TinyTop

TinyTop

For fun I modelled something I want to buy. Feature low at the moment...

I have a feeling that this mock up, and the real products in this sector, are not doing it right yet. I think perhaps there is a different approach. Something that is not just touch screen and is not just a tiny laptop. Also something which does not think of its self as a computer but just as what it is. Perhaps like a really good Peek, or not.

Another Special Bugatti

Really pretty Bugatti Veyron

So if I was nice and cared I would know what this car is called and all that sort of thing. As it is I am not that nice and I do not care that much so I will simply say, the above image of some special edition Bugatti Veyron evokes some form of visceral love for me. Perhaps it is the glass roof or the smoorh organic flow decpite the extreem functionalism and mechanical prowess of the design. Alternitavily perhaps I just like white. In any case. I thought other people might like to see this car to.

I found this image among many others on a luxury blog I quite like called Sybarites.

Google Reader knows when you made a mistake

Google Reader knowing what you did not mean to do. 

Back in the day if you accidentally pressed Shift+A in google reader you would find that you had just marked all your items as read. For some people this may not be a problem. For me, it is. I often have 1000 or more unread items, some of which I am deliberately saving so I do not have to keep track of them.

So, just a few moments ago I accidentally pressed Shift+A when going for Shift+S and I got the popup pictured above. Yay for Google's UI team.

Google Chrome the best thing since Electricity

The last page of the carton which includes a near complete description of the service.

Today some people got a strange cartoon in the mail that depicts a great thing from google. Check out the scanned images here. The destination Google Chrome seems to not be live yet.

I am so happy. This is like all the people in government in the USA just turning around and asking the rest of the world, "how did we piss you off and what can we do to make it better?"

What do people think. What browsers do you use.

Haptic Interfaces that do not try to trick

A Crayola Keyboard for Children.

So I often love old button interfaces, the interfaces that have well labelled buttons that go click when you tap them. One of my favourite interfaces in the world is that of the Bang and Olufsen BeoCom 1401 and 1400. The buttons are firm and they offer sublime haptic feedback.

I don't know much about the Crayola keyboard above but I love the design language and I think it is highly representative of reasonable interface design. Perhaps the grid is a little too strong on the alpha keys and perhaps the arrow set is a would take a moment to get used to but I think the idea is much more respectful of users than that of something like the new top end keyboard from Mircosoft. Interestingly as you pay more for a Microsoft keyboard the features become less stupid and in some ways the product is altogether more elegant. You would however, still have to give me one for free to get me to use it.

A really short rant with links I guess. I think interfaces, haptic or not, should not trick people unless they are tricking them into performing better (which Microsoft is obviously not doing)

PreLaptop Portable Computer

Combined display and keyboard terminal William N. Mayer et al:

This is crazy cool. It is actually referenced by the first laptop patent ever (the one that Bill Mogridge is on in any case D280511)

Anyway I love the idea of a flute case computer!

Google Design School

Google Logo for Lego's 50th Birthday

I am in the midst of applying for a interesting looking job. I hate writing cover letters, however I did think of something a little interesting. Google Design School.

Google, as everybody knows has a great line-up of really usable services and they have consistently kept the user at the centre of their design requirements. Being a large company and one that claims one of its core fundamentals "don't be evil" there is a need for a well defined path to avoid the expected corporate evils and ensure a future of great user service. Google has published their interpretation of this path on their corporate home-page and in doing so created a defining structure for others, in the same space and in my opinion, in almost any other industry. My personal interest lies in two of their documents which I think combined could be used to teach comprehensive design thinking, and hence the prospect of a school of design based on the methods and thinking of Google. The two articles are as follows

1. Google User Experience - A casual documentation of what google holds important when considering the user in their products. 
2. Google Philosophy - Seen as "ten things Google has found to be true" and some great insight about good strategy for almost anything, business, design and whatever else. 

I think it would be fun to discuss this more. If anyone wants to help me put together a course outline for a Google Design class it would be a lot of fun. I really think there is a lot of design learning available there and that it could be used to create something really interesting. 

Moving Places - Thinking Stuff - Giving Things

My New Kidneys

Firstly. I think I said previously I am looking to go to KAIST in Daejeon, Korea next year. If anyone knows anyone with input I would love to learn more. For now they have given me a scholarship pledge but we will see how other things turn out. I am also considering doing a US school. Obviously D.School is probably the most attractive for me at this point but that is also in debate.


Next. I am working with a few new people, including a group called SocialAtom.com who do social media marketing with an emerging market tilt. . I am helping them deal with the Chinese market. So far so good.


Additionally I am now also working with a web outsourcing startup in China which should be interesting. I think we are going to try to target people who want to do minimal input and minimal interaction to develop desired applications. This will be fleshed out in the next few weeks. I am not sure when we are going public yet but it should be soon.


I am also trying to get a blog off the ground with a friend here in the states. We are still not sure what we are actually writing but I think it is going to be along the lines of writing about stuff in design that people are not discussing, to our knowledge. We are interested in logic based arguments etc. I will link here when we have some posts up.


Lastly, Brittany Veitch gave me a wonderful birthday present, a pair of kidneys. They are really beautiful I think I am going to wear them with my suit. Obviously the image at the top is them. Thanks Brittany. 

Comments please.

Combined video editor and monitor Tetsuro Miyazaki

An interesting patent from Sony about some sort of portable editing system. One point of interest is that it references the first laptop patent ever. 

Combined video editor and monitor Tetsuro Miyazaki

Design in Holland

I am in Amsterdam for 2 nights and on this trip I have realised a few more things about the design here.

On my last trip here about a month ago I noticed that many systems are rather open, more so than in many other countries, with the expectation that people will find a good solution and use it instead of having to follow a strict set of rules. Now obviously this has advantages if done well because it means more things are more intuitive to do if things have been made "open" properly.

I think it is often considered the case that less confined things tend to succeed more often or at least have serious advantages that lead to a market share.

I should note that despite there being a lot of really well designed open systems in Holland I think they just have a lot of trouble with information systems even when they have obviously had the crap designed out of them. Perhaps this is a cultural thing but I have found on a number of occasion that there is not a lot of consideration for real users. One instance was in a parking lot payment system where almost every user I saw firstly did not understand how to use the machine and then when they thought they did it still seemed not to work properly.

So, on this trip I think I realised there is more to the multitude of open systems here than simply making things more intuitive. Having spent a significant portion of my time on this trip looking at architecture here in Amsterdam and also in Utrecht, I have realised that though may people live in apartment blocks and many apartment blocks are similar there is a lot of subtle work done to make apartments dissimilar. The way this is done, a block of several hundred apartments may be made up of something like 10 different apartment types each with a few subtle but noticeable differences. In many places it is common to have 2 or a few more types of apartments making up the core of the block because of the symmetry about elevators etc.  Here in Holland buildings are usually not so tall and people are less lazy so there are stairs. So yes 10 different sets of 10 apartments scattered around a building so each has a unique view and has unique value. The reason, I think, is because of the perceived value of being personally unique. So now I think, though I could be totally wrong here, that in Holland there is a strong value associated with being unique. Of course there are lots of social norms and people tend to be similar as people are in most places of the world, however I think people here really like the idea that they could do things specifically how they wanted, and see things in a way that suits them.

I think this is really different from the perception of uniqueness that is found in many Americans as here it is based on actual interactions and systems built to provide for them where in the USA it is much more based on personal claims and perceptions.

This does not explain the multitude of really badly design information systems but it does give me a lot more context to watch the way people do various things. I know this is just an assumption but I have not seen any contrary evidence as far as I know.

Improving Bathrooms

Korean and Chinese and other bathrooms are really neat because they use a much more open architecture and contribute to a more designable experience for the user. I think there are a few important parts to this flexibility that make it really fun:

1. Water Room - everything is designed to get wet. It is easier and more fun. I think it could be a good design principal.
2. Feature full Floor - many bathrooms have wash racks mounted into the floor for people to do laundry. I think this could be extended to a few other features.
3. Continuous Experience - this is a bit less certain but it just seems that when I use bathrooms in Korea or China, whatever I am doing it feels that the tools are really built into the environment. I am not sure what I mean but I think it is a good feeling and I think it is something that could add to the experience of western bathrooms. Perhaps it is the really modular multi function nature of every aspect of this kind of bathroom. Each fixture seems to have distinct uses but also ends up emerging as a solution to many problems, just by the nature of the simple and elegant environment. 
4. Isolation from Dirt and enforcing Cleanliness - In these settings it is common for people to use small towels which is really nice for various reasons, and also use slip on shoes when they are in the bathroom. This is interesting because it combines to make a really fresh cleaning experience every time. That is to say; I think I feel a lot more clean after showering like this because you can concentrate on cleaning and you are sort of forced into cleaning. A small towel also works better to retain quality in your skin. 

That is all I can think of at the moment. I am trying to put together some ideas to make a bathroom design that ties a few ideas on washing together to create something that is a bit more efficient and a better experience.

Comments or stories about interesting washing experiences would be great. Especially if you know a lot about Japanese washing.