It's interesting to think about how we take for granted the fact that we can only use our computers through the means of peripheral devices - mice, keyboards, laptop touchpads... for most people, that's about it. But the recent release of Apple's Magic Mouse and Microsoft's Windows 7 has shown that the people behind two of the world's biggest brands are actually thinking "outside the box" with regards to how people can interact with their technology.
The Magic Mouse takes the concept of a MacBook touchpad and applies it to a separate device which would in place of a conventional mouse. It enables the user to move their fingers about the surface of the mouse to manipulate the cursor on screen. While not a huge leap forward, it's certainly innovative, even if it does look very uncomfortable to use - I'll just have to try it out for myself!
The big selling point of Windows 7 has been its multi-touch interface - that you are able to use all of your digits to manipulate what happens on your screen. They do neglect to mention that the prohibitively high price of a touch screen puts this feature out of the reach of most household users. Also, the fact that you will have to keep your arms in an unnatural position for prolonged periods of time makes it seem to me that this feature was desinged more for marketing purposes rather than actual practicality, breaking many of Jakob Nielsen's usability heuristics.
Another type of screen that most people interact with daily is their TV set. Ashley Highfield from Microsoft spoke recently about how quite soon the way we relate to our TV will change dramatically. We will no longer have to program the shows that we want to record, as the "smart" televisions of the future will be able to judge our moods and monitor our viewing habits to know what our favourite shows are. As TV programmes and films (and even radio and music) are becoming more "on-demand" with the use of facilities such as BBC's iPlayer, the way in which we use the TV overall will have to change in response to this. This will be the death of the TV remote control - and not too soon I say. I haven't used one in years, relying on my laptop or iPhone to control all my viewing through a MacMini media centre.
And hey, if royalty can't cope with changing the TV channel, what hope have the rest of us got?
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1 comment:
The new Apple "Magic Mouse" has reduced functionality from the good old Mighty Mouse!
You can't squeeze it to do expose or click the trackball to get to the dashboard.
Obviously there are alternative ways of doing these things but not as easy as it is on the mighty mouse. This is the reason I will not buy one (I use those two things a lot). Unless they can solve this with a software update I suspect there will be a Magic Mouse Mark II.
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