Introducing Google Goggles!
It looks like Google has continued its trend of walking the fine line between awesome and creepy. Their new "app" has the ability to search the internet on visual information taken from any Android phone. This includes books, places, and eventually pretty much anything you can think of. I've even read that it can identify people, although that feature will not be released initially (again, it's a fine line between awesome and creepy).
I find this as an interesting and innovative development on the part of Google. Basically, I see it as a counterpart to a move to natural gesture based interfaces. Rather than describing what you want your device to do via the interface, you allow the phone to use your environment as simply raw data, which you can process as a batch using huge compiled databases of information using traditional touch input.
Another interesting possible result of such a system is that a natural database of biometric identification might develop, especially if you consider that your personal information will become linked to every Facebook picture you might have ever posted. There are already places that have your credit card numbers, SSN, name and address; they might as well link a few hundred pictures of who you really are. Take that identity theft? We'll see.
-Tom
Monday, December 7, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
RTS on the Surface
This week I'll be talking about Robert Wettach's great find of RUSE being played on the Microsoft Surface.
Personally, I'm a big fan of RTS games like "Age of Empires," so this naturally caught my eye. By now I'm sure many of you who have used the Surface have used the Microsoft Virtual Earth demo, or perhaps have seen the video of the surface in use for security at the Superbowl. These experiences have given me two distinct impressions. The first is that a touch based interface is perfect for navigating around a map. With a good map cache, you won't have to wait for loads, and with data mapping, you can view the location of information in the most intuitive way possible.
The closest a game has gotten to mimicking this type of interaction that I know of is "Black and White," where your character is literally a God's hand, albeit moved by the mouse. Direct comparison with the Surface demos gives me my second impression; contact detection still needs work. When using the mouse, your movements in "Black and White" are fluid, and as quick as you need them to be. On the Surface, the contrast is often too light to detect a faint drag, thus ruining the user's impression of a connection with movement on the screen. Perhaps combined with a traditional touch screen, when a touch is detected, the Surface could automatically become more sensitive in it's viewing of the screen? Also, the Surface's "sample rate" is far too slow to be adequate for quick movements within the game. I think this is the result of Microsoft's choice of hardware for the device. My two cents? For $15,000, beef up the thing.
-Tom
Personally, I'm a big fan of RTS games like "Age of Empires," so this naturally caught my eye. By now I'm sure many of you who have used the Surface have used the Microsoft Virtual Earth demo, or perhaps have seen the video of the surface in use for security at the Superbowl. These experiences have given me two distinct impressions. The first is that a touch based interface is perfect for navigating around a map. With a good map cache, you won't have to wait for loads, and with data mapping, you can view the location of information in the most intuitive way possible.
The closest a game has gotten to mimicking this type of interaction that I know of is "Black and White," where your character is literally a God's hand, albeit moved by the mouse. Direct comparison with the Surface demos gives me my second impression; contact detection still needs work. When using the mouse, your movements in "Black and White" are fluid, and as quick as you need them to be. On the Surface, the contrast is often too light to detect a faint drag, thus ruining the user's impression of a connection with movement on the screen. Perhaps combined with a traditional touch screen, when a touch is detected, the Surface could automatically become more sensitive in it's viewing of the screen? Also, the Surface's "sample rate" is far too slow to be adequate for quick movements within the game. I think this is the result of Microsoft's choice of hardware for the device. My two cents? For $15,000, beef up the thing.
-Tom
Monday, November 16, 2009
World Wide Web, as long as you are using latin characters
It looks like the internet is about to receive some functionality that English speaking users have taken for granted for a long time. The DNS protocol will begin accepting non-standard characters in 2010. Currently, web sites must have Latin character extensions. This is "good" from the standpoint of the many users who speak those languages. It also provides some sense of conformity, and gives a standard that is generally easy to follow. Perhaps from a UI perspective, those speaking Arabic or Asian languages have felt left out or inconvenienced to some degree. I assume most countries use QWERTY keyboards at least, but only because they have been given no choice.
Unfortunately, this change will make visiting certain sites more difficult for users who only have font support for Latin characters. Many US based may already have difficulty with sites written in other languages; now they may not even get to them.
We'll get our first taste when sites in Egypt go up in the near future.
-Tom
Unfortunately, this change will make visiting certain sites more difficult for users who only have font support for Latin characters. Many US based may already have difficulty with sites written in other languages; now they may not even get to them.
We'll get our first taste when sites in Egypt go up in the near future.
-Tom
Monday, November 9, 2009
Visual Java?
I have been thoroughly enjoying Visual Studio this semester, and the possibility of using it to work with java code in 2010 intrigues me. Apparently, Microsoft has acquired SourceGear's Teamprise Unit, makers of java development software. I find that Visual Studio's solution based approach to code management really allows the programmer to focus on the product, rather than the syntax. I also enjoy the intelligent suggestions that can be used to complete a phrase before you finish typing. One thing that Visual Studio does not have integrated though, is good cross platform support. Should they choose to support the full range of java development, one could fully design software in windows that would work across the board.
We can only hope that Microsoft leverages the full talent they have gained, and not simply stick them in the closet and steal their intellectual property. This is likely because of Microsoft's size and unique culture. A good example can be seen just a few posts back, where they are designing the Pink phone.
-Tom
Monday, November 2, 2009
What's important is that your browser makes you happy.
It seems that Google Chrome's advertising campaign has reached Hulu! In all honesty, Google's new browser running on a Vista/Seven box is a thing to behold. It easily wins for a streamlined and intuitive tabbed interface at the top, and even takes advantage of compositing. Furthermore, it uses the tested idea of information bars. Changes and security related bars slide down from the top, while download information quietly pops up from the bottom. Google has, in all honesty, removed as many obstructions from the user's perspective as possible, and it's fast to boot. Too bad I'm afraid of their growing dominance, as the cloud slowly blots out the sun from the land of personal computing.
But my real beef right now is with Firefox 3.5, which has picked up an annoying new habit! It seems like the guys on the interface design side forgot that the appearance of speed is more important than actual speed itself. Randomly, when I enter a string into the address bar, instead of searching for the page on google or bing, Firefox spits an error out at me. It looks like it's defaulting to some file address that obviously doesn't exist! Now this wouldn't be a huge deal, except that while it loads this dead page, the entire program becomes non-responsive for about 15 seconds. If I hadn't become so comfortable with the ability of Firefox to use extensions, I'd leave right away and go back to IE8. C'mon Mozilla devs, get your act together.
-Tom
But my real beef right now is with Firefox 3.5, which has picked up an annoying new habit! It seems like the guys on the interface design side forgot that the appearance of speed is more important than actual speed itself. Randomly, when I enter a string into the address bar, instead of searching for the page on google or bing, Firefox spits an error out at me. It looks like it's defaulting to some file address that obviously doesn't exist! Now this wouldn't be a huge deal, except that while it loads this dead page, the entire program becomes non-responsive for about 15 seconds. If I hadn't become so comfortable with the ability of Firefox to use extensions, I'd leave right away and go back to IE8. C'mon Mozilla devs, get your act together.
-Tom
Monday, October 26, 2009
Windows 7 doesn't need any Windex
Yay! Windows 7 was released over break!
In all seriousness, I was saving a chat about Windows for this week. I've been using Seven for months now, and I like it. That's the short version.
Yes, Seven is mostly a polished version of Vista, but that's what sells apps, polish. I appreciate every feature besides the Mac styled taskbar icons (I turned those off and built up a Quick Launch Bar pretty quickly). Here's the thing. Windows is a platform, and the most important thing is for all of my third party applications to work. Windows 7 does that well, and so has every version before this (despite whatever complaints you might have).
The real test of Seven will come in repairs. XP was a simple enough system to repair because it is feature-wise light years behind both Vista and Seven. Vista just wasn't stable enough to disinfect. Hopefully when all the features designed to keep malware off are circumvented (and they will be) it is easy enough to revert the system to a clean state without losing vital data.
-Tom
In all seriousness, I was saving a chat about Windows for this week. I've been using Seven for months now, and I like it. That's the short version.
Yes, Seven is mostly a polished version of Vista, but that's what sells apps, polish. I appreciate every feature besides the Mac styled taskbar icons (I turned those off and built up a Quick Launch Bar pretty quickly). Here's the thing. Windows is a platform, and the most important thing is for all of my third party applications to work. Windows 7 does that well, and so has every version before this (despite whatever complaints you might have).
The real test of Seven will come in repairs. XP was a simple enough system to repair because it is feature-wise light years behind both Vista and Seven. Vista just wasn't stable enough to disinfect. Hopefully when all the features designed to keep malware off are circumvented (and they will be) it is easy enough to revert the system to a clean state without losing vital data.
-Tom
Monday, October 12, 2009
iPhone, You Phone. Do we all really need smartphones?
Google News today was dominated by aggregated stories on smartphones, including Android and some issues with Microsoft Pink. I would write a bit about the iPhone as well, if there was anything interesting to say. (That's right, I just psyched you out.)
I haven't gotten my hands on an Andriod device yet, but I think it's safe to assume the platform is fairly fluid and stable. Even though Google is possibly becoming the next major monopoly, you have to give them credit where due. They have worked with partners to design well rounded devices that spread in popularity simply by word of mouth. A few critics seemed skeptic, but I'm confident that Andriod will grow to be a major competitor fairly quickly.
This is very different from Microsoft's Pink, which I only learned of today. And what people are saying isn't positive. Pink is supposedly an integration of Windows Mobile 7 technology (First warning sign: Does it even exist yet?), Zune Media (I actually love my Zune.), and Danger's Sidekick (These people might really understand how to build a platform.). What it might actually turn out to be is a kludgy device running old Windows CE and the Zune Marketplace. No wonder it's been kept a secret. On the flip side, when another, established device already exists, should you really be keeping your own development in the dark? What do you have to hide? Microsoft is always trying to surprise the world with their latest and greatest, especially in market segments where they have little or no footing. I have some simple advice. Take your time. Release a solid first generation product. Show your consumers some faith.
-Tom
I haven't gotten my hands on an Andriod device yet, but I think it's safe to assume the platform is fairly fluid and stable. Even though Google is possibly becoming the next major monopoly, you have to give them credit where due. They have worked with partners to design well rounded devices that spread in popularity simply by word of mouth. A few critics seemed skeptic, but I'm confident that Andriod will grow to be a major competitor fairly quickly.
This is very different from Microsoft's Pink, which I only learned of today. And what people are saying isn't positive. Pink is supposedly an integration of Windows Mobile 7 technology (First warning sign: Does it even exist yet?), Zune Media (I actually love my Zune.), and Danger's Sidekick (These people might really understand how to build a platform.). What it might actually turn out to be is a kludgy device running old Windows CE and the Zune Marketplace. No wonder it's been kept a secret. On the flip side, when another, established device already exists, should you really be keeping your own development in the dark? What do you have to hide? Microsoft is always trying to surprise the world with their latest and greatest, especially in market segments where they have little or no footing. I have some simple advice. Take your time. Release a solid first generation product. Show your consumers some faith.
-Tom
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