Personal Blog of a Public Figure
“Do you like it?”
That’s the question that’s being asked to me repeatedly concerning Daft Punks latest venture, “Random Access Memories”. The French duo’s latest album has been building hype ever since that oh-so viral video of “Get Lucky” leaked at Coachella.
I’ve listened to the album, and I have my answer.
You’re asking the wrong question.
So I’ve mocked up some “improvements” to the Vine recording interface that I think would make it a LOT more user friendly—-while increasing the ease of use of the application.
The first thing you’ll notice is the new “recording” bar. Every time you record, your “snippets” are broken off into sections…or “leaves” (if you want to be kitschy). This would allow for two things:
The color coding makes it easier to keep track of which shot is which.
You’ll notice two icons at the bottom of the screen that incorporates two sought after features…the front-facing camera and a timer.
The front-facing camera is self-explanatory.
The stopwatch, on the otherhand, would allow Viners two options.
While some users might never have to use the feature, making it accessible would mean those who mostly do the camerawork by themselves would have time to step away from the phone to do some even more clever work.
These are just some of the tweaks that could be done to a very promising app, all while maintaining it’s minimalistic appeal.
The Verge wrote a pretty interesting article that serves as a jumping off point of my last post. Some people are taking the task of merging man and machine into their own hands…quite literally.
There’s been a question that’s been sitting in the back of my mind lately.
“What will our technology be like in the next five years?”
The more I see speculation becoming the outdated hardware of tomorrow, and the next big thing becoming the next big flop of today, the question isn’t what we will be using…but how we will be using it.
Google Glass has enticed the world with a new way of interacting with one’s world without the need of rampant distraction.
But what comes after Glass? How can something so revolutionary be improved upon? The beauty is in it’s design.
What makes Glass remarkable is the amount of technology they’ve managed to cram into such a small device. It’s unobtrusiveness will make it a piece of hardware that is worn daily by the user.
And that my friends is the answer. What…don’t see it yet?
Here’s a little more to think about.
In a recent interview, Microsoft’s Xbox chief had this to say.
“My personal belief, 10 years from now, we’ll be wearing 10 sensors on our body collecting data and applying that data to things that are valuable to us as users.”
Samsung has just announced a smartwatch in the hopes of beating Apple and it’s rumored device out of the gate. The recent Samsung Galaxy featured an updated “S Health” app that tracks users steps using a pedometer.
With products like the Nike Fuelband and other fitness tracking devices, consumers seem to enjoy wearable computing. This hasn’t gone unnoticed by innovators, like Gabe Newell of Valve…who is looking into entering the home console market with the Steam Box.
“So you need to actually be able to directly measure how aroused the player is — what their heart rate is, things like that — in order to offer them a new experience each time they play.”
So if all of this technology is being worn, and it’s learning to measure specific things about the human experience…like gestures and eye movement, what’s to say it can’t learn more?
Like our speech. Or maybe even what we’re thinking.
So what will our technology be like in the next five years?
Scientists are slowly gaining traction in being able to decipher how a thought is actually formed. The image above is what it looks like when a zebrafish thinks about food.
If scientists are successful with their research, in a few years time a device could be worn on the head, allowing a user to simply think of a command and the device would carry it out, reading and interpreting the impulses from the brain.
Imagine it.
Something easily worn, simplistic and stylish that would allow you to reply to a text message, capture a photo or measure your pulse, all without lifting a finger or uttering a single sound.
Hey…it’s just a thought.
Apple fanboys already have two Jobs movies to look forward to this year…but the third to be announced is now the first to be released.
And it’s a parody of biopics.
This is a little long, but the payoff at the end is truly remarkable. Microsoft has been working on speech recognition software…and even though they may be last out of the gate, the possibilites of this technology could put them far ahead of the competition.
Super Hexagon.
Simplistic, yet mind-blowingly difficult.
As soon as you learn something new, you’re thrown another curveball.
Prepare for your new timekiller.
