'Cross The Breeze » design

My issue with the iPad

Kris Hoet — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:26:00 +0000

It’s not about the lack of Flash support. Although you visit less sites in their mobile version (if available) on the iPad thus the lack of Flash support is a bigger pain than on the iPhone, I knew what I was getting into when I bought one. Nor is it the lack of multi-tasking capabilities, I’m sure once iOS4 arrives on the iPad we will have that (kinda) sorted out. And also the fact that there are only few really good iPad apps is an issue (for now). There may as well be several thousand apps available (250.000 if you count all iPhone apps), we all know most of them are rubbish.

My issue is with the OS. It still is a big phone, without the phone functionalities then… probably to avoid situations like this to happen. Now a mobile phone typically is a very personal piece of technology. You don’t just hand to someone else to toy with it, it’s yours and personal. And that’s where the problem lies, for me the iPad isn’t personal. Not like the iPhone (or any other mobile phone for that matter). My wife and I both have our own mobiles but it’s rather unlikely that I we will get a second iPad, we both use it. But since it’s built on a mobile OS, it’s not really built for multiple users. There’s no need for that on a phone but it means that on the iPad there’s a primary user next to other people that can also use it. But not in the same way.

Still don’t see the problem? I really enjoy Flipboard, so does my wife. But it’s logged in with my Twitter/Facebook accounts so she cannot really enjoy that part. I could add her email account(s) to the iPad but then those would be visible to both of us, that’s not really what you want. And we try and beat each other on playing Mahjong but since there’s only one high score, it impossible to tell (remember) who it was from. It would enable me to personalize the iPad for the kids when they use it as well. With us, the iPad is typically lying around in the living room for anyone in the family to use when they feel like it. But since I’m the primary user (and the geek – yes, that too) it’s mainly setup towards my needs. I find that a missed opportunity.

It would be great to see the iOS for iPad change in a way you can have a user login upfront, similar to what we are used to on our PCs/Macs. Or the possibility to switch between users, all to get a more personal experience on a multi-user/shared device. I’m afraid that is not going to happen (soon) so maybe in that case it’s worth asking the developers of Flipboard, Reeder, Mahjong, … to implement the possibility to switch between users in the app itself. Less ideal, but it would still solve my issue with the iPad.

September, when robots take over the internet

Kris Hoet — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 11:02:00 +0000

Looks like September is going to be robo-arm month. Microsoft is doing something cool with robots on RememberReach.com for the launch of Halo Reach (September 14th) featuring a user-generated light sculpture of Reach’s Noble Team.

“The Kuka KR 140 bot, normally deployed in car factories, has been outfitted with an LED and stationed in an undisclosed San Francisco warehouse. Visitors direct the machine to plot the 54,000 points of light that will form the Noble Team monument.”

Curious to see what the final sculpture will look like. In the meantime Coolhunting tells us Audi and Kram/Weisshaar (design firm) are preparing Outrace, an installation that will take over Trafalgar Square from 17 September through 23 September as part of the London Design Festival. This installation uses eight industrial robots from Audi’s production line to deliver messages sent from people around the world as 3D lighting graphics.

“The project explores ways to integrate innovative technology within the arts, using LEDs to scroll out user messages by attaching the powerful light heads to the mechanical arms of the robots. A long-exposure camera will capture the resulting light traces, creating videos of the user messages so that participants can share their experience across their social media platforms.”

As I said: September, when robots take over the internet ;)

Pictionaire 2.0

Kris Hoet — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:24:53 +0000

Gosh. Would I love to see what we could do with this at the agency, out the current ‘review’ table – in the new one ;)

[Via my buddy Steve]

ABC

Kris Hoet — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:22:28 +0000

Really nice work from designer Jason Dean from Orlando, who designed this alphabet based on some of the most important brands identities of today. There are only 500 copies of this limited edition so be quick if you want one.

And? Did you do the test? How many brands could you name instantly?

[Via fubiz]

Cereal gaming

Kris Hoet — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:37:53 +0000

Augmented reality is the new black, but only few people seem to be doing something really interesting with the concept of AR. I don’t really want to hold a white paper with a black mark on it in front of my laptop to get a 3D image of a car projected on it… or at least on screen that is. I could already see that same 3D car on my screen in the past without all the AR complications. Catch my drift? Do something different and fun like the example below, or make it useful like what Ray Ban did recently with their Virtual Mirror.

Enjoy.

And if you do want to create some AR with cars, maybe make it some more like this ;)

[Via Helge Tenno]

Let’s face it

Kris Hoet — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:20:21 +0000

I found this the other day on Zoomdoggle: Eric Testroete, a Vancouver based gaming industry guy, created this pretty cool 3D mask of his own face. Awesome don’t you think?

Similar concepts on the website of Bert Simons, one I found via Pietel on Facebook today, all I need now is some free time :)

Going vertical

Kris Hoet — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:30:40 +0000

A couple of days ago I read this article about a new book format called ‘Dwarsligger’ (Dutch) which is supposed to make it easier to read in bed or on a plane… Not only is the book’s size adapted but more importantly you have to read from top to bottom instead of left to right.

Interesting thought, I’m almost amazed nobody else thought of this before. Funny enough, only a couple of days later, I noticed the following video in which another Dutchman presents a new invention at the INMA Outlook 2010 Conference: the vertical newspaper. I smell a trend :)

Who’s next?

Because clicking is so 90′s

Kris Hoet — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:40:10 +0000

This trailer shows a the website project created by Andreas Lutz as part of a study project and is rather inspirational. The website uses video and sound input to control the navigation, so basically you navigate using gestures and voice.

Make sure you try it out for yourself on Andreas’ website as well. I found it still pretty hard to use the navigation and have to admit I still prefer clicking for now :) but you can see where this is going and that’s an opportunity that I do want to think about. Very cool!

[Via fubiz]

The Ad-O-Matic

Kris Hoet — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:07:24 +0000

The future is here! After crowdsourcing as an option to create an advertising campaign, the Ad-O-Matic promises an even easier way out. Miami Ad School students created the all-in-one ad generator, watch it here:

[Via AdFreak]

If you printed the internet…

Kris Hoet — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:45:43 +0000

Very nice infographic about what it would take if you wanted to print out all the content on the internet. Here’s one visual, make sure you visit CreativeCloud for more infographics about the topic.