Microsoft Surface is so 2008. That is what we are led to believe reading about the latest product from Future Labs, a interactive technology company that has developed Displax, a flexible and portable multitouch surface that can be integrated with any existing surface or screen.
Portable computing, including tablet PCs, has been the hot topic since Apple’s unveiling of the iPad in January. While the iPad has gained a lot of press and generated conversation about its intended audience and potential use, other tablet devices have been overlooked. Microsoft’s Courier is one such device. Courier—the soon-to-be production version of the Codex, a rumored tablet device widely discussed in 2009—provides a tablet platform for the student, techie, and slide-show-loving grandparent alike.
In last month’s Johnny Holland column, I made the radical recommendation that UX professionals stop making recommendations to their clients. … »
Great interaction design is a delicious soup. You boil a variety of different ingredients and spices in the right proportion, and voila – pure bliss! Unlike other branches of design, however, it’s extremely hard to write a recipe for interaction design. By its very nature, the interaction design process needs to be fluid and dynamic. … »
There are many situations that I can come up with where I would have loved to get instant feedback, but couldn’t get it. In some cases it was a lack of good design or imagination that caused this. I tried to solve two of them. … »
It’s hard to look back at 2009 and ignore the rather sudden blooming of augmented reality. What was it that made AR suddenly so popular? The rise of ‘mobile’ apps helped. But was that all there was to it? I don’t think so. … »
How would you like to tap your wrist to engage the clock embedded in the OLED wall? Rub your fingers together to request a text message with your bank account’s balance? Or rub your ear to have the speaker phone in the center of the table adjust the volume?
The Hasso Plattner Institute out of Potsdam, Germany recently published a paper on Disappearing Mobile Devices. The paper does not attempt to act as a proof of concept but instead outlines the possibilities of interactions with mobile devices as technology becomes smaller and embedded into the very fabric of our lives, whether it be our buildings, our clothing, or ourselves. … »
People love statistics, especially about themselves. With the rise of personal informatics we see the question “How am I doing?” getting ever more popular. I was wondering if we could use this to create a game out of email that would make life easier and happier at the same time. … »
How many times have you asked yourself why something was even designed in the first place? Or why some designs endure and others don’t? In this article the focus is one of the key dimensions of ‘sustainable design’: Durability. … »
Professor of Design at the Politecnico di Milano, Ezio Manzini, took time away from airline food, flatbed seats and a view out the window of the Himalayas to talk to us about designing for social innovation and his work with the DESIS network. … »
