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."

Comments

Porn

[Anonymous Coward]

So if the computer sees me with a box of tissues and some lube it will start up youporn?

Re:Porn

[ray-auch]

More importantly, will it minimise the porn window when the wife enters the room behind you ?

Re:Porn

[Anonymous Coward]

>More importantly, will it minimise the porn window when the wife enters the room behind you ?

Wife/SO: "That's it, I'm leaving. Masturbating to porn I could handle, but to Slashdot?!?"

Why not link the source?

[mikael_j]

Why does the summary not link the actual blog post at canonical.com instead of some ad-encumbered summary?

Hmm

[El Lobo]

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.

Re:Hmm

[MBGMorden]

Exactly what I was thinking. This seems like it would be just as bad as clippy. Computers aren't good at just "figuring out what you meant". That's why language syntax has always been so strict. They're good at doing EXACTLY what you say when you're specific and say it right. If I want my video full screen I'll Alt+Enter before I lean back in the chair . . .

Re:Hmm

[Compaqt]

First they messed up sound with PulseAudio, but I did not say anything because I killall'd it in cron.

Then they came for my window control menus, but I did not say anything because I gconf'd it.

Now they have come for my gnome-terminal replacing it with HAL, and there's no one left to speak for me.

Re:Hmm

[quickOnTheUptake]

My thoughts exactly: Great, another resource-hogging annoyance." What if I lean forward because I'm trying to see something small in the corner?
Rule no. 1 of UI design: When in doubt make the interface stupid but predictable. Smart systems that guess wrong even 2% of the time are just frustrations.

Re:Hmm

[MBGMorden]

I'm at the point in my life where I don't WANT my desktop to be "innovative". "Innovative" is an excuse for people to shake up stuff that works perfectly well for the sake of doing so, and claim that they are "innovative". Commercial companies that constantly need to sell new versions to a gullable consumer have that need. They need to convince users to keep dropping cash on "The best Windows EVER!!!!". Open source has no need for the sales tactics. Cars have 4 wheels and a cabin because that WORKS, and it has worked well for 100 years. Desktop UI's have reached a similar level. The paradigm is mature. Don't mess with it.

What I want to see instead of "innovation" is simple polish. Get those drivers working better. Smooth out the fonts and default graphics. Improve codec support. Make syncing between portable media players and the management utilities better. Improve flash support. Add new file formats to programs. Add additional filters to video editors.

The way we do things has evolved to a stable point. At this point I want improvements to that, not a new method entirely.

Re:Hmm

[xlotlu]

I wanted something like this for quite a while, except my primary use cases are for preventing inactivity-related actions: 1) don't lock the screen if I'm still at the computer, regardless of the inactivity timeout; and 2) don't dim the screen if I'm looking at it. I'm probably reading and I like the brightness level just the way it is.

I don't want a jealous computer...

[Drakkenmensch]

... 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?

[wvmarle]

So now the computer starts looking at me, instead of just me looking at the computer?

Interesting. But sounds a bit scary too.

Re:So now the computer starts looking at me?

[captainpanic]

As long as the options aren't hidden in obscure menus, or disabled because the users are considered idiots, then I think I like it.

In short: I like it if I can tweak it (and if I can disable it if necessary).

-- The options menu of my webcam extends to my drawer where I keep my duct tape to block the lens. Be warned, evil empire, I am armed with duct tape!

Interesting...

[Anonymous Coward]

So if I dangle my Special Purpose in front of my webcam, will it boot me into Damn Small Linux?

Re:Interesting...

[Hinhule]

I think it'll launch chatroulette.

Consitancy

[anss123]

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.

Re:Consitancy

[natehoy]

glares at MS Word

Now, thanks to this new technology, Clippy can appear and say "It looks like I'm pissing you off! What can I do to help?"

Then your reaction might cause Clippy to dial 9-1-1 (or the local equivalent for non-US versions) for you so an ambulance can be on the way already to deal with the aneurysm you are about to have in 3... 2...

But when you pass out and your nose lands on the "F" key, he'll turn off autorepeat for you so if you survive the experience your document will be waiting for you when you get back from the hospital. Maybe not so much in the American version, here he'll just check your insurance status and put your car and house up on eBay so you can afford the downpayment on your medical bills.

Re:Consitancy

[RNLockwood]

Yeah, I can see it now. My eyes require larger print, pictures, etc. on the display I have. I can't quite make something out and lean forward: it gets smaller. To get it bigger I must lean back. And so on and so on. I think the Greeks had a story about something like this.

Re:Consitancy

[natehoy]

They'll announce it a few years from now, codename "Terrifying Tantalus"

Re:Consitancy

[cparker15]

9-1-1 (or the local equivalent for non-US versions)

I think you mean 0118 999 881 999 119 725 3, you berk!

oh oh...

[polle404]

shutdown -h now

"...I'm afraid i can't let you do that, Dave..."

Great

[iONiUM]

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.

that's pretty neat!

[digitalsushi]

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.

How about demoing something spectacular ...

[Qbertino]

... 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.

Useful for multi-display setups

[Yer Mom]

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...