Sloan Bowman's Blog
Life with Me in the middle
What I was doing at 15..Rock N Roll baby!
Feb 24th
I have been into music almost all of my life but unfortunately had to make the choice of music or computers to make a living and obviously I chose the later. I recently found some old tracks from the studio of the band I was in called "The Cockles". Before you ask yes that is me singing and guitar. Let me know what you think. Did I have a shot?
Intuitive User Interfaces introduces a learning UI for Android
Feb 9th
Android has its fair share of custom user interface front ends, each customized by different manufacturers to tailor to its targeted audience. Today Intuitive User Interfaces released a new interface they claim is “based on understanding and predicting which actions users want to perform in various situation, and enabling those actions with one touch”. The entire interface is based on predicting what the user wants to see and displaying it in a new 3D design.
The new innovative interface was written to provide three major aspects:
- Personal – The phone understands which features and actions are important to different users, as each individual user utilizes the phone differently.
- Relevant – Users perform different actions in different scenarios. By identifying these associations, a set of the most relevant actions for a specific situation is presented to the user.
- Intuitive – The activation of these actions is easy, simple and instantaneous.
Having a user interface that knows what I’m thinking based on actions and locations seems like a great idea. However combined with the fragmentation that Android already faces I can’t see this being a big success. Had this been the interface that shipped with Android from conception things might be a bit different. What are you thoughts?
image provided by androidcommunity.com
via Intuitive User Interfaces Introduces One Touch User Experience for Mobile Phones.
Mobile application stores need a personality
Feb 8th
Image provided by nowsourcing.com
As I move from phone to phone exploring all the different choices we have in the application stores (Ovi, Apple App Store, Android Marketplace) there is one thing that they all share in common. Each lacks personalization and personality. Some could argue that having the ability to have applications suggested to you based on what you browse or purchase is a form of personalization but this is not enough to make it a compelling experience for most.
How many times have you found an application you would like to try but don’t have the time or resources to do so? What if the application store gave you the ability to add the application to a want list so you can follow up at a later date. If you chose to be notified with reminders one would be sent out at a predefined time to remind you to review the items. Currently if you browse away from that application the chances that you will come back to it and buy it in the future are slim to none.
Apple attempts to capture your likes and dislikes through the use of their Genius engine but if you have ever used it before you know that it is about as helpful as a sled without snow. Why not add the ability to like and dislike application types prior to actually buying the applications. With this in place a better suggestive engine could be built and custom tailored for each user. If you are anything like me you don’t want to spend your hard earned money just to rate something. Obviously the like/dislike system wouldn’t be public to other users and would be used primarily to make your experience a better one on the store itself. The existing rating (5 star) system would remain in place for public ratings for the applications themselves.
Last on my list is a developer/consumer communication channel. Every application store fails thus far with binding the consumer with an easy to use developer support channel. Because all application stores are not made equal, the developers are having a hard time keeping up with demand and support with their applications. What if a normalized developer support channel was setup for all mobile application stores? Not only would we see more cross platform development but the user experience would be much more friendly and consistent.
If you could change your favorite mobile application store to be have more personality with higher levels of personalization what would you suggest? The gates are open….
The Symbian Foundation gives away source code on a flash drive
Feb 8th
This is a brilliant idea to boost more excitement about the only truly open mobile operating system. If you want in on the action you better get to retweeting right away. Best of luck to you all.
QTC Technology and what it can do for you
Feb 8th
After reading the post by Engadget regarding Samsung EM picking up a contract with Peratech I decided to dig in to see how this new technology could be applied to mobile devices. Lets start off by defining what QTC is.
Quantum Tunnelling Composite (QTC) is a new class of electrically conductive material that has been developed to advance the capability of switching and sensing systems. QTC is a pressure switching and sensing material technology.
QTC is a patented technology developed in the UK by Peratech Limited based on original discoveries by David and Chris Lussey, the company’s founders.
First produced in 1996, QTC is a composite material made from metal filler particles combined with an elastomeric binder, typically silicone rubber. The unique method of combining these raw materials results in a composite which exhibits significantly different electrical properties when compared with any other electrically conductive material.
QTC was not designed specifically for mobile devices and has a wide range of usage. The technology was designed for any touch sensitive applications, supporting both light touches to the surface or hard presses like a virtual button.
The more research you do into QTC technology the more you realize how useful this type of technology would be in the mobile space. Due to the pressure-sensing aspects of QTC you could easily create new user interface elements to behave differently based on the pressure being applied to the screen. An example would be pressed a email message in your inbox lightly would open the message while pressing harder could fire off a predefined task such as delete/move. The potential of this technology is massive and could being a new level of innovation that we have yet to imagine. For those of us that tend to like “real” buttons on hand held devices this could bring the best of both worlds while allowing us to keep our large hi-resolution screens.
What are your ideas for the use of QTC pressure-sensing and switching? The gates are open, voice your ideas.
The Oversubscribed
Feb 7th
Oversubscribed: Having insufficient capacity to meet the demand of those who are interested
You wake up in the morning, fix your coffee and head to work. First glance at the calendar and you see your day is full, having no wiggle room for adjustments. Glancing down at your keyboard you begin to type, letter by letter, pushing for productive keystrokes to make a difference. The air is thick with dust from all of the co-workers typing on their filthy keyboards. Pushing to achieve the unachievable with no end in sight. “Clip clop” in the distance, growing louder and louder as if it’s coming your direction until it stops directly in front of your cube. There ahead of you stands Gabe with his helpless smile and frustrated brow. He murmurs four words, “Will you help me?”
We have all been in this situation and we have all made a choice to either help or turn away our friends and co-workers. In my younger years I was afraid to say no and was compelled to always be the helping hand, even when I knew it would prevent me from completing things that I needed to get done for myself. As I have grown older I’ve come to realize that being nice is not always the answer to solving all problems. I am not saying that you should live your life for you and for only you.There is a safe balance to achieving your goals along with helping others achieve theirs. With practice you will actually find that others share the same goals as you and by combining resources you can achieve more at a quicker pace than if you attempted to tackle everything yourself.
Far too many people, including myself, take on entirely too many task at one time. In both business and life everybody feels that their task is the most important. When asking a co-worker to work on something for you the feeling that your your task should be their main priority is natural because it involves your bottom line. What would you do if that co-worker stated they cannot take on your task because they would not be able to achieve the quality results you are looking for?
The world makes us feel like we have to always be working on something, pushing the limits and putting out sub-par products just to meet the deadlines. What if you took a step back and and focused on the quality and forgot about the quantity? We have built a society of the oversubscribed. Imagine what innovations we could create with focus and the ability to say no.
The Hierarchy Of Digital Distractions
Feb 5th
When I ran across this I had to share. If you can’t see the graph clearly click this.
via The Hierarchy Of Digital Distractions | Information Is Beautiful.
Is Comcast hiding behind a new name?
Feb 5th
On February 3rd Comcast posted an article announcing that they have officially launched a new brand for their technology platforms and products. In my experience when a well established company changes brands it is due to one of two factors. 1) They have been purchased and are merging entities or 2) They are hiding their past discrepancies with a new name.
Simply put, XFINITY is about offering our customers more — more HD, more speed, more choice and more control over their services. XFINITY is the culmination of years of work to transition Comcast’s network and products to a platform that will now offer 100+ HD channels, 50 to 70 foreign-language channels, approaching 20,000+ VOD choices, incredibly fast Internet speeds (50 Mbps growing to 100+ Mbps) and thousands of TV shows and movies online for our customers to watch whenever and wherever they want.
Reading the above statement does this not describe exactly what they are already doing? To me it seems Comcast is trying to take the easy way out and fool consumers into thinking there is a new king in town. The gates are open let me hear your thoughts.
via Comcast Launches XFINITY : Comcast Voices | The Official Comcast Blog.
Looking for a Android phone on the cheap? Now is the time
Feb 5th
If you have been waiting to get an Android phone due to the high prices now just may be the time to jump on in and get one on the cheap. This is of course if you don’t mind those lovely two year contracts. If you are interested you better hurry because this sale is this weekend only.
via Super Bowl savings on your favorite Android phones | Android Central.