2010_SSIR_DesignThinking.pdf (application/pdf Object) Can Microsoft make Windows 8 the mobile OS? | Microsoft. It may seem odd that Microsoft executives are traveling all the way to Barcelona, Spain, to debut the beta version of the upcoming Windows 8 operating system at a mobile device show. But Microsoft, which has launched tablets and mobile phones long before rivals only to see others dominate those businesses, is hoping that the next version of its desktop operating system will reverse years of stumbling. "It's an acknowledgement that mobile is what Microsoft needs to address," said Rick Sherlund, an analyst with Nomura Securities. Tomorrow, the software giant will debut the Windows 8 beta , something the company is calling the Consumer Preview, at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona.
MWC is the place where Nokia just debuted its 808 PureView phone with a huge 41 megapixel camera and Samsung unveiled its Galaxy Beam phone that includes an internal projector . It's not the most likely venue for a major Windows announcement. Switched On: Think form factors, not PCs. Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
The iPad, launched in 2010, kicked off the post-PC era. The combination of a multitouch display and keyboard-less design enabled mobile computing in a way not done before. On the other hand, maybe the IBM Simon, launched in 1992, kicked off the post-PC era. Widely considered to be the first smartphone, it enabled mobile computing in a way that was not done before. Then again, maybe the Osborne I, launched in 1981, marked the beginning of the post-PC era. Or maybe it was the Psion Organizer II, often considered to be the first PDA, or the Epson HX-20, recognized as the first laptop, or the Grid Compass 1100, BlackBerry 850 or any number of other pioneering devices. These days, there's lots of debate about whether iPads should be considered PCs for the purpose of calculating market share. PC apps used to be confined to a handful of tasks. On the other hand, including slates leads to a slippery slope.
Comments. With Windows 8 Hybrid Laptops, it's all about the Trackpad. With Windows 8 coming later this year, Ultrabook makers are reportedly scratching their heads over how to integrate touchscreens with thin-and-light laptops. Existing Ultrabook designs are inadequate, DigiTimes reports, because when you tap the touchscreen, you might end up pushing the top panel downward. Strengthening the hinge is an option, but then the entire laptop could topple back if you push too hard.
So now, instead of forcing touch on traditional clamshell setups, laptop makers are looking into other options, such as rotating or sliding screens that turn the devices into tablets. Lenovo's solution, for example, is the Yoga, a laptop that folds all the way around into a tablet, with its keyboard disabled on the reverse side. Sounds good to me.
But as long as we're brainstorming, I have one appeal to Windows 8 laptop makers as they try to combine laptops and tablets into a single device: Please, please, do not neglect the trackpad. But I'm not sure whether this is sinking in. Official Usability, UX & UI Guidelines From Companies. Stephen turbek: Usability, User Experience, and Coffee: When Bad Usability is Good User Experience. Stephen.turbek.com Stephen Turbek4 January 2012 Coffee and Design have a long history together -It's unclear if anyone could focus on kerning in the wee hours without it. But what about the design of coffee itself? After my old espresso machine broke, I decided for fun to rethink my "coffee experience strategy". Little did I know that the quest for quality in coffee leads you into a topsy-turvy world where basic definitions are unstable.
Usability is a good concept, but it has the unspoken assumption that there is an objective task to be measured against. The background My original Krups cappuccino machine had 2 buttons on the top, a knob on the side and a minimal design aesthetic. This was a standard example of bad design; the machine has usability problems, but ones that can be solved. A solution to this would have: A three position electrical switch Off, Espresso heat, Steam heatA single light that glows red when not ready, and green when readyAn espresso pump buttonA steam valve knob. CES 2012: Focus on the User Experience.
CES 2012: Focus on the User Experience CEA research director says gadgets at this year's Consumer Electronics Show will boast simpler, better user interfaces and emphasize device personalization LAS VEGAS—In a presentation on the eve of the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Shawn DuBravac, research director for show producers the Consumer Electronics Association declared that the industry was entering the second decade of the digital transition. “We spent the last decade playing out the digital transition, which was a broad shift from analog technologies such as VCRs to PVRs, or analogue TV to digital TV. The second phase will see the market start to leverage all these digital devices.
The average household today has about 25 consumer electronics (CE) products—the next step is taking advantage of those devices with interconnectivity. He further suggested that as technology becomes more omnipresent it will step to the background. “The Smart TV is great example,” he said. Page 1. Intel's vision for Ultrabooks: combo of touchscreens, Kinect, and Siri. Intel outlined a future for Ultrabooks ranging over a number of new features at a Consumer Electronics Show press event Monday. Concept devices included touchscreen Ultrabooks, tablet-style hybrids, voice command and gesture integration, and NFC integration to fill in credit card details to an online form by touching your card to a computer's touchpad. Mooly Eden, an Intel VP, indicated that the company's dedication to the Ultrabook concept remains strong, despite lukewarm receptions to and sales of the initial models, such as the Asus Zenbook and Toshiba Portege Z835.
Aside from pumping up current models and denigrating overconsumption of media ("consumption is for cows, not people," he declared at one point), Eden demonstrated a number of concept devices that will be integrated into future models. A second touchscreen prototype, the Nikishki, integrated a large see-through touchpad with a Windows touch interface to allow use of the computer when it's still closed. Intel ignores Steve Jobs, adds touchscreen to Ultrabook. High performance access to file storage CES 2012 Intel's research department has overruled Steve Jobs: touchscreens have been added to the next generation of Chipzilla's Ultrabook spec.
"Touch skipped the notebook, skipped the Ultrabook. It was dedicated to phones, it was dedicated to tablets," Mooly Eden, general manager of Intel's PC Client Group told his audience on Monday morning at the Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas. "It's not going to skip the Ultrabook any more. " In October 2010, when introducing Mac OS X Lion, Jobs said that Apple's research department had determined that touchscreens weren't appropriate for vertical displays such as are found on PCs and notebooks.
"We've done tons of user testing on this, and it turns out it doesn't work," Jobs said. Eden admitted that a lot of folks at Intel agreed with Jobs. Eden and his pro-touchscreen compatriots don't want to replace the keyboard with a touchscreen; they want the two to cohabitate. Bootnote. Customer journey mapping: Mapping out customer experience excellence. Customer journey mapping could hold the key to analysing and improving the customer experience. Only recently a report from the Cabinet Office recommended CJM for authorities to provide a more efficient and cost-effective service. Arne van Oosterom outlines how it can help organisations - and lists the 10 key ingredents to a customer journey map.
A product or service is merely a means to an end. The real deeper value lies in the story attached. I don’t want to own a coffee maker - I need to wake up early with a little help from a cup of coffee. Unfortunately, most organisations are not capable of listening to stories. People-centred approaches like Design Thinking, Social Design and Service Design have emerged because it provides us with useful methods and tools to bridge the gap. Change causes friction Only those who are adaptable survive. And it’s exactly in this area where the biggest business opportunities lie. Building a culture of trust A quick guide to customer journey mapping. Beyond Kinect: 5 next-gen gesture systems. Someday, we will all control computers with our brain waves. You will think of a command, such as turning on the headlights in your car or closing a dialog box, and a computer will react instantly. Until then, there is an incredibly precise way to control computer interfaces. Using nothing more than your own hands and fingers, gesture control systems seek to remove the one impediment to more immediate, ubiquitous computing: the stylus, keyboard, and mouse.
You wave your hand, and the computer starts playing a DVD. Or, you pick up a virtual object, turn it around, and throw it across the room. Of course, Microsoft Kinect was the first raging success in this space. Recent games like Disneyland Adventures put the gamer into a virtual world. By raising an arm or pointing at an object, you control the interface without a controller and immerse yourself into a realistic environment. 1. One of the most interesting gesture control systems is the Omek Interactive Beckon. 2. 3. 4. 5. Using gestures in low power, handheld devices to enhance 2-D touch displays to the third dimension. Lip Reading, 3D Desktops, And NUI: Microsoft Plans To Reinvent User Interaction. Deep in the skunk works of its Research and Labs divisions, secreted around the Seattle area, Microsoft is working on totally reinventing the way people interact with their computers.
Very little is out in the open or in more than a prototype form, but the work is unquestionably being done. Last week it transpired that Microsoft is working on building Kinect into the bezels of laptops, and after that, presumably, tablets and eventually mobile phones. But it’s not just about building out the install base for Dance Central 3. It’s enabling the next generation of awareness in our electronics. The iPhone ushered in an era where our devices know when we touch them. How do you, as a person, experience the world around you? There’s a good reason, actually: computers don’t need to be like people because computers aren’t people. But mobile phones and touchscreens and laptops began changing the idea of a computer into something more personal, more interactive, more two-way. Microsoft wants to.
3D: The User Experience Story - Philip J. Corriveau. OptoFidelity "Man vs Robot" in playing Angry Birds. 5 Signs of a Great User Experience. If you've used the mobile social network Path recently, it's likely that you enjoyed the experience. Path has a sophisticated design, yet it's easy to use.
It sports an attractive red color scheme and the navigation is smooth as silk. It's a social app and finding friends is easy thanks to Path's suggestions and its connection to Facebook. In short, Path has a great user experience. That isn't the deciding factor on whether a tech product takes off. 1. A great user experience isn't just about the user interface, but it helps a lot. 2. A nice design is one thing, but you also need to see value in it. 3. The Kindle Fire as a product is not as aesthetically pleasing as the iPad 2.
Note that the rest of the Kindle Fire's user experience is not always pleasurable. 4. With so many Internet-connected devices and screens nowadays, it's important to have a consistent experience. 5. Arguably the most outstanding tech products are ones that revolutionize the way we do things. Donald Norman. Donald Arthur "Don" Norman (born December 25, 1935) is the director of The Design Lab at University of California, San Diego.[1][2] He is best known for his books on design, especially The Design of Everyday Things. He is widely regarded for his expertise in the fields of design, usability engineering, and cognitive science.[3] He is also a co-founder and consultant with the Nielsen Norman Group. Much of Norman's work involves the advocacy of user-centered design.[4] His books all have the underlying purpose of furthering the field of design, from doors to computers. Norman has taken a controversial stance in saying that the design research community has had little impact in the innovation of products, and that while academics can help in refining existing products, it is technologists that accomplish the breakthroughs.[5] Norman is an active Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST), where he spends two months a year teaching.
User advocacy and human-centered design. People | David Kelley. David Kelley About As founder of IDEO, David Kelley built the company that created many icons of the digital generation—the first mouse for Apple, the first Treo, the thumbs up/thumbs down button on your Tivo’s remote control, to name a few. But what matters even more to him is unlocking the creative potential of people and organizations so they can innovate routinely. David’s most enduring contributions to the field of design are a human-centered methodology and culture of innovation.
More recently, he led the creation of the groundbreaking d.school at Stanford, the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design. Kelley was working (unhappily) as an electrical engineer when he first heard about Stanford’s cross-disciplinary Joint Program in Design, which merged engineering and art. What he learned there—a human-centered, team-based approach to tackling sticky problems through design—propelled his professional life as a “design thinker.” Speaking Highlights May 2005, “Stanford d. Speaking Topics Books. Samsung plans to add more interaction methods to its future tablets. While Apple is in the lead when it comes to tablet sales, other companies have been trying to catch up by offering competitively priced Android tablets for sale. One of these companies is Samsung, and while it has multiple tablets in different sizes and price ranges, it looks like it’s not stopping there. According to a recent interview Samsung’s product marketing manager had with Laptop Mag, the company will be pushing new ways to interact with the tablet to make their devices stand out.
While the iPad and Kindle Fire (touted as the second best selling Android tablet) are great devices for content consumption, Samsung wants their tablets to be great for content creation as well. According to the interview, Samsung is focusing on innovating the user interface and the way users can use their tablets. This means that there’s a possibility we’ll be seeing the S Pen (found in the Galaxy Note) being used in the next Galaxy Tab. . The story was spotted on. Analytical design and human factors. ET on analytical design and human factors Analytical Design The purpose of analytical displays of information is to assist thinking about evidence. Consequently, in designing an analytical graphics, the first question should be: What are the evidence-thinking tasks that this display is supposed to serve? Analytical grapics should be constructed to serve the fundamental cognitive tasks in reasoning about evidence: describing the data, making comparisons, understanding causality, assessing credibility of data and analysis.
Thus the logic of design replicates the logic of analysis; design reasoning emulates evidence reasoning. Converting principles of thinking into principles of design helps answer the most difficult question of all in the theory of analytical design: Where do principles of analytical design come from? All this might have something to do with the field of human factors. I happily fled to the classics of science, art, and architecture. -- Edward Tufte. Advising Recovery Board on Offering Clear Data.
The future of user interface design: understanding context & behavior.