interface posts

Apple has filed a patent featuring some concepts for scrollable menus and toolbars that could eventually be used in the next version of OS X, 10.7 Lion. The new patent covers all kinds of things, from extra UI elements in the OS X desktop to special iOS menus and features. But they all look like what you see above -- an almost Cover Flow-like scrollable interface that boils down a series of functions or menus into a set of icons.

I like it -- while the drawback seems to be that you'd have to really know what's available in the menu and where to find it (because you only see one icon at a time, you'll basically have to just get used to knowing what the other options are), the menu seems like a great way to put a lot of functionality easily reachable in a very small space. There are a few different "menu shapes" to help with this, too, from just one icon rotating to the foreground, to an entire wheel of icons all with different features or choices on them.

As with all Apple patents, we'll note that these are strictly concepts, and there's no guarantee that a feature like this will actually show up in OS X. But it's good to see that Apple is still playing around with even very traditional UI interfaces like menus. Always nice to see innovation even in the growing-ever-older desktop space.

Artist Johannes P. Osterhoff (whom you may remember from his paintings using OS X elements) has been reusing Apple's interface elements again. His latest project is a real-life construction of the Home icon from OS X, which he's made into a wearable display. The doors and shutters are actually real (if a little small), there are real curtains in the windows, and there are two straps on the back to haul the piece of art around.

It looks great -- it's really wild to see something that's only ever existed in pixels translated into real-life materials from actual plans and blueprints. The piece itself is called Home Sweet Home, which seems fitting. We'll have to keep an eye out for Osterhoff and see what else can do with Apple's little bits of interface.

[via Cult of Mac]

I can't say I'm a huge traveler -- even though I've hit up quite a few conventions this year for work, I haven't been flying so much that I need to keep tabs on what's going on at the airport. But I like the idea of FlightBoard anyway. It's an app that will automatically create a departing flights board for any airport in the country, so you can see flight numbers, gate arrivals, and departure times for all the flights in the airport.

Like I said, I personally don't fly enough that I'd necessarily need an app just for this, but if you find yourself running off to the airport a lot for a certain reason, this app seems like it would be very helpful. Even beyond the specific function, I like the idea and design of FlightBoard -- it's modeled after the flight board at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, and it is terrific example of how an app can successfully use an interface metaphor. In the real world, flight boards are often just a standard LED display (or, more recently, a series of monitors). But in this case, the app represents the idea of a flight board, so it recreates the LED display, and it makes the information more familiar to the user. We've all seen and used a flight board, and this app benefits from that previous experience in its interface.

In any case, that's just some interesting UI design insight. If nothing else, this app will tell you when and where planes are leaving at whatever airport you choose. FlightBoard is on the App Store right now for US$3.99.

Here's a wild little story that made its way around the blogonets this past weekend -- it was originally posted in June, but it got recirculated on Twitter, and we first heard it from Steve Troughton-Smith. Austin Seraphin is a blind person, and he says that getting an iPhone changed his life forever -- he considers Apple's iDevice to be "the greatest thing to happen to the blind for a very long time, possibly ever." Really high praise, especially considering that we've heard both good and bad about the iPhone in terms of accessibility.

Seraphin's story is a great read, so I just suggest you head over to his blog and check it out. But why does he appreciate the phone so much? Apple's VoiceOver feature is a big plus -- it allows people without sight to browse and control the iPhone's touch screen using audio feedback, reading off messages and even checking things like stocks and weather all by translating it through the speaker.

Seraphin even describes using a color picking app to use the iPhone's camera to "see" colors around him, with VoiceOver reading off descriptive names of the colors coming through the lens. That's pretty incredible, and something only the iPhone, with its extremely mobile combination of technology and UI design, can easily make possible.

Seraphin still has an issue using iTunes, and not all apps are, of course, quite as accessible as Apple's guidelines ask them to be. But it's awesome to hear how Apple's approach to technology, combined with all of the various apps out there, can make a significant change in this man's life. In fact, last week he got himself an iMac.

Apple's new social network, Ping, has been around for about a week now, and all of the pundits have had their chance at weighing in on what Apple got wrong and right. And what's the result? Not bad, but not great -- more than a million people joined the network in just 48 hours. That's not terrible at all, but it's a far cry from the millions of people who actually use iTunes, presumably every day. Apple's success in this area, in other words, isn't going to come easy.

The company has already had to put in a little more work. In addition to all of those members, the network was also hit by spam early on, with fake accounts for people like Steve Jobs and Jonathan Ive, plus links that led off to contact-stealing scripts and other trouble like that. Apple has already cracked down on most of the offenders, but clearly it was an issue early on that they didn't foresee.

The interface has already been updated a bit -- Apple has added "back" and "forward" buttons to the service, to match the rest of the in-app browsers in iTunes. I still maintain that Ping won't reach its full potential until you can actually "like" songs and albums in your personal library, so hopefully a few more updates and tweaks are on the way.

I have already seen the iPad used in home automation -- Savant is using an iPad app to hook up to some of their home automation systems, using Apple's tablet to control the TV, a whole entertainment system, or even do some remote control of house lights or HVAC, or even monitor cameras remotely with a video feed. And here's another system that does the same type of thing: iPort is a home automation system centered around an iPad, providing an in-wall port where the iPad can both charge and work as a multi-use touchscreen control. On its own, it's basically just a wall-mounted dock, but in conjunction with a home automation system, the iPort turns the iPad into a touchscreen-based interface for the home.

Prices on these things are always weird -- because most high-end home automation systems are sold as solutions rather than products, they tend to run into the "if you have to ask how much it is, you can't afford it" range. But I give the iPort folks a call, and they told me that while each dealer has their own setup and pricing, the recommended price is around $500.

Some of you may scoff, sure -- $500 is a bit steep for what's essentially a port with a frame around it. But like Savant told me when I saw their products, the iPad is actually a revolution in this industry. For what the same-sized touchscreen interface with similar functionality would have cost a few years ago, sticking an iPad in a wall and building an app to control an automation system is actually a bargain.

[via Macsimum News]

There are quite a few "run tracker" apps in the App Store (I know our own Erica Sadun is a big fan of RunKeeper). However, RunMonster is also worth a look, if only because it's just plain gorgeous. It lets you do all of the usual things: track your runs and bike rides, keep stats on your workouts, or see maps of where you've been according to the iPhone's GPS. It goes further than that, though, with a very elegant and charming interface, and surprising ease-of-use. It will automatically name your runs according to streets, and it'll even group your runs and figure out whether you walked, biked, or ran, according to your speed.

Even if you've already picked a running helper, give RunMonster a consideration. There's a free version to try out, and a US $9.99 version fills out the feature list nicely (with sugar like music controls and gestures) if you like the app. Like most of the great running apps out there, it won't necessarily make you a better runner, but it probably will make you enjoy the journey more.

So far, we've seen a car, a helicopter, and even a Dalek controlled by an Apple device, so here's another form of transportation: a blimp, this time controlled by an iPad. Bonus points for making the video interesting and fun, too -- we get a well-edited and shot video montage of how the iPad got hooked up via code to a blimp, equipped with a propeller, a camera, and even some lights. The blimp is actually a "Blimpduino," a low-cost open source blimp design connected to an arduino controller. This blimp's controller is connected to an iPad's accelerometer, so tilting the iPad determines the blimp's movement.

Plus, it looks like they even threw in some basic augmented reality through the camera, too, just for the heck of it. Very cool. Speaking of augmented reality, Yelp's Ben Newhouse suggested a while back that the relatively inexpensive iPad could be used for all sorts of tasks that previously required much more specialized computers, and something like this proves that the iPad makes an excellent and cheap touchscreen and accelerometer-based interface for any kind of remote control. I don't know if we'll be flying real blimps with iPads in the future, but any sort of remote interface could definitely make use of a quick app that hooks up our actions to mechanics on the other end.

[via MacStories]

Well, we've already introduced a cat to the iPad, so a dog would naturally follow, right? Tested.com tried their best to bring their corgi Chloe (I really love corgis, ever since Cowboy Bebop) to the iPad, but as you can see in the video above, she doesn't take to it quite as well as Iggy the cat did. After a little sniffing and experimentation, things go south fast. Poor puppy! Just not muscially-inclined, I guess.

Maybe she'd rather wait for the gPad. In the meantime, tell Jobs to get Ive on the line -- there's at least one canine demographic out there for which the iPad's interface isn't quite so intuitive.

[via The Daily What, who also posted this fun music video featuring iPhones]

Savant AV brought their iPad road tour to a location that happens to be pretty close to me in Irvine, California. So, I headed down there to take a look at their brand new iPad app, an interface for wirelessly controlling their high-end home automation systems. The company helps dealers put together home automation and home theater solutions, and because all of their software is designed around Mac OS X, they've jumped headlong into using the iPhone and iPad as control units for their automation systems. With a full Savant setup installed, you can control your climate systems, audio and multimedia, lighting, and even security cameras all around your home directly from your iPhone or iPad.

The systems aren't cheap; even the low-end systems will run you from five to ten thousand dollars, and of course, the sky's the limit on how luxurious you want to get. The good news, though, is that by using the iPad, Savant is actually able to put more value into the systems that they do sell. Before the iPad, a significant chunk of the cost was taken up by "glass," as founder Robert Madonna told us -- huge, expensive touchscreens that relied on custom, often clunky software. However, with the iPad, Savant can just hook into Apple's already available tools and hardware, and create much better looking applications that run on official hardware and lower the end cost.

Digg released its official iPhone app this morning, and after playing with it for a little while, I can tell you that it does what it says on the box: it will let you browse, interact, and comment on the popular news aggregator without many problems (there was one major issue -- I'll mention it in a second). However, in general, the app isn't all that different from the interface they released a while back. Sure, there are a few app-y touches, but mostly the app just feels like a Digg-specific browser. I suppose that's what they were going for.

The app works pretty easily -- you can dive in and view the top, recent, or upcoming stories in any of Digg's categories, and clicking on each headline sends you to an in-app browser with the page displayed (as best it can be -- of course Flash movies don't work, and lots of the really popular links on Digg are murdered via bandwidth already). At the bottom of each page, you'll find buttons to like or dislike the story (sorry, Digg or Bury), a button to save the story if you're logged in to your Digg account, and the option to share the link. When you select the share option, you can send it off to the iPhone's clipboard, Twitter, Facebook, or Email.

I've never really gotten into the whole 3D file navigation thing (ever since "It's a Unix system! I know this!", it's seemed pretty corny), but BumpTop might be the exception I've been waiting for. It's a 3D overlay for your OS X desktop that turns files into 3D objects to move around, pin on the walls, pile up or break down as needed. It's not too shabby -- with all of these things, there's a fine line between adding in graphic splashes for the heck of it, and making sure everything has a real function, and it seems like BumpTop walks that line pretty well. Most of the graphical flair does actually help with a function also. The app also supports the multitouch trackpad on MacBooks, so there's a little bit of innovation to play with as well.

Mashable says BumpTop is planning even more integration in the future, piping content from sites like Facebook and Twitter straight to one of the desktop's walls, and more involvement with the touch interface, even as we await the tablet's announcement.

I don't know if it's quite enough for me to leave behind the 2D icons and filenames that have worked well so far, but BumpTop is an interesting experiment in adding that third dimension into your normal workspace. The app is a free trial download, with a Pro version available (multitouch support, unlimited stickies, instant search) for $29.

Apple has updated a patent that they already held featuring a sort of a Magic Wand -- a remote control for operating a media system by controlling an on-screen cursor. That might sound familiar if you own a Wii -- even the pictures look very similar to the way the Wiimote currently works. And the pictures tell us something else: not only does the patent itself mention a "media system," but the user interface looks very similar to the current Front Row interface on the Apple TV. So it's likely that if Apple is updating this patent, they're working on a new remote to control their set-top box.

But that doesn't mean it's the only thing they'd use a motion controller for -- I speculated a long time ago that Apple might want to put their now substantial App Store library into play on another platform, and a motion controller would go a long way towards replicating the touchscreen and accelerometer capability of the iPhone. Of course, this patent only means Apple is playing around with these ideas, not actually releasing hardware based on them. But it just shows that they're thinking along the same lines in terms of improving the browsing and interface experience.

Here's a few interesting stats from a survey recently conducted in Europe. These aren't specifically about the iPhone, but given that smartphones relied on buttons almost exclusively before Apple's handheld came along (and nowadays, everyone's bragging about their touchscreen technology), a temperature-taking on what people think of touchscreen controls is more or less a referendum on what people think of Apple's influence.

At least in France, Germany and the UK, reactions are mixed. While 38% of those surveyed say they were planning to get a touchscreen on their next mobile phone, only 47% of people who already owned a touchscreen said they would get another one. In other words, less than half of touchscreen owners thought they'd stick with the technology on their next purchase. Apple remains an anomaly -- both HTC and Apple have a higher amount of current customers planning to stick with their touchscreen interface (with the full numbers being released at a conference later this month), but the fact remains: current touchscreen users aren't anywhere near 100% on living button-free forever.

Especially as a gamer, that makes a lot of sense. Touchscreens are great for a lot of things -- they allow for limitless flexibility in the kinds of interfaces on offer, and especially with multi-touch, a lot of the controls on the iPhone are extremely intuitive (you automatically know now that pinching equals zooming, and so on). But as nice as touchscreen is, there are a lot of functions on mobile phones, from adjusting volume or changing music tracks on a phone out of sight in your pocket, to hitting exact button controls while twitch gaming, that work much better with tactile feedback. Steve, as he always does, made a big deal about the iPhone being a one-button interface, but I wouldn't be surprised at all to see future iterations of the iPhone include either a few more buttons, or, even better, a few more haptic interface technologies.