In the coming days and years the uses for multitouch will only grow, some will act as innovative new pieces of technology that the world will benefit from, and then there will be others that lack practical use. This is the latter.While the PQ-DVD made app (the same folks responsible for the iPod video conversion software) looks like a Microsoft Surface made just for synching media to and from an iPod (because it is), it just doesn’t look useful. The tasks, while pretty, would be far easier to complete with the traditional mouse and keyboard.Admittedly, the software is easy...
As a European, I’m always happy to see web companies translate their interfaces in other languages besides English. It’s common business sense, since a lot of potential users simply won’t even take a look if the application is not available in their local tongue, and they certainly won’t stay long when all their local friends start trying out a competing service that is. Anyway, FriendFeed understands this too, which is why they’re opening up to a bunch of new users by translating their lifestreaming interface into German (will that be the end of Freundefeed?), French, Spanish, Japanese, Russian and simplified...
TiVo Series 3 and HD owners woke up to the Fall update today. There are a few, slight UI changes that owners should greatly appreciate. Primarily, the main menu is better labeled with Video On Demand and Music, Photos & Showcases taking the place of Find Programs & Downloads, Music, Photos, Product, & More, and Showcases headings. Might seem like a minor bump but it definitely shows that TiVo is ready to fully embrace Internet video. Now, how about Amazon HD and Hulu? A totally revamped interface would be nice, too....
Google Desktop's integration with Gmail has always been slow and unreliable: Google Desktop could fetch and index the messages from a Gmail account, but this could take days. The new Gmail gadget for Google Desktop doesn't add your messages to the index, but it's a small version of Gmail's interface that sits in the sidebar. You can read your mail, send replies, star messages, perform searches directly from the gadget.Here are some potential uses for the gadget:* check your inbox from a fast-loading simplified interface* find the email address of a contact: compose a message and use Gmail's auto-complete feature...
Believe it or not, Picasa Web Albums is a big success outside US and, since the interface is available in 38 languages, many people post comments in their native languages. Click on a featured photo and you'll certainly see at least a comment written in Spanish, Italian, Chinese, French or other language.Google's photo-sharing service started to use Google Translate API to automatically translate comments in your interface's language. The translation is displayed below the original comment.Of course, the translation is not perfect and Google didn't do a good job at properly disclosing that it's an automatic translation (there's a "Powered...
This is a really interesting project that uses an AVR micro-controller to crate a 1-key keyboard. I can think of a thousand uses for this type of device. The idea for a 1-key keyboard comes from the need as an interaction designer to make "cheap, quick and dirty prototypes." When creating a quick screen-based demo in e.g. Adobe Flash, a common way of quickly prototyping physical actions is to assign actions to certain key presses on a keyboard. In more advanced prototypes, physical hacks to the circuit board from a keyboard are also often used to interface custom buttons...
Filed under: Design, Internet, Google, Web A few weeks ago Google updated Gmail to allow users to choose colorful themes for their email service. The move left some of us wondering when Google Reader was going to get a similar facelift. Apparently today is the day, but the change isn't exactly what I had expected. Google has rolled out a new look for its RSS reader. There's a lot more white space, and a lot less blue. But there's no way to customize the color scheme. Probably the best part of the new design is that you can collapse different...
Google Reader has just launched a major redesign to its interface, addressing many of the top concerns of users of the popular RSS reader. In addition to simply looking way more clean and inviting, Google has introduced more collapsible navigation options, a new section for friends, additional feed bundles, and perhaps most welcoming to power users: the option to hide those intimidating unread items counts, which can quickly swell to hundreds or the dreaded “1,000+” when one spends more than a few hours away from the service. The “hide” options are handled on a per subscription basis, creating a...
The Evolution Control Committee has developed a new interface for music software using 2 Wii remotes and a projector. Input is controlled via infrared LED thimble-gloves against a rear-projection screen. Certainly a speedier way to trigger the massive amount of Ableton Live loops seen in the above video. - Based off of Johnny Chung Lee's whiteboard, we assembled a four-foot rear-projected faux touchscreen. It's perfect for our Wheel Of Mashup shows, which depend on an overloaded setup of Ableton Live. - Video Mashup Screen Demo More: The Evolution Control Committee presents Thimbletron & Johnny Chung Lee's Wiimote hacks Read...
Now that the New Xbox Experience has been mostly-successfully pushed out, with its avatars, new interface, and updated marketplace, Arcade owners with less than 128MB of storage have been left out in the cold -- and the big M's "solution" of free memory cards wasn't exactly ideal. That's changing, however -- a MS spokesperson confirmed to Xbox360 Fanboy that new Arcade units will contain 256MB of internal memory. So if you've been looking to pick up a new 360 Arcade, feel free to get your Netflix HD on as soon as every last cord is connected -- if you're...
Meet the Voyager from NewerTech, nerds. It’s the first quad interface SATA docking station that supports USB 2.0, eSATA and FireWire 400 and 800. The hot-swappable station takes 2.5- and 3.5-inch drives and plays nice with both Mac and Windows machines. The push button drive eject makes the Voyager even more desirable because solme of you are prone to premature ejection on occasion. Get yours now for $100 from OWC. Just in case you need an extra drive, NewerTech and OWC have bundled the Voyager with various hard drives starting at $165....
Asus has said they will be pushing their price point down in 2009, possibly to escape the overcrowded $300-$400 netbook arena and compete against the far less capable pocket PCs and smartphones that go for two Benjamins. They haven’t said much aside from that, but could it be that the changes they’re making to the Eee Box are going to spread to the EeePC? A Celeron 220 processor isn’t exactly a step up, although it might help them reduce prices. Personally, I’d like to see innovation in form factor or interface, like HP is trying come January. Damn, the...
