Tivo and Dominos team up to allow broadband Tivo viewers to order pizza either during a Dominos commercial or through the Tivo menu. The system will even track the order time for delivery or pickup, but you will have to pay the delivery guy in cash. This is another blurring of the digital/physical line, and another heart attack for America.
Tivo has had the “press the thumbs up button to learn more” feature for at least a few years now. I like this new extension of their old idea.
News of the Backberry Storm came out over a month ago now, but I’ve been too swamped to write anything.
When RIM announced that the Blackberry Storm’s touchscreen provides tactile feedback they raised my hopes and dashed them quite expertly (I explain further down). It turns out, the feedback they call “ClickThrough” was designed because RIM’s co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said he can’t type on a piece of glass.
The short story is they use two different sensor layers. The top layer senses light touches for gestures like scrolling. The bottom layer senses heavier touches like pressing a button. When the user “clicks” a button on the screen they actually have to push through the top layer to activate the bottom sensor which gives the screen a click feeling.
RIM accomplished their goal of separating navigation from confirmation on a touchscreen. I think this is a good next step for evolving the touchscreen experience, and I commend RIM for their efforts, but I think the separation can be handled more gracefully. you know, without denting screens.
I think Apple might have found that graceful solution. The new MacBook improved its trackpad by replacing the button with extra touch area and mounted the whole thing on to a button, allowing the user to click anywhere. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this design show up in the next iPhone.
The feedback I was hoping for is a small “tick” and “thump”. As the user glides a finger over a button or other interactive artifact the device will respond with a “tick” provided by a quick pulse of a vibrator motor as notification of a hover. When the user applies more pressure to click an artifact the device will respond with a “thump” from another motor.
I will end with, every step forward is a good step.
Well… it is a start. At least American car companies are starting to take the idea of interactive displays more seriously. Nice to see focus, pun intended, shift from all interactivity through the Navigation system, to more “interactive” components throughout the rest of the car.
Interesting to see if GM will counter with a new digital display.
In the Process (of finding something), our literacy is put to the test. Can we find what we seek? Can we evaluate what we do find? Are our decisions getting better or worse?
What are we searching for?
I’ve decided. I’m done thinking about it. I’m done meeting new frameworks and blind dates with hand coded one off train wrecks and two birds are a stone.
I made this decision weeks ago. Way back before Addy was even born (I’m an obsessed new dad) I made this decision on phixda’s first birthday. Jk said “jquery is packaged with .net” I wish I could live in a world void if .net, but it is what it is.
The nail that broke the camel’s water was a instant message
I found this photo in a Flickr collection recommended on www.cooper.com.
I think this Haiku embodies the intent of the members of PhIxDA and the UX community at large.
It earned a place on my wall, both at home and work.
The Article:
http://www.cooper.com/journal/2008/10/inspiration_from_flickr_groups.html
The Collection:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/inspirationboards/pool/
The Photo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/publicdesigncenter/2344579422/in/pool-inspirationboards
The Haiku:
http://weblogs.media.mit.edu/SIMPLICITY/archives/000424.html
PhIxDA needs and update, and I just stumbled upon an article entitled JavaScript and Screen Readers detailing the quirks and compatibilty of several JavaScript events with the Jaws and Window Eyes screen readers.
It really was an enlightening read and the author makes this point:
We must begin to address the concerns of people who are trying to make their dynamic web applications accessible, or we will have no room to complain when the next batch of web applications prove to be unusable by the disabled.
Definitely something to think about… I thought that it was nice to see someone sticking up for the developer who’s trying to make compromises for accessibility.
Collections, colaboration and communication are the keys to success! Living documents. Ideas never expire - they evolve. I need a tool… We need a tool that promotes the appropriate environment for the evolution of ideas.
I’m being a little dramatic - I’ll calm down and try to work through my frustrations.
First, let me say that we (phixda) have a great vehical for our ideas. This nerdpress blog is growing and it is working for us.
Second, I like working on projects as a team. I don’t like designing or developing in a silo. I made an earlier post about how I don’t think veal would be able to create good designs - I’m not saying that one person can’t create something great, I’m just saying the chances of something great being greater increases when people work together.
C) remember when we all “worked” together at blockhead and we set up the dwiki, I think we were really on to something there. I wonder if it is still being used? In my new position I have been asking that we start using some similar tools for communication and project management… Becareful what 2 birds in a rock and hard place lead a half a dozen monkeys to Sharepoint- thanks microsoft.
This is where my frustrations begin.
So I was thinking about Lee’s post from about a month ago “almost there” where he suggests we have a competition of some kind in honor of PhIxDA’s first post. I wasn’t sure what to do, then I remembered Chris’s comment where he pleeds:
Do anything! Design something, code something, post something, promote something. Do something! Anything!
So I did something, I dug through old files until I found a PhIxDA logo I started a year ago. I made some adjustments uploaded it. I’m not saying we have to use it, I’m just “doing something” in honor of PhIxDA turning turning one. I hope everone else does something too.