Media Evolution and Me
Just wanted to preserve for posterity, the fact that I’ll be speaking at Media Evolution on August 24-25th with an awesome lineup of speakers.
Almost surreal to think I’d be on the same panel but I’m thanking my lucky stars and the angels that guard me. 
The Feed is a Google Reader client for your iPad that lets you decide how to consume all the juicy content of your feeds.
The Feed’s flexible and uncluttered interface gives you a better overview of everything on the menu while a versatile filtering system and two different zoom levels make content more appetizing and digestible.
Looks like a nice app to try out. Done by Ocean Observations.
Many interesting points raised here. Very inspiring talk on a subject I have been working alot on lately. There’s so much here that we haven’t explored in our Medica Helping Hands concept at Ergonomidesign. And so much that we’ve addressed in the concept that hasnt been thought of or demonstrated by anyone yet. The field is wide open!
Following the huge success of their Mag+ concept (done in collaboration with BERG London, which later went on to become the Popular Science+ app for the iPad) Bonnier are back with yet another awesome video – this time called News+. News+ is Bonnier’s take on the future newspaper and they’ve written much more about it on their site.
While I love the PopSci+ app alot, I blog about this video here because its another example of crisp, simple, coherent storytelling about a concept. It’s something I am very passionate about trying more of for myself and videos like these are a huge inspiration. I think there’s an unmistakable hint of an inspiring Timo Arnall aesthetic that’s found its way to these videos.
A very honest, humble and insightful interview about El StevO by the man who was hired by him only to fire him later. Of course, the rest is legend.
Some excerpts:
I didn’t know really anything about computers nor did any other people in the world at that time. This was at the beginning of the personal computer revolution, but we both believed in beautiful design and Steve in particular felt that you had to begin design from the vantage point of the experience of the user.
He always looked at things from the perspective of what was the user’s experience going to be? But unlike a lot of people in product marketing in those days, who would go out and do consumer testing, asking people, “What did they want?” Steve didn’t believe in that.
He said, “How can I possibly ask somebody what a graphics-based computer ought to be when they have no idea what a graphic based computer is? No one has ever seen one before.” He believed that showing someone a calculator, for example, would not give them any indication as to where the computer was going to go because it was just too big a leap.
What makes Steve’s methodology different from everyone else’s is that he always believed the most important decisions you make are not the things you do – but the things that you decide not to do. He’s a minimalist.
More here.
Why do I blog this? The roadmap to ubicomp is a truly bizarre and fascinating one. Will this really be the future? Will this really be the way we interact with our content and the things we need to interact with? Or will this be one of the ideas that tried to make its way in and died for a variety of reasons. What would those reasons be? We’ll just wait and see I guess.
Excerpt from TAT blog – Capacitive screens has now become a commodity for touch screen devices. Screen technology is now taking the next leap and the coming years imagination is the only thing stopping us. We will soon have dual screens, malleable screens, screens built into wifi connected mirrors, desks or backside of gadgets clothed with e-ink screens, tactile feedback, color screens with great contrast in sunlight, holographics/stereoscopic screens, color e-ink touch screens, or screens actually knowing where they are in relation to other screens thanks to ultrasonic emitters and microphones.
The Story of Stuff Project was created by Annie Leonard to leverage and extend the film’s impact. We amplify public discourse on a series of environmental, social and economic concerns and facilitate the growing Story of Stuff community’s involvement in strategic efforts to build a more sustainable and just world. Our on-line community includes over 150,000 activists and we partner with hundreds of environmental and social justice organizations worldwide to create and distribute our films, curricula and other content.
Probably old news to most design colleagues, but I thought I’d post it on the blog for keepsakes.
Link here.
This was a project done by my dear friend Sara Tunheden at the Interactive Institute in Stockholm.
BoEL is an experimental social ambient interface and web service that presents daily consumption figures to home owners and neighbours to promote joint savings and foster competitive energy saving behaviours. The service includes an ambient lamp that provides feedback on the energy consumption in the household and these interfaces are installed so that the neighbours can observe each others energy status.
This is one of the many projects the II is working on to spread awareness about energy consumption through design provocations and probes that affect behavior positively.
Oh, and I happened to play a cameo in her amazing video too! This is an edited version. Hopefully I’ll get my hands on the full version soon!
