Here’s a nice solution released by Intel Digital Signage team back at the National Retail Federation conference in New York back in January. This type of technology will definitely afford some opportunities for us to create new experiences for an audience in retail spaces.
Most of Colin Moock’s efforts in the development community over the last few years is focused on fostering multiuser experiences, and he’s been developing a platform called Union to encourage it. Well, as it seems, Union has finally birthed at version 1.0, and its licensing terms are extremely generous! Moock is allowing users to install Union Free, which enables multiuser connectivity of UP TO 1000 SIMULTANEOUS CONNECTIONS. And yes, as the name implies, IT’S FREE.
I’ve never really been a huge fan of developing for multiuser, but this platform surely does entice the possibility fairly easily, and I’ll bet it won’t be long before I run some initial tests on it. Get it here. (Thanks, Colin!)
Yesterday I succumbed to the great Fruit company for the third time in the past year (first an iPhone followed by an Apple TV) and purchased an iPad. I have to say this is one beautiful device. Videos look amazing – the colors just pop off the screen, its fairly light, easy to hold, and apps designed for the iPad just make you feel like you’re getting more out of it. That being said, here’s a tribute to taking something so complex, pairing it with something simple and mundane to achieve functional bliss.
An update to the Android OS was announced yesterday at Google I/O. Code-named ‘Froyo’, Android 2.2 boasts serious enhancements, including up to a 5x speed boost, which inevitably makes it the fastest mobile browser available. It also offers tethering to phones, and the ability to use your phone as a WiFi hotspot, allowing others to connect to it as well. Flash Player 10.1 is also fully functional, not just within an Android app, but also within the browser. It might not carry the Apple-esque polish that so many people are quite addicted to these days, but I’ve gotta say, it’s on its own level of sexiness. Check out the this great look under the hood to see what’s in store.
This interview with Kevin Lynch, CTO of Adobe at Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco uncovers his thoughts on the direction the web is moving – out of the browser, and into the Open Screen Project. He also shares some his POV on HTML5, Adobe positioning, technology competition, and their recent acquisition of Omniture. It’s definitely worth the time to watch!
Here’s a nice video of a social media installation piece that StruckAxiom built for an internal PepsiCo conference that demonstrates the great use of multitouch with the APIs made available through Flash Player 10.1:
Also check this informative blog post on the techniques used to mastermind this solution.
HTML5 is the longest HTML specification ever written. It is also the most powerful, and in some ways, the most confusing. What do accessible, content-focused standards-based web designers and front-end developers need to know? And how can we harness the power of HTML5 in today’s browsers?
In this brilliant and entertaining user’s guide, Jeremy Keith cuts to the chase, with crisp, clear, practical examples, and his patented twinkle and charm.
Just about everyone is aware of Apple’s recent provision to deny the Flash player a presence on their devices. Setting emotions aside, I just wanted to document the official statements made:
1. Apple releases a provision to their iPhone OS 4.0 SDK license denying Flash and third-party tools access to list applications on the iTunes store.
2. The developer community goes wild, including some spokespeople from Adobe.
3. Steve Jobs responds with a series of facts and accusations.
4. Shantanu Narayen rebutts against the accusations and provides light to the truth.
5. Jesse Warden back’s up Narayen’s POV with development-driven facts.
One interesting point I came across is by William Sanders, a respected member of the design pattern community:
“While Jobs is probably correct in noting that about half of Adobe’s products are purchased by Apple owners; most of the Apple upgrades we purchase are because of the improvements Adobe makes in its CS5 suite. I’d still have my old iMac GooseNeck were it not for the fact that Adobe’s new products required new Apple hardware.”
How true this is. I wonder what would happen if Adobe were to retaliated and restrict their software to be available on Apple hardware? I hope both companies find a way to meet in the middle soon!
John Underkoffler closes the FITC with a brilliant presentation on the invention and shaping of new tools and technologies for creation. He begins his presentation by going back in time to explain the impact of the Apple computer and its introduction of the mouse as an interface, which he aptly described as a device you purchased, brought home, and did absolutely nothing until you did something with it (e.g. write a program). Underkoffler fast forwards 30 years to the present day with Apple’s latest iPod and iPad devices – two closed and seemingly uncreative tools (as you cannot use them to create anything new) representing 60 to 70% of Apple’s current ecosystem.
Remember McLuhan’s statement, “The medium is the message.” In contrary to this statement, Apple’s movement is a tangible example of the notion of computer interface going backwards in terms of its ability to be shaped and manipulated. Moreover, this was a perfect segue into one of Underkoffler’s arguments that we must ultimately abandon traditional screen-based user interfaces and input devices (e.g. windows, pull-down menus and buttons designed and optimized to be driven by a mouse) in favor of something new in the form of g-speak (g short for gesture).
Underkoffler’s g-speak research is essentially a real world, working prototype of the gesture based UI first seen in the futuristic science-fiction movie Minority Report. But, this isn’t science-fiction as Underkoffler explains, this will be commonplace for most computer systems in 5 to 7 years time.
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