Reinventing computer interaction with Con10uum
Mikey 9 comments
We are all content to interact with mice and touch screens every day, but there are people out there who are working to improve the way we interact with hardware.
This remarkable video highlights the limitations with our current interface technology - mice and touch screens - and demonstrates what appears to be ground-breaking ideas for better interaction between humans and computers.
It's worth watching all the way until the very end - even if to just see the swanky interface. I for one would love to have a go at it.
Rodney
Thursday 15th October 2009 | 10:25 AM...in response to this comment by Daniella. A lot of people say they don't like multi touch because of RSI; however keyboards are effectively a multi touch device and, while people do get RSI from keyboards, I have to note that the only people who ever seem to develop RSI are people who don't actually want to work. I pretty much defy anyone to spend as much time in front of a keyboard as I do (about 14 - 16 hours a day for about the last 17 years) and I have never even had sore hands from it. Neither have any of my IT obsessed colleagues and friends. Maybe we're all just lucky?
In any case, they do seem to be taking human physiology into account (which is good) and it's encouraging to see the directions we're heading in.
Mikey
Thursday 15th October 2009 | 10:50 AM...in response to this comment by Rodney. I've never got RSI from using a keyboard either doing web design and development for more than 11 years. But I have on occasion gotten a cramp from the mouse.
Some of the concepts in the video are good but some are counter productive. Cycling through open programs for example is rather convoluted. Trusty old ALT - Tab works just fine.
Daniella
Thursday 15th October 2009 | 08:28 PMI'm also a tech head and spend anywhere from 2-20 hours a day in front of a screen, typing at 75wpm (I know, horrible rate per minute). It's not the keypad motion I'm cornered with, but the sliding/pinching motions. Maybe it's just me, but using a tablet with my finger tires me more than using it with a pen.
I remember those old - don't know the word for them - orb Apple mice and how . . . just awkward it felt. Maybe if I had one in my hand at 4years old, rather than an ordinary ball mouse, I'd have developed the appropriate coordination so it wouldn't seem cumbersome.
I've used a friend's iPhone for ooh - cumulatively 20 hours or so? and while the typing, clicking, tapping whathaveyou was good and dandy, the pinching and scrolling just didn't feel comfortable. I always felt like reaching for the scroll wheel. :p Again, these are my personal experiences.
Maybe I'm a complete and total one off: we all have different sensory sensitivity. I'm certainly not prone to RSI, though.
Sorry to ramble, just want to clarify my point that it was the scrolling, pinching, and tapping-with-the-pinkie-finger (as you'd be doing that hundreds of times a day with the 'global' and 'local' menus) was where I saw issue.
"Neither have any of my IT obsessed colleagues and friends. Maybe we're all just lucky? "
There's really no need to assume I'm a casual PC user (heck, I'm on RustyLime aren't I?), or speak in such a patronising tone.
Daniella
Thursday 15th October 2009 | 08:40 PM...in response to this comment by Mikey. I like the 'tabs peeping out' idea of window collapsing. If you could section those into groups, and then arrange the groups around the screen as you can with single windows now- expanding or collapsing individual windows when needed - I think it would be more functional. Then again, that functionality already exists to an extent (I'm thinking Firefox addins that are software progs in their own right but work within tabs, or Chrome's idea of tabbed windows) with tabs listed horizontally along the top of a window, so my modification wouldn't be an innovation at all, really.
When I'm writing up an academic text I have Zotero, my referencing rule guide, an article or pdf, a draft or plan - all arranged/resized at a glance. I'm not sure if scrolling left/right would improve productivity over that. Then again, the demo is just that and I'd jump at a chance to use this software.
Mikey
Thursday 15th October 2009 | 08:46 PM...in response to this comment by Daniella. "I'd jump at a chance to use this software"
Ditto. I'd give you kudos for that comment :-)
Mark
Tuesday 27th October 2009 | 03:21 PMGet used to reading sideways then eh?
nummersex
Wednesday 10th February 2010 | 08:46 PMjust give me this cool thing already. tired of waiting now ;)
...in response to this comment by nummersex. I'm with nummersex... I want one.
f~
Daniella
Thursday 15th October 2009 | 10:04 AMOne major issue I see with this going forward is finger and wrist cramping. We're used to using our forefingers extensively, but tapping, pinching and scrolling (with our ring and pinkie fingers especially) seems awkward - after 5 minutes of following along with what I saw on screen on my desk, my pinkie and wrist are aching.
Isn't this what happens with pianists? They have to build up strength in their 'outer' fingers. How often do we (techs, geeks, gamers) use our thumb and pinkie on the keyboard (even with efficient touch typing)? Space bar, command keys and Shift is about it. The rest uses your 3 fore fingers.
Global and localised menu options(pinkies), and the con10uum's 'space bar' seem counter-ergonomically intelligent to me.