My online banking site wants me to change my password every couple of months. No wonder the password now looks like Blahblahblah16 (not literally “Blahblahblah”, don’t worry), and it isn’t too hard to guess it will be Blahblahblah17 next time they make me change it.

Theoretically, changing password from time to time should make my banking more secure: if someone finds out what my password is, he won’t be able to use it forever (not a big win, by the way, but that’s another story). Practically though, this does not work, because not all passwords are created equal, and the more you make me change them, the more predictable they tend to be.

If you make people do what they don’t want to do, they will try to cheat and avoid actually doing it. Here, I add numbers to my “base” password. Some systems prevent this by forcing your new password to be significantly different from the previous one. But people are smarter than machines, they will find a loophole. For example, I could have used two strong and very different passwords and switch between them every time it asks me. Disallow this, and I will come up with strong, original, completely non-repeating and nonsensical password every time — and write it down on a sheet of paper.

While modal interfaces are evil, there are cases where the designers haven’t yet figured out a way to get completely modeless. I, for one thing, cannot imagine Photoshop without tools.

But why on Earth does Apple use modes in the Camera app? Notice the small switch in the bottom right:

Don’t know about you, but I constantly get into a trap of modal errors here. I press the shutter button, and heck, the stupid thing is now recording video. Apparently I was shooting video the last time I opened the Camera app... who cares, the moment is missed already.

Apple talks about how they’ve improved the camera start-up time in the new iPhone. That, as well as the addition of a dedicated camera button to the home screen, is great. But things like this stupid switch void their efforts, because there’s always a 50% chance that you won’t to actually take a picture.

Unlike a modeless Photoshop, this problem is easy to solve:

Yes, I know about the different “crop factors” for photo and video and that there are some additional options for photo. But so what? Just call the options “Photo options” and zoom in when starting to shoot video.

The new mix is a progressive house one.

I was going to call it “Lust And Passion” as it includes the tracks named “Circles of Lust” and “Passion Of Zorro”. But then I changed my mind: Dosem and his track Freed are the heroes of the mix. In fact, everything Dosem produces is delicious. Both “Beach Kisses” and “Silent Drop” were splendid. And now here’s Freed (40:25+) — boy is it good!

The rest of the tracks are also great. Why would I include them in the mix otherwise, right?

Wireless DJ, the iPad MIDI controller (created by Evgen Bodunov and myself), has been updated to support effects. Use EQ/FX switch to select how to treat the three knobs and turn the effects on/off with a separate button. I’ve made a video with a demo of the new feature. Not a great performance, but good enough for you to get the idea. Also, this Dany Sbert’s track is awesome:

By the way, the website has been also updated. Don’t forget to download the new configuration file for Traktor Pro.

Wireless DJ is the most affordable and cool way to get into mixing.

If you just want to take a picture, you use your iPhone. But what if you want great quality? Not “great for a phone”, but plain great? You shoot with a DSLR camera.

Unfortunately, DSLRs are painfully outdated. With them you can’t tweet or email photos, you can’t crop or adjust them and you can’t organize your library. And to get your photos anywhere, you’ll need a cord or a compatible card reader. This is ridiculous given that it’s 2012.

Adding all these features to cameras, on the other hand, seems unrealistic. It will take years of work and the UI will be terrible. Doubt it? Just look at your current camera buttons and menus and imagine setting up a twitter account on it. It’s crazy, no one would ever do this even if they had the feature.

The solution: remove everything from the back side of the camera and make it an iPhone dock:

Here are the features you get for free (or at low cost) after you’ve done this:

• Super high quality touch screen. Use iPhone to configure presets and settings or as a viewfinder when necessary.
• Store photos on the phone, share photos with anyone on any service.
• Get your photos backed up to iTunes or iCloud’s Photo Stream wirelessly.
• Watch photos and videos wirelessly with Airplay.
• Get location tags on all photos.
• Use the phone as a reserve power source.
• Edit photo and video with apps from Instagram to iMovie.
• Use advanced developer tools to extend this list to your liking.

OK, stop me, or I can just list all the iPhone features and say they are now features or this awesome DSLR.

Since you don’t have to include all this stuff with the camera, it will be dramatically cheaper to produce. And since it makes the camera so much more useful, it’s an incredible profit opportunity. How come nobody has done it yet?