Report: How People Really Use Tablets While Watching TV. About half of all smartphone and tablet owners use these devices while watching TV. That shouldn’t come as a surprise, because about half of all smartphone and tablet owners probably use these devices during every single activity of their lives. But when someone uses their iPhone during Game of Thrones, are they actually reading about the show, or are they just buying shoes? Should that second screen be related to the television or not? This has been a bit of an unanswered question, but that hasn’t stopped many apps--like Xbox Smartglass--from being built to extend the TV into one’s lap. Nielsen’s latest report gathered some hard numbers on the trend. Nielsen told me that these TV integration numbers are probably higher than was previously assumed. In terms of building tablet experiences around the television, I do think the research can teach us something: Namely, most people are using second screens in a distracting way.
Read more here. [Illustration: Kelly Rakowski/Co.Design] Facebook Doesn't Need A Phone. It Wants Them All. What do you use to send instant messages, maintain your calendar, take and share photos, check your email inbox, leave voice messages, look up restaurants nearby, and store your contacts when you’re away from your desktop computer? The big answer is: your smartphone, of course. But more specifically, you might actually be using the Facebook apps you’ve loaded on that phone. Over the last couple of years, Facebook has packed its mobile apps with much of the same functionality as operating systems like Google’s Android, Apple’s iOS, or Amazon’s version of Android for Kindle Fire. It has not, however, launched the Facebook phone that once seemed inevitable. That's because your phone already is a Facebook phone. Android, Apple, whatever--with a strategy to make Facebook tools the go-to apps for everyday mobile living, the device type doesn't matter.
According to Comscore, Facebook already owns 23% of time spent in apps on Android and iOS. [Image: Flickr user Felix Schmidt] Xbox SmartGlass Review: Microsoft Invades The Second Screen. Xbox SmartGlass is Microsoft’s new second-screen experience for the Xbox 360. Using a Windows 8, Android, or iOS device, you can launch apps, play music, and control new game and video content, interacting with an additional layer of what’s on your TV through a unique touch-screen interface. So let’s get the big question out of the way first: Is SmartGlass the ideal second-screen interface for your living room? Not yet, but it could be. SmartGlass teeters between simple genius and complete impracticality, ambitious scope and totally overlooked details. This Is Really Hard SmartGlass is deceptively ambitious. What Nintendo is attempting to do with a whole new console (the Wii U), Microsoft is adding to their aging Xbox 360 platform through a free firmware update.
Practically speaking, this means SmartGlass must dumb down the experience a bit, eliminating for the sake of streamlining the secondary content of that second screen. So What Works? Mobile microblogging: Using Twitter and mobile devices in an online course to promote learning in authentic contexts | Hsu. Yu-Chang Hsu and Yu-Hui Ching Boise State University, USA Abstract This research applied a mixed-method design to explore how best to promote learning in authentic contexts in an online graduate course in instructional message design. The students used Twitter apps on their mobile devices to collect, share, and comment on authentic design examples found in their daily lives.
The data sources included tweets (i.e., postings on Twitter), students’ perceptions about mobile microblogging activities, and self-reported Twitter usage. Based on the tweet analysis, we found that the students appropriately applied the design principles and design terms in their critique of design examples. While the students were mainly engaged in assignment-relevant activities, they spontaneously generated social tweets as they related peers’ authentic design examples to their own life experiences. Overall, they had positive perceptions toward the mobile microblogging activities. Introduction Methods Study Context.
Data Monday: Smartphones in a Multi-Device World. In a recent study into the behavior of PC, smartphone, and TV users, Google found that 90% of their participants used multiple devices sequentially and 81% used multiple devices simultaneously. In both cases, the smartphone was at the heart of these multi-device behaviors. Smartphones were the most common starting place for online activities. 66% of social networking started on a smartphone.65% shopping online started on a smartphone.65% searching for information started on a smartphone.63% browsing the Internet started on a smartphone.59% managing finances started on a smartphone. Smartphones were the most common device used simultaneously with other devices. The Myth Of The 'First Screen' Twice as much TV? How networks are adapting to the second screen. Network AMC has created an interactive mobile app called Story Sync for its "Walking Dead" series.
Using another digital device while watching TV is fairly commonTV networks are experimenting with ways to reach their audiences on the second screenThey have to keep in mind that less is more and be wary of distractionsThe possibilities of second screen are still developing (CNN) -- The next time you pause to watch TV -- anything from the morning news to a prime time drama -- try an experiment: Watch the show in its entirety without interacting with another device.
That means no checking email, no texting, Tweeting, pinning, visiting Facebook or hunting for spoilers. No unlocking your smartphone every 60 seconds or casually flipping through content on your tablet or e-reader. For many of us, that's far less intuitive than it sounds. But for 41% of tablet owners and 39% of those owning smartphones, that multitasking is more like once a day, at a minimum. Nintendo's Wii U GamePad Transforms The Tablet, Doubles The Gaming Stakes. At a press event in New York today, Nintendo of America's president Reggie Fils-Aime announced that the Wii U will launch on Sunday Nov. 18. A Basic set (white finish) system with 8GB of flash storage will cost $299. A Deluxe set (black) system with 32GB storage, a controller charging cradle, and a stand will cost $349. The deluxe package also comes with Deluxe Digital Promotion, a subscription service that serves as an exchange for digital credit. But the standout feature is the new tablet-like controller called the GamePad.
"Wii U is the only game console with a seamlessly connected, fully integrated second screen," Fils-Aime said. Nintendo has come up with a new way for its Wii users to access shows themselves, too. The new console is compatible with old Wii games and Wii motion controls. It all amounts to a hefty effort by Nintendo to compete in today's era of gaming and sharing on Android and Apple phones and tablets. E3 2012: Game makers focus on second screens. LOS ANGELES – If the gaming industry agreed on one idea at this week's Electronic Entertainment Expo, it's that playing video games on just one screen is no longer enough.
The top three publishers — Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony — each focused on new ways to spread games and other content across several screens at the gaming industry's annual trade show in downtown Los Angeles. While the publishers' systems rely on the same premise, namely using more screens to access more content, each is achieving multi-screen functionality through different means: Microsoft is tapping into existing phones and tablets; Sony is depending on its PlayStation Vita handheld device; and Nintendo is coupling an iPad-like controller with its new Wii U console. "I don't know who has the best approach," said Martin Rae, president of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. "I kind of like Microsoft's at this point, but it's going to be whatever is easiest, and then I think they'll all get it right.
" Insights show how consumers use different devices together. How many times have you started reading an email on your phone while commuting, and then continued it on your laptop when you got home? Or perhaps you saw a commercial for a new car and then used your tablet to search for the specs and see it in action? If these things sound familiar, that’s because they’re all part of the new norm in multi-screen behavior. In “The New Multi-screen World: Understanding Cross-Platform Consumer Behavior,” we discovered that 90% of people move between devices to accomplish a goal, whether that’s on smartphones, PCs, tablets or TV.
We set out to learn not just how much of our media consumption happens on screens, but also how we use these multiple devices together, and what that means for the way that businesses connect with consumers. Below are highlights from our research: Click to enlarge We found that nine out of ten people use multiple screens sequentially and that smartphones are by far the most common starting point for sequential activity. Outlook Report Vol 10. Mobile devices are used frequently in conjunction with other screens, including the big TV in your living room. Anyone who has ever tapped out an email on their iPhone, while checking a score on the VAIO balanced on their lap, while keeping an eye on American Idol on their 40-inch BRAVIA knows this. Yet many marketers today are ignoring this ubiquitous consumer behavior as they over-focus on mobile as a stand-alone medium. Media multitasking is not a new thing, of course. People have used laptops in front of the TV since... well, probably since the first laptop entered someone’s home.
We’ve seen data on this behavior for years, and yet, beyond putting a URL on screen or asking people to “like” a brand on Facebook, most TV spots don’t acknowledge or attempt to capitalize on the fact that the consumer is watching with a Web-enabled device on their lap or in their pocket. At a minimum, multitasking adds another layer of complexity to the evolution of media measurement. How Did Detroit Labs Build A Successful Business? By Letting Employees Screw Around. Reports of Motor City’s death have been exaggerated, although not greatly so. Detroit is a poster child for downtrodden America, having shed an astronomical number of manufacturing jobs decades before the Great Recession further hastened (and broadened) that economic decline.
Detroit the Dinosaur hardly feels like the right place to investigate pockets of American innovation. And yet. In a converted theater in downtown Detroit, Detroit Labs is a testament to the city’s resilient spirit of invention. The one-year-old startup designs and builds mobile applications, including Domino’s ordering app, which accounts for $150 million in annualized revenue, and the Chevy Game Time app, which dominated the Super Bowl last January, outranking Angry Birds for a time in the iTunes app store. Since turning a profit (in year one), Detroit Labs has activated phase two of its business plan: letting its developers work one day a week on totally independent projects. An integrating design? In a panel at #mlearncon, we were asked how instructional designers could accommodate mobile. Now, I believe that we really haven’t got our minds around a learning experience distributed across time, which our minds really require. I also think we still mistakenly think about performance support as separate from formal learning, but we don’t have a good way to integrate them.
I’ve advocated that we consider learning experience design, but increasingly I think we need performance experience design, where we look at the overall performance, and figure out what needs to be in the head, what needs to be in the world, and design them concurrently. That is, we look at what the person knows how to do, and what should be in their head, and what can be designed as support. What was triggered in my brain, however, was that social constructivism might be a framework within which we could accomplish this. Designing for Context: The Multiscreen Ecosystem. To create applications and systems that are easy to use, it is crucial to understand the user and the context in which the app will be used. Understanding the context helps design systems that anticipate use cases at a relevant time of use. The more unobtrusive and transparent the experience is at the time of use, the better the design. This means the user does not have to think about the device he is using, changes in the environment, or changes in context, and can rely on great functionality and ease of use independent of his situation.
In traditional systems, the context of use did not change much. Whether the use was in the office or at a personal computer at home, the surroundings were similar and there was no need to adapt to different environments. In today's world, smartphones, tablets, laptops, and smart TVs provide different services in different contexts. The Multiscreen App Ecosystem Padracer - a complementary multi-screen experience SlingPlayer for tablet Contextual Paths. Your Future TV Is Not About Tele-Vision.
The word is a combination of tele--from the Greek meaning "far"--and vision, from the Latin word visionem, which means "the act of seeing. " Call it remote viewing, if you're a sci-fi type, but "television" has until very recently meant one thing only: It's a one-way window into another world. That's very swiftly about to change. GetGlue, which styles itself as a "growing social network for entertainment, where you check-in and share shows, movies, music with your friends" has just revealed a new iPad app.
The app, so the company says "features a reimagined guide for shows, movies, and sports" and comes with new bonus powers to "bring you the best related content about your favorite shows to the second screen. " Really, though, it's tapping into the future of TV. For now, the future is being displayed on your tablet alone, via app's like GetGlue's new one: It's designed to be smart and prioritize shows you already prefer.
Which basically means TV is now boring us. An Interactive History Lesson On The Cuban Missile Crisis And A Sobering What-If. A history lesson becomes immersive and exploratory via an interactive multimedia documentary on the Cuban missile crisis that went live this morning at CloudsOverCuba.com, 50 years to the date President John F. Kennedy learned through reconnaissance photos that the Soviets were building missile bases in Cuba. The interactive film was conceptualized for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum by The Martin Agency, which has previously used technology to explain JFK’s legacy, most notably through 2009’s "We Choose the Moon" site, and produced by Tool Of North America. Narrated by Matthew Modine and relying on archival footage, Clouds Over Cuba, directed by Tool’s Ben Tricklebank and Erich Joiner, guides viewers through the events of the Cuban missile crisis, which saw the U.S. and the Soviet Union on the brink of nuclear war.
A timeline running below the film, which is divided into chapters, tracks one’s place in the narrative.