Sunday, December 13, 2009
On a Lighter Note: Taking the Internet of Things a Bit Too Far - Tweeting Honeymoon Bed, Play by Pee
Best Man Rigs Newlyweds' Bed To Tweet MG Siegler, Tech Crunch 12/12/09
PlayBy Pee Encouraged Radio Listening Bill Gerba, Digital Signage News 11/12/09
I wonder what data system would be best for keeping up with the new forms of interaction!
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Will NoSQL Rescue the World Of Data in the Cloud? (Info and Links for the Tech Curious)
In a week, I will have three weeks off from work, and since I usually give in to my inner geek when I'm on vacation, I thought I'd find out more about cloud computing and NoSQL today. I was overwhelmed by what I found within the first minutes of my search! (It has been about 4 years since I took a database class.)
The first place I visited was the O'Reilly Radar blog, which usually has a few interesting links about emerging technologies: Four Short Links: 11 December 2009 (Nat Torkington)
Eureka!
Number 2 on Torkington's list of links:
NoSQL Required Reading "Papers and presentations to get up to speed in the theory and practice of scalable key-value data stores" (via Hacker News)
Here is a sample of some of the info I found during my first trip down the NoSQL rabbit hole:
Braindump Blog
NoSQL Debrief, (Johanos Karsson)
"The idea was to give attendees a solid introduction to how distributed, non relational databases work as well as an overview of the various projects out there." (The NoSQL DeBrief includes a variety of presentation slides and videos that I'm planning on viewing on my next tour of the rabbit hole.)
Pragmatic Programming Techniques (Ricky Ho's blog)
Query PRocessing for NoSQL DB
"The recent rise of NoSQL provides an alternative model in building extremely large scale storage system. Nevetheless, compare to the more mature RDBMS, NoSQL has some fundamental limitations that we need to be aware of. It calls for a more relaxed data consistency model.It provides primitive querying and searching capability."
"There are techniques we can employ to mitigate each of these issue. Regarding the data consistency concern, I have discussed a number of design patterns in my previous blog* to implement system with different strength of consistency guarantee."
*NoSQL Patterns
All Things Distributed - Werner Vogel's weblog on building scalable and robust distributed systems: Eventually Consistent- Revisited
Video Version from YouTube Google Tech Talks: Chris Anderson Discusses CouchDB
Chris is "Obsessed with bending the physics of the web to give control back to the user".
Dave Rosenberg's Software, Interrupted Blog, CNET News 12/9/09
Update 12/12/09
Here are a few more links, thanks to Nati Shalom:
Why Existing Databases (RAC) are So Breakable! Nati Shalom (11/30/09)
No to SQL? Anti-database movement gains steam- My Take Nati Shalom (7/9/09)
Are Cloud Based Memory Architectures the Next Big Thing? Todd Hoff (3/16/09)
Other alternatives: In-Memory Data Grid
SOMEWHAT RELATED
Friday, December 11, 2009
Participatory Design Conference 2010 + Reflections about participatory design and usability...
Cross posted from Interactive Multimedia Technology:
I really want to go to Australia next year and attend this conference! Below are links to the conference, along with an excerpt from the conference description:
11th Biennial Participatory Design Conference: Participation :: The Challenge (pdf)
PDC2010 Conference Website
PDC2008 Conference Website
"Participation is the complex, contested, changing, creative and celebratory core of participatory design. We invite you to explore what participation can and needs to mean in the design contexts where we are working now and those we are likely to encounter soon. While current ‘best practice’ in many areas of interactive technology design now at least pays lip service to people’s participation, how is this participation being negotiated and defined, and by whom? And if Participatory Design methods developed some 20 years ago are claimed to have become standard design practice, how do we go about developing the methods that will define standard design practice 20 years from now?"
REFLECTION
Judging from what I've experienced as a consumer/user, there are many things that are floating around in the form of electronics, software, and related gadgets that are examples of the absence of participatory design.
My daily pet peeve is the remote control for my entertainment set-up, which includes DVR and a small but growing number of interactive TV channels. Another pet peeve is the usability of productivity software, including the software I must use for work.
At any rate, below are links to some of my thoughts related to usability topics that might be of interest to people who are thinking about or practicing participatory design or user-centered design.
2007 Letter to the Editor, Pervasive Computing
Useful Usability Studies (pdf)
2007 Blog Post
Usability/Interaction Hall of Shame (In a Hospital)
2008 Blog Posts
Interactive Touch-Screen Technology, Participatory Design, and "Getting It"
An Example of Convergence: Interactive TV: uxTV 2008
2009 Blog Posts
Microsoft: Are You Listening? Cool Cat Teacher (Vicki Davis) Tries out Microsoft's Multi-touch Surface Table
Haptic/Tactile Interface: Dynamically Changeable Physical Buttons
The Convergence of TV, the Internet, and Interactivity: Update
UX of ITV: The User Experience and Interactive TV (or Let's Stamp Out Bad Remote Controls)
ElderGadget Blog: Useful Tech and Tools
Friday, December 4, 2009
More Urban Screens and 3D Media Facades
Maybe this will sprout up on outdoor building walls in a city near you!
There's more to life than a Volvo - Frankfurt 2009
"3D projection and production by NuFormer in coorporation with Saatchi & Saatchi"
RELATED
3D Projections on Buildings: A distinctive way of communicating
Communicating Through Architecture: Media Facades and the Digital Infrastructure The Rathous
Contains an assortment of videos and pictures)
Art and Commerce Meet on Building's Interactive Media Facades
Kelsey Keith, Fast Company, 10/2/209
Book:
Media Facades: History, Technology and Content, M.Hank Haeusler
International Urban Screens Association
"Urban Screens are dynamic digital displays and visual interfaces located within urban public spaces. They include LED screens and signs, plasma screens, information terminals and projection surfaces as well as intelligent architectural surfaces and media facades."
"Urban Screens transform the capacity of public spaces to serve as a platform for user-generated civic and cultural expression, community building, multiculturalism and public engagment in issues related to social, cultural and environmental sustainability."
"Through networking, content sharing and joint broadcasting, they constitute a rapidly expanding and still largely experimental global multimedia infrastructure for commercial and cultural exchange."
"The IUSA aims to inform and support the ‘worldwide Urban Screens movement’: the expanding use of dynamic digital displays in public spaces; their considerate and sustainable integration in the urban landscape; and the ability for screen communities to collaborate in the digital space to share content, experience, ideas, innovations and emerging possibilities."
For Techies: Video of HTML5 JavaScript APIs video from Codebits, featuring Remy Sharp
Be patient, the crowd noise stops when the presentation begins.
More info to come!
Comment
Where are the sisters?!
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Interactive Digital Bus Shelters
Touch Screen Interaction at a Digital Bus Shelter, Via Daily DOOH
(Link to the video of the digital bus shelters displaying a recent LG promotion on interactive touch screens)
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Brief Post: Video of WebGL (3D) in Firefox on a Nokia N900, via MobileCrunch
From Vukicevic's YouTube Channel: "A few quick demos of WebGL content running in Firefox on Nokia's N900. WebGL should be available in Firefox for N900 nightly builds soon."
For detailed information about Open GL, 3D, and smartphones , see Greg Kumparak's Mobile Crunch post: WebGL might eventually bring awesome 3D to web apps (12/2/09)
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Missed the recent 2009 Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces?
I posted about this conference previously, and thought I'd provide links to more information about the people behind this conference. I'd also like to provide more information, such as video demos and links to papers related to this conference.
Invited Speakers
Ken Perlin, Chia Shen, & Bill Buxton
2009 Program
Steering Committee, ITS 2009
Chia Shen, Harvard University, USA
Bruce H. Thomas, University of South Australia, Australia
Sheelagh Carpendale, University of Calgary, Canada
Gerald Morrison, SMART Technologies ULC, Canada
Andy Wilson, Microsoft Research, USA
Sriram Subramanian, Bristol University, UK
Shahram Izadi, Microsoft Research, Cambridge, UK
Program Committee, ITS 2009
Patrick Baudisch
Hasso Plattner Institute Potsdam, Germany
Francois Berard
University of Grenoble, France
Peter Brandl
Media Interaction Lab, Upper Austria University of Applied Sciences, Austria
Andreas Butz
University of Munich, Germany
Francois Coldefy
Orange Labs, France
Morten Fjeld Chalmers
University of Technology, Sweden
Kentaro Fukuchi
University of Electro-Communications, Japan
Tovi Grossman
Autodesk Research, Canada
Mark Hancock
University of Calgary, Canada
Petra Isenberg
University of Calgary, Canada
Yuichi Itoh
Osaka University, Japan
Karrie Karahalios
University of Illinois, USA
Hiro Kato
Osaka University, Japan
Hideki Koike
University of Electro-Communications, Japan
Frank Maurer
University of Calgary, Canada
Max Mühlhäuser
TU Darmstadt, Germany
Christian Muller-Tomfelde
CSIRO-ICT Centre, Australia
Miguel Nacenta
University of Saskatchewan, Canada
Patrick Olivier
Newcastle University, UK
Jun Rekimoto
Sony / University of Tokyo, Japan
Meredith Ringel Morris
Microsoft Research, USA
Daisuke Sakamoto
Tokyo University, Japan
Yoichi Sato
University of Tokyo, Japan
Chia Shen
Harvard University, USA
Masahiro Takatsuka
University of Sydney, Australia
Lucia Terrenghi
Vodafone Group R&D, Germany
Bruce Thomas
University of Southern Australia, Australia
Melanie Tory
University of Victoria, Canada
Edward Tse
SMART Technologies, Canada
Fred Vernier
South-Paris University, France
Andy Wilson
Microsoft Research, USA
Massimo Zancanaro
Bruno Kessler Foundation (formerly ITC), Italy
Friday, November 27, 2009
Varied Collection of Interface Interaction: Art and Sculpture Videos
I've been exploring the contributions of artists to the world of interactive digital media. Here are videos of some of the interesting works I've come across recently. Some of the videos are of older works, but were new to me.
INTERACTIVE KINETIC SCULPTURE
Kinetic Pond
(I'm still searching for more information regarding the Kinetic Pond.)
Rose Finn-Kelcey: It Pays to Pray. Interactive Sculpture at the Cass Sculpture Foundation. Filmed by Robin Fitton.
"Insert 20p and select one of a range of prayers. An interactive sculpture which gives you back the money after providing an interesting message. Warning not to be used by the holy or holey. The prayers were about relationships with various chocolate bar brands." It Pays to Pray Description
Fiber Cloud, MIT Mobile Experience Lab
The Cloud - from MIT Mobile Experience Lab on Vimeo.
For more information, see the Fiber Cloud web page.
Marque Cornblatt: Interactive Kinetic Steampunk Sculptures (1993-1996)
Marque Cornblatt blogs at The MediaSapien: The Art and Culture of Hypermediated Identity
Marque Cornblatt's MFA Thesis: The Emergence of the MediaSapien
Daniel Rozin's Wooden Mirrors (Uses video system)
More Information: Daniel Rozin Interactive Art
GIANT- Interactive Sculpture at the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh (2008) David Butts
Imagine what this could do if it was controlled by gestures and a system of sensors!
Nothing (without you)(Adam Chapman)Warning: What is inside the box is sort of yucky!
Hall of Faces that Follow
(Installation at Puzzling World in New Zealand-I don't think this installation is computerized.)
Interactive Sculpture: MirrorMap, by Ryan Schenk
Self Organizing Still Life- David Fried's Kinetic Sculpture at the Atlanta Botanical Garden (responds to sounds)
Another video of Self Organizing Still Life
Act/React: Interactive Art Installation Video Milwaulkee Art Museum
Brian Knep discusses computer technology and his art:
Scott Snibbe's Deep Walls Milwaukee Art Museum
Thursday, November 26, 2009
A few links to interesting interfaces and interactions....
"Throw Your Data into Different Environments": UC San Diego's NexCAVE High High Definition Virtual Reality for Interactive Visualization
Cultural Analytics of Mark Rothko Paintings on the Interactive 287-Megapixel HIPerSpace Wall at Calit2 (fantastic video presentation!)
The Emerging Field of Software Studies: Anne Helmond's Presentation" "Blogging and the blogosphere through the eyes of software and search engines"; UCSD's Software Studies Initiative
Best Thread Ever for Interactive Interface (Systems) Designers: James Landay's "I Give Up on CHI/UIST" post + 63 comments
I'm considering resuming my graduate studies in the near future, and came across this incredibly insightful discussion surrounding James Landay's November 7th post on his DUB For the Future (Thoughts on Human Computer Interaction, User Interface, Design) blog.
James focuses his work on user interaction and user interface systems. I found that his comments reflect some of my personal concerns, because I know that if I continue my studies, I will have to submit my research to CHI or UIST in the future.
At any rate, I Give Up on CHI/UIST will take some time to read, but I encourage you to do so, especially the comments section, where you'll find the opinions of Bill Buxton, Mary Czerwinski, Merrie Ringel Morris, and other important people in the land of Human-Computer Interaction.
Here are a couple of quotes from people who commented on Landay's post:
"Recent debate over how we, as the CHI community, assess the use of novel system work that tries to contribute to our understanding of how people _will_ interact with technology in the future, rather than understanding the past -that is how people are currently using or have used existing technology- has emerged, e.g. [Greenberg & Buxton. Usability evaluation considered harmful (some of the time). CHI’08], [Kaye & Sengers. The Evolution of Evaluation. CHI’07] and most recently [http://dubfuture.blogspot.com/2009/11/i-give-up-on-chiuist.html] " -Floyd
"I too am sitting on the cusp of deciding between transitioning from a M.S. to a PhD or going into industry. One of the biggest problems I see is that CHI/UIST publications are taken into heavy consideration in the process of evaluating your PhD work. Your credentials and the criteria for hiring come down to "counting" the number of solid publications you have. This means that a student becomes restricted to a handful of conferences (CHI/UIST) that forces them to work inside a system. When I am planning my next project, as a graduate student, I am forced to think strategically. What work has the best chance of getting into CHI? This means, that from the outset, before I even have thoroughly thought through my ideas, I have constricted myself to doing work that is based on expectations set forth by the CHI community. These are the expectations that lead me to pick projects that are 6-10 weeks in length, and are based around studying interaction techniques, asking interesting research questions and validating it with a “pile of t-tests, chi-squares, and ANOVAs”, or interviewing 15-20 domain specific subjects for retrieving qualitative data (that often results in “self-evident” design implications). I am not trying to de-value this type of work or methodology, but am simply emphasizing that we are placing ourselves inside a box that is less about creative output and more about working a system." -Anonymous
I came across this topic via Kevin Arthur's Touch Usability blog. Kevin Arthur is a usability analyst working with touch interfaces at Synaptics in Santa Clara, CA.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
352 Media Group: Creating a Microsoft Deep Zoom Silverlight Wall: Great idea, could use some optimization for touch or IWB interaction.
Ever since I explored the Hard Rock Cafe Memorabilia website on my HP TouchSmart PC, I've been on the look-out for other great touch-friendly applications created with Microsoft's Deep Zoom and Sliverlight. Today, I came across an example that holds some promise, although it needs some tweaking before it is truly touch-ready.
Note: I tried this in three browsers on my HP TouchSmart PC, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, and Firefox. At the top of the viewing box, it says, "Click inside to zoom in". Clicking the picture or touching my touch screen did not activate the zoom. However, it did enable me to zoom in the wall through scrolling with my mouse.
If you touch the picture with your finger, you can move it around, and you can do this with your mouse as well. At the upper left-hand corner of the frame, there are tiny icons that will allow you to zoom in or out. If the icons were just a little bit larger, with just a little bit more space between them, it would be easy to activate the zoom feature with my finger.
RELATED
Windows User Experience Interaction Guidelines: Touch
Windows 7 Touch
Microsoft Silverlight Deep Zoom
Information from Microsoft Live Labs about Sliverlight Deep Zoom
Autostitch
This was the program used to help stitch together the pictures on the wall into a format that could be used with Deep Zoom.
Cross posted on the Interactive Multimedia Technology blog.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Great Blogs about Natural User Interfaces: Joshua Blake Deconstructing the NUI & Jonathan Brill : Multitouch Maven_ (Point and Do)
Josh Blake is a .NET, SharePoint, and Microsoft Surface consultant for InfoStrat, located in Northern Virginia. If you are interested in natural user interfaces, you'll appreciate his blog, Deconstructing the NUI He posts only a few times a month, but what you'll find is thoughtful insight regarding natural user interfaces that rely on multi-touch or gesture interaction.
Here are a few of Josh's posts:
The Natural User Interface Revolution
Pleasing the Brain with Magical Interfaces
Deconstructing: SilverPAC's Multi-Touch Website
Limiting the Multi-touch Vocabulary
Jonathan Brill is an independent consultant who focuses on multitouch product strategy, design, and development, and previously served as an embedded consultant at Microsoft Surface. His blog, Multitouch Maven, provides a wealth of information regarding multi-touch and gesture interaction and interfaces.
Here are a few of his posts:
New Multitouch Interface Conventions
Creating Intuitive Gestures Using Object Orientation
Using Auras to Maintain User Orientation
Monday, November 23, 2009
GestureTek 's 3D Depth Sensing System for Sprint Interactive Wall, Media artist - Takashi Kawashima
I missed this one! The video and photos below are of the Sprint Center Interactive Wall, powered by GestureTek's 3D depth-sensing system. The media art was created by Takashi Kawashima,a designer/media artist who lives in San Francisco. He has an MFA in Design| Media Arts from UCLA.
The interactive display can be controlled by a cell phone.
YouTube description/plug:
"GestureTeks 3D depth sensing technology powers an attention-grabbing interactive digital signage system for telecom leader Sprint. The 3D depth sensing interactive display screen, with mobile phone connectivity, tracks peoples body movements, and responds by sending a Sprint promotional message that follows them the entire length of the interactive billboard. The interactive motion-detecting advertising message invites users to create their own personalized interactive wall art on Sprints gesture control screen, by calling Sprint on their mobile phone. GestureTeks 3D tracker is the heart of the system. Installation lead: Mission Electronics. Creative: Goodby Silverstein."
The Instant DJ application looks fun! It allows you to mix the music tracks on the large display with your phone.
Phone Painter: Sprint Center Interactive Wall
Instant DJ
Now Widget
RELATED
Sprint Uses GestureTek 3D Tracking & Control System for New Interactive Digital Signage Campaign
GestureTek Announces 3D Gesture Tracking Initiatives for Sprint and Hitachi; Shares New 3D Patent Information
SOMEWHAT RELATED
GestureFX: Next Generation Pediatrics Business Case (interactive floor for a pediatric clinic's waiting room)
AirPoint Hand-Tracking Unit for Mouse Replacement and "Point to Control" Interactivity
Morning Tech News: LED "Tatoos"; Sixth Sense Wearable Displays
This is a cross post from the Interactive Multimedia Technology blog:
Morning Tech News: LED "Tatoos"; Sixth Sense Wearable Displays
Friday, November 20, 2009
DROID & Interactive Display in Times Square; DROID Voice-activated Search
The video below shows people in NYC's Times Square using their Verizon Droid phones to interact with the Verizon Wireless digital signage billboard:
The Droid offers a voice-activated search feature. Users can ask a question, and the search engine, powered by Google, will provide the search results from the web or from items stored on the phone. One feature I like is that it provides turn-by-turn directions from Google Maps, as well as other helpful geographic information. This would be a great tool for city dwellers and visitors alike.
The video below is a demonstration of how the Google Maps Navigation feature works on Android-based phones:
RELATED
Verizon, Motorola Unveil the Droid
Marguerite Reardon 10/29/09 CNN Tech
Verizon Droid Gets New Google Innovation: Real-Time Internet-Linked Navigation
Michael Hickins, BNET
Announcing Google Maps Navigation for Android 2.0
Google Mobile Blog
DRIOD by Motorola Fact Sheet
Cross posted - Interactive Multimedia Technology
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Interface Info, Links, and News
Here are several of my posts from the Interactive Multimedia Technology blog that I thought might be of interest to readers of this blog.
Interactive Video Art in Action: MuchoWall from Tangible Display and Jimmy Hertz
Elastic Creative, Delphi Productions, GestureTek & the Metronic HRS multi-touch table and wall
Smart Media Kitchen by SieMatic: Networked appliances, media, and the Internet right at your fingertips.
Multi-media Art in My Community: Cristi Ryba's Video Art, Sonja Hinrichson's Mapping Charlotte Project at Community Day, McColl Center for the Visual Arts
The Vodafone Symphonia- A symphony of Phones, Via Henry Jenkins
TECH NEWS: HP TouchSmart DevZone; HP Interactive Solutions ISV Partner Program; Information from NextWindow
Stantum's Multi-touch Slate PC, Windows 7 Certified
Multi-touch & Gesture Interaction News: NUITEQ's Snowflake Suite compatible with Windows 7, 3M Touch Systems, N-trig, and Lumio
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Video: Nokia Services + Intelligent Adaptive Devices: Interactive content & communication across platforms, screens, and situations
Nokia's The Way We Live Next 3.0 conference was held November 10-11, 2009, and I was fortunate to come across the concept video shared during the opening presentation.
-Via Putting People First and Nokia Conversations
RELATED
Nokia The Way We Live Next 3.0 Putting People First post
The Way We Live Next: Social apps and open-source R&D (Jesse Sutton 11/11/09, Wired UK)
(Discusses Life Tools, Health Radar, Mobile Job Hunt applications.)
Nokia- life in 2015 (JBC, Nokia Conversations, 11/11/09 - a review Heikki Norta's presentation. Norta is head of corporate strategy.)
Multiplying our Efforts (pdf) Presentation: Henry Tirri, SVP, Head of Nokia Research Center
Communities creating Computers – Computers connecting Communities (pdf) Presentation: Peter Schneider, Head of Technology Marketing, Maemo Devices, Nokia
Communities of the Future (pdf) Presentation: Purnima Kochikar, VP, Head of Forum Nokia & Developer Community
Go Mobile with Cash (pdf) Presentation: Teppo Paavola, VP, General Manager of Mobile Financial Services, Nokia
SOMEWHAT RELATED
The Nokia Braille Reader (Experimental)
The Nokia Braille Reader is a joint project between Nokia, Tampere University, and the Finnish Federation of Visually Impaired.
Cross-posted on Interactive Multimedia Technology
