Yesterday, Nora interviewed Mark Coleran about fantasy user interfaces, the made-up computer systems you see in movies and television shows.
Today, as a follow-up, Nora talked to Scott Berkun. Scott’s an author and a blogger, and he recently wrote a post about why the future of UI will be boring. A shorter version of this interview will air on Spark 101, but you can hear the full, uncut interview below, or download the MP3. [runs 11:01]
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Talking about boring interfaces make me want to write about the device I would love to buy next. I haven't found it yet, but have a good idea of what I want.
This is not to replace my home computer, but to be my mobile computer for entertainment, reading and away-from-home-office work.
The start of the design would be the OLPC XO-1 http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Hardware . I want it rugged, and I want it to both function as a laptop and then to be able to swivel/etc to become a tablet. I already have an XO-1, and don't want to go backwards for those things I have come to really like about it.
I want both a multi-touch screen, and I want the multi-mode screen.
Multi-touch is like what you see on the Apple iPhone and the Google Nexus One (in Europe — seems North American software versions are crippled — back-room deals and all that).
Multi-mode is something the OLPC XO-1 already has which is a black-and-white mode which is black-and-white reflective rather than backlit. This makes it low power, high contrast, and able to be read in the brightest of sunlight — something that I have become a major fan of with my XO-1
But I don't expect to see this device. Even the OLPC project has went on with the XO-2 and XO-3 which is far into the touch-screen direction. I don't know that I want to replace a keyboard with a touch screen virtual keypad. I like the tactile feel of a keyboard, and I suspect with an XO-2 or XO-3 I would be walking around with an external keyboard. It also doesn't seem as rugged as the XO-1 which I really liked.
That, and I'd like the device to not be deliberately designed to look like a toy like the OLPC hardware is. I really want the adult version of the device.
Funny — the more I think about it the more I realise that what I really want is too "boring" for the direction the hardware industry is heading.
BTW: Great interviews with this one and Mark Coleran on Fantasy User Interfaces. I didn't know about the feedback loop behind the Minority Report interface!