Do you remember Myst?
I used to spent hours trying to solve the puzzles and wait for hours for the game to upload...
I think it was the first game that caused me to upgrade my computer...
Anyway, Cnet reported today that Cyan Worlds has decided to release all of Myst Online URU Live's assets to the public as open source.
This could be very interesting project to follow and to contribute to.
E.T.
One additional step for iPhone on its long road to be 'business ready'.
As reported in The Register, virtual desktop provider Citrix has, again, announced it'll be developing a client for the iPhone, providing the option of a Windows desktop on an iPhone: albeit at a distance.
Although Windows is not designed to be viewed on such a small screen, it may be very useful to have remote access to your Windows machine when you really really need to.
Check the demo:
E.T.
I was trying out the new Google Tasks from the labs.
Simple and useful gadget.
In case you added it and cannot find it (like me...), look at the left navigation area:
I can understand why Contacts could be considered as a separated application that requires a left side navigation item/link and a full screen / desktop view, but I would expect the Tasks to be better integrate in the left side widget are, such as the Chat and Documents does.
Also, what with the Actions and the List menus?
It seems as the list actions and tasks settings should be unified and the 'Tasks' settings should have a separated access point.
Anyway, nice to have this at last.
Now I could keep a better track of all the things I will not do...
(It is like your Netflix queue, you never see any movie in place 5 or higher...)
E.T.
Imagine yourself in an airport. You found a great seat with wireless connectivity (or a 3G card), you are online...But then, your power died.
"I wish I would have wireless power" you think to your self...
Well, Powermat provides almost that.
"...Powermat technology brings safe, simple, and efficient wireless electricity to surfaces including walls, tables, floors and desktops. It is designed to replace the need to access multiple electrical sockets with the flexibility and freedom of wireless power for real-time powering and charging of electronic devices of almost any kind in almost any environment. Powermat technology revolutionizes the way energy is consumed in the every day course of interaction with our environment.
Powermat offers the only scalable solution to transform large work surfaces and wall areas into safe and efficient conductors of electricity and is easily integrated into building construction and furniture design..."
A little out dated, but interesting nevertheless.
Here is the video of the Web Usability Event on June 25 featuring Tom Chi, Senior Director - User Experience, Yahoo!, Jeremy Ashley, Vice President, Applications User Experience, Oracle, and David Nelson, Sr. Experience Designer, Adobe Systems.
E.T.
Boxes and Arrows is devoted to the practice, innovation, and discussion of design; including graphic design, interaction design, information architecture and the design of business. Since 2001, it’s been a peer-written journal promoting contributors who want to provoke thinking, push limits, and teach a few things along the way.
They have great (practical) articles and examples for design processes, prototyping methodologies and much more.
For example:
Well, recent weeks were tough.
Many sites are reporting the bad news (fuckedcompany, fuckedstartups, Cnet, Scorecard, and more...), but only few report good news...
Good Mood is a new website (Hebrew only for now) that just went live, so they'll be looking for ways to improve and expand. For now, you have a chance to read about some good things that happen in Israel and around the world, including a recent Israeli start up buyout :)
And if this does not help (or your Hebrew is rusty) here is one of the songs that always make me smile:
E.T.
If you liked the Flex2/3 explorer, you have to check this one out.
Tour de Flex includes over 200 runnable samples, each with source code, links to documentation, and other details. Topics include the Flex Core Components, Flex Data Access, AIR Desktop Capabilities, Cloud APIs, Data Visualization, Mapping, and a growing collection of custom components, effects, skins, etc.
Install the AIR application and explore its capabilities.
Such as Web Services
UI components and effects
and much more...
E.T.
Based on the good feedback I received on the 'Do the Math' post , I decided to recommend another great website.
http://tutpup.com focuses on Maths Game and Word Game Questions and include several levels.
The site has a very clean design, it is fun and easy to use.
And for the more competitive kids, it allow to play games and to compete with other kids, win awards and collect virtual prices.
No real names, just cool nicknames...
Screen capture is an important tool for me.
As a follow up to the Jing and Skitch post, I would like to add Evernote.
Evernote works on your desktop (Windows/Mac) as well as on your iPhone and other mobiles.
It is more than just a screen capture.
"...
Evernote allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform you find most convenient, and makes this information accessible and searchable at any time, from anywhere.
..."
The last few weeks reminded me some scenes from The Hudsucker Proxy.
Two main associations were:
I guess 'getting real' is doing a comeback (...) as investors and companies are taking actions.
In a recent post of 37Signals, Jason pointed out some key concepts from the Getting Real eBook (read it free).
Some (relevant) topics from the book:
An interesting post in engadget.
Minority Report-style interface / interaction.
Cool for sure, but not so efficient...
As many, I also think that the best UI is no UI.
If we can remove unnecessary steps, no visual, flow or processes are needed or should be visible to the user.
This interesting prototype demonstrate many steps to reproduce existing user experience activities.
However, braking away from the 'traditional' input devices, such as keyboard and mouse, is happening.
This demo reminded me the BCI (Brain Controlled Interface) concept. But unlike BCI, the interaction flow include much more physical activities.
We are using voice interfaces all the time. Some time they are annoying (especially when you try to get service from a human...), and some time very useful (such as Yahoo! OneSearch, Say Who and Google mobile search application [UPDATE]).
Change is coming.
Let's work to make it change for the better.
E.T.
I was working over the weekend on an important presentation, using MS Office for Mac. As always, I was (or thought I was) careful, saving drafts and backups every few minutes…
I finished the presentation, just in time for breakfast with the family, and sent it to my team.
Few minutes later, I get a response that they cannot open the file.
“Strange… I just saved it”, I thought out loud.
When I tried to open the original file I got this message:
I checked my backup files, as well as any recovery files in the system folder – they all were corrupted…
My response included a big “F…” + few words in Arabic, Hebrew, Russian and 3 other languages I just invented for the occasion.
I called some friends and tried to retrieve/save at least the text from the files…
Finally, I changed the mime type from PPTX to PPT and the files opened.
Just to be clear – the latest format was not working, while an previous format was.
Now, when I can smile and learn from this experience, I can say that MS PowerPoint for Mac is not 'future compatible'…
Probably the only application that do not support its own newer formats…
E.T.
As a follow up to the previous post (would you stand by me) and thanks to alleyinsider and BoomTown, here are John Doerr's pragmatic action points:
Touch-screens changed the way we interact with computers and mobile devices.
Touch-screens also changed the frequency we (should) clean these devices...
E.T.
Today I had the pleasure of meeting Jay Cross in person, after noticing him in SUN Learning Exchange the other day.
We shared some stories and had some laughs.
We shares some notes with a Veodia team by creating a short video note on our internal wiki.
We talked about the upcoming Corporate Learning Trends and Innovations 2008 event.
Jay also shared some ideas about the un-book and other project he is working on.
It was great to see how my friend Jay Cross already wrote on the SUN Learning Exchange.
http://slx.sun.com/
I am proud that Veodia is enabling SUN's informal learning initiatives through the SUN Learning Exchanges. SUN employees uses Veodia to record and share videos of critical information needed to improve knowledge transfer and collaboration, allowing them access to the right information at the right time.
More information in the press release.
E.T.
It was just a matter of time until someone would hack the iPhone, not to change the mobile carrier, but to run another OS on the iPhone.
In a Blog I saw today, Erik Kristiansen, shows his 'boot-camp' version for the iPhone.
It would be interesting to see how cross-OS capabilities would effect sales of phones hardware. Will iPhone be the best device to run Windows Mobile?
E.T.
