Is the Intel AppUp® center crew is ready for another displaced New Yorker writing for the blog? They may be a bit sick of me and Scott spending a few minutes on conference calls lamenting our lack of delicious food and celebrating our freedom from the East Coast winter. But, yes, I think the blog is ready for two ex-New Yorkers. I hope…

I moved from New York to Argentina so my wife and two boys and I could be closer to her family. And who wouldn’t move to Argentina when given the chance? We’ve been here for a year and my six-year-old loves all of the hiking we’re doing. My two-month old son is enjoying Argentina too. I think. I’m choosing to believe he is. Well, if he isn’t he’ll grow to love it and (just in case) I plan to regale him with legends of real bagels and a hot dog from New York, if we ever move back.

When I’m not trying to figure out the logistics of camping with an infant and a six-year-old boy, I’m on the AppUp team improving the AppUp experience. My technical title is interaction designer. So I get to help the engineers build stuff based on how everyday people act and think. I know, that seems obvious, but how will we know how people think and behave, unless we talk to them? So that’s me. I talk to people to learn how they use and shop for apps.

Here’s some of what I found when I talked to folks about the way they shop for apps:

• Trying to find the right app is often frustrating and overwhelming
• People want a one-stop shop that makes it simple to find what they want
• They want smart recommendations, like having apps served up to them based on their past shopping experience
• Syncing across their devices is a pain or not possible
• For parents, finding good quality apps for kids is a serious chore

So with that in mind, we’re improving the Intel AppUp experience. We’re taking what we learned and working on making some changes.

As to the clutter thing, the apps in the Intel AppUp center are all family friendly and have been looked over by a real human. See ya’ later clutter! We’re also putting in more software – not just awesome games but productivity software too.

Some of these changes are happening now, and some will happen down the road. But no matter what happens, I’m always asking myself how we can make Intel AppUp easier to use and provide the software you can’t live without. So if you have a suggestion, leave it in comments. I’d love to hear it. In fact, it’s my job to hear about it.

And stay tuned for more posts from me. I’ve got plenty of stories of being a New Yorker in a foreign land. And being the dad to two boys – a surprisingly similar feeling.