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Short Text Messages In Mid-Air
bahree writes "The BBC is running an interesting story on how Nokia is making a mobile that lets you write short text messages in mid-air. The messages are written using a row of LEDs fitted on the rear cover of Nokia's forthcoming 3220 phone. A motion sensor in the phone makes the lights blink in a sequence that spells out letters when the handset is waved in the air."
I used to have toy from Mattel back around 1983 or so that worked on this same concept - it was called a LightStick or some such. It was a long black paddle with a row of leds on the front, and a keyboard on the back. You just typed in a message, and wave the stick wildly back and forth in the air.
As I recall the problem was, waving this thing around wildly was very taxing on the arms, and the message was sometimes unclear and difficult to read - especially after fatigue set it.
Hopefully Nokia thought about this, and has made it a little less straining to use.
"Adventure? Excitement? A Jedi craves not these things."
writing messages to a DJ in a noisy club. I currently request songs by holding up my phone as close as possible, but that isn't always readable.
The Technonaut
Look, placing GUI interfaces on lots of stuff is OK if it streamlines your operation of the device, but the phone companies and even automobile manufacturers are using lousy GUI interfaces to perform simple tasks.
Maybe it's just the programmer in me, but there are many MANY device that I look at and think "wow, I could design such a better interface for that..". Even on my phone, there's a few tiny things I'd like to change (defaults, the dictionary for T9 input, placement of some menu items) but can't. A lot of things are trivially menu options, but probably left out because it would make menus too long and complicated looking.
It would be nice if these developers used open source, and let people modify firmware on their phones or other devices. But I'll just go back to my day dreaming now..
Speak before you think
I think that a lot of gui and interface problems have to do with patent and copyright infringement. So it would be nice if people used some form of open source in gui design. Too many design decisions are based on not wanting to infringe on other people's intellectual property. At least that's my two cents
I can't remember what the name of the movie was, but I was watching a spy movie where they had one of these equipped in a car as one of his gadgets. I remember being impressed by how feasable and useful it looked.
The taillights were LED based, with one of those bars across the entire back of the car for third brake light. It turned into a voice activated scrolling marquee when he spoke into a cb radio style microphone. This was used twice in the movie, once to communicate with the police behind him, and the other to make sarcastic remarks to the bad guys who were chasing him.
If you were to actually implement this, it would be pretty easy; the trickiest part would be the voice activation. Personally I'd like to be able to send a message to the guy behind me who's trying to push me to go faster, when I'm already 5mph over.
Honestly though, those options don't hurt people. Those who know what they want will find them, and those who don't won't generally. (There will be some people who do all the time.) But as long as it's limited to things like interface, there isn't a problem, because it will not actually interfere with the operation of the phone as a phone.
It's not just the programmer in you, it's the "Hater of design so bad that it could have been pumped from a port-a-potty" in you
For example, take my Nokia phone. Please. The hardware is OK, but the UI is horrible. I lived in Japan for years, and my first cell phone there, in 1996, had a better user interface than any Nokia I've seen since (never saw one in Japan, the Japanese brands own the market lock, stock, and two smoking Pringle's cans, and it's not just protectionism; they're *a lot* better than the competition).
My wife got a Samsung, and while I don't think it's as good as the Japanese domestic phones either, it beats the crap out of my Nokia on every point. I know what my next cell phone will be.
Japan is not known at all for UI design in PC software, but when it comes to UI design in gadgets, Japan is without peer.
Reminds me of propeller clocks (also here, here, here...)
...or the similar mechanically scanned displays.
Spacewriter sells some very cool full-color displays. Their iBall 3D display is also sold at AudioVisualizers - check their site out for more animated demos.
There's also the Virtual Game System (Google cache) which was amazing; unfortunately the site is down so you'll have to settle for text and no pictures.
-- If you can read this, you are too close to my signature.
"Put a copy of the firmware in ROM... as soon as the button is pressed it reverts to that. Very simple. I can't think of a single reason not to do something like that."
:)
Maybe I can help. I can think of at least two or three reasons.
1. Reflashing the firmware from ROM is the first thing you do after you steal a phone. It removes any trace of the phones previous owner is gone. In some cases, including the IMEI.
2. If you leave a copy of the firmware on the phone, suddenly anyone who wants to hack with the firmware, it becomes a lot easier. A whole underground society exists of people who hack their phones. Where do they get the firmware? People who work at places like Motorola leak it to them. If phone companies started putting firmware on their phone, you'd have people releasing company design secrets at that exact second.
Hmm that only looks like two reasons. Nevertheless, I think I've proved my point
--
The last digit of pi is four.