Re: What do you identify with?

From Wear-Hard Mailing list Archive (WH) Maintained by R. Paul McCarty

Great discussion. 

Sorry, I'm not a Jeff Hawkins.  I am approaching the problem from the other
(more expensive and less methodical) direction. 

I have experimented with multiple handheld devices, multiple tablet PCs and
multiple one-handed keyboards.  I am currently addicted to a Blackberry. 
Although it represents a huge step backwards in flexibility, it completely
solves the synch problem for me.  (I initially avoided Blackberries because I
assumed that they were too simple to really solve that problem.). This
particular model (and carrier) provides good connectivity (EV-DO, Bluetooth,
etc), days of battery life, and a good enough WAP gateway that I rarely use my
laptop while out of the office.   

But...... I still dream of a SenseBoard style input mechanism and a subtle HMD. 

I am not interested in pulling out my Bluetooth Frogpad, waking it up, and then
typing the handful of characters that go into a typical message.  It is easier
to just use the thumb-board on the Blackberry.  I still dream of a SenseBoard,
but the built-in thumb-board is currently the best bet for me. 

The bigger problem is the HMD.  I haven't found any HMDs that I can pair with my
Blackberry.  I am considering switching to a Blackberry Connect device to keep
the core benefits of the Blackberry but possibly provide a hardware platform
that will give me the option of using an HMD. 

-Bryan 

>>> "Vitorio Miliano" <> 4/11 1:52 am >>>  
Brian Kuriyama wrote: 
> What specifically do people want to satisfy their wearable computing 
> needs?  If we aren't specific enough, how will we know when we've 
> reached "wearable device nirvana"? 

It sounds like you understand the problem perfectly.  :) 

You make two very specific points that I'd like to follow up on: 

First, you're right that there's tons of technology out there right now,  
and much of it is adequate.  A little compromise, a little accepting of  
a device's limitations, a little hacking and tweaking and you can  
probably get something together that's relatively decent, and maybe even  
get things done a little better.  Modern smartphones and PDAs go a long  
way in doing everything halfway well. 

But I'm not satisfied with "good enough."  Look at your  
PDA/phone/computer syncing example.  From a hardware perspective,  
there's no reason all three couldn't cross-sync with each other, and no  
reason an online calendar couldn't allow friends and family to see when  
you're available and make their own appointments to see you (with your  
approval, of course).  But they can't.  You say yourself you can't have  
all the same information and all your contacts on your phone.  Why not?  
  This is an artificial limitation created by the software and hardware  
manufacturers for marketing reasons, for political reasons, for business  
reasons, etc.  I want all my devices to talk to each other, to share the  
same information, to stay updated if that information changes, and to  
react intelligently (either merging or asking) if there's a conflict.  I  
can do that right now...  if I write the software myself to do it for  
each device.  Same with you and your "cyborg" hardware.  It might all be  
useful if only you could hack each device just a little... 

Other issues include basic usability: navigating through drop-down and  
pull-out menus on a handheld is not as efficient as big stable icons.  
Folders are not efficient when your data types on a handheld are  
limited.  Lots of smartphone and PDA UI comes over wholesale from the  
desktop, when the original Palm hardware and software demonstrated that  
something substantially different was better, even necessary. 

Second, you say that no-one is talking in specifics about what they want  
to do, how they want things to work.  You're right, here, too.  But what  
people say they want are not the same things as what they will actually  
use/do/put up with.  This is true for most things, not just technology.  
  Thinking about it is not the same as using something every day and  
finding all the little problems with it, fixing them, and then repeating  
that process. 

This is why I asked for the next Jeff Hawkins.  The story goes that he  
walked around with a block of wood to simulate the size and weight of a  
PDA, drew UIs on paper stuck to it and pretended to use them, day in and  
day out, to figure out what needed to be done and how to do it best.  
Prior efforts for handhelds and pen-based computing were very different,  
much larger, much more complicated, designed as desktop replacements,  
and were failures as a result.  The Palm changed all that, but there  
hasn't been a really good followup.  There's no Palm or Jeff Hawkins for  
the next revolutionary device. 

I believe that what people need from wearable and ubiquitous computing  
is substantially different than the evolutionary devices we're getting  
now, these music playing phone calling personal organizing hybrids.  I  
think it'll take someone thinking about it from scratch, without looking  
at desktops and PDAs and phones, but starting over from a pad of paper  
and dayplanner and a rotary dial phone and a rolodex and saying, "Okay,  
now how can I make this better?"  This is why you can't get specific  
about it.  You're trying to do something new and better and just  
tweaking an existing modal UI isn't going to cut it. 

Thanks, 
Vitorio Miliano 

_______________________________________________ 
Wear-Hard mailing list 

http://www.haven.org/mailman/listinfo/wear-hard 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the
 intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and
 privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use,
 disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the
 intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email
 and destroy all copies of the original message.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_______________________________________________
Wear-Hard mailing list

http://www.haven.org/mailman/listinfo/wear-hard