Friction

If you leave a boat in seawater for too long, barnacles will start attaching and growing. They glue themselves to the hull of your boat with a glue six times stronger than any human-made adhesive. As those barnacles accumulate they start to have an effect. …

On making peace with one’s home of origin. On integrating all pieces. Pieces you’ve left. Pieces others throw at you. Peace with the past, the present and the future you. The misconfiguration of you. Your present is a grasp you’re trying to catch up. You’re on your mind. You are observing, judging…

ChatGPT is raving all over the internet right now. An artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot developed by OpenAI, it is able to respond to human words like a real human would. It’s capabilities in technology are even more impressive. Troves of Youtube videos about asking ChatGPT to code software, websites, and…

Crosslinking refers to the connection points between polymer chains. Individual polymer chains are like spaghetti noodles that can take on various conformations such as rigid rod or flexible coil. However, to become a gel network, the chains need to be connected via connection joints that have more than two junctions…

Friction is a design tool, when applied correctly it improves our experiences, decision satisfaction, and can protect us. Since our brains are designed to look for shortcuts, repeated tasks that have little to no variation can quickly turn into habits. When we operate on autopilot we relegate our actions to…

Anu was a modern woman who was ambitious and driven. She had always been focused on her career and was determined to climb up the corporate ladder. However, as she progressed in her career, she found herself facing new challenges that she had not anticipated. One of the biggest challenges…

I stopped putting gell in my hair and my productivity went up a notch. And it’s not because static electricity holds it up together instead. — I have a YouTube channel I wouldn’t disclose because I want this account to be anonymous, but creating a video is a hassle. You adjust your camera, light, microphone, chair, and vocal cords. And on top of it all, you have to make sure your hair is right. That’s friction.

Well, it was just another normal day, but a person wished she could be more “normaler”. Familiar yet strange place, with familiar yet stranger people. Well, everyone looks natural but what’s she missing? A lot but negligible. Humongous but probably doesn’t make any difference. …

A website coaxed me into doing something I committed not to do. They did this by removing friction. Having spent 28 years developing tech products, I’m always keen on learning how products and services create frictionless experiences. Here’s how it went: I placed some footwear in my cart. While checking…