Here’s a very interesting commentary from Slate about the generational difference in electronic communication. It does a great job of describing a possible communication workflow a teenager might use instead of e-mail. It also talks about the transient quality of the IM, text, and Twitter and likens e-mail writing to old fashioned letter writing. Surprisingly, some of this is true in my life too. My husband and I send most of our throw-away conversations (“Lunch?”, “come get me”, “I’m leaving work” and the like) via cell phone text messaging. I send a lot of messages at work via e-mail, but most of messages I send have details that are too much for text message. I haven’t gotten into Jabber (IM) and I don’t intend to. When I want to broadcast to wide audience, I do it through blogging within work and outside of work. There are many modes to perform different layers of communication. A lot of it has to do with the content and intended audience for me. Anyhow, read that article and then think about how you now communicate with the world.
technology
The Death of E-Mail
Teenagers are abandoning their Yahoo! and Hotmail accounts. Do the rest of us have to?
Posted Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2007, at 12:32 PM ET
Article URL: http://www.slate.com/id/2177969/ <!–rs = PStax; DM_addToLoc(“thisNode”, rs); DM_tag();
PCs losing their relevance in Japan
Could this be the future in the US too? Quite frankly this sounds a little scary, but at the same time it makes since that PC’s would become less relevant as mobile devices become capable of delivering richer media and communication experiences. I’m thinking now about how the Xbox 360 has become my gaming platform of choice over my PC (well, that’s mainly because my PC won’t run any game made after 2005 — sadness). I still, though, loath trying to access the internet via my cellphone. The network is too slow and the screen is too small to be legible with my pitiful eyesight.
I think this article illustrates the importance, though, of creating a wonderful home computing experience. To be honest, my computer is no longer an office tool. It is now our home entertainment hub and I’m craving an internet PVR and some file management tools that would make my home entertainment experience less cumbersom. I wonder in Japan, though, will the prevelance of gaming consoles that are multi-purposed as entertainment hubs supplant PCs. I wonder could PC’s in the US head this off by offering a richer entertainment experience than any gaming console could. How does microsoft view this since they offer a gaming console and the OS used by most PCs? Are they playing both sides? What about Apple? Hmm …
TOKYO – Masaya Igarashi wants $200 headphones for his new iPod Touch, and he’s torn between Nintendo Co.’s Wii and Sony’s PlayStation 3 game consoles. When he has saved up again, he plans to splurge on a digital camera or flat-screen TV.
There’s one conspicuous omission from the college student’s shopping list: a new computer.
Follow the link above to read the read of the article.
Article: Why Nobody Likes a Smart machine
Here is a great little article about a cognitive scientist’s gripes with feature filled gadgets that take no account of the human consumer. I found myself laughing at this because despite paying money to have this guy consult, the design of the digital picture frame still went awry. Not to be bitter, or anything like that (no not me), but design rarely seems to start from how someone is actually going to use the product, but, rather, a set of features are settled upon and the engineers must cobble something together that contains the feature set. If you design something the way you would design a Frankenstein monster, then a Frankenstein monster is typically what you end up with.
Personally, I have forgone unneccessary features, for a clean design and ease of operation regardless of cost. I like to thoroughly play with gadgets before I buy them and if Ican’t figure it out within the first couple of tries, then I’m instantly turned off and move on. This would be the primary reason I hate trying to use an AIO beyond printing. I could never get one of those to scan to a file properly. Sigh …
Why Nobody Likes a Smart Machine
Article: Cell Phone Cameras for Web Searches
I saw lots of people taking pictures of products with their cellphones to aid their remote conversations while Christmas shopping when I did demo Days at the Bestbuy. This seems to be a very natural and useful way to aid remote communication and to find out more information about a product than what’s written on the store shelf label. It would be nice if there was a service that allowed you to look up peer reviews of products and to do price comparisons and inventory count of the stores within a close radius of your location. I expect as GPS gets into more cellphones and digital cameras, these kinds of services will be popping up.
One Shot Says It All
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It’s time to think about putting those digital cameras in cell phones to work. Improvements in image resolution and the emergence of broadband wireless networks are inspiring entrepreneurs to experiment with mobile classified advertising and product information searches. Over the next year, the camera phone you use to snap personal photos on the run could become another way to broadcast promotional information, post ads or let customers gather more information about your products.
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For full article — URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22299298/
Nissan's Super Cute Interactive Dashboard Robot
This is reprinted from the “Motor Authority” Blog. I ran across this while doing some research on the gaming aspects of the driver interface for the Nissan GTR and Nissan’s Infiniti line of cars. This is extremely cute, but it has the looks of a toy for toddlers or for people who like very cute things like Disney and Hello Kitty. I don’t think I could drive with this much cuteness in front of me. Anyhow, as I dig into this further, I am finding that the future of in-car dashboards and controls is quite interesting and scary at the same time.
I like the idea of trying to create a personal experience between drivers and their cars. I wonder though, could some of the potential interactions be as dangerous as talking on a cell phone while driving. I also wonder can we create a similar personal experience between our products and the customer. What would that look like? Does it have to be this darned cute?
Posted on Friday 23 November 2007
Nissan has set itself a clear goal: to become a technology leader in the auto industry within the next ten years. We’ve already seen the launch of the new bird’s-eye view camera system and ‘self-healing’ paint on the Infiniti EX35 crossover but according to CEO Carlos Ghosn this is just the top of the iceberg.
Click on the link above to read the full article.
More Rambling 