It’s cool to see that in a world where people blindly accept the frustration of the user interfaces, they are given that people are still experimenting with new user interfaces. In a post I wrote a while back I suggested that the touch screen interface newly popularized with the iPhone won’t be the be all end all, because of its lack of interaction with the sense of touch. It is simple ergonomics – while it’s really awesome that we can have a machine with no buttons, there’s no spring back to physically acknowledge the exchange. When the machine’s innards ultimately break because I’ve thrown it at the wall too many times, how will I know I’m not just pressing the buttons too lightly??? Well, Engadget has reported Apple’s filing of no fewer than three patents for touch screens with resistance capability. I may need to see this with my own eyes.
Meanwhile, some folks are attempting new interfaces with already existing technology. This website is no revolution yet, but it is pretty nifty. Can you resist the urge to click something???
I had a little extra time the other day and I decided to check out some of the crazy add-ons for the Mozilla Firefox application. (If you don’t already know it, Mozilla’s Firefox is an internet browser like Safari or Internet Explorer that is open source, meaning new capabilities can be created and shared by a community of users).
There were some cool extensions. One made it so I could quit and save my previous browsing session. Another made it so my entire browser could have a Biblical-theme.
But the best and most dangerous extension by far is the Adblock Plus extension. This add-on not only blocks pop-ups, it prevents advertisements from loading on any website you view. Myspace, blogs, and news sites, all with faster loading times and no annoying ads giving you cognitive dissonance.
But non-product web-based enterprises make all their money through ads. Sites that charge for some content, such as the New York Times, are increasingly allowing free access because of ad revenue. So if we can Tivo out ads on our internet browsers, the potential for robust web content, which comes with good funding, could be severely compromised. Which may not be such a bad thing, considering the poor quality of that robust web content. Case in point, this blog. (Note: Please click one of the ads at the right! I make 10 cents a month off of those!)
So I wrote this blog on Saturday about human-computer interfacing, and how mice might be going out of style, and I asked if there were any other interfaces that folks might see on the horizon. Sure enough, I got an email about a new 3D mouse actually exists and is being heavily pushed, especially in the gaming world. While the demo makes it look more useful for 3D gamers, obviously there are options that go beyond those obsessed with Halo. Design applications and mapping apps like Google Maps are a couple. But imagining a web browser or desktop that uses a third-dimension leads to some interesting possibilities. As crappy as it supposedly is, Windows Vista’s new Flip3D is one place where the dimension of depth is already coming into play.
While I’m talking about 3D mice, I should mention that I completely neglected the ring mouse. It appears to be a predecessor to the “Minority Report” interface. Extremely primitive it may be. It is a single click device, bulky, and dependent on ultrasonic waves. But apparently it works flawlessly, and it only took 21 weeks and $700 to make the prototype.
Brain researchers have been perfecting a mechanism to stimulate specific neurons and rejigger those ones that, let’s say, misbehave too much. Read below for the Wired article. Through the use of a magnetic skullcap of sorts neurons can be guided to allow for a particular emotional or intellectual response – happiness or better mental agility through a hat! This gives new meaning to the term thinking cap.
I don’t normally like to dwell on the overly techno cerebral, but I came upon three things today that caught my interest:
1. This video on the thinking behind web 2.0, the development of a web that is user-friendly.
2. This graphic of the progression to Web 3.0, a web that allows web applications to think and behave more interactively and our machines to become hyper-technologically interactive (depending on hardware that can communicate fluidly).
3. This technology that is now adapting to the consumer level:
The first consumer application of Brain/Computer Communications, which can now interpret your thoughts literally into words on the screen (and you can play Pong, too).
Currently, the device only reads one way – from brain to computer; users have to use their eyes to interface the other direction. But how soon until the device interfaces both directions?
The self hating Luddite in me relishes the thought of the potential for convergence. Imagine a wireless miniature technology that could be plugged into your ear, or, better, planted into your brain to direct your thoughts into computer action. Where can I get a pizza?, you’ll think, and up on your computer will pop a list of pizza places ranked by general popularity, and the computer’s customized learning of your personal preferences! Can I get my Moto-Robot to walk the dog and get the mail?, you’ll ponder, and off will trot your personal wirelessly connected bot. “Assassinate the president while you’re out there”, you’ll shout after him (with your brain of course).
Sometimes I wonder whether scientists are inventing this because they really think it’s good for humanity, or they just want to see how close they can get to replicating the world as it must have existed a few years before “Mad Max” happened.
[UPDATE: Add this thought to the mix:
Sony’s simply titled “Home” game for Playstation takes the concept of Second Life, which blew the Sims out of the water, and adds a few improvements. (These games are pretty serious. One woman claimed to have earned her first million by selling fake real estate in the virtual Second Life). How soon until faux-reality “games” give way to hyper virtual reality? And when brain interface technologies read both ways, what’s stopping us from giving up on real real life altogether?
This post written using fingers, eyes, and computer. And a brain. A real brain.
the Blanket Statement 