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The results are in for the Morae Outrageous Lab Contest

Congratulations to all who entered the Morae Outrageous Lab Contest! It was fun to read all the submissions and to see what the labs were like before and after the Morae makeover! It was hard to pick a winner - there were so many great entries! I'm glad to see the Apple video iPod go to a nice new home...all the way over in Finland. I showed great restraint and didn't even open it.

First place (Apple's video iPod)

Mikko Sola, usability consultant, WM-data, Finland

Before: "All of this sounds very technical and hard labor, and believe me, it was. We would not trade back to our previous system unless we would be paid double from our clients.

After:"We have performed several tests with Morae and found it to be useful and a productive environment for performing usability tests."

Second place (webcam and pocket drive)

Scott Kincaid, Director of Usability Services, Usability Sciences Corp.

Before: "To record the computer screen, we had to actually mount a camera on the wall behind the participants and capture the image over their shoulder. A 20 minute highlight tape took 1-1.5 days to create."

After: "We needed to create a quick 10 minute highlight from the findings... by using Morae we were able to create and compile this whole piece within 30 minutes."

Third place (Morae lamp and motherboard notebook)

Artie Pajak, usability analyst, University of California, San Diego

Before: "The camera is shooting over the participant's left shoulder and his face is in the mirror. Don't miss the tape dispenser... heavy enough to keep the bottom from sliding off the table."

After: "I've got a portable lab. Morae has allowed me to get rid of the cables, the TV, the MiniDV tapes, the Wal-Mart mirror and that heavy tape dispenser!"

Fourth place (Morae coffee kit)

Ron Perkins, Principal, Design Perspectives

Before: "My friends called it the 'James Bond Kit'; two black cases full of hardware and wires. I called it a huge headache."

After: "Set up time is about 10 minutes including laptop booting up. It is reduced to about three steps and two plug ins.

Honorable Mentions:

Phil Ohme, Certified Human Factors Professional, Intuit, Inc.
- For leaving $200,000 in lab setup costs to switch to Morae

Todd Follansbee, VP, Web Marketing Resources LLC
- For bringing along his lovely dog Otis on his Morae journey

Robert Thompson, Usability Analyst, Option One Mortgage Corp.
- For reducing both the time and stress levels involved in usability testing

Tobias Limbach, senior research consultant, argonauten360, Germany
- For the most creative pre-Morae cable simile: "All cables ended below a desk so you had to root through a massive black, dusty heap, bundled up like spaghetti. Not the type of spaghetti you curl up and suck down tutto bene, oh no, more like the type you get on your fork and instantly they slap in your face - que."