Here’s the presentation I gave in Sydney at Web Directions a week or so ago (great conference!).
Link: Context, Sensing and Mobiles (slideshare.net)
Google’s Andy Rubin thinks this of the future of mobile:
Link: The future of mobile (googleblog.blogspot.com)
The Aurora browser concept piece from the folks at Adaptive Path has lots to like about it. But overall I struggle with the idea of the web browser as a universal tool for doing things on devices, especially mobile devices. The web browser is great in that it’s a networked standard way of easily accessing information and services (in the same way Gopher) was so popular before it). It’s easy to get scale, because everybody has the same client and rendering engine on their PC.
But if there’s one thing that’s demanded by mobile devices, it’s that the things you create are highly optimised for the context of use. And this is exactly what a web browser is not. So it’s no surprise to me that people are racing to use the native iPhone applications for Facebook or Twitter rather than going to the iPhone-specific web versions.
Link: Aurora Concept Video (adaptivepath.com)
“I must say that it’s been surprisingly difficult, in various conversations with folks not immersed in the IxD space, to get across the essential distinction between context-aware applications and location-based services (LBS)...Mac Funamizu has actually nailed two separate things here. The first demonstrates precisely what I, at least, mean when I use the words “context aware”: but for some residual core of basic functionality, the device’s capabilities and available interface modalities at any given moment are largely if not entirely determined by the other networked objects around it. If you pair the device with a text, it’s a reader; at the checkstand, it provides a friendly POS interface; aimed at the skyline, it augments reality.”
Link: Worth a thousand words, etc. (speedbird.wordpress.com)
I liked this nugget in Jakob Neilsen’s review of the ten best application UIs for the year.
“Although dedicated mobile apps are not yet good enough to win in their own right, it was striking how many of this year’s winners have a mobile component. Mobile is definitively the trend to watch for next year, and any application owner should think hard about whether and how to add mobile features in 2009.”
Link: Year’s 10 Best Application UIs (useit.com)
Interesting in that it’s in the Times.
“As it turns out, Mr. Jobs may well have understated the quality of the iPhone Web experience. Visiting Web sites that have been redesigned for the iPhone is often a quicker and more pleasing experience than it is on those increasingly cinema-style desktop displays, which routinely have 20-inch or larger screens. It seems counterintuitive, but small really is beautiful.”
Link: On a Small Screen, Just the Salient Stuff (nytimes.com, via)
Just came across a blog published by Kevin Arthur called Touch Usability. The blog tracks articles related to touch UIs, and has a great collection of content.
Link: Touch Usability (touchusability.com)
Ken Banks writes about his experience with mobile technology in Africa.
“When it comes to mobile innovation, the gap between developed and developing countries is not much of a gap at all. Mobile innovation in the West, largely technology-lead, sits in contrast to that in the developing world where combating the geographic, economic and cultural constraints of users is considered a more sensible way to go. This explains the emergence of the torch phone, for users who live in areas with little or no regular light, or multiple phone books for users who share their phones with family members. On the heavyweight side, a plethora of financial applications have hit the streets, with Safaricom’s m-Pesa service getting by far the biggest press to date. Regularly used by hundreds of thousands of Kenyans, you often hear it described as the “Kenyan Debit Card”, allowing users to transfer money through their mobile phones to help out family and friends, or to buy and sell goods and services across the airwaves. For the tens of millions of Kenyans without bank accounts, m-Pesa represents both a revolution and a revelation. It is now being rolled out in other countries, with Afghanistan next on the list.”
Link: Africa’s grassroots mobile revolution – a traveller’s perspective (vodafone.com)
The recently published Handbook of Mobile Communication Studies looks like it has a lot of interesting pieces in it.
Digital Divides and Social Mobility
Sociality and Co-presence
Politics and Social Change
Culture and Imagination
Conclusions and Future Prospects
Link: Handbook of Mobile Communication Studies (mit.edu)
Published by Gabriel White.