Aug
22
Colonizing
Filed Under General |
Check this out: BBC Olinda digital radio
Built-in wifi connects to the Internet and uses a social ‘now listening’ site the BBC already have built. Now a small number of your friends are represented on the device: A light comes on, your friend is listening; press a button and you tune in to listen to the same programme.
Projects such as above get me thinking how information gets out of computers and colonizes the real world. We're very physical and objects that can be looked at, touched, smelled and carried around are definitely more appealing that text/pictures on the screen.
Let's compare Olinda to Last.fm.
In order to listen to Last.fm I have to start up the computer, log in, open the app (or navigate to the web page), start playing. Easy. But suddenly I want to listen while cooking. Moving the computer to the kitchen? Bad idea. Taking a laptop then? The kitchen table is cluttered with foodstuff, I don't want flour or any of the sauces spilt on it.
Now I take an olinda-like box. I press the button, it plays music. Last.fm's easy interface looks like a pain now. I can take it to my kitchen and put in on shelf, on sill etc. I can take to bathroom to have a long relaxing bath with my favorite radio.
Don't get me wrong. I love Last.fm. They provide great service. The thing is: a physical item designed for a single activity will easily beat any generic interface.
Consider this: I wake up, take a shower, make myself a breakfast and pick up my NewsEPaper. It has large screen. It shows news I'd like to read. It maybe shows some more news from sources that were interesting (to me) in the past. Simple.
There's no such a device yet. If I were to design one, I would make the interface obvious: pick it up and read. No turning on. No start-up phase. No manual synchronisation. Take in your hand and read. Just like a normal newspaper. No computer-based news reader can beat that.
HP has a project witch deals with similar ideas. It's name CoolTown. See the movie (thay used to have a cooler one - no pun intended - but I cannot find it any more)