Yes there is. His layout doesn't follow the grid at all, which creates additional cognitive load/eye strain when reading. Also aesthetics affects usability. In studies, it has been shown that people find things which are more aesthetically pleasing to them actually more _usable_ than equally structured but non-'beautiful' things.
Wide columns make it hard to read, and too many highlighted words and bullet lists make it feel like an infomercial. He seems to assume that his reader is an ADHD-addled Digg user incapable of reading normal text. As someone who is capable, I find it distracting, and also slightly condescending.
The page is designed to sell the full version of the article, not get you to play with Wufoo. This page is meant to funnel you to his paid content (or other articles which will funnel you to other paid content).
Put another way-- is there anything in Jakob's (admittedly Spartan) design that gets in the way of the content?