Human Kind and Technology

Developers and their users

ET — Tue, 05 Aug 2014 20:12:56 +0000

Just in case you thought: “the developer is not the user“, so get to know them!

Touch-emitted heat enables interactions

ET — Fri, 30 May 2014 21:31:58 +0000

Metaio is trying to make all physical objects touchable by recognizing (in future via HMDs) emitted heat of the human finger(s). So we can link every object with digital information or services. Unfortunately yet the idea needs a lot of work to be done.

Would be interesting to see if the concept operates as aspected with warm/hot objects when I, let’s say, want to play chess on a sun-exposed table in front of a coffee shop.

via TechCrunch, see also Metaio.com – Press Release

Overview of car UIs

ET — Wed, 07 May 2014 15:42:04 +0000

Geoff Teehan has summarized car UIs of the past, present and maybe future.
I think we can get much better in designing pleasurable car UIs.

via Interaction-Design.org @ Facebook.com

Keyboard with motion sensing

ET — Thu, 01 May 2014 21:24:52 +0000

Five microsoft researchers recently published a paper in which they presented a new technology combining a normal keyboard with motion sensing. I like this idea because I like the gestures I’m able to use fluently with the Macbook touchpad so that I don’t need a mouse anymore. So when the keyboard can recognise my gestures we don’t need touchpads any more which can have an effect on laptop designs and more, I guess.

via windowsdeveloper.de, see also microsoft.com

Designers, developers, users: different views

ET — Mon, 21 Apr 2014 19:49:16 +0000

Anthony Langsworth is talking about different theoretical layers of (game vs. enterprise) software, thereby referencing an interesting paper.

Multitouch UI for cars

ET — Sun, 23 Feb 2014 12:03:55 +0000

At a first glance this human-machine interface for our car looks really nice. But one has to remember all the different options (number of fingers to use, how to pinch and so on) at any time. For me, this seems to be complex, distracting the driver and therefore less safety in different situations.

via iatelevision.blogspot.de, see also matthauskrenn.com

2x3D: View 2D or 3D on one screen

ET — Sun, 01 Dec 2013 12:57:59 +0000

This is fascinating. Researchers from the Shirai Lab at Kanagawa Institute of Technology developed Scritter, a technology which lets us view two-dimensional or three-dimensional visual content simultaneously (as much as to say: for more than one viewers) on one screen. We can switch between these views by wearing a polarisation filter or not. As the researchers say it can be applied to cinemas, education, and medicine.

I think there is a large spectrum of (more) utilization opportunities. For example, I think of a power plant control room where we could see the static structure of the building with all of its pipes and wires, and the dynamic information and energy flow rushing through this complex pipes / wires network, without having to switch between views, which in turn would have an affect to all viewers.

Here is how Scritter (“2x3D”) works:

Some SIGGRAPH ASIA 2012 slides:

via GIZMODO.de,
see also DigInfo.tv
and Scritter @ Shirai Lab @ Kanagawa Inst. of Technology

UXD, IA, UI, IXD

ET — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 08:21:18 +0000

Lauri Laineste defines UXD, IA, UI, and IXD in short as can be seen at userflow.tumblr.com and to which I agree.

Motorbike helmet full of technology

ET — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 11:29:32 +0000

Hm, a lot of information on top of the visual and tactile ones when riding a bike, e.g. navigation information, extra rearview information, calling information, and so on, as can be seen in the video. But in different situations such an helmet can be very helpful I know.

see skullyhelmets.com, via GIZMODO.de

Try Windows 1.01 (1985)

ET — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 21:13:16 +0000

Try by yourself: Windows 1.01 emulated in Browser.

Interesting to see some HCI designs which didn’t become extinct until now, e.g. menus and the cursor. OK, right now we live in a changing HCI world but do not forget the origins.

via windowsdeveloper.de