Why browser based profiles will succeed where Window's profiles did not

History repeats itself. Often. One technology ushers in a new age of media, platforms, experience and then the inherit needs of man demands particular functionality that they found in their old systems but applied to the new. Copy-paste with a touch interface, aggregators of aggregators, multitasking, etc..

One thing I find particularly interesting is the idea of user profiles for the same computer. It is something we have had forever when you log into windows (sorry Apple people if this doesn't apply). I don't have statistics but from what i have seen and experienced i don't think this particular feature was/is heavily used.

I don't think there were many people that would actually take over a computer from someone else in the house, log off windows and then log back into their account.

And now we are starting to see the desire and development of such features related a new type of OS, the browser. The thing is that i can actually see this as something useful. Whereas it's historical counterpart, the windows profile, was something i would never use this browser based profile i could see myself changing when i take control of the home computer from my wife for example.

Why? Because in today's personal, social, and connected computing environment your profile has all of a sudden been given meaning, it has an inherent value, one that makes us sign out of whoever's account is currently signed in on Facebook in order to get "my" version of Facebook.

And when something has value it will stick. So I say bring on browser based profiles, and let's usher in an old feature into a new world where they actually might be useful.

Evolution of iPad apps

I love painting with my fingers. My fingers love painting with me. The one thing that i don't like is when there are barriers to creativity pushed upon me because of an interface between what i need to do and actually doing it. Changing brushes, colors etc.. Requires me to jump out of one frame of mind and into another..

Then i thought of something really cool that could have an application way beyond just a drawing up:

Each finger on your hand is unique... And also has a way of identifying it... Your fingerprint! The same way a police file works. Why can't we then assign to each finger an item (a brush, a color, an action, etc.. You name it.. The sky really is the limit). When the screen is pressed it gets the finger print of the finger and executes the movement under the conditions assigned to the identified finger. If nothing is assigned then it just uses the default setting.




This idea could open up a whole field of UX opportunities for touch screen... That is, if it is even technically possible.

The one button that breaks Gmail's conversation presentation

The one button that breaks Gmail's conversation presentation: FORWARD.

The most difficult feature for some people to get used to in Gmail is the way it ties all emails about the same title into a single conversation type view. It is also one of the greatest features of the email client, perhaps its true differentiator.

So whats wrong with it? The issue comes when there are different people involved in each email.

When can this happen? Most commonly it happens when you forward an email to another person and then have a separate conversation shoot off from the original thread. However it could also happen just by adding people to the reply email.

Why is it broken? The card stack design pattern that Gmail applies means that these different conversations spawned from the same conversation are now mixed together without any regard for their potential differences. The only factor being used is the time facet. Visually the conversation metaphor becomes confusing.

Now, I do not know if there is a technical limitation that forces Gmail to act this way, but i do know that there is at least one feasible presentation option based on the information readily available in the email conversation today: breaking up the conversation stream in different people/group panels. That is, any time there is a different combination of people on a given email in the stream break it off into another panel. The conversations should also be presented spatially within each panel in regard to their general conversation chronological order.

All of this is probably redundant as the number of conservation, comments, thread type apps appear around the web and also as the usage of google wave starts to kick in.. but i think it is an interesting presentation/UX interaction problem that such a design pattern could be applied.

IDEA: Pizza box with perforated slices

Here is an idea: why dont pizza places send their pizzas in boxes that have perforations in the form of a slice so that you can easily create disposable pizza plates.

Benefits:

• less washing up
• portable while still having plates
• easier to throw away the pizza box afterwards

Doesnt matter if the pizza is sliced in the same dimensions or even if it is sliced at all.. I guess one issue would be that you would have to remove all the pizza to push out the cardboard plate.. but you could make the perforated slices on the top part of the box, that way there is no issue with the weight of the pizza perhaps breaking the perforations.

Excellent for parties, picnics and big groups.

UPDATED: my brother raised a good point about the need to put the unfinished pizza box in the fridge... oh well. :)

Multi-Person Event Photo Viewer

For a while I have been thinking about a certain idea for a product, a multi-perspective photo viewer.

Today, after attending a wedding the night before (the original idea came at a wedding), I read an article in Springwise talking about a site that gathers wedding photos from guests. Now I havent tried the product nor seen what it looks like but the title at least hints at the idea that I originally had.

The concept follows:

• Many people at an event, each with a camera.
• Each person's experience is different, a reflection of their perspective.
• The only real way to get a feel for the "total" event experience would be to somewhow see all the photos of each person.

Now I can just imagine what such an interface could be and the thought of it really gets me excited. Imagine Photosynth but on a timeline, throw in an event guest list with a sprinkle of Facebook connect for identity. Obviously video needs to be supported as well.

One really important facet here is PERSPECTIVE. The apps main navigation should be the concept of perspective. There should be a way to easily move between people's perspectives and ideally, as per photosynth, be able to see the same event (perhaps based on time) from different perspectives. I say TIME because it is not necesarily true that all the people at an event would be shooting photos of the same thing at the same time (which sometimes removes the ability to do pure photo stiching).

There would have to be a spatial view as well. Especially because in the same event there may be different spatial clusters. As geotagging of media becomes more prevailant this no longer seems far fetched.

When you add TAGGING and facebook into the mix one could imagine that I could express the experience, say a collection of photos, of different groups at an event, eg: tables at a wedding, and connect them via a cross over metafor: say the bride is in a photo from each of the collections then as a user I could use the bride as the portal between the two collections.

While doing the mockups I realised how valuable it is to have not just the coordinates of where the photo was taken but also the direction. This is similiar to the advances in Aumented Reality browsers. So we could think of this as a MULTI-PERSON RECORDED AUMENTED REALITY VIEWER.

The interesting thing here is that I could use this now as my presentation architecture.

Eg: I have a subject that both A and B have taken a photo of around the same time. I know this because the line of site of the shot interesect based on the coordinates (GPS) and direction (compass) of A and B.

One limitation here is that we dont know the depth of field of the photo so theoretically they could still be shotting at different subjects.

Now imagine that C was taking a photo of B at that exact same time converting B into the subject from a different perspective. I could visually display this and allow the user to move through these spatial and time related media in a representation that is similar to the physical world.

I could definately see in the future Facebook give the ability to add your album to an event which automatically adds the content to this multiperson event viewer.

Facebook Photo Search

Today I found myself with the need to get my hands on a photo that contained two friends of mine. The first thing I thought of was to go on to Facebook where I knew I had tagged both of them in numerous photos together. To my surprise there was no way (that I know of) of doing this today.

I should be able to go on Facebook and search my photos for photos that have specific people.

For example: SEARCH photos of Person1 AND Person2

This functionality will become even more usefull with the autotagging applications that are starting to be released.

I know that this can be done because when you are looking at photos of a person Facebook gives you the option of viewing photos of that person and you in the same photo.

Why would Facebook not offer such a functionality? cost of processing? Does Google's Picasa already have this? How should a Facebook photo search look like or function?

UPDATE: this already exists and works just as expected. As Nick O'Niel from Allfacebook.com just told me this feature is currently a prototype and you can add it using this link: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=113716318847

Anchor vs Flow

The two essential states of creative capture...

and the different tools that should be used at each point.

Flow

• state of mind
• stream of thought
• uninterrupted interplay between characters of the mind
• multi-polar discussion

tool: chaining, threads

Anchor

• memory stamp
• connections
• ships that are related
• solidifying a thread to transit lines in the mind
• abstraction back into the footprints of an outcome
• stop

tool: mind map

Tool selection depends on the state and purpose.

The mind map is not always the best form of capturing thought.

Perhaps start with a thread (could be visual represented as a lightning shaped +/- polar back-and-forth in order to keep it moving forward or a more mathematical logic statement arrangement), during which an outcome may be deducted, at which point an anchor is needed (could be in the form of a mind mapping exercise) to abstract the experiences and past deductions that led to the current outcome as well as lock the outcome in mind through association.