A touchless remote control prototype by Bang & Olufsen where the interaction is done through finger gestures. Volume is determined by the tilt angle of the remote and channels are changed by moving your finger through the open space in the middle. The remote is intended for use in the kitchen where one might not have the cleanest of hands to touch it.
At the last LA UX Meetup, the LA Times Media Group gave a presentation of how they were using information and news to display visually to their web visitors for a better user experience.
One of the ones that caught my eye was a NCAA Tournament Bracket Map that showed how far each team had to travel if they were to go to the championship. North Carolina having to travel almost 4 times less than any other team is a definite advantage.
Another interesting one in which they said was one of their most popular pages was a Los Angeles County Homicide Map. Information such as gender, race, day of the week, area and cause of death can be sorted, filtered, and searched on. Why it is so popular is anyone’s guess. Perhaps people use it to figure out where not to live. As one person mentioned to me at the table I was at - this was indeed the killer app.
Both show how one can use information in such a way visually that can engage the User, while also very useful.
Aza Raskin of Songza gave a talk about Interaction Seduction at Community Next today in Hollywood.
Got my personal business card this week (phone number blurred out for the stalkers).
David Morgenstern of ZDNet writes about the why Apple shines and Windows fails by looking at their human interface principles found on their developer sites.
Apple’s Human Interface Design Principles features 13 topics:
Meanwhile, Microsoft’s Design Principles features only 5 topics:
The Apple principles are actual principals for user interaction while the Windows version seems more like hints and suggestions.