The Coming of the Age
I ran into some interesting projects last week.
First off, Gizmodo reported that Apple just filed about six new patents for the iPhone this week. A lot of them could potentially utilize current (and extend) iPhone sensors to create a suite of ‘lifestyle companion’ applications. These applications could help users do anything from choosing the right diet, to curling a barbell in the proper manner.
Next is Patty Mae’s and Pranav Mistry’s demo of the ‘Sixth Sense’ at TED. Sixth Sense is a wearable augmentation to a cell phone which includes a projector and motion sensor. An end user can interface with meta information anywhere. Probably arguably the coolest part of this device is the gesture-based UI. An end user can tell the time by drawing a circle on their wrist.
Both of these projects remind me ideas in The Coming Age of Calm Technology by Mark Weiser and John Seely Brown. Weiser and Brown identify three ages of computing, Mainframe, Personal, and Ubiquitous (or UC). UC demands an environment of calm technology where, like a good pair of shoes, the human is not concerned with the technology unless he/she wants. Shoes exist in the periphery, they perform their task and get out of the way of their users. If we choose to turn our attention back to the technolgy, we can easily bend down and tighten the laces. Thus the technology moves seamlessly from the periphery to the focus and back. This is Calm Technology.
It seems that the calm technology age is developing nicely. As Patti Maes and Apple computers show, the rapid decline in the cost of hardware gives rise to some pretty amazing new technologies. The truly exciting part about these technologies lies in their ability to become peripheral and focused at once. This gives us 'more time to be fully human'. And that's good design.