tap tap

at the next left, stop thinking

i'd be mortified if someone bought me one of these for xmas. It's a product which I don't believe has had any real positive human effect on the way we live. it's a true gadget, a quick fix of personal security, sure it means that a satellite guides you to your destination, but it removes the need to understand maps, geography, landscape, how places connect together - all good things to know; effectively it removes the need to think. Was everybody really lost before the sat nav arrived? i'm interested in the possibilities that mobile and GPS mapping solutions will offer, especially the more social elements, the ability to publish and share personal points of interest, places, moments and that. but getting from a to b? i guess i'm a tad old fashioned in that sense.

can i touch your screen?

one future direction for computer/mobile display screens is multi touch sensing screens. and it's pretty blooming exciting i'd say. developed by jeff han it's going to encourage creativity and playfulness in new ways, as well as lowering the barrier of software knowledge and stuff, getting more people involved.
i'm imagining the iphone screen will be the first micro step or iteration of this on a mobile, going by the photo stretching clip that's knocking about.
when i look around the office, we're all tapping away on keyboards hunched forwards towards a screen, looking a bit odd actually. should be pretty cool when we are standing at a big screen, gracefully stroking or frantically tickling away at a presentation. sort of tai chi meets rave moves scenario. a whole new set of gestures and interactions to be learnt. it's got to be a better more exciting and interesting way of connecting with a screen than using a keypad? and it's going to open up all sorts of new possibilities (and issues) i'm sure. i can't wait.
via ed at nil desperandum

Turn the computer on love..I'll put kettle on

this is fun. been a bit of a video day. stumbled across ilovemusicvideos which is a mashup between last.fm and YouTube which allows you to find all videos on YouTube relevant to the artist you're listening to on last.fm, including official stuff, bootleg concerts and impersonators. i lost myself in a Cult video medley earlier. took me right back. was having a chat with Fin via isight at work as well. and i've just moved my imac down into our lounge, first steps preparing what was the study for the new arrival. so the mac is at one end of the room and the TV is at the other. and i started thinking about the appleTV thing which has been kind of buried under the iPhone chat.
i think i watch more stuff on a computer screen than i do on TV. i'm wondering if i could watch the stuff i find through my mac but via the nice flat screen TV i think i would. TV/Computer, Computer/TV? Where do they sit in the home? What's it all about then? Anyone?

love widgets

this is genius. a macsaber widget which turns your laptop into a proper sounding lightsaber using the motion senser as you move it around.you can download it here via a very clever chap at isnoop
widgets are brilliant. expect to see loads this year, for the phone as well. and won't be long before we see brands developing them

iPorn

i want one
pic via gizmodo

iphone tuesday?

so tomorrow is Steve Jobs keynote speech at the Macworld conference and many people are expecting the long awaited and much discussed official announcement of the Apple mobile phone or iphone. there's been loads of debate on how it might work, what functionality it may have, will it be exclusively marketed with one operator per country, will Apple launch their own virtual network (MVNO), will it be a VOIP phone, will it even have music functionality. Who knows?
What we can be pretty sure of when Apple does launch a mobile phone is good looks, simple user interface, seamless connectivity with key mac apps and a few quirks and surprises for us to stumble across. And shed loads of people are going to want one.
photo via apple iphone blog