Interfaces in Movies

Jakob Nielsen wrote an interesting piece about user interfaces in film. He says they "are more exciting than they are realistic, and heroes have far too easy a time using foreign systems." Think James Bond or Jason Bourne. Here are his top 10 bloopers reprinted from his "Alertbox" entry for December 18, 2006 titled "Usability in the Movies -- Top 10 Bloopers":

1. The Hero Can Immediately Use Any UI
2. Time Travelers Can Use Current Designs
3. The 3D UI - it's very tiring to keep your arms in the air while using a computer
4. Integration is Easy, Data Interoperates - users have no trouble connecting to different computer systems
5. Access Denied / Access Granted
6. Big Fonts - most computer screens in the movies feature big, easily readable text
7. Star Trek's Talking Computer
8. Remote Manipulators (Waldo Controls) e.g. driving from your cell phone in the back seat of the car
9. You've Got Mail is Always Good News
10. "This is Unix, It's Easy"