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Archive for November, 2007

User Experience Of The Future

Over decades we’ve used to adapt our habits, behavior and mindset to technology. We’ve improved our productivity by using tools and devices designed especially for the tasks we have to deal with regularly. But we’ve also constrained our abilities to the features of the very tools and devices we’ve become dependant on. We’ve got used to a number of things. To traditional mouse-keyboard user interaction, to 2D windows-based user interface and to a rather unspectacular user’s workflow which enables one user interact with only one application at a time. For instance, while you’re browsing in your web browser you can’t scale your text and resize your window simultaneously — unless you are a keyboard-shortcut-master. Good news: it can be different. Below we present some of the outstanding recent developments in the field of user experience design. Most techniques may seem very futuristic, but they are reality. And in fact, they are extremely impressive. Keep in mind: they can become ubiquitous over the next years. Thanks to Smashing Magazine.

Posted November 27, 2007 2:06 pm by David Brown 0 Comments

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Introducing Buzzword from Adobe

Buzzword is a Flash-based online word processor from Virtual Ubiquity, a small start-up purchased by Adobe back in October. Design and interface-wise, colour us impressed. Menus slide around the page like penguins on ice rather than popping in and out as with Microsoft Word and everything has a certain streamlined and slick look to it too. Unfortunately there are several problems beyond obvious things such as a tiny font range: Being web-based there is a slight delay between user-inputs and what we see onscreen. So let’s say we hit ‘return’ or highlight and cut text – you’ll certainly notice a pause. Other additions are much appreciated though such as a full version history listing. No longer shall we save and close a piece of work only to realise we can’t undo an error we’ve suddenly realised we made! Excellent. A worthy competitor to Google docs then? Yes. To Microsoft Word? Sadly no, not as yet.

Posted November 26, 2007 4:11 pm by Alex Horner 0 Comments

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Stubby Symphony

Music to my ears.

Posted November 20, 2007 9:13 am by David Brown 0 Comments

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Internet trolleys

A company going by the name of Modstream are adding little LCD screens to the handle of the humble shopping trolley. Advertisers can then beam messages to them wirelessl

Posted November 16, 2007 10:12 am by Alex Horner 0 Comments

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Google petrol pumps: why has no-one thought of this before?

Google Maps are to appear on 3500 internet enabled petrol pumps across the US, allowing you to look up directions and local attractions. You can then print the directions and be on your way…after spending ten minutes looking them up and seriously aggravating the person in the queue behind you.

Posted November 8, 2007 6:13 pm by Alex Horner 0 Comments

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Facebook rolls out its new ad system

Though we’re not quite convinced “The next 100 years are going to be different for advertisers” because of it as founder Mark Zuckerberg would have us believe, Facebook’s new ad system is very interesting indeed. First and foremost, brands are now able to create profile pages (10,000 of which were launched yesterday), similar to what we’ve been seeing on MySpace for some time now. Any interaction with this page such as becoming a ‘fan’ of the brand, uploading photos or posting discussions is then communicated to your friends via their news feeds. ‘Vicky has started a discussion on Coca Cola, click here to see what all the fuss is about’. The idea behind this is that ads will seem more like referrals from friends than a brand breathing its message down your neck. As Zuckerberg puts it: “Nothing influences people more than a recommendation from a trusted friend.” From what we can gather so far, creating a branded page is free but the news feed ads are auctioned based on impressions or clicks. It will also be easier to spread word of branded apps as every installation from a friend will be accompanied by similar newsfeed posts.

Posted November 7, 2007 10:30 am by Alex Horner 0 Comments

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Yahoo launches a social network for college grads

Yahoo has launched a new social network targeted at university grads trying to find their first jobs. Kickstart is similar to LinkedIn (albeit targeted more specifically), meaning it’s more about employment history and qualifications than pokes and vampires/zombies/pirates. In fact, profiles look a lot like a jazzed up CV. With daunting large-scale players like MySpace and Facebook in the social networking arena, going niche is a very sensible idea and a trend we’ve seen a lot over the past six months.

Posted November 7, 2007 10:03 am by Alex Horner 0 Comments

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Sanitkasan

Posted November 5, 2007 9:18 am by David Brown 0 Comments

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Google’s OpenSocial makes a lot of sense

Google’s soon to launch OpenSocial is a set of APIs designed to let developers easily create applications that will work across any participating social networks. So instead of creating one for MySpace, one for Facebook and so on, a developer will create..well just one. Benefits to the developer: save time and money by using more of your existing code rather than learning new programming langauges (FBML for instance) every time you want to create an app for a specific network. Google are making a very sensible move here. Rather than creating another new social network in an attempt to catch up with MySpace or Facebook (both of whom are unsurprisingly not a part of OpenSocial) they are creating something genuinely useful and a territory they can own within the crowded world of social networks. Initial partners include Orkut, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Ning, Hi5, Plaxo, Friendster, Viadeo and Oracle.

Posted November 1, 2007 11:00 am by Alex Horner 0 Comments

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