humandesign

The Internet's next big step

2004-12-10T15:49:00.000-08:00

How close is wireless broadband for the average customer?
After I read the post on 9th Dec. and the article on CNN, I realise the potential market of the portable TV. Just imagine how ideal it would be if these two applications are widely used in our daily lifes. Multimedia information will be spread in a quick and efficient manner. Both time and space will be significantly reduced as cables do not exist in linking these two medium. Information can easily be retrieved from anywhere with wireless broadband which is covered all around the world. Application developers can thus take this advantage to design applications with the unlimited boundary. It would be much more fun if we could sit on the grassland and watch TV or movies in country side.

The new Nintendo DS

2004-12-10T13:36:00.000-08:00

The new Nintendo DS gaming handheld device, which was launched in the United States a few weeks ago, is interesting in many ways. The features includes the built-in Wi-Fi, dual ARM processors, dual LCD screens, chat collaboration software, included stylus, and built-in microphone for future voice recognition. However, the one which really catches my attention is the dual screen implementation which I never really see implemented before in a handheld devices.

Basically, i think it is amazing how much sense it makes having 2 screens for the handheld form factor. As we all know, to fit a bunch of stuff onto one screen on a PDA or handheld gaming device is of the course the no 1 challenge in term of usabiliy. However, Nintendo manages to do it with two screens, thus using them, the game makers can always do things such as displaying area maps in the lower touch screen while the action occurs on the main screen. This is the case how Mario 64 has been implemented. With games such as Madden 2005 the users can use the lower screen touchpad to do play selection, the Nintendo also implemented touch-screen technology so the users can simply touch the screen to choose their play, while the upper screen is where the action occurs. So in some ways, it also promotes usability
because the users can restart the game or choose another selection easily.

With the two dual screens, it definitely bring more advantage as the users could have two programs open at once using two screens. Or maybe having a spreadsheet displayed across two screens at once,which is possible too. One another example is that using one screen as an onscreen keyboard area and the other to display text that is input which would be useful. Even doing the same thing as Nintendo has done and allowing for easy chat and collaboration via 2 screens would be handy.I really like the ease of using the touchpad to drill for menus for changing options and doing things as saving a game quickly or changing selection quickly. There are two ways in which users can input the screen by means of using either the stylus or included thumb strap (touch screen) for inputting. So the users have the choices if they dont like one of the ways.

The 21st Century Living Room

2004-12-09T23:59:00.000-08:00

Would you rather enjoy your digital photos, videos and music on your PC, or on the big screen of the television set you already have? Imagine you could share your digital media with your family and friends from the comfort and convenience of the couch in the living room.

To fill such a need, retailers are selling new products which are sometimes called "digital media receivers" or "media hubs".

One such product, the new MSN TV 2 Internet & Media Player from Microsoft, allows users to quickly and easily connect their PC to the TV through a home network to play digital content, as well as to play video or audio live from the Internet. Additionally, they can surf the Web, send and receive e-mail and chat with friends via the television.

I quote from Sam Klepper, general manager of Microsoft's MSN TV division.

"Everything points to the fact that people want the option of taking Internet entertainment and stored personal photos, music and videos out of the confines of their home offices and into the comfort of their living rooms."

The range of prices for these devices is equally broad: from as low as $200 plus a subscription fee for MSN TV and up to US$1600 for a sophisticated PC.

"Consumers don't have to huddle in front of a computer screen to see or listen to digital content anymore," said Klepper. "Digital media receivers make it easy for them to bring the compelling new entertainment available on the Internet as well as personal photos and digital home movie into the comfort of their living room, the traditional hub for enjoying entertainment. It's an idea whose time has come."

Further information on the MSN TV 2 Internet and Media Player can be found at http://www.msntv.com/

Sony Ericsson P910

2004-12-08T20:15:00.000-08:00

The Sony Ericsson P910 mobile phone is a multi-function mobile device. Besides it is a mobile phone, it is a digital camera, PDA, MP3 player and video camera. Because of this and it is top model of the product line, it sell for 800 USD. The problem is that do people want a multi-function phone in such a high price since there are certain weakness and cathedral weaknesses
Firstly, for a digital camera, the resolution of it is not up to status nowadays. It is good enough for people taking pictures and save them as wallpapers for the phone, but it is not as good as a digital camera that only worth 100 USD in the market.
Secondly, for a MP3 player, it is too big. One of the main reasons why MP3 player is so popular is because of its tiny size.
Thirdly, on the other hand, it is a bit small for a PDA. The screen and keyboard are too small for a PDA for doing word processing and browsing the net.
Fourthly, again, it is too big for a mobile phone. Sony can not make it smaller because it is also a PDA that it can not be “too small”. The big size now makes the phone like an old generation mobile phone.
Fifthly, for a video camera, it is also not up to status. For example, it does not have zoom function and the recording time is limited.
In the past, there were many multi function electronic device in the market and the demand of them was very limited since the price of them are high and the design of them is not so good.
It is no doubt that this Sony Ericsson P910 is a high end product but I just think it like a undergraduate student who takes several majors but finally he can not finish for any of them!

Better than blackberry

2004-12-05T23:59:00.000-08:00

Better than blackberry

According to some in the wireless industry, web access for road warriors and other mobile users is as easy as pulling out a Blackberry handheld device, wireless PDA or Internet-enabled cell phone.

Why not ask the actual users of mobile Internet technology, however, and you'll often get a far different story.

Tiny display screens. Frustratingly small keyboards. Clipped or squashed web pages. Unreliable coverage. And download times rivaling the last Ice Age.

A solution to the problems, DataWind Corporation has recently showcase their new product, PocketSurfer Web Viewer, the first cell phone accessory that provides a desktop-quality web experience in a device small enough for breast pocket or purse.

I quote from Suneet S. Tuli, chief executive officer of DataWind.

"All-in-one cellular Internet products try to do too many things, and wind up doing none of them well. The PocketSurfer lets cell phone users access the technology they need, when they need it, with complete flexibility and convenience. And it does this at a lower overall cost than a Blackberry or Handspring Treo."

Let take a peek at what they have to offer.

It is affordable, at the price of $199.00 USD .

With just 6" x 3" and less than 9/16" thick, the PocketSurfer is small enough to carry anywhere, yet big enough to solve two of the most annoying drawbacks of personal mobile web devices-undersized keyboards and screens.

They clain that once they're online, users are overwhelmed by the page downloads which take just 5 to 7 seconds on average. This speed is 10 to 30 times faster than with typical WAP enabled cell phones and PDAs. Furthermore, page integrity is maintained. Users gets to see web sites as they're meant to be seen, without clipping or reformatting.

The QWERTY keyboard also makes sending email as easy as with a PC.

The device includes a mouse pointer and page navigation controls.

The lithium ion battery lasts four to six hours which is longer than most cell phones.

This pocketsurfer is indeed some gadget to look forward to, as it sounds to good to be true. I wish i could get one for christmas.

Features on Mobile Devices

2004-12-04T05:00:00.000-08:00

Mobile devices, such as, laptop, palm, mobile phone, portable printer, have different features. All these features can help people solve lots of problems (such as reading emails, composing essays etc). Laptops can transmit data to the portable printer easily. It is very convenient for businessman to carry along.

However, all devices have limited ability to communicate with each other and often have widely different formats of data, processing and interaction. For instance, when you read your email on your PC (Windows) you do not see it in the same format as you do when you read it on your Apple Macintosh, and when you enter a phone number into your mobile phone you are not also able to add it to your electronic address book. In addtion, connecting Apple Macintosh computer to Windows Computer is difficult because they have different Operating system format and hardware design.

How would people choose the correct device that suits their needs? People can choose a device that has meet their requirements based on its device features. But, people can't connect the device to another device which has entirely different in formats and hardware design. Such technical problems would cause people get confused what they are going to get.

HDD Camera Phone

2004-12-03T14:19:00.000-08:00

More Than Just Talk: Samsung Releases HDD Camera Phone
Initially when I first read the header of this news, I expected the camera phone should have a bulky and unpleasant exterior. In fact it looks handy and attractive, and really astonishes me a lot. However this fancy outlook doesn't amaze me the most, what surpises me is the features of this first-ever mega-pixel camera phone. It has an internal hard drive with 1.5 gigabytes of storage, which is able to store 300 MP3 files or 1,000 images or 3.5 hours of video. The phone is also equipped with a 2.2 inch LCD display and 100 mega-pixel camera, it certainly gives us a new perspective on camera phones. E-books and dictionaries are added to outfit readers' necessity. With mobile phone of this size, it really optimizes the existing technologies to suit consumers' needs.

Nonetheless, I perceived a few potential problems that may likely to occur on this phone. Firstly, a storage of 1.5 gigabytes may likely to bring a problem of bad sectors. With excess data extraction of the hard drive without periodical optimization, the hard drive will probably crash and lose all the data. Thus, back up capabilities could be the key in the rating this phone. Secondly, with numerous files and contacts in the phone, the operating system should have a effective hierarchical structure in managing data. This also extends to the speed of extracting data. It may take ages to load an image or even a video, so careful systematic plannings should be deployed. Moreover, as the operating system gets more complicated, the system will get hanged easily, and consumers may get irritated with the system's performance. Lastly, with all these profound features, I wonder how long the battery can last.

Palm & Laptop

2004-12-03T04:31:00.000-08:00

Most people are carrying their laptop to school and taking down notes. Laptop is very light in weight but it is big in size compared to palm. The technology on mobile devices continues improving to manufacture devices as smller as possible in size.

Would the laptop become extinct since many people are using palm? Nobody can predict the future accurately. Nowadays, a lot of people have palm on hand because it is very light in weight and easy to carry from one location to another. The laptop would not become extinct today because the palm has limited features compared to the laptop. Plus, the palm has small screen which can't be seen easily compared to laptop. If the palm features, in future, has the same capabilities as the laptop, then laptop will be discontinued to produce. Mobile devices would become extinct if the demand is low. The demand depends on the people how they use and what they need the devices to do.

Mobile devices will becomes extinct as the technology changes. Any new technology discovery can affect the production of mobile devices significantly in numbers. For example, imagine, if the palm screen can be projected to a big screen, do you think people would continue to use old stuff such as laptop, or desktop. Plus, the palm has the same capabilities (or features) as the laptop. The demand of the old devices will be reduced, as a result, old devices will be discontinued to produce or manufacture.

Introduction of the world's first Fastap(TM) wireless phone

2004-11-30T22:52:00.000-08:00

TELUS Mobility has announced the exclusive availability of the Fastap(TM) LG 6190, the world's first wireless phone that integrates text keys around a standard numeric phone keypad.

Actually, the interesting thing that I notice about this phone is that the design of the keypad is completely different with other phones keypad. For this, it has a separate raised keys for each different letter.In fact, it is also the first keypad that neatly integrates letter, number and punctuation keys around the standard numeric keypad on a mobile phone.

The keypad uses a matrix of raised and lowered keys that provide the finger or thumb ample space to access any character with a single press. Fastap's ergonomic design features a Qwerty keyboard about one-third the size of a credit card. Full-sized keys make for easy use, and 1-touch access to punctuation and specialty characters streamline advanced applications.

Sometimes, we have been complaining that our phone keypad is too small and it is tedious to send text messages. However, with this technology, we might not have the same problem again because the intuitive interface and raised keys of the phone allows quick and easy entry of numbers, letters and punctuation without triple tapping. Consumers can quickly send text messages, add text to picture messages, send email address, and input a variety of data into their phones, such as phonebook entries or directory searches on the wireless web.

If this technology is successful in the future and being applied to each mobil brand, then there might be day when the 12-keys pad becomes obselete.

Phone hacking is bad, how can we prevent it ?

2004-11-28T23:59:00.000-08:00

In relations to Thursday, November 25, 2004, the post on "Trojan on cell phones".

I agree that phone should adapt to insecure medium but that will not solve this problem entirely. Let's us take a history trip back to the past.

Cell phones have never been exactly known as secure devices. With analog phones, curious "hobbyists" can pick up your conversations using the type of radio frequency scanner that you buy at Radio-Specialist shops to listen to police and emergency services bands. Digital and PCS transmissions are more secure, but can still be intercepted and decoded by someone with the right equipment. I am sure all of you know that your cell phone transmits every few seconds when it's turned on, even if you aren't talking on it.

How can mobile phone technology be made more secure? Many phones allow the owner to "lock" them so that no calls, or no long distance calls, can be made. A password or PIN must be entered to unlock the phone. Last year, Casio developed a tiny fingerprint scanner for cell phones that could be used to require biometric identification to use the phone, but it doesn't seem to have caught on. Similarly, a German company announced a "cryptophone" that promised high level protection against eavesdroppers, but with its $4,000 price tag (USD), it wasn't exactly marketed toward the average cell phone user.

Here are some questions we ponder:

What do you think about this now? Are you worried about the security of your mobile phone, or do you think that we should get better security from the phone company since we paid so much?

Similarly, if the price were right, would you prefer phones that require strong authentication (such as a fingerprint scan or a "smart card"), password/PIN protection, or strong encryption technology?

Now, with phone hackers on the lose, there might even be a possibility that cell phones will eventually become vulnerable to attacks by Internet-connected computers ? Considering Internet-connected phone or IP phones are getting more and more accepted by consumers.

Trojan on cell phones

2004-11-25T15:43:00.000-08:00

'Skulls' Trojan Taking Out Cell Phones with Symbian OS
Unsurprisingly, hackers started to write trojans for cell phones. As more and more high-speed wireless bearers have brought up, attackers have more extent in writing malicious worms. Just like the early stages of Internet, compromising systems were vulnerable to these attacks. Anti-virus programs, firewalls and other related software are then released to battle these intruders. Most likely, mobile devices which have the accessibility to mobile networks will face these kind of circumstances in the near future.
Obviously, mobile devices like mobile phones are not designed to be attacked. One of the reasons why attackers are interested in writing trojans is because the information they retrieve can earn money. As the number of mobile phone users grows, more and more information are scattered around the air. That means more and more trojans are likely to be spread in the coming era. Thus, mobile phones should be evolved to adapt the insecure medium. Higher processing power, larger memory size and smaller electrical components may probably be the essential requirements to accommodate this drastic change. As security features are brought into mobile phones, more applications could be integrated and mobile phones will no longer be used solely for making and receiving phone calls.

Mobile Phone Fraud Due to Design

2004-11-24T17:12:00.000-08:00

Many people using their mobile phone may not be aware of being eavesdropped by other person. Thiefs can use personal computer to reprograms a mobile phone in some ways. As long as they have your Electronic Serial Number and Mobile Identification Number transmitted by the mobile phone, your mobile phone might be fraud by someone else. This could be dangerous if you speak out your PIN number to someone on the phone. Because of the mobile phone internal circuit design is new, a lot of technical people may not know how to solve the problem in time. This is the reason why thiefs can counterfeit calls when people make a phone call using mobile phone.

However, mobile phone is still a good tool for communication. It looks good in design and with sophisticated electronic transmission.

The phones can't be fraud if we can think of a way to standardize the in-circuit design. Not all people have the technical knowledge to understand what is going on behind the line.

Design or functionality

2004-11-23T10:11:00.000-08:00

When you bought a new handphone, what do u usually look for - is it the design of the or its functionality

Recently, in Singapore, A new survey has taken place and it was found that mobile phone buyers are swayed more by snazzy design than its updated features. Surprisingly, the price factor lags far behind according to the result.

The Samsung Singapore mobile phone survey which was conducted in June, involving door to door interviews with 400 mobile phone users. About a third of the respondents, which amounts to almost 31 per cent, were almost wholly design-oriented, said Mr Ng Long Shyang, Samsung Asia's general manager for telecommunication products.

He said that these people will not hesistate to change their existing ones if they see a more appealing design.These are usually the fashion-conscious users who see mobile phones as status symbols, and for that reason are most likely to consider a camera phone for their next purchase.

The next 26 per-cent of respondents are level-headed, discerning types who prefer the functionality to design. What matters to them are its functions and storage capacity, said Mr Bryan Wang, an industry analyst from research firm Frost & Sullivan. However, it is still noted that some people still go beyond looks as we can see from the popularity of phones with many features like the Ericsson T610 and the Motorola E398, which combine good design and function. This group still looks at the hdesign. But they still see their phones as functional tools and they are not slaves to the latest fashion.

An even more feature-focused group are the business users, who account for about 24 per cent of respondents. Lastly, bringing up the rear are the frugal users who account for 19 per cent. For them, pricing is the key factor. This survey validated Samsung's view that consumers buy mobile phones based on looks rather than functions, said Mr Ng.

A group of mobile phone users missing from the study are the geeks who buy new handsets for technology's sake. 'We didn't manage to find this group of users in the study,' said Dr Daniel Goh, a corporate communications executive at Samsung Asia.

Do people need 3G?

2004-11-22T17:57:00.000-08:00

The 3G mobile phone service has broken into the market for a while but it seems that not many people want to use it. When it first broke into the market, there are some weaknesses of it which made customers were not interested to use it. Firstly, to use the 3G service, you have to use certain model mobile phone and the numbers of model were very limited.. There were only a few models for customers to choose. Secondly, the fee to describe for the service was high comparing to 2.5G service.
Thirdly, the first generation of 3G phone was too big and it looked dumb. Fourthly, battery life of 3G phone is quite short. User can’t use the phone to talk for a long period of time and have to frequently charge the battery. It is unacceptable for a mobile device. Furthermore some user of 3G complaint about the network that it is unstable and they had been disconnected during conversation sometime. As such, people just don’t want to upgrade their mobile phone service.
After year and a half, the problems above were almost solved. Many mobile phones can be used for 3G. The size of the phones is tiny, slim and fashionable and the battery life is longer. The network now is stable and the fee for usage is as low as 2.5G. All of these should attract many people to use the service. In fact, it is not. The usage of 3G service is steady from it’s first launch. There is no any boom since that. Now it is a question. Do people need 3G? The 3G provides high speed data transfer rate which let user to download and watch video, connect to the net but the usability of those are low since the size of a phone is very limited. 3G also provides another important function such as video call which let user can see each other during the conversation. It seems that it is a great idea but do you really need to be seen or do you want to be seen at any time, any where when people call you?Large cooperation does sometime overestimate the demand of future technology……

Play Pac-man in the real world ?

2004-11-21T23:59:00.000-08:00

Yes, just imagine, players put on some computerised suits and special goggles which allow them to see virtual elements present in the Pac-Man game world such as edible balls for points as well as other players who will appear either as other Pac-Men or Ghosts. Most interestingly, the game's backdrop is set in our every own world.

One day, we might be playing Pac-Man in big shopping malls or right in the heart of our main campus.

Furthermore, if this game is developed on mobile devices such as the mobile phones, imagine what kind of effect it will take on gamers in the next decade.

See more from CNN

From 79.99 to 249.99

2004-11-20T19:06:00.000-08:00

I like watching movie very much. I have planned to buy a portable DVD player for long time. When I read a Argos catalog for finding a model I liked, I figured out the prices between them is a big distinction.
Of course, the model without a famous brand name such as the Venturer PVs-123 is the cheapest and the others like Sony is more expensive. But the brand is not the main and only factor to state how much they are worth. For a portable DVD player, the LCD screen is the main media for user to interact with the player. People look at the LCD screen to watch movies and if the size of the LCD screen is bigger, people could enjoy watching more. I saw that the player which is 79.99 only with a 4.5 inch LCD screen but the one with 7.5 inch LCD screen is 249.99. Is it that the cost to produce a 3 inch bigger LCD screen is as high as 3 times? I am not sure about that but it seems that if the media, design or interface which makes people interact with computer device is a easy, fun and enjoyable task, it is worth of lots of money and sometimes it is worth as much as we can’t imagine. There is another obvious distinction between cheap models and expensive models that the cheap models always have dump outlook with heavy and thick cases. On the other hand, the luxury models always are light with ultra slim case that is easy to carry. Again, it proved my theory that if the media, design or interface which makes people interact with computer device is a easy, fun and enjoyable task, it is worth of lots of money. Carrying the device is a kind of interacting and who say looking at the device is not a kind of interacting. The last main distinction I want to figured out is the cheap models only have stereo speaker(2 speakers) but the expensive models always have surround speakers(4 speakers). Again, it proved my theory.

Portable wirless LCD TV

2004-11-19T15:20:00.000-08:00

LG Wireless LCD TV
LG revealed that a 15 inch portable wireless LCD television would be released soon! I find it quite interesting as it integrates wireless into television. To be precise, it is not merely a television, but also a multimedia display. Once the TV antenna, DVD player or VCR player is connected to the transmitter, radio signals will be generated and sent to the monitor producing the image. One of the awesome features of this product is that it has a built-in media search program. It could establish an Ad-hoc connection to any wireless LAN equipped computers for accessing pictures, music and movies. The idea to bring wireless LAN to television may drastically change the development of subsequent multimedia applications. With the ability to establish wireless connectivity, media players like DVD, VCD, VCR may probably be faded out. Multimedia contents could be relatively easy to store as data in terms of time and space.
Nonetheless, wireless applications are inevitably coupled with security issues. As information is transmitted over the air, everyone could retrieve the content, although they may not be able to decode it. If customers connect a paid TV antenna to the transmitter, their neighbors may be grateful to having free shows everyday. Or if consumers are viewing pictures stored on their laptops, privacy threats may be concerned. Therefore, there is always a trade-off in being wireless. It just depends on how proactive actions are done before vulnerability issues being disclosed.

3D games

2004-11-14T23:59:00.000-08:00

PC games have come a long way to its present state. Ever since 3D games became one of the most played games, I have been always excited to try all of them. Well, as you know, there are two standards in 3D graphic rendering, Direct 3D and OpenGL.

Direct 3D vs OpenGl

From my research, I realised that these standards can be selected in different situation to give better 3D processing. These situation are based on ease of use, speed, extensions and portability. Since OpenGL seem to be a better option in many cases, most game developers would still allow you to choose which standard to use.

For me, I quite like how the way 3D games are installed now. Most of them can detect your system's configuration and give you the best suggestion which standard to use. This transparency allows the user to quickly install the game and start playing the game which what we buy the game for right? It's not a good idea to let the gamer to ponder on which standards to use and he/she does not even know whether the game is compatible to the PC's configurations.

Games are good for us?

2004-11-13T03:08:00.000-08:00

Do you agree with this statement? Some parents may think that playing games is a waste of time and seems to be a mindless form of entertainment. However, according to games industry experts, computer games in fact can promote problem-solving and team-building in the players.

Games such as counter-strike and half-life looks straight-forward in which we just shoot and kill each enemy with a different arsenal of high-tech weapons. That is what I thought too. However, studies of players and teams are actually showing that these games are much more complex than many people suspect. Professor Talmadge Wright and colleagues at Loyola University, Chicago, have spent hours studying Counter-Strike culture by taking part in games, interviewing players and reviewing text files of in-game banter. Prof Wright agreed that Counter-Strike is about much more than just gunplay and racking up skills. In fact, the strategy and tactics used by these regular players and teams, are being likened to chess, with trust and co-operations generated within a team environment reportedly giving rise to strong communities and friendship.

So does game only bring advantages for grown men? As a matter of fact, Video games also have many benefits to children which most of us never even think of. In some ways, video games also helped to promote good eye-hand coordination, problem solving skills, critical thinking and competition. There is always competition in a video game, whether it be against the computer, another player or your own self. Competition is always healthy in urging us to do our best and succeed. Critical thinking skills are also essential in school as well as problem solving skills. Video games are also beneficial in introducing children to computers because as we know, there are many educational games out there in the market.

So have the more positive aspects of games and gaming communities been overshadowed by their continual association with the rise in crime and violence? There has been a lot of controversy about how bad video games are for children, in regards to violence, and general obsession with playing. However, Dr Judy Robertson, of Edinburgh University,had expressed that some children had told her that playing violent games in fact did not result in violence in real life, but it is a way for them to get rid of their frustrations, so instead of taking out their anger on people, they take things out on the characters in the computer games characters.

So is it time that the games deserve acknowledgement that it actually helps to develop the characters in us, or is this just an excuse for the grown men or children to play all day non-stops. Of course, there has to be some limits or moderations. If we found out that our children or friends are spending too much time with their faces stuck to the television the whole day or playing games has turned into somekind of obsession for them that they never eat or study, then it is probably too much, so it is good to set some limits to ensure that there are some balances between the real and virtual lifes.

Playing Games Too Much

2004-11-11T18:54:00.000-08:00

Many people playing games, such as playstation, don't know that they are falling into psychological trap. We may get addicted if we play virtual games for long hours. Once a person spends too much time playing virtual games, he/she tends to focus on the virtual environment. Eventually, their mind will follow thru the virtual environment, especially, kids.

If the kids spend hours playing virtual games, they will mostly neglect their family, friends and social activities. It is not a healthy lifestyle. Additionally, they could have school or job problems (if they are adults) and depression when not playing it. These symptoms could lead to us to death if they want desparately to play virtual games. They may commit suicide or commit crime.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/mar02/31536.asp

Products are integrating diverse functions

2004-11-11T16:15:00.000-08:00

Samsung Introduces 3 Million Pixel Resolution Camera Phone
It may sound a bit cool, but I personally think it is kind of daft. Things are getting integrated as one whole entity nowadays. Products developers are all trying to embody as many functions as possible to suit different types of users. This could end up with failure as what they think may not be applied to the real world. Intuitively, many feasibility studies have been done before a product is developed, but obviously many have failed in practice.
Camera plus phone may be a good idea, but is it necessary to have both functions in one object? I personally quite uncertain about the idea of having cameras in phones. You won't have good quality pictures with that device when compare to real digital or conventional cameras, and you won't expect it to be long lasting. You may think that the samsung phone is only the prototype of later camera phones, but two complex devices could reasonably end up with a relatively large object, which is exactly what's going on in the samsung phone. It is thick and large, and most importantly it isn't trendy enough! Picture quality isn't the demanding thing in the market. Trendy outlook plus limited snap shot functions may already well suit people's needs. They are looking for something small and cool, not big and bulky! More importantly, the more mechanical stuff a device has, the more likely it will lead to malfunction.

Mobile phones to be used as bus tickets

2004-11-08T20:56:00.000-08:00

Do you think that it is a good idea? In fact, trials will be starting early next year in Germany which people will be able to pay for the bus fare by simply swipping their phone over a smart-card reader installed on the buses, thus reducing queues and makes travelling easier and simpler.

However, the bad aspect is that only certain model of the handphone complements with the reader, which in this case is Nokia phone, which will have a special shell attached to it. Thus, if your handphone is of different model, you are unable to use the service. Imagine that everyone will be using the same handphone throughout the country, sooner or later Nokia brand will become one of the richest handphone company in the world. However, since it is still in the starting phase, we cannot really assume what will happen in the future. As this technology develops, maybe all handphones will be able to work fine with the service. However, if this really occurs in the future, all handphones manufacturers have to adhere to a certain kinds standard protocol to be able to interact with card-reader.

As we all know, handphone is a fundamental tool in our daily life, almost everyone that I know carry a handphone with them. Thus, if the bus system is successul, it may open up possibilities for mobile devices to interact with our daily environments. We will be able to get product information used in the shops, finding out details of the concerts as we pass over the advert of the specific stars, or maybe checking the particular movie times. Maybe one day, our handphones will also be integrated with our bank accounts and we will be able to pay stuffs with our handphones. How interesting it is if that really happens? We just have to wait.

Have you ever ignored the fire alarm ?

2004-11-07T17:03:00.000-08:00

Yes, obviously you can't. The fire alarm is the primary warning signal in any detected occurrence of a fire. In my opinion, we should never take any chances in these emergencies.

But that has changed ever since my stay in one of the school hall of residences. Each week, on the average, the alarm sounded about 1-4 times on weekdays and about 1-3 on weekends. Till now, all of these warnings turned out to be just false alarms. Due to this circumstance, my confidence in the fire alarm warning system was greatly dampen. Nowadays, instead of rushing out of the building, my flatmates and I preferred to endure the annoying alarm and continue to stay in our rooms.

Seeing this as an opportunity for HCI blogging, i interviewed my flatmates and friends from other halls. The majority would just ignore it. This is totally insane !

This encounter made me realised that if we have to design some warning or error reporting system/programs, we do need to consider the priorties of reporting the warning/errors to the user/audience or it would be just plain annoying.

One examples would be Microsoft's Internet browser, the Internet explorer which would pop a dialog box asking whether if you want to debug the the error found ? These is definitely not required and totally useless to the user. Why would you ask the novice user to debug the errors? My suggestion would be to hide these error messages from the user but instead display it to the developers only.

As for the fire alarm problem, maybe they should just install water sprinklers that will activate in events of a detected fire in that particular room. This will definitely discourage pranksters and irresponsible hall mates. Of course, then it will be even more exciting to flood your flatmate's room !

Size does matter

2004-10-30T12:58:00.000-07:00

Size does matter for nowadays electrical deices such as mobile phone, PDA and MP3 player. The interfaces for users fully interacting with the devices are limited to be tiny. This requires not only hardware, but advanced software technology to achieve. For example, with tiny size, mobile phone’s keypad can’t have individual button for each English character that is such as a keyboard. So, how do people efficiently type message for sending? How a tiny keypad emulates as a keyboard? Predictive Text System(also known as T9) is used for users to write message on a mobile phone. Generally speaking, when you type 4663 from the keypad, the words gone, good, goof, home, hone, hood, hoof will come out one by one(press * for next one). It is all about an advanced programming technique and powerful enough microchips. Producers are putting much effort to design interfaces for their electrical products in a smarter, more advanced way that makes interfaces smaller but more efficient. Of course, size does matter, who want a MP3 player as larger as a CD player?

Safely Remove Hardware

2004-10-29T09:28:00.000-07:00

I am sure all of you have experiences using USB devices under Windows XP or 2000. Whenever you plug in an USB device, a little green arrow will incidentally appear in the system tray. When you are done with it, the recommended way to disconnect the device is to click on the green arrow and choose 'Safely Remove Hardware'. Last week, when i was teaching my sister to disconnect her USB flash drive after reading files, she questioned me whether she has to do the same procedures everytime in order to get it disconnect. So is it really safe to remove it in such a tedious way? or is it really that unsafe if I just unplug the thing?

Obviously many of you may choose the later way, at least I remove it that way, as this doesn't seem bother much to the performance, and most likely the USB device works perfectly. So what's the point of having the annoying green arrow? At least to my understanding, USB and firewire devices are meant to be 'hot' plug despite it is not really that hot!

Elgar Court

2004-10-28T23:08:00.000-07:00

I am living in Elgar Court which is the school accomodation. Each flat has 3 storeys and while it is a nice place with excellent surroundings, I realized that there is no disability access such as lift to go directly to the second floor or third floor. So basically, students with disability can only afford to stay on the ground floor which really sucks because some people such as me like to stay above the higher floor. So that means if I am a disabled person, I cannot go beyond the ground floor because I will have much difficulty going up and down the stair everyday. I have seen some accomodations within the school compound that they had lift inside their flats, so it pose no problems to the disabled people and it is definitely much more convenient for them. Even though there may not be many disabled people over here, but I think the school should at least consider buildings some access for disabled people in every accomodation so they will have more choices in choosing the school accomodation in the future.

New google tool for searching

2004-10-25T20:30:00.000-07:00

Some of you may have heard that Google is expanding the borders of its search empire into other people's computers. In fact, it had released the beta versions of the new personal search tools for a desktop program that will search the computer hard drives as well as the web.

The tool can be downloaded for free and it basically sits in the background, slogging through our files and folders, indexing our incoming and outgoing email messages, listening in on our instant messenger chats, and browsing the Web right along with us. Just about anything we see and summarily forget, the Google Desktop sees and memorizes for us. For instance, any files such as photographs, MP3, movies are indexed by their filename, even though Google Desktop cannot differentiate between music(Spiderweb.mp3) and movies(Spiderman.avi), but if they have somekind of similarity between their names, the desktop will file both of them under the name "Spider".

The only bad thing that I found out is that it may take a while to index a PC hard drive for the first time that we use it, however, the indexer itself should not interfere at all when we use the computer because it only springs into action when we are away from the computer so it should not slow the computer down when we are using it.

The tool has a simple and familiar interface as we would expect of Google, and it works as the same as the Internet search engine, so I am pretty confident that people will not have problems trying out the tool. The other good thing is that I think the search will be more efficient and wide-ranged because it allows us to search other things like emails and history of the webpages that we viewed, things that Windows XP search cannot do. So if we send or receive an email message, strike up an AOL conversation with a friend, or using the microsoft powerpoint,it will be noticed immediately and indexed within seconds.

I realised that it works best if the data in our computer is disorganised so we won't have wasted our time searching for it because the result will also appear in a fraction of a second, unlike the Windows XP searching, which may takes a whole long time to search depending on how large our hard-disk is.

The people may have some worries about the security and privacy. Google had stated that the company will not be able to peer into other people's hard drives and it is safe. However, I believe that every tool has its flaws and every individual has the responsibility to impose security on his/her own computers so it is not vulnerable to some others attacks such as hacking.

Risk of Ear Cancer Using Mobile Phone

2004-10-24T09:44:00.005-07:00

I read a news from BBC saying that there is a possibility of getting ear cancer from mobile phone. The debate has argued for nearly a decade but no evidence is found. The type of cancer is known as acoustic neuroma - a tumour of the inner ear.

Even though mobile phone is very convenient for users, the risk of getting diseases may be high. People carrying mobile phone is something like carrying a virus to spread all over your body.

Would you concern about your health?

mobile phone in aiding the diabetes patients

2004-10-22T19:09:00.000-07:00

I read the news from the BBC about how mobiles are being used now to try make the lives of people with diabetes easier by high speed data transfer. As a matter of fact, A team in Oxford, UK, is already using the mobiles to record and organise information from patients and send it directly to a hospital for rapid analysis and advice. Five or six years ago, when I bought my first handphone, the very old model of motorola, it only had the basic components such as data storage and searching and now a few years later after that, The rapid development in the technology had enabled the consumers to surf internet and take pictures directly using their handphone.

So how the diabetics test their own blood sugar level in order to control their level of diabetes, basically it is done by injecting insulin and by monitoring their diet. This usually means checking levels four times a day and noting down the results. One of the problems is having to record the information and get it all laid out neatly and most of the times, the diabetics have to go back and look at the past results for comparison. There is a lot of thinking work that needs to go into that, a lot of recording, and it can dominate their life. Imagine doing that same task repeatedly four times a day for the rest of your life.

We all know that what the mobile can do is pretty amazing these days and with this new advancement, it definitely brings a great advantage to the life of diabetics. Basically, the mobile will record the blood sugars levels, the latest version will allow high speed data transmission for the information to be sent directly to the patient's hospital. These software can look for pattern in the level, enabling the doctors to give an accurate view of how they change over time and within seconds, the person sending the readings will be able to see the graph showing whether the level has risen or fallen since the last test.

One of the downturn is that each mobile has to install a special software which takes readings by cable from the electronic meter that tests the blood and sends it to a central server. However, I believe that it is just a minor problem which will not affect the diabetics in the long run.

Hannal Boschen, one of the first people involved in the test had positively commented that she feels in control of the diabetes, managing her insulin doses and getting the blood sugar levels right. This experiment may also open the way for mobiles to be used to manage several chronic diseases as described by the team from the oxford.

How far the technology can go? When you thought that it cannot go any further, it always breaks a new ground. What more things that it can bring in the future? Things like the mobile to check for diabetes level definitely delivers great benefits for the diabetics and let's just hope that there will be more of these things that can provide better interaction and make people's life easier.

No Software Driver for obsolute hardware

2004-10-22T17:35:00.000-07:00

Searhing a software driver can be daunting if you can't find an obsolete hardware driver either on the web or anywhere else. Those unwanted hardware (usually obsolute model), such as CD-ROM, are most likely sent to the third world country either for charity or selling.

Most poor students, who are from third world country, in school don't have a chance to know what computer is. They only could have a chance if a group of voluntary students who are from developed countries teach and show them how the computer works. Before teaching them using the computer, the students have to setup the computers together with the obsolute hardware to make them works. Unfortunately, some software drivers are no longer supported and are not found on the internet. Most users are not usually keep their software driver. As a result, some workable hardware have to be thrown because of no software driver.

No Way Out

2004-10-16T16:20:00.000-07:00

Getting around the UK by mobile
Technologies like GPS are always hard to get popularized. Reasons like money, user-friendliness are crucial to the cause. GPS is nothing new, people without technical background may probably know what that is. It is invented in 1950s for military use by americans, which alike many other technologies like CDMA - not meant to be prevalent. Related applications of GPS started to be developed a few years ago.
In the article, the editor points out an important factor - intelligence. The editor was instructed to take turn which ultimately brought him back to the same road. It is never easy to integrate applications to daily lifes. Users get irritated when applications like this couldn't do what it was supposed to do. People then get disappointed and nobody wants to use it. That's what drives technologies!

Which came first ? Chicken or the Egg

2004-10-07T01:16:00.000-07:00

I am an international student and I chose to attend the freshers' week programme which had organized many induction programmes for a 'newbie' like me. For that week, it will cost me £140 and it begins two weeks before term starts.

During that week, we are supposed to register with the university, electronically. With a temporary password, I started with my registration. At the last stage of the online application, I am instructed to print a copy of the registration certificate and I am also asked to use my Student ID card to print it.

The problem is, I have to print out the registration certificate in order to exchange for my Student ID card. I am sure anyone who encounters this felt really ridiculous. Anyway, I believe that the administration found out about this problem and decided to let us print out the certificates without our ID cards.

This registration procedure designed by the school's administration could have been better if they put in some thoughts and considerations. I hope they will not repeat this mistake again.