The Android platform is a software stack for mobile devices including an operating system, middleware and key applications. Developers can create applications for the platform using the Android SDK. Applications are written using the Java programming language and run on Dalvik, a custom virtual machine designed for embedded use, which runs on top of a Linux kernel.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZvhMcoJjLA]
I’m a die-hard Mac user, but this ad melted my heart a bit :)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oshj4zEZlaU]
The future is scary, as always. People are already making some very personal data visible to everyone, but what’s next. Loopt already can give information to others where we have been and where we are. And it’s automatic, just login and you are trackable. Everything else that you do on a phone or a computer leaves a digital footprint and thus is traceable (ie. last.fm, what music you listen to; youtube, what videos you watch; what programs you use; who are you calling or sending sms to etc.) You name it the engineers can do it, no remorse what so ever. 23andme and MyBlackbook are probably the scariest ones. 23andme lets the users know their genetics, who are they related to and scary part what kind of risk of getting an inherited disease they might have. First you have to do a DNA test sample and send it to the company, though. Instead of sharing your relationship status or your favourite bands, now you are sharing your entire genetic information to a community. Wow.
MyBlackbook is NOT a social networking site. It’s a place where you log your sexual history, basically the persons you have had sex with. As this not a social network you don’t share the information with anyone, but as weird as this sounds it could very well be interpreted by some other company to such a service.
Lives of others is always an interest to everybody. “Celebrity” is now the most popular profession among teenagers in Finland, when they are asked what they want to be. And being a celebrity in Finland doesn’t pay well, either. The “britneyspearsification” of every human is happening. Andy Warhol’s 15 minutes is enough anymore. Everyone wants to be the most popular digital being of their small circle by posting as many ‘LOLcats’ and ‘Pirates vs. Ninja’ invites as possible, if it means that they get their piece of attention. But just how far people are willing to go?
Basically all the social networking sites own the data that you post on to the sites. Facebook is probably the worst as you can’t even delete the information from their servers permanently. Youtube does it, and especially Google does it. (Just read the licence agreement if you have gmail account). Who knows what they are doing with your information other than using it for advertising purposes.
Something to Hide is a movement that fights against this sort of data mining.
“Our society is driven by an obsession with gathering personal data. Politicians and businesses say it’s for our own good, and we collaborate by filling in countless databases with our personal details on Hyves, Facebook, YouTube and our local supermarket. But what if we can’t trust those who have access to this data? In that instance, all usual means of communication become useless. We will not be able to mail, call, sms, etc.. So, what if we have something to hide?
For several months, students of the post-graduate design department of the Sandberg Institute have taken refuge in an age-old communications medium, and exchanged messages about their ’secret’ actions addressing privacy in the city – by pigeon post. During ExperimentaDesign Amsterdam 2008, the project continues at a pigeon house built for this occasion, which doubles as a billboard and a place for debate. At night, the billboard will be used as projection screen for showing films and documentaries on privacy issues. Meanwhile the students will carry on with their public action in town.
More information: www.pigeonproject.net ”
yest another way of touch less navigation: 
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Hillcrest Labs promotes point and click user interface
Hillcrest Labs is promoting an innovative point and click user interface for television. The start-up company has raised a further $25 million in funding to bring its technology to market. Their devices are among the many innovations on display at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
 more here and here.ÂÂ
The Fail Whale which appears when Twitter is over its capacity.
I have been thinking along the same lines as Mikko conserning these Social Networking/Ambient Awareness sites. Partly due to this and also the seemingly time consuming aspect of writing on people’s walls and sending virtual beers back and forth and whatnots, I’ve chosen not to step into the Facebook world (not to mention the whole Facebook monitoring my activities online). I don’t know how different the Facebook and Twitter experience really is but after trying Twitter, I must admit that I do love it. I love its simplicity, directness, versatility and limitations.
Instead of feeling like I’m creating a persona online that is false in some ways, I feel like its an opportunity to show a slightly different side of me that normally mostly happens inside my head. For me its more like a creative outlet. An opportunity to be creative with words. True that some of the Tweets (updates on Twitter) are very mundane but others are philosophical, hilarious, interesting or intriguing. Rather than only informing about what others are doing (an more importantly thinking) reading the very short posts make me even more interested in what that person is up to. Below some examples of some Tweets:
1. B in B after some left over sandwich from lunch.
2. After a period marked by adversities and mutual disdain, photoshop and i are starting to see eye to eye. a potential friendship perhaps?
3. Here is a link to this lovely game someone else posted and that I could enjoy!
If anyone is interested in a 6 months internship at the IDEO Chicago office let me know because we are looking for interns to start some time in January. Send the application to me (sjonsson@ideo.com) or apply via ideo.com , they all get looked at (although there is no position posted yet). I know that the Boston office is also looking (they do have an internship position posted, I believe).
That documentary a few posts ago and several articles I read got me thinking. Social networks are not portraying the true image of the person involved. What the person tells about him/herself on a website cannot represent the true self of the person. It is merely a projection of the person he/she desires to be. As he doesn’t see any true persons in his surroundings he himself becomes untrue. This projection is then updated frequently and his friends in the digital world start to put together the puzzle of his created persona. And everybody else follows. No one is interested if you had a taco buffet today and then took a shower. But these tiny fragments of information create your online persona.
Clive Johnson argues that this is good for real life conversations. When persons engaged in a social event talk, they skip the chit-chat and move on to deeper, more meaningful topics. I disagree. The chit-chat is an ice-breaker, it makes the awkwardness of the initial meeting disappear. For example, if you were travelling and meet someone right after your return, you obviously want to tell everything about your experience to this person. If, however, you have been constantly updating your digital self, and the person you are talking to is included in your friend list, they already the basics of your experiences, like where have you been, have enjoyed your stay in there, etc.. In this sort of conversation you are skipping the introduction completely, you are not introducing the persons involved, you are not describing the location, the mood of the story is not set, you are just skipping to the details. Imagine a book without any mood or description of the characters. It’s like reading a scientific article, or in the worst case: a list of things. Boring.
I wrote about tought-based control before. But that wasn’t a commercial application. Here come the japanese to the rescue.
Tought-controlled mobile phones.
(since you can’t see the controlling happening, video and images are probably useless)
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(image source: CNN)
Do you fancy touch screens, new iphone and multi touch. read this article on CNN. This article talks about a touch less interface called AirStrike developed by a startup call LM3Labs. the company is planning to launch its first AirStricke enable laptop by next year.ÂÂ
GPS systems have evolved a great deal from being a specialised military instrument to being present in every other car and mobile device. How ever perfect and accurate the GPS systems work there is a limitation when it comes to locating Indoors. With the availability of Bluetooth on most of the commercial mobile devices, there seems to be a way to achive accurate indoor location too. read more or request for a copy of the paper at Telematica InstituteÂÂ
I recently bought books for the Interaction Workshop. Here is the list of the titles initially available. We’ll get more in the coming months.
Learning Processing: A Beginner’s Guide to Programming Images, Animation, and Interaction
by Daniel Shiffman
Processing: Creative Coding and Computational Art
by Ira Greenberg
Processing: A Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists
by Casey Reas and Ben Fry
Visualizing Data: Exploring and Explaining Data with the Processing Environment
by Ben Fry
Making Things Talk: Practical Methods for Connecting Physical Objects
by Tom Igoe
Sketching User Experiences: Getting the Design Right and the Right Design
by Bill Buxton
Designing Interactions
by Bill Moggridge
Learning ActionScript 3.0: A Beginner’s Guide
by Rich Shupe and Zevan Rosser
I looked them down to the table. The cable system is very basic and kind of ridiculous. We should work something better. It should be possible for you to borrow them also. I’ll make lending forms next week. If you would like to see a particular title down there, let me know and I’ll check what we can do.
Enjoy and do have a look at them, even briefly. They are all quite interesting I feel, some more for programming/processing/actionscript, others for IxD in general.
/Camille
Rachel Hinman from Adaptive Path just completed her creative recovery called 90 mobiles in 90 days. It is very focused and covers a lot of the larger mobile activities/contexts.
I’m in creative recovery. For the next 90 days, I’m going to think about, sketch, draw, and prototype ideas about mobile design and post them here. Like folks recovering from any addiction, I don’t know what is at the end of these 90 days. I’m just gonna commit to thinking about it every day for 90 days and have faith that something good will be on the other side.
I’m sure “color IQ” has some implications to designers. At least you’ll find out whether you should ask for a second opinion on that detail on the interface your working on. Lower scores are better. I scored 15.
Jeroen Arendsen blogs about the world of gestures. Very, very interesting. DO NOT MISS THIS!