I find a similar trend with some websites where there's little dead-space for a mouse-click to switch the focus off of a control, hyperlink, or widget towards the document window itself.<p>This is also particularly irksome on sites which implement full-background ads. The only "non-hot-zones" end up being small parcels of the titlebar or footer.<p>I recall this concept of "dead/neutral" space mentioned in one Don Norman's books (<a href="http://jnd.org" rel="nofollow">http://jnd.org</a>).
This is my biggest gripe with my iphone (and other fully touchscreen phones/devices). I have to hold it by its four thinnest edges on the sides.<p>Re-aligning the phone in my hand usually requires use of the other hand since it is hard to "crawl" my fingers around the edges. At least with my previous Treo or blackberry I could rest my thumb or finger across the keyboard to "grip" the phone when picking it up or moving it.<p>It's funny how the front touch-screen, when on, renders the entire back almost untouchable as well.
For folks who don't deal with non-technical folks often: "Something unexpected happen, I assumed it was broken, and I immediately stopped using it to prevent the brokenness from spreading" is an absurdly common reaction.
I must say that I disagree with the author. I think humans get used to the experience and adapt. I remember when I used to drive a bicycle as a kid, I was scared when dogs ran across me because I thought I would run into them. Then I realized they are intelligent and they will evade me on their own.<p>I think when you are designing, one should not consider the user to be dumb.
<i>You hand it to them, the screen auto-rotates, and they freak out for a second and think they broke something.</i><p>That hasn't been my experience when passing the iPad around at family events. It's usually "Ooh, that's a useful idea." I <i>hate</i> the rotating myself but the orientation lock fixes that. The iPhone is worse because it doesn't have one.<p><i>You can pick up a TV remote, twirl it around, and run your finger over some buttons without triggering anything.</i><p>Humans are smart. You can't pick up a glass of lemonade, a mug of coffee, a donut, a cat or a vase without understanding how they respond. People are quick to learn how to handle items without being "stressed," though almost any novel item will cause a little initially. There are plenty of folks throwing 2 ton boxes of metal with incredibly delicate controls down roads at 70mph right now without incident.<p>That the iPad has a different usage profile to the Kindle has little to say on how "peaceful" or "low stress" it is for someone who is realistically going to use it. This 99 year old woman doesn't seem to be having any problems - <a href="http://www.tuaw.com/2010/04/22/99-year-old-loves-her-first-computer-an-ipad/" rel="nofollow">http://www.tuaw.com/2010/04/22/99-year-old-loves-her-first-c...</a>. People are more concerned about things like it being next to useless in sunlight, how delicate it feels, or how the screen is made of glass.
Similarly, on Macbooks the Disc Eject button is really close to the Delete key. If you just tap the eject button, like you'd tap Delete, nothing happens. You really have to hold it down for 0.5s or so for the Eject to register.
I find the auto-rotate awkward as well, and mostly keep the orientation locked. The "peaceful" description nails it perfectly.<p>BTW, this reminds me again why having the same interface as iphone/ipod touch is a good thing. Anyone who has used those devices would likely not be too surprised.