Monday, April 30, 2012
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Blog - IKEA TV Interface
Article: "Salone Milan 2012: Interface design of IKEA's Uppleva TV furniture unit" - found at Core77
The article talks about one of IKEA's new pieces of furniture, which also happens to be a TV unit. As it is one of theirs, they got to design the interface. Personally, I think it looks pretty nice. It's neat and organized, as shown above in the home screen.
The organization and simplification stays consistent throughout the application pages on the smart TV, as can be seen in the images below:
The design appeals to me because it is simple, easy to get through multiple screens and therefore do what you want to do efficiently, and appealing to look at. I wouldn't have a problem reading this stuff -- the app logos are large, the text is simple and uncluttered, and the organization in general is way easier to understand than, say, an iPhone's (which is much more user-changeable and personalized) -- which is what bothers me a lot with some of the designs out there.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Blog - Beatsurfing
Article: "Beatsurfing iPad App Lets You Design A Frankenstein Music Instrument" - found at Fast Company
There is an awesome app for the iPad currently in beta called Beatsurfing. Basically, it takes the idea of a MIDI, or a Musical Instrument Digital Interface, and allows you to build an instrument from the ground up instead of using the normal interface for regular instruments. This allows for some awesome instrument concepts not taken advantage of before in such a way, like a mixture of vocals, beats, and distortion as shown in the video. The best part about this app is the fact that because everything you make in the app is of your own creation, you are able to decide much more easily how prevalent certain parts of the instrument are when playing. Not only that, but you can play two parts of the 'Frankenstein'-like instrument at once, to create a more complex sound.
The app is still in beta, but people can take part in it here.
There is an awesome app for the iPad currently in beta called Beatsurfing. Basically, it takes the idea of a MIDI, or a Musical Instrument Digital Interface, and allows you to build an instrument from the ground up instead of using the normal interface for regular instruments. This allows for some awesome instrument concepts not taken advantage of before in such a way, like a mixture of vocals, beats, and distortion as shown in the video. The best part about this app is the fact that because everything you make in the app is of your own creation, you are able to decide much more easily how prevalent certain parts of the instrument are when playing. Not only that, but you can play two parts of the 'Frankenstein'-like instrument at once, to create a more complex sound.
The app is still in beta, but people can take part in it here.
Assignment 10 - Wireframe Pictures
These first wireframes show how the first few pages would look like -- specifically, the home page and the show page. Just to give an example of how the 'favorites' button works, I also included an example of that. As a note about the 'forum' link on the show page: it will be the same size as the rest of them; I just forgot it when I drew it out so I added it in last minute. The bottom bar has (in order) a home button, a favorites button, a 'post topic/send message button (changes based on what page you're on; disabled on the home screen), an account button, and a 'return to higher level' button.
These are examples of the cast/crew (and the character) blog and the forum. Any links posted on the blog (to external sources) will open in the web browser on the phone, but any internal links (such as photos that are in posts not in the first blog post) will just open up in a new frame in the app. The forum portion of the app, defaulted, will post threads in the order of when they were last updated/commented on (not seen: there will be a small top bar with a 'refresh' button; a 'add new thread' button; and a 'sort by' button that will allow users to sort threads by update date, posted date, and popularity. The preference for the sort by button will be saved via your account). On the individual thread page, you can pull the thread down to update (like on the Facebook app), or just use the small top bar.
Since it's not shown on the wireframe, I will talk a little bit about forum threads. You can create a thread as a written thread or a video post (created only by the camera on your phone), but can only comment with text.
Shown here are the account page, messages page, favorites page, and extra content page -- all of which you can get to from your account page. The favorites page is also accessible by the button on the bottom bar, and the extra content is also accessible from the individual show pages.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Blog - iPad Cutting Board
Article: "Imagine A Kitchen-Friendly iPad That You Can Cut On" - found at Fast Company
Everything is all about multitasking and efficiency these days, and working in the kitchen is no exception. However, most people wouldn't dream of letting any of their gadgets near knives or food. That said, someone came up with a concept tablet specifically for kitchen use -- Jae-Wan Jeong created the idea of the Almighty Board, a tablet that one can use for pretty much any portion of cooking. The tablet would work as a cutting board and a scale, and if the writer of the article (Mark Wilson) had his way, there could be a way to include a version of a stovetop. You could put a recipe onto the tablet, and it could check off the ingredients as you put them into the mix.
Another interesting feature of the board is the fact it still works the same if you flip it over. You could cut meat on one side of the board, then flip it so the part that used to be on the table is now facing the ceiling so you can cut vegetables up without contaminating them.
What's most interesting is Jeong's concept for cleaning. As the board would have electronic features, the idea of running the tablet through water like someone would for most cutting boards might not be a good idea at all. So he decided that the board would have a self-sterilizing, UV mechanism installed into the tablet so it could clean itself.
If this exists in the future for real, I am definitely buying it. It has got to make any cook's life easier.
Everything is all about multitasking and efficiency these days, and working in the kitchen is no exception. However, most people wouldn't dream of letting any of their gadgets near knives or food. That said, someone came up with a concept tablet specifically for kitchen use -- Jae-Wan Jeong created the idea of the Almighty Board, a tablet that one can use for pretty much any portion of cooking. The tablet would work as a cutting board and a scale, and if the writer of the article (Mark Wilson) had his way, there could be a way to include a version of a stovetop. You could put a recipe onto the tablet, and it could check off the ingredients as you put them into the mix.
Another interesting feature of the board is the fact it still works the same if you flip it over. You could cut meat on one side of the board, then flip it so the part that used to be on the table is now facing the ceiling so you can cut vegetables up without contaminating them.
What's most interesting is Jeong's concept for cleaning. As the board would have electronic features, the idea of running the tablet through water like someone would for most cutting boards might not be a good idea at all. So he decided that the board would have a self-sterilizing, UV mechanism installed into the tablet so it could clean itself.
If this exists in the future for real, I am definitely buying it. It has got to make any cook's life easier.
Blog - Taking Photos with Hands
Article: "Incredible Camera Takes Photos With Your Fingers" - found at Fast Company
There is an awesome piece of technology originating from researchers at IAMAS called the Ubi-Camera, which allows users to take pictures of whatever they want using the traditional 'setting up a composition with your hands' technique most people use before shooting photos with traditional cameras instead of with said traditional camera. The camera piece is placed on the index finger of the left hand, and the thumb of the right hand pushes the button when the picture is set up. You can even zoom in and out my moving your hands further from and closer to (respectively) your body.
Though this camera is only a prototype at the moment, it is a fantastic idea, especially if it can get an image quality similar to high-pixel cameras of most smartphones (even better if at the level of DSLRs, but that's unlikely). The use of this camera, though it might look weird having something on the tip of your index finger, is taking advantage of something everyone does. I'm a little amazed, now that I think about it, that this is the first time this has ever been attempted.
There is an awesome piece of technology originating from researchers at IAMAS called the Ubi-Camera, which allows users to take pictures of whatever they want using the traditional 'setting up a composition with your hands' technique most people use before shooting photos with traditional cameras instead of with said traditional camera. The camera piece is placed on the index finger of the left hand, and the thumb of the right hand pushes the button when the picture is set up. You can even zoom in and out my moving your hands further from and closer to (respectively) your body.
Though this camera is only a prototype at the moment, it is a fantastic idea, especially if it can get an image quality similar to high-pixel cameras of most smartphones (even better if at the level of DSLRs, but that's unlikely). The use of this camera, though it might look weird having something on the tip of your index finger, is taking advantage of something everyone does. I'm a little amazed, now that I think about it, that this is the first time this has ever been attempted.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Blog - Dream App
Article: "App Aims To Design Your Dreams, But Can't Wake Up" - found at Fast Company
However, the app doesn't really work. While the soundscapes do essentially put the mood for the setting they're aiming for, the cues don't really line up with REM sleep, and therefore the app misses its target and most users have complained that the soundscape doesn't actually turn on. On top of this, the writer of the article (Mark Wilson) tried the alarm function of the application, which is meant to go off in relation to sleep cycles, and it just ended up going off when he set it to go off.
The thing is, this app has real potential. If they can actually get it to work in later stages, they could get a lot of money off people who had PTSD and nightmares, as when you dream lucidly you have a certain level of conscious control over what you're seeing, and they could actually sleep through the night. Not to mention, all those like me who enjoy being able to control dreams and remember them will have a blast sleeping. If they actually get it to work, I will totally buy it.
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