MacProTouch and TV

The Macprotouch could potentially change the way TV is distributed, managed, and viewed. Let's get real here, people watch tv online all the time, legally and illegally, and with the MacProTouch, TV suddenly can become a portable concept, not just something you sit and watch, but something you can watch at any time.

Think of the model of cable tv: You buy a certain number of channels, you subscribe to each channel. You never get the show you want, when you want it. You then pay for Tivo to ensure you record the right channels at the right time to get what you want?
Why not incorporate TV channel concepts using the internet?

For example, you open up your iTV on the MacProTouch, and decide to subscribe to the HBO and Movie Channel. You can now stream both channels online, a similar experience to TV, as in you easily flick between each channel while its streaming, but instead its streamed via web, not cable.

You see a repeat show of Sopranos is on, but you'll be out of the house. No problem, touch on the schedule to 'TiVo' Sopranos. Two things will happen: your MacProTouch is switched off, so the episode is downloaded into a user 'cloud', that the user can access when they switch it on. If your MacProTouch is switched 'on', the laptop can automatically download the show WHEN it happens, locally to your laptop. 'TiVo'd shows can stay online in a cloud for up to say a week if that is the user preference, which saves time and space on the harddrive.

Of course, the experience of watching TV is a bit different that watching it on a laptop, but here is where the clever part can come in. You can now watch TV as it airs on your laptop via wireless, or on a typical TV monitor via cable, AND you can hook up your laptop to your monitor (possibly remotely) to watch 'TiVod' shows on the big screen. It pleases the advertisers, cable channels, internet users et all, by tweaking the business model, not by reinventing the wheel.

Webcam : I see you!

The Microsoft surface is unlike other touchscreens such as the iPhone in that the camera 'sees' you. It can see where your hand is, the gestures and orientation of your hand etc.
So imagine the MacProTouch can 'see you'. Microsoft research is thinking in this direction:



When you tilt your iPhone, it responds in kind, which is pretty cool for gaming.
Now imagine you don't have to tilt your MacProTouch at all. You simply face it while say standing in front of it, and by moving, you can affect what's on the screen.

Examples of this might be:

Video conferencing. You can freely move around as the camera follows you.

Gaming. A skiing game is a great example of this, by leaning to the left and right of a wall mounted MacProTouch, you can affect how the game is played.
If this was a widescreen entertainment version of the MacProTouch, imagine the experience of skiing down a virtual slope by applying correct pressure on your skis.

Creative/physical therapy: I want to discuss this topic in more detail, but imagine a virtual lump of clay on the MacProTouch screen. As the user gestures, depending on the tool he selects, he can cut, rotate, or mould the clay. It's an entirely new experience for artists, but it also opens up (along with gaming) a world of physical therapy not explored, because the movement is based on your gestures and interactions with the cam.

Iphone's don't leverage the capability and interaction possibilties of a webcam, but current laptops do come with one, so why not take this one step further with the MacProTouch.

The death of industrial design?

Industrial design (the hardware) could lose out in the battle for the most intuitive interaction design (software). In fact is it possible that in the futures multi-touch interfaces will eliminate the need for interactive design altogether?

The simple answer: no. Because a bad product design can greatly affect the perception of the interaction design.

Here is a good example:

The iPhone (big shock)


The interface obviously creates most of the engagement with the product. BUT, it is the interaction between the physical and virtual that makes this a truly beautiful product to use. The physical press of the home button, is a satisfying action (actually I don't like how the interface behaves here, but i do like the physical design of this button). The mute, volume control and reset button are all slick, fit in nicely within the hardware and maintain a smooth symmetry when the iPhone is looked at from the side/top. You'll notice how the mute button is exactly aligned with the volume control when it is not on mute. This serves too purposes, 1. it shows a level of detail not recognised on a conscious level but appreciated on a subconscious level (it would be jarring if this alignment was off by even a fraction), 2. it visually tells the user at a glance whether this button is on silent or not (the orange dot also helps).

The way the iPhone fits in the the hand makes it comfortable to use, and though the product design is not a design that is in your face (like the nano), its the subtlety and quality of the design that adds to the interaction experience.

A bad example: the HP multi touch PC.



There's a couple of reasons this has bad product design. This is essentially a regular PC with a touchscreen.
Note how the user, demoing the product, has to hold the lid while performing touchscreen maneuvers, so that the lid doesn't push back etc.

So much room is taken up with the keyboard that it takes away from the touchscreen. The product design has become such a hindrance on the interaction design that the experience of the interaction design is lessened in the mind of the consumer.

So with touchscreens, product design is still a vital part of the tactile experience, and a subtle well designed product that works with the interface in a seamless way can make or break the impression made on the user.

Under Pressure

Having a stylus (as a peripheral, or as part of the MacProTouch), is a good idea initially. You open a world to the user of drawing, writing, and possibly painting directly onto your computer.
Except for one small problem: pressure. Pressure is vital to all these forms of communication, because it allows for a subtly and various in pen/brush strokes that can not be replicated by a plastic supposed to be a pen.

Some styluses (?, stylusii?) use proximity to the surface to indicate pressure, but this has an unnatural feeling to the process and the user has to relearn the technique.
Nothing beats the pressure you feel as you place a pen against paper, how the paper responds to your every stroke. So the question is: should a touchscreen try and replicate this behavior?

I think it absolutely should. This for me is the key 'game-changer' of touch screens. The ability to draw/write naturally and then EDIT those sketches, is something that has never been done before.

Imagine Van Gogh painting sunflowers on the touchscreen the way he would on a canvas, furiously, naturally, the truest connection between man and canvas. Now imagine he can change each individual stroke, reuse it, animate it, delete it even. It opens up a new level of artistic expression and artistic perfection never before seen in the real world or virtual world of computing.
Imagine taking a sketch of a concept car and converting those lines to a 3d dimensional rendering which you can 'mould' in Autodesk. Gestural working a mould of clay on a 2d touchscreen connects the brain to the z axis in a new and exciting way, and ups the stakes for everyone. Now Photoshop and Autocad have entirely new software paradigms to construct.

A simple concept of pressure, can fundamentally change the software industry.

I should be able to take an actual paintbrush and use it on the MacProTouch. For every hair in the brush to be recorded, the pressure I use in the stroke, the speed. Then MacProTouch goes from entertainment system to a truly mindboggling system.

Microsoft Courier

By now, most of you have seen Microsoft's concept touchscreen laptop at gizmodo.

There are some great, and not so great ideas in here.

First, I have to say making it look and behave like a normal notepad, just makes me realize how fantastic and enduring the notepad and pen is! But I do like the use of the pen, and I think this could be an important peripheral for MacProTouch (I will describe the design in detail)

Second, the hinge........sigh, the hinge. Basically this is a laptop, on its side, with two touchscreens.
And then there's that hinge, stealing some valuable real estate, and mercilessly cutting my large touchscreen on which I can watch a movie in wide screen, into two smaller windows.
Well I guess I could watch two movies at the same time!
But yes, not a big lover of the loss of screen size to hardware.

Also the swiping from one part of the screen to the other...........why? WHY!? OK, i get it, its supposed to be more a journal than a large drawing tablet, but still, I feel a bit cheated on that one. Surely the UI is small enough and well designed enough to collectively order my work in the appropriate way. I am not sharing a file from one screen to the other, I'm simply moving it, seems a bit pointless.

One thing I love is that the camera is at the back of the laptop, so you can take pics of what you're looking at, this is something I did not consider in the MacProTouch, but now an infinite number of possibilities opens up. Record videos of your holiday with your laptop then send them to your friends........perhaps that's too much power!

The UI is good, but i think it is a little unintuitive, in fact it seems messier than what I would actually do in a journal. (make this project my homepage? - apparently we still live in a single-tasking world where consultants only work on one project a time, heaven!)

But still, I'm amazed Microsoft is thinking this way, its great actually, and any innovation is better that none.

But, oh........that pesky hinge.

Wouldn't it be simpler to have a single screen and include a 'journal' software program that splits the screen into the Courier style design? No loss of features OR real estate!

Gestural computing

Touchscreen is one thing, but how does this experience really differ from using a tablet pen, or a mouse? It's all just point and click, whether it be by arrow, or by finger.

If you look at an Apple keyboard you'll see icons representing some commands outside of a typical interface. e.g.dashboard, or expose.

The idea is simple, rather than put these on a touchscreen keyboard, use simple dashboards to indicate what you want.

E.g. a circle pops up dashboard, a square: expose.


Of course this means a few problems:
Gestural commands can be easily misinterpreted. A square with soft corners, could be perceived as a circle, for example.
Gestural commands have to be quick. No drawing the sun to indicate brightness, it would take too long.
Gestural commands might be limited initially.

But the potential of this new world of gestures, changes computing from a simple display to something truly interactive. You can 'speak' to your computer with simple signals, and really its the next step of evolution in computing: binary entry, command line, point and click, signal with natural gestures.

Imagine this new wave of sign language computing, and the possibilities. Application and game developers can create custom signs for their programs, users can interact with their computer and with each other, through simple gestures. Imagine your web cam even understands simple gestures. Now you can talk to your friend online, and signal to HIS computer activities you want to do. (share a document, send a smiley face, anything!)

It elevates how people interact with computers (badly) and puts us in the drivers seat because we can teach computers gestures they can learn from.

Interact 360

This will be resolved later in the blog, but one revision of the hardware may be required.

Like the iPhone, this product should be able to rotate a full 360.

If we look at Microsoft Surface, (read my design blog on it here) the interaction of the touchscreen is different because:

• It doesn’t rotate, or behaves like a coffee table (i.e. multiple users can grab and play with multiple items, so the interface has to be viewed from ANY angle and still be intuitive.
• certain items and interactions have only one orientation, e.g. watching a movie, reading a book. (one user can do this, but the other user at the opposite side, will not be able to enjoy the experience in the same way (if at all!)

Because the MacProTouch is more of a personal item, I am taking the assumption that one or more people is facing it the same way.

Another thing to note about rotation is peripheral placement. For say firewires and monitor cables, a full 360 rotation is unlikely. However for the two most common peripherals, a mouse and headphones, placement is important to allow for a full 360 experience.

You'll note that the headphone/mic jack and usb cable for the mouse is always on the opposite side across the horizontal access. This is handy if the user wants to rotate for left handed use.

For vertical alignments, the headphone jack is either at the top or bottom. A usb has been added to the peripheral sockets at the back, this way the mouse is to the side of the macprotouch at all times.

It should be noted, that the rotation of the interface only works when the tablet is on some sort of slope, but typically a user may rotate it to the orientation they want to work with, and then lie the tablet flat on a surface, thereby keeping it that orientation.