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Canonical Designer Demos Ubuntu Context-Aware UI
Blacklaw writes "Canonical's Christian Giordano has posted details of what he believes could be the future of user interface design in Ubuntu — a system that detects physical context. Designed to be paired with a webcam or other sensor system, the concept is that the computer is able to detect where a user is in proximity to the display along with an idea of roughly what he or she might be doing. Using this information, the operating system — in this case, Ubuntu Linux — can automatically make changes to the screen layout. For example, when the system detects that the user has leaned back in his or her chair, the system automatically makes the currently playing video full-screen. Lean forward again, and the video returns to its previous windowed mode."
So if the computer sees me with a box of tissues and some lube it will start up youporn?
first
Why does the summary not link the actual blog post at canonical.com instead of some ad-encumbered summary?
Greylisting is to SMTP as NAT is to IPv4
Another guess and pray system. Please don't. or at least make it optional (not that I use ubuntu, but)... Guess and pray system are often more of an irritation that usable.
It's time to realise that Abble's products are the biggest abomination these days. Just say NO to the dumb iAbble way!!
"Shall I queue up some porn?"
... that yells "Pay attention!" every time it detects my eyes focusing on my television rather than its monitor!
So now the computer starts looking at me, instead of just me looking at the computer?
Interesting. But sounds a bit scary too.
So if I dangle my Special Purpose in front of my webcam, will it boot me into Damn Small Linux?
when you lean forward then back then forward then back repeatedly while hiding an arm between your legs?
A good UI need to be consistent and predictable. When software tries to second guess what I want, glares at MS Word, it tends to piss me off instead.
And no, I don't want a video to full screen when I lean back or audio to mute when I switch app or whatever they think of next.
...I never leave a webcam hooked up to my computer unless I'm about to use it.
Living With a Nerd
I always feel like... Ubuntu's watching me!
Someone needs to contact Google, they'll provide a shitload of funding for something like this, as long as they can get some of the images to run through some sort of facial expression analysis.
Not only will they know the sites you are visiting, but they'll get an idea of how interested you are in each individual product you see, and whether you glance at their ads.
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
"...I'm afraid i can't let you do that, Dave..."
~men are from earth. women are from earth. deal with it.~
Next, maybe they will get my printer to work with Ubuntu!
Now I can just start jerking off and it'll show me porn, instead of me having to find the porn first.
Thanks, auto-detect camera.
Lots of naysayers already.. this will suck as much as the first round of "tablet" laptops, like the thinkpad x60, et cetera. But you have to let the pioneers forge ahead. Let them do that, they will enjoy being at the forefront of development without you.
There's all sorts of sensors. And with something like a SerIO, you can just plug analog sensors into your perl/python/ruby/php/bash scripts. For instance, I believe I could take a capacitance sensor, hide it under the wood in my desk, run that into the SerIO (or I mean, if I was an engineer I could do it myself, but I am not, so the SerIO is my crutch), and then I could have my computer know when my hands are laying on the desk.
I could put a thermal sensor in my chair, so my butt triggers it. I could put motion sensors in the walls. I could put humidity sensors in my beer-hat, and it could tell me when to stop drinking so much booze.
There's so many neat ideas out there that haven't really been done yet. Well, I'm sure they've been done by shy introverts, brilliant kids that don't feel like sharing with the dummies. Heck I bet a ton are reading this very story and going "PSSSSSSSsh so?" Not as many as the armchair engineers going "PSshh stoopid idea", but they are still here too.
This isn't about getting it right. This is about playing. Don't critique the child playing with blocks.
slashdot: where everyone yells sarcastic metaphors to themselves to understand the issue
... like playing sounds from Youtube/Flash on Firefox and Rythmbox at the same time, without having to wait 5 Minutes after FF closes, for PulseAudio to reinitialize or whatever, to be able to hear Rythmbox or VLC sound.
It's this kind of crap that's getting us no where and still has Apple being a viable alternative for productive workers despite their cheapest 13" Laptop currently being twice as expensive than a 17" Dell Vostro running Ubuntu. And despite Apple moving into MS-Borg territory very fast with content distribution lock-in and all that.
I thought I was going to switch to Linux entirely this year, now that I don't play Windows Games anymore and currently don't develop Flash for a living and the newest Mac Mini suddenly costs upwards of 800 Euros. But it's crap like this that still has me fiddling with fstab IN FUCKING 2010(!!) when I want to mount my daughters Cellphones MicroSD Card and then still being unable to mount the damn thing rw, as any other sane OS would do.
John-Jesus H.B Christ, could we please try to get shit done, like, for instance, building a vialbe AD clone or something before tracking faces with some obscure library that only 10 people know how to compile and has absolutely no practical application what-so-ever? No matter how much money Shuttleworth has, he doesn't have enough to burn it on something like this I'd suppose. No?
It's not that I wouldn't like to help, but, honestly, there is so much work to be done, I don't know where to start and sh*t like the stuff mentioned in TFA isn't very encouraging to have me join in.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
When you stare into Ubuntu for a long time, the system also stares into you. :)
As people have said, you start showing skin, your fav vid site or cam streaming site loads.
When your done, a site for after glow loads?
It could also detect fixated 'interest' - the video your playing seems boring or you seem very interested in that clip - search for more in a hidden window?
Google could always link eye detection into ad viewing and cash flow. Was the ad on top of the window and did the viewer take in the ad?
Hook it up to the deep longterm database ads in html5 - did the 'consumer' spend much time with the new site today
"For example, when the system detects that the user has leaned back in his or her chair, the system automatically makes the currently playing video full-screen. Lean forward again, and the video returns to its previous windowed mode." Does it also provide a barf bag in this sea-sickness inducing mode?
My web domain.
I guess we all have aspects we would like about it and aspects we fear. We are comfortable in our old paradigms and we don't want computers to guess what we want or need.
But that said, using a webcam to determine certain things would be convenient. For example, I would like more work done on using a webcam for authentication and to determine if it is okay to go into screensaver/screen lock mode. THAT would be pretty nice.
As for changing my UI? Most of us tweak our UIs to match the way we use the machine. If I change my posture, I am not sure I want my UI changing to match. At the moment, I think authentication with my face and locking the screen when I am "away" will be enough.
My complaint with Ubuntu (who does a great job with customer service) develops features, but does not incorporate them into existing open source system, but rather built separate open source apps on top of projects like GNOME that do not contribute to GNOME.
Have the camera pointing outside your cubicle, pick up when the boss is coming, automatically switch to Workspace 4 which has a spreadsheet open on screen and a long list of business apps along the panel.
Hot secretary? Browser with "Ask Mavis" article half-posted voicing your concerns about your "copious" manhood. Suspicious 4-second lag between hitting minimise and it actually disappearing.
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
Shouldn't we worry about a decent UI for today, before we start worrying about one for tomorrow...
Ubuntu Linux is NOT an OS. It is a Distribution. Linux (or even GNU/Linux) is an OS. Ubuntu is a (GNOME Based) distribution.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
No more rocking chair in front of the PC for me...
I use irony whenever I can, but my shirts are still wrinkled...
I would hate it that the screen changes just because I sit differently. Do NOT change the layout. There is a reason why the layout is as I have it. And my reasons are mine alone. I am sure you can NOT program them in a general calculation, even though they are very simple:
3 screens with 6 workspaces each. No Xinerama. Each screen as fixed programs on launching XFCE.
I am not sure if this will be equally or even more annoying as Copiz and other 3D stuff.
Nice to see once for about 10 seconds and after that I would like to shoot the screen and buy Windows.
I am for sure not going to use it and it is a pity that people waste time at things like this while there are much more important things requesting developers.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
do, and with Lany I ever did. It there are some
If I could come home tonight, turn on the computer and for once since in installed 10 there would be no update screen with a 30% chance of reboot but I know better than that
I'd be happy if, on a multi-display setup, it could tell which screen I'm looking at and direct focus accordingly.
I'm fed up with pressing Cmd-W to close the top window, only to find out that the focus was on the top window on the other screen.
Would still need to tell the difference between "glancing at screen 2 to check something" and "actively focusing on screen 2", of course...
Never mind Spamassassin. When's Spammerassassin coming out?
Hi Bob, Clippy, all your friends, welcome back. I see they've finally ported you over to Linux.
So if I'm of the more bouncy kind, my video player will constantly go full-window-full-window-full-window-etc. until I explicitly tell it to stop, sit in the corner and be a bad dog?
Yeah, that's exactly what I want in a computer. Look, no matter how smart you think you are, there is no way you can find out my intent without telepathy. All you are creating is yet another interface that people have to learn and deal with. Get the interface out of my way, not into it.
This is from the geek perspective. From the non-geek perspective, regular people are already afraid of computers because they don't understand them and they constantly do weird stuff. Making them do even more weird stuff for no apparent reason, even if you're not even touching the damn thing, will put the final nail in the coffin. After this, regular people will treat computers as some kind of black magic, just when we were beginning to get off that train.
Nice work.
Here's to hoping that it'll crater just like Bob did.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
Why does the summary not link the actual blog post at canonical.com instead of some ad-encumbered summary?
Summaries have three purposes. First, a good executive summary adds context that may not have been in the article. Second, a good executive summary gets the point across so that readers don't get attacked by a tl;dr. Third, a well-known online encyclopedia is likely to care more about a press release if the mainstream news media have reported on it.
FEATURE REQUEST: Retreating keyboard and mouse
PROBLEM: Users who pick their nose and then try to use your keyboard or mouse
LEVEL: Urgent
REPEATABILITY: Way too often, especially around flu season!
PROPOSED SOLUTION(S): When the OS detects a luser digging for "nose gold", both the keyboard and mouse should immediately retract. Failing that, the computer should copy their personal info (not yours) to the system clipboard and then do a redirect to a Final Measure site so as to play "Hey everybody, I'm looking at gay porno" loudly until the luser withdraws from the scene.
ASSIGNED TO: Anyone who doesn't have/want a keyboard stained with "crunchies."
NOTES: I don't care that there are studies claiming that engaging in automucophagy is healthy - it's disgusting. etc, etc, what was this woman thinking?.
One of these days, someone's going to end up in the ER with their finger jammed through their brain at 200 mph when their air-bag goes off. Do you really want to explain why you look like this guy?
I need the opposite in fact. If I'm leaning in towards the screen, it's because I CAN'T see the video/text well enough. Making it smaller is defeating the purpose. I lean back when I can see it fine. Blowing it up is pointless. If I lean in, make it bigger. If I lean back, leave it be.
Way to go dipshit! 10 years desktop Linux has been a joke. 10 years idiots like you running their dimwitted mouth off.
It's not even funny anymore. Just fucking pathetic and sad.
Assuming you're relaxing when reclined and about to do something when you're sitting up? Don't the Canonical programmers know that the optimal hip angle for coding is 78 degrees?
"...And who wants to make buttprints in the sands of time?" ~Bob Moawad
In Soviet Russia, Ubuntu watches you!
wait, no...
Look, no matter how smart you think you are, there is no way you can find out my intent without telepathy.
That's a few versions down the road.
Webcams are more common but a proximity sensor would be better. It can tell more easily if somebody really is there... without complicated image processing.
And its more private since it doesn't record your image.. you can be in your underwear.
As for the all the negative comments... its great that people are trying new things in UIs. I bet mouse got a lot of negative comments too when it came out back in the day.
What happens when me and my wife are watching a movie and she leans back and I'm sitting up? Does it adjust to her or does it stay adjusted for me? How would it decide?
And, would it be easy to turn off? Sometimes convenience can be more of a burden than we expected it to be.
I do not want a spying web cam.
I do not want it, Sam I Am.
I do not want it on my box.
I do not want it tuned to Fox.
I do not want it on the air.
I do not want it anywhere!
WALSTIB!
I really don't want the computer doing things unless I actually direct it to do so with either keyboard or mouse. I do not want the computer to change what's on the screen unless it is a situation that really needs my intervention.
http://www.acetonestudio.com
I'm all for someone developing a tool/app that alters window positions, volume etc when various inputs generate specific events. Of course it should be highly customizable.
However, I'd hope it's built as a standalone distro-independent (or platform-independent at best) tool. TFA doesn't really point one way or the other on this.
I'd also hope that no special-purpose development is done to Ubuntu itself solely to work with this tool. A tool like that shouldn't need distro-specific help.
Personally, I'd have no interest in a tool like this.
Voice commands, gestures etc to control the UI are fine (as long as they never ever cause false-positives) only because they're deliberate actions.
I'm not entirely sure I'm using the right OS for me, though.
You agree with me.
If employers can get the operating system to monitor IT users, it will be a great boon. Not enough lines of code, too much sitting back in the chairs, not enough eye contact with the screen, not enough keystrokes, use of non-sanctioned websites, then modify the user's environment say to provide random electric shocks of sufficient voltage to "encourage" productivity, perform personality scans, initiate increased video surveillance, monitor "independent" contractors, initiate urine tests, etc..
Clearly, this may propel Ubuntu to the top in commercial settings. Microsoft look out!
How about it the camera senses no motion for awhile, it blanks the screen, but on motion it unblanks.
That could be useful for a screen that "un-sleeps" when you come back into the room,etc, rather than waiting on a screensaver timer.
if such a system could reliably detect which window I'm focusing on/looking at, to keep the focus on it or to bring it to the front. I know such systems exist but having it as a feature of the operating system (I can use it instantly without any installation or other annoyances) would be awesome.
And then your facial expression at the moment of orgasm will be for sale a few seconds later.
Why do you think the free porn sites all switched over to Flash video? Does you webcam have a hardware-only 'recording' light?
I say that only to scare people, but a friend of mine was recently on a boring webx screencast and began clicking on the interface elements to see what was there and noticed that the organizer had turned on video conferencing and there was one of the other attendees in her undies, doing some work from home. A PM was sent and she ran scurrying off to get her robe.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Why is everyone behaving so totally conservative? Like we already have invented the desktop in its "final" and "best" version and all that's left is cleaning up some driver bugs? Yes, I suffer from the bugs, too (every day), and I hate clippy as much as everyone here. However, there also needs to be some playing with new, innovative stuff. And the video linked to the article actually looks like quite a bit of fun. I especially like the effect where the relative window positions are slightly moving when the head is moved. It's a bit like a 3D effect where you can look behind the windows by turning your head. Looks pretty cool to me.
./ is now above 60?
Everyone here seems to be about as open to new UI ideas as the Catholic Church to Galileo's ideas. (Yet we are still dreaming about "Minority Report" type interfaces?) Or is it just that the average age on
of a computer trying to examine what we're doing in front of it when there are so many things we do which aren't related to the computer.
Leaning over to grab a cup of tea or pick up the phone will parallax scroll the windows? Or will it be able to tell if I'm not looking at the screen and so ignore that. Chances are most of the CPU will be spent working out what *not* to react to.
Making body movements instead of a flick of the mouse or the tap of a key? Come on. It's like the idea of a touch-screen PC, which is just a recipe for sore shoulders. Touch-screen laptop maybe. But motion sensing for laptops? Even worse situation than a PC.
I can see this being very useful for the disabled, but I think other systems, like brain signalling, will be more popular when that matures.
How 'bout bringing up the window I am currently looking at?
Uuungh yeah Apple slashvertisements...racist troll posts...dupe story...idle shit post...Soviet Russia joke...libertarian soapboxing...hot grits on Natalie Portman naked and petrifi..OH YEAH *jizz*
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Sounds as a nice experiment. As long as i keep the option to sudo aptitude purge idiocracy
Remco Siderius
Amsterdam