International gesture study published in Spanish

Last year we were part of a 340-person, 9-country study of gestures for touchscreen, mobile devices conducted by the International Usability Partners. We’re very excited that one of our papers about the study has been republished in Spanish in faz, an online magazine discussing user interaction. The full article is available online, Diferencias y similitudes culturales en gestos definidos por el usuario para interfaces en pantallas táctiles, or you can jump on over to our gesture blog to read about it in English.

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First look at the Logitech Revue with Google TV

The Logitech Revue shipped out late last week. It’s the cheapest way to get Google TV into your home entertainment system. The Google TV interface is very similar to Apple TV, Boxee, and other competitors. Unfortunately, Hulu connectivity is missing out-of-the-box, but there is a workaround that requires some easy adjustment to settings.

Overall, I am impressed. I love the size and feel of the keyboard (pictured on the right). Unfortunately, I will need to send mine back since I decided to cut the cord on cable TV service and there is no way to hook up my HD antenna to the Revue box. Google TV’s connectivity to online streaming services such as Amazon VOD and Pandora is not a selling feature by itself. Google TV really shines when it’s paired with a cable or satellite box. The purpose is to provide one interface to access your content, whether the content is live on TV, prerecorded on your DVR, or available for streaming online.

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The Internet is now on HDTVs… and here’s the remote.

Google TV, Apple TV, Roku, or Boxee… who is going to win the Internet-enabled TV war? Sony is hoping for Google TV and above is their remote control for the Sony Internet TV, the first HDTV with Google TV built-in. You probably have seen it on a commercial.

The first thought that crossed my mind when I saw this remote was “is this really what I’m going to use to control my TV?”. I’ve been wary of remote controls since CES earlier this year, and I am very concerned that the first round of these remote controls will be clunky and frustrating to use. I am not convinced that simply shrinking the keyboard down is the way to go. At least it looks like it will be very difficult to lose the remote!

As a Logitech fanboy, I have already pre-ordered my Logitech Revue (for Google TV), which will feature a compact keyboard and iPhone/smartphone apps. I’m not convinced that a full or compact keyboard is the best approach for Internet TV either, but it sure does seem a lot better than the alternatives presented by Sony, Boxee, and Apple.

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Don’t Hold My iPad Like That

Last week, the New York Times published an article about the rising popularity of eBooks, and the divide between people that read books electronically and those that still prefer paper books. While the article discussed many eBooks from different manufacturers, most of the interviews were with iPad owners, and the photo illustrating the article included an iPad user. But anyone that has used an iPad would realize that the photo is completely staged because iPads are heavy! No one could hold an iPad like the guy below for any length of time. Well, maybe if your hands are large enough to, say, palm a basketball, but this guy’s fingers don’t even reach halfway across, so that’s a lot of weight hanging on that hand.

The screen on my iPad is gorgeous and I love reading magazines and newspapers on it, but for reading books in bed I go back to my iPhone because it’s light enough to hold in one hand. That’s a big selling point for most dedicated eBook readers, weight. The iPad weighs 24 ounces (1.5 lbs), but the new Kindle weighs just 8.5 ounces, and the Sony weighs just under 9. But I dunno, maybe this guy likes getting a forearm workout while he reads.

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Electric Toothbrush & Function Allocation

Several months ago I bought my first electric toothbrush, and I have to admit that I’m in love. Not only is it a great toothbrush, but it’s a great example of a classic Human Factors design issue: function allocation between humans and machines. This is an issue that dates back to at least 1951 with Fitts Lists, and HABA-MABA lists, such as:

• Humans are best at (HABA) information retrieval using context and associations, machines are best at (MABA) information retrieval based on long lists and structured information.
• Humans are best at creative and adaptive tasks, machines are best at precise and repetitive tasks.

The lists change as machine capabilities change, but they are helpful when assessing a complex system and looking for places where machine automation can help, such as scanning barcodes at the grocery store instead of typing in prices, and where they introduce new problems, such as airplane pilots having difficulty staying awake during long flights because so many tasks have been automated. So how does this apply to my toothbrush?

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Don’t hold your iPhone like that!?!

I’m sad to say that my new iPhone has the same “death grip” problem as everyone else. If I hold it so that my hand bridges two of the three metal bands that encircle the device, the reception bars drop. It’s especially bad if you bridge a gap in the bands at the bottom-left corner of the device, right where it nestles into your palm if you hold it left-handed. What was Apple thinking, building the antenna into an exposed metal band around the edge of the phone?

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There’s a market for resistive touchscreens

Do you have long fingernails? Do you live in a cold climate and often wear gloves? Well, device manufacturers may be ignoring you.

There are two popular types of touchscreens: capacitive and resistive. Capactive touchscreens (e.g. iPhone or iPod Touch) work when a conductive object (e.g. finger or stylus) touches the screen. Resistive touchscreens (e.g. Garmin or TomTom GPS unit) work when pressure is applied to the screen. Digitimes reported on February 12th that most Taiwanese touchscreen manufacturers are not going to manufacture resistive touchscreens anymore.

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HumanCentric sets the mood for PartyLite

Come see some of the new ‘sophisticated and sleek‘ home decor accessories HumanCentric designed with PartyLite.

You will find traditional objects with a modern twist. Keep an eye out for lotus-inspired flourishes and obelisks that have found new life in new materials.

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Party Video Games: Design for New Users

Games are an interesting design challenge because if they’re too easy they’re no fun, and if they’re too hard they’re no fun, and “easy” and “hard” may be different for different people. Party games, or video games that you’d break out with a group of friends, are a special challenge because they need to be fun for the group, which may contain people with mixed skill levels or experience. Wii Sports is a great video game because the direct interaction style is fun. Want to swing the tennis racket? Just swing the controller! But it quickly became a party game, even for people that didn’t play video games. Why? Because it was intuitive, easy to learn. No need to memorize complex combinations of button presses used in many video games. Instead, people could pick up a controller and start playing immediately.

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CES 2010: Zomm Remembers Your Phone

Note: This week we are reacting to CES 2010, which was last week in Las Vegas.

Zomm has created a keychain fob that’s a Bluetooth accessory for your phone. It pairs with your mobile phone, and then it beeps if it gets more than 50 yards away from your phone, to help you remember to take your phone with  you.  It also doubles as a personal alarm and way to talk to emergency personnel. The folks at CES also thought it was cool, they awarded it “The Best of Innovations” Award. This is a great example of design to avoid mistakes. For many of us it’s pretty difficult to leave home without keys because we have to lock the front door and start the car, but it’s much easier to forget your phone at home or on a table at a restaurant. With Zomm, as long as you have your keys, you’ll remember your phone.  If you keep your phone in your purse it can help you remember both, but if you forget your keys too you’re completely stuck.

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