling for "HEC microwave" found:

http://www.cyberstop.nu/od_268818_HEC_Microwave_Ovens_With_Glass_Turntable.html

March 19, 2004 12:02 AM

Broken: Copenhagen metro railings

Morten Just writes:

In the recently opened Copenhagen Metro Station the railings are flat. Flat enough to place a battery on (as in the images), and flat enough so that the battery can stand alone. That has several major, highly critical, risks. Among them are plaicing bottles on the railings; they then need only need one small push to fall 11 metres (36 feet) and hit somebody in the head.

Tragically, the flat railings have also inspired at least two young men to walk on them. Both died from falling down to the underground platform 11 metres below them. After the second death, which occurred Sept. 2003, the Metro company decided to take action and change the railings. After one year of operation, they promised in a press release that they will have all railings changed to more secure ones by spring 2004.

March 18, 2004 12:12 AM

Broken: Rewind DVD sticker

Chris H. writes:

This sticker was on the inside of a DVD I rented. This was taken about 3.5 years ago, late in 1999/early 2000. A little bit before DVDs were truly mainstream.

March 17, 2004 12:12 AM

Broken: All-encompassing sign

Diana Cornwell writes:

Here's a sign that I saw in a small pull-off from the main coastal road near Bermagui, in New South Wales, on Australia's south-eastern coast. Even on closer inspection, I could only read the one word on it. But what a powerful word! When I took the photo, I wondered if I'd be prosecuted for doing so.

March 16, 2004 12:12 AM

Broken: Elevator buttons

This comes from Scott Heiferman, co-founder of Meetup.com and Fotolog.net, and a speaker at the Gel conference on April 30.

The buttons on this elevator are wired just like they're hand-labeled: the lower button calls the elevator to go up, and the upper button calls it to go down.

March 15, 2004 12:30 AM

Broken: Flight arrival monitor

Amaury Jacquot writes:

I took a picture of this flight arrival monitor at the Las Vegas McCarran airport. You'd expect these to be pretty simple systems, with some sort of embedded OS. Think again! They use Windows 2000 Professional, and thus crash every now and then.

March 12, 2004 12:25 AM

Broken: Target price reduction

Danyel Fisher writes:
 

Target currently advertises the DVD of BASIC for $14.44, PRICE CUT from $19.99. But flip up the new price tag and see what was below it... the old price, of $14.44.

March 11, 2004 12:11 AM

Broken: Store entrance sign

Pat Malecek writes:

Here's an example of bad labeling and/or building codes gone awry. If it's not an entrance, don't put the "IN" arrow on it. Or if it's for employees only, mark it as such.

March 10, 2004 12:30 AM

Broken: Compaq laptop power plug

Michael Boyink writes:

This is my new Compaq Presario 2100 laptop. They equipped the AC power supply with a right-angle plug at the laptop end. The plug extends past the body of the computer, which puts the computer at risk when setting it down. A simple straight plug would have sufficed and probably cost a penny or two less.

March 9, 2004 12:36 AM

Broken: Gillette.com contact form

Jeff Collier writes:

I tried submitting a question to the Gillette Corporation (www.gillette.com)
and received the following page while submitting my question. I guess that pretty much answers my question.

March 8, 2004 12:30 AM

Broken: Restaurant pricing

Kelly Thomsen sends in this sign advertising a free meal that's not really free. She writes:

This chalkboard was in the entry of a Big Boy in Clinton, Ohio. The people who worked there were really confused by the fact that we were so interested in taking a picture of their sign!

March 5, 2004 12:30 AM

Broken: Encarta status bar

SH from Denmark sent this status bar he saw while installing Microsoft Encarta 2004. Above the status bar reads this text:

Please note that the progress bar may reach the end before all files have been copied. Please be patient.

This isn't some two-bit shareware program with a broken status bar, this is one of Microsoft's most popular software applications. And the text shows that Microsoft already knows about the error.

March 4, 2004 09:01 AM

Broken: Microsoft campus sign

Neil Brewitt sends in this apparently contradictory sign from the Microsoft campus (which way do you turn for Building 40?), and writes:

I took this photo about four years ago. Has Microsoft harnessed wormhole space travel?

John writes:

There is apparently a reason for the missing building 7 - from Dylan Greene's blog:

http://www.dylangreene.com/browse.asp?albumID=409&page=2

"Even Microsoft employees sometimes forget which building is where. They weren't built in order, and some numbers are missing. The way the numbering works is that each time Microsoft plans a building, it gets a number. When projects are canceled or delayed, the buildings end up being built out of order or numbers go missing. A favorite prank is to send an intern to a meeting at building that doesn't exist.

In the distance you can see the recruiting building. ~Dylan Greene"

Grant writes:

I work on the MS campus. While the sign looks amusing from that angle, but it's actually not broken at all. The sign is on a corner, so its two sides are being presented to people coming from roads 90 degrees apart. If you're coming from the road on the left, buildings 40-44 are behind you -- but the sign can't exactly tell you to go off in reverse. Thus, the arrow points off to the right, taking you around the block to the buildings. On the other hand, if you're coming from the road on the right, you can just go left and drive straight to those buildings.

March 3, 2004 12:30 AM

Broken: Consumer technology

This CNN.com article talks about the increasing complexity of digital devices: cameras, DVD players, televisions.

When will consumer technology manufacturers learn: consumers aren't served well by a ton of features?

And when will consumers learn: more features doesn't make a product better?

(They should read Uncle Mark 2004 to get smarter.)

March 2, 2004 01:19 AM

Broken: Restaurant name

Inkeri Pekkanen writes from Finland:

Here's a photograph of a restaurant in Sofia, Bulgaria... Would you _really_ like to eat in a place called "Oops!"? I know I wouldn't.

March 1, 2004 01:09 AM

Broken: Fire door

Mark Miletich writes, "I have walked past this door every day for 16 years."

The door says "Fire door; keep locked." If you click to see the zoomed-out version, you'll see that it's a door without a handle. It can't be opened without a key. This is safe during a fire?