Friday, February 20, 2009
User Experience and IKEA
I wrote about IKEA's interactive website in a previous post, before the new IKEA store opened in my area, and since then, I counted the days until it opened.
The grand opening was this week, and I went shopping there last night with one of my daughters.
I ate the Swedish meatballs in the cafeteria. I wanted to buy things.
We decided that IKEA uses some sort of aroma-therapy/mind control through out the store.
This was my first visit to an IKEA, and it was awesome. They had flat-panel televisions all over the place. I was hoping that one of the displays would be connected to that cute IKEA website, KOM IN I GARDEROBEN. The English version: Come Into the Closet.
It would have been fun to control the dancers while sitting on a showroom sofa, using gestures.
From the IKEA Website:
"This is a campaign to promote IKEA's wardrobe solutions. IKEA wanted to show their huge range of styles and all the smart features on the inside....All the movements on the web site are controlled by sound and music.So change songs, upload your own music, play on your keyboard or sing into the microphone."
For more details:IKEA's Interactive Dancing and Musical Website
Enjoy the site!
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
The Smart Table is now available for purchase!
Here is the plug:
"The world's first multitouch, multiuser table for primary education - the SMART Table - is now available for purchase.Order the SMART Table"
"As a collaborative learning center, the SMART Table enables engaging and motivating small-group learning experiences. Up to eight students can use their fingers intuitively to sweep, slide and spin objects on the interactive screen. The SMART Table's ready-made activities help primary students gain and further their skills in areas like counting and reading."
"The SMART Table also makes an ideal complement to whole-class activities on the SMART Board™ interactive whiteboard. It helps reinforce concepts in a small-group setting and ensures students can participate in interactive and creative learning experiences".
(Cross-posted on the TechPsych and Interactive Multimedia Technology blogs.)
Sunday, February 15, 2009
New York City Visitor's Center: Interactive Tables and Displays by GestureTek
The New York Visitor's Center is sleek and high-tech. The technology is the handwork of GestureTek, a company that focuses on gesture-based interactive surfaces, signs, displays, devices, and games.
Pictures below are from Steringely.com
Picture below is from static.worldarchitecuturenews.com
If interactivity captures your fancy, you might be interested in attending the upcoming Interactive Displays Conference, sponsored by Intertech Pira. This conference will highlight an interesting mix of existing and emerging interactive display technologies and applications. The conference will be held at the Hilton in San Jose, California, from Tuesday, April 21st through Thursday, April 23rd.
The pre-conference seminar will feature Sakuya Morimoto, of CANESTA, who will present his company's innovative single-chip 3D image sensor technology that supports gesture interaction.
Keynote speakers will be Jeff Han, of Perceptive Pixel, and Steven Bathiche, of Microsoft US.
More information about this conference is posted on the Interactive Multimedia Technology blog.
Video Clips of Projects Inspired by Johnny Chung Lee and Wiimote IR Tracking
Johnny Chung Lee, known for his experiments with the Wiimote and IR tracking from his graduate student days in the Human-Computer Interaction department at Carnegie-Mellon University, has posted a variety of video clips from his followers who have worked on projects inspired by his interesting work.
Take a look at Johnny's Procrastineering blog to see the videos!
Johnny Chung Lee
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Internet of People, Things, Surfaces, and Interactions: Insights from UX 2008 & Adaptive Path
Adaptive Path is a company full of forward-looking, creative people who focus on user experience, interaction design, and information architecture. It sponsors UX Week each year, which provides participants with a refreshing update on current trends in the field. The following videos are a sample of what was presented at UX 2008. I plan on updating this post soon with a few brief notes and comments.
If you are interested in learning more about all things related to UX, take some time to go through Adaptive Path's reading list!
Don Norman
Don Norman | UX Week 2008 | Adaptive Path from Adaptive Path on Vimeo.
Dennis Wixon
Dennis Wixon | UX Week 2008 | Adaptive Path from Adaptive Path on Vimeo.
Dan Saffer
Dan Saffer | UX Week 2008 | Adaptive Path from Adaptive Path on Vimeo.
Dave Wolf
Dave Wolf | UX Week 2008 | AdaptEDive Path from Adaptive Path on Vimeo.
Dave discusses his company's philosophy of software design process: "Right Software, Right Device, on the Right Area on the Network, or Not on the Network at All". He highlights how this philosophy was incorporated into his company's contribution, "Ben", to the Microsoft Phizz Pop Design Challenge competition. The visualization about on-line news is interesting, incorporating the little video comments, which enriches the understanding of commentary.
