Takayuki Iwamoto, Mari Tatezono, Takayuki Hoshi, & Hiroyuki Shinoda of the University of Tokyo have developed a system that gives tactile feedback to users interacting with holographic images! The sensation is produced with ultrasound that can simulate the feeling of things like falling rain drops or small creatures running around.
“The Airborne Ultrasound Tactile Display solves this problem by producing tactile sensation on a user’s hand without any direct contact and without diluting the quality of the holographic projection.” SIGGRAPH2009
This was a book I found when I started my new job a year ago and I wanted to share it with you all. Now that I am on my own I will have time to scan in and display each page… maybe. Would probably be better to release a chapter a week to keep things rolling along nicely. In anycase here are some quickshots of the book. I’ll go in to more detail when I release the first chapter.
Tactile feedback is a major player in usability. When it comes to electronic devices and environments tactile feedback becomes known as Haptic Technology. Haptic Technology is feedback delivered to a user to allow for a more realistic and engaging experience. We can see this type of technology in place currently with video games and how new systems controllers employ haptic technology. This comes in the for of vibration feedback, tilt sensativity and pressure sensative buttons.
The milk in your fridge isn’t usable. No, it’s not expired, it’s just not very usable because there is no standard color code for milk caps.
I discovered this because in my house we keep two kinds of milk in the fridge, skim & 1%. I drink the skim milk and my wife drinks the 1%. I thought I memorized the cap color of my milk, but some mornings I poured the wrong milk. After realizing the problem was poor design and not poor memory I decided to investigate the confusion further.
I determined in the weeks we buy Wawa brand milk this means that I reach for the green capped jug while she reaches for the blue. But when we buy Lehigh Valley Dairy brand milk I have to remember my skim milk has a blue cap and the 1% has a purple cap. The confusion thickens if we purchased milk from multiple dairies in the same week. Read more…
Authors Note: I originally started this post on December 2, 2008. Some of the information is dated but I figured I would post it. You will see my updated comments through out but I have left the piece in its entirety.
I have been spending some time lately researching navigation when it comes to environment based interactions. The short answer, “hotspot” navigation vs traditional “listed” navigation. This style of navigation is not new in any sense and has taken many forms both good and bad.
Before I began my research I laid down a few questions and expectations for myself to answer. They are basic and simple but they are fundamental when it comes to navigation design. The questions I asked myself were:
Is there an alternative form of navigation aside from “hotspots”?
Does the navigation act as a distraction to content or does it compliment it?
Is the goal and purpose of the content being served through this interaction model?
Good Idea: Healthy competition with other phone companies.
Bad Idea: Making a monochromatic legend for your service map.
An aside: I’m also confused by cricKet’s respeKt campaign: “It’s time your wireless company gave your wallet some respeKt.” It’s basically a contract-free flat-rate plan. Two people suggested that it was to sell to the “urban” demographic. It seems akin to H&R Block’s “I got people” campaign.
Palm’s latest smartphone, The Palm Pre, runs on the new “Palm webOS” which basically means the entire UI layer of the phone is a browser. Applications are developed using HTML5, CSS, Javascript and Palm’s own Mojo Framework which uses a “JSON-based message bus to tap into a wide range of device services, including contacts, calendars, and location”.
I think Palm’s choice of using web technologies as its application programing language puts it in a good position to outshine the iPhone’s extensive catalog of apps. Palm also “borrowed” the idea of an app store baked into the device.
I am very excited about the Palm Pre, and the idea that web technologies are escaping the web and further blurring the line between website and application.
Aside:
Palm’s webOS reminds me of www.youOS.com (now shutdown) which mimics a computer desktop in a web browser complete with word processor, chat application, desktop wallpaper and of course a web browser.
I have been working on a project here at work. It is my first project in AS3 and one of the largest and most complex I have ever made. The user capabilities have made for a difficult time but the thing that keeps fighting back is a context sensitive aspect. I have a little function that helps people locate a nearby service based on their zip code. Works fine in the production environment, information is pulled from an external source and displayed to the user. However… once it is on a server it fails to do its job.
I have a crossdomain.xml file in place on the other server which I am pulling information from. I have narrowed it down to 2 things that could be my problem now.
1. HTTP does not play nicely with HTTPS when it comes to Flash Player
2. Flash Player, even when directed not to, looks for a policy file at the root. Bad Flash Player ! No, bad!
Suggestions? Ideas? I think I might be the only person trying this because all my searches come up with it either being HTTP to HTTP or HTTPS to HTTPS. Never a true crossover. The server I need to get information from I do not have access to because it is a third party that collects information for one of our clients. I’m exhausted with trying to figure out if it is me or the fact that HTTP and HTTPS when it comes to Flash Player just do not play nicely.
So you know, I have Read through this extensive document and think I got everything right. Would make it easier if I had access to the server to actually control what I am doing rather then depending on a third party.
Barack Obama’s team has done it again. They have taken the web 2.0 style that has surrounded the new president and pushed it onto the White House’s website. The old website was not bad, but it is nice to see a fresh face on the website. I just hope this doesn’t turn into a every new president gets a new website deal. Not that it would be bad, but is it really necessary?
In any case I am digging the new look and feel of the site. All the small accents for images and horizontal breaks are well done. It remains conservative yet allows for some play in the presentation of content. It is nice to see design taken to a, pardon the pun, presidential level. Any thoughts? I will write a more detailed comment after I have had more time to get through the website.
Blackboard is a very popular Learning Management System. I have to use it for most of my graduate courses and it’s really been nothing but a frenzied click-fest. Sections are buried deep and threads on the forums are impossible to directly link to.
This quarter my professor’s assignment delivery method of choice is Blackboard’s Digital Dropbox. It sounds pretty friendly and easy to use but c’mon this is Blackboard! Naturally, my professor never received my solution to the assignment and it was originally graded as a 0.
If you click on the image, you’ll see two buttons: Add File and Send File. Clearly this means that you Add the files and then send them off to where ever they’re meant to go… right?
Apparently it means that you Add files to your personal “dropbox” or Send files to the instructors. It’s not a 2-step process as it may seem. And why is it called a dropbox to begin with? I thought it meant that I could drop the files in and be done with it. Otherwise, isn’t it more like a Digital Queuebox or something else just as useless?
PhIxDA Automagically is a repository of information and ideas made by a core group of individuals located in the Philadelphia Metro area. It is a place for PhIxDA members to engage in a dialog that the rest of the world can give thought to. This Blog is also a scrapbook, a place where we can place information for reference and discussion and upload files and share them to better our understanding of things. This is not solely for PhIxDA members but also for the world of interaction design at large.
