While there has always been a constant drone of advancements from the multi-dimensional camp, it seems these days the drone has become louder. From movie promotion new display technology (and this), and even hacked Wii’s. Are we really going to escape from the two dimensional WIMP interface in the next few years? Here’s to hoping this spike in noise isn’t an anomaly.
Colleagues! This is what the DNA pool is spitting out these days. Alex Suraci is a 16 year old Wunderkind who has released his own blogging software, Chyrp, under a GPLv3 license. He architected, designed and programmed it and it rocks. His model was to build the simplest possible application that served his needs and then to design it so it was extensible to handle yours.
It only took the software industry 30 years to figure out that applications that do everything are far more encumbered and therefore less successful than very simple, highly targeted applications that can be customized for specific needs. Even the auto industry has caught on and is actively exploiting this concept.
Something can be learned from Alex’s design approach and his cross-discipline skillset. Perhaps he’s one of Professor Xavier’s genetic leaps. Perhaps he’s an anomaly. Regardless, he’s competing in the marketplace and I’m keeping a peep on him.
Thanks again to Mike Bingaman for this.
Johnny Lee has been hacking the Nintendo Wii for a while now. If you haven’t seen his head-tracking 3D display hack for the Wii, I highly recommend checking it out. It introduces many opportunities for multi-dimensional UI advancement without significant technology hurdles.
What really impresses me about Johnny’s approach is that while he was a college student, he got our attention with some really ingenious, but simple (relatively) interaction concepts. Concepts that have become viral marketing pieces in themselves. I bet Johnny is having several very interesting discussions with several very interesting companies. Nice work man!
I talk about this technology with just about everyone I meet. I think it’s amazing and will change the way we share data. See the Ted presentation below.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/129
Imagine a collective visual database that allowed you to explore remote locations in a holographic environment. Now imagine 50 years from now and how this growing knowledgebase may provide us with the ability to travel back in time to tour buildings that no longer exist or watch the birth of a long deceased family member.
Pause for dramatic effect.
Wow!
Mike Bingaman sent me this link today and it really got me excited.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/theitemswecarry/pool/show/
It’s a Flickr pool someone created that contains pictures of things they carry daily. This should be pretty interesting to mobile platform researchers for a number of reasons.
The first is that it is an interesting, albeit subjective, look into over 1000 individuals bags to see what they consider important enough to carry with them. As researchers we should not devalue this input because it is idealized but instead approach it as a rich set of examples of what people want us to know they carry.
That leads right into the second reason and why I find this is fascinating; over 1000 people have posted pictures to this pool. Why? Do the contents of your bag form an identity? Do the aesthetic qualities of these objects have value? I encourage you to run this around your head a few times. Share with me if you have an opinion.
Welcome to the spill. The overflow buffer for the passion we have for interaction.
Spill is the blog from Tanagram, Inc. a technology innovation and design company based in Chicago, Illinois.
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