Fr. 6. Nov. 09, 10 Uhr, Erich-Thienhaus-Institut:
Neue Bedienschnittstellen für computerbasierte Audio-Anwendungen
Terminplan

10/GUI from C. Miller on Vimeo.

I came across this video today and found it interesting.  For one, I have been thinking of several touch interface projects and this one caught my attention because of the way it wants to change the computing experience itself.  Although for some, getting used to it might be a problem (similar to those who doesn’t like upgrading their OS [eg. XP to Vista to Win 7]), this may be attractive to younger generation users and multitaskers who always want to do more with less.

With the iPhone experience, touch screen is without doubt, a fun thing to do… but doing it in desktop computers might mean changing the term ‘desktop’ altogether.  I came up with the following random thoughts while watching the video:

1. Touching the screen itself.  Problem: I cannot see what’s beneath my hands.  Perhaps it’s the way the hands are used.  Well, for me the reason for using the hands instead of the mouse for computing is that, you want to ‘try to hold data, or manipulate them with your hands’.  This is much more experienced with the hands touching the screen instead of looking onto a projection of finger placements on a pad.  When we move a small piece of coin from one place to another, we cannot see it if we keep it enclosed in our palm.  I think this ‘reality’ is what’s more interesting to be integrated with today’s computing technology.  Everything seems so virtual.  How do we make it REAL?  (Sidestory: I remember how my friends moved the SNES joystick to the direction of the character so hard, even if they knew that won’t have an effect on how fast or slow their character moved on screen.  Feeling your desktop and doing things in it directly with your hands make sense!)  Well, if the obstruction really seems to be a concern, then projecting the screen might also work.  You will see the screen on top of your hands, even.
2. Sliding windows.  I really like this idea.  Question: Is this better than a Taskbar with tabs?  Thing is, tabbing works pretty well for web browsers and I was thinking, if this applies with your desktop and application windows, then it would be very comfortable to use.  (Which is why the Dock is also a very successful idea in Macs.)  First, no more zooming in or out step–>the tabs are shown to you everytime!  Second, if you want both (or more) tabs to be open at the same time, the sliding windows idea might be helpful here… but tabbing really is the key!  Perhaps an improvement to how Windows Taskbar works.  Sortable and easily viewable tabs: IT!
3. Typing with the keyboard.  I was arguing with myself–is it better to keep the keyboard or not?  With the iPhone, that’s what I have been thinking about.  If before, you can type a text message without looking at your phone (due to familiarity with your keypad), now you can’t do it with your smooth-touchscreen.  Well, for 10/GUI, if you can pop in and out a keyboard layout on the screen, maybe it will work!  Just don’t lose the index finger indicators from your pad (that which reminds you where F and J keys are on the keyboard) and show your finger positioning on the keyboard on screen, then you can start typing.  The good thing about this is that, if you’re working at night, you don’t need to search for that symbol that you don’t remember from your keyboard in the dark.  It’s shown to you on the screen.  I think this is something worthwhile.   And, yes, if you are typing on the screen itself, then iPhone has proved it to be pretty user-friendly as well.

So, what are your ideas?  Do you think 10/GUI will work for you?  It will change the way you think (just as how Mac has changed my PC ways)… possibly in a good way.  It may be very promising for productivity purposes.  This is already very possible now.  Sell it already!  Or better yet, give the OS for free and the pad interface for a cheap, cheap price!

But still, tangible computing is the future I want to really look forward to.

I was born in 1986 so I grew up a little after hay-day of the original NES but I did get to play it. It had a distinct rectangular conrtoler that was a little awkward to handle. “The NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) and Famicom (as it was referred to in Japan) had a rectangular shaped controller with a total of four buttons. There were two circle buttons, “A” and “B” along with a Start and Select button. The last feature the controller had was a four way directional D-Pad, which was designed by Gunpei Yokoi, as a superior alternative to the joysticks from Atari. The D-Pad revolutionized the gaming industry forever. It was Nintendo’s way to revitalize the slowly dying gaming industry and put it on its feet again.” says Sud Koushik in his article Evolution of Controllers.

The console I really grew up on was SNES. I loved it, come to think of it i still do. I have the emulators on my computer ans a usb remote and I end up playing games like Mega Man X 1-3 once a year for like to days straight lol. Anyways in terms of the controller Nintendo decided to ad to new buttons on the top of the controller. In Addition to that they made the controller more ergonomic by curving it slightly so it sat more comfortably in your hand. Next up was the N64 controller and it had a third hand hold that featured a small analog joystick that could be manipulated by just one thumb.

I eventual  moved over to the Sony PlayStation market and I am still a huge Playstation fan. Even though i am pro PlayStation I do have to say that the Nintendo Wii has the best and most impressive form of interaction. I know PlayStation 3 has accelerators in the remote but they don’t utilize them that much yet. The Wii however has multiple sensors and all kinds of accessories to make the iinteractive experience even more immersive.