More “function following form” with input devices…iDrive anyone?
With big knobs in cars that control the audio system being all the rage these days, designer Hao-Chun Huang wants to take the knob joke all the way to its logical conclusion and make a super, all-purpose metallic knob to control everything in your vehicle.
[gizmodo]
A man took his three iPhones out of the country, and now he’s got a $4800 roaming bill because he didn’t turn them off and they kept checking for email. Well, he didn’t turn them off off.
[heard about it on NPR, Seattle-Post story]
Around 9 p.m., the man was in line at a self-service checkout stand, ready to buy a pry bar and a hacksaw, according to a Seattle police report.
But, as a manager told an officer, the man accidentally hit the button on the computer screen for Spanish.
That was the tipping point for this consumer.
He became “frustrated that the machine was speaking Spanish,” the police report says.
So, instead of asking for help, he let loose a blow with the pry bar and shattered the computer. He ran from the store and made a beeline to some railroad tracks, the report said.
Bonus points for identifying cameos in this well-done video. If you’re not laughing, you need to read more from this lab.
I find a lot of value in the card sorting process (waiting eagerly for the book). Here is a news story about an online card sorting application…
Though for some, turning war into a video game might remind them of 1984, unmanned aircraft offer unparalleled safety to the pilot.
NPR recently covered the technological and social changes that come with unmanned aircraft, but the human factors of tracking, flying, and manipulating the Predator was not mentioned.
Obvious issues include:
In short, I worry that the news presented to the public paints a too-rosy picture of these aircraft, implying that we will eventually have robots fighting robots from the comfort of our own homes.
I’d like to hear from people what they consider to be the most interesting human factors challenge of unmanned vehicles. I don’t know much about the design of their interfaces and whether they are more similar to a cockpit or a game console, but I’m interested to learn. Feel free to comment!
