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“Microsoft gave a public showing of its futurologist vision of 2019 the other day at the Wharton Business Technology Conference, and it’s set the interwebs a-quiver with excitement. But if you have a bit of time to think about it, it’s actually not very visionary at all.

Gizmodo’s Jason Chen loved it, quoting Arthur C. Clarke’s famous Third Law: “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” The Industry Standard’s Paul Boutin suggests “More important than whizzy interfaces, the videos promise much more extensive collaboration, instant information retrieval, and multimedia communication.” And “2019″ has  appeared all over the place because it’s from Microsoft, and that’s a name that carries almost limitless clout.

Which is why it’s surprising the video is actually so uninspiring.

The references to Minority Report are unmistakable: Transparent “air screens” with gestural controls, handheld computers with see-through screens that you can hold over a larger display to “capture” the info. Everything is touch-controlled, with gestural inputs and with seamless wireless information transfer from one device to another–the concept of a “file” is conspicuously absent–and that’s very Tom Cruise. There’s also much use of color e-paper with a touch-surface, and modular cellphones with interactive touch-sensitive exteriors and screens. Location-based services show up, with the “corporate visitor” chap being located (presumably by some smart RFID/GPS/LPS tech in his phone) and directed to his destination by smart-display floor tiles.”

Links:
Article by Kit Eaton @ Fast Company

Microsoft Office Labs:  How will emerging technology improve our productivity in the years ahead?

Objectified is a feature-length independent documentary about industrial design. It’s a look at the creativity at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. It’s about the people who re-examine, re-evaluate and re-invent our manufactured environment on a daily basis. It’s about personal expression, identity, consumerism, and sustainability. It’s about our relationship to mass-produced objects and, by extension, the people who design them.

Its world premiere will be in Austin, Texas at the South by Southwest Film Festival March 13th to 21st.

About the trailer: the voices belong to Jonathan Ive, Andrew Blauvelt, Marc Newson, and Karim Rashid. The song is “I Like Van Halen Because My Sister Says They Are Cool” by our friends El Ten Eleven, from their new record These Promises Are Being Videotaped [get it on iTunes]. And the font used in the trailer is… Akzidenz Grotesk! [Shout out to Paula Scher!]

[via Objectified Website]

Designing the Future of Business

Design — more than quality, technology or top-down strategy — is the one factor that can make long-term profits for a company. – Inspired by Marty Neumeier, Business Week

“Design is the engine that can transform a company into a powerhouse of nonstop innovation,” writes Neumeier of Business Week. “Until now, companies have used design as a beauty station for identities and communications, or as the last stop in a product launch. Never has it been used for its potential to create rule-bending innovation across the board. Meanwhile, the public is developing a healthy appetite for all things design.”

Neumeier believes that for brands to thrive, things must change. He cites a 2007 survey by Kelton Research showing that when 7 out of 10 Americans remembered the last product that they just had to have, it was because of its design rather than any other factor.

As consumers are offered more and more choices, and the limitations imposed by mass production are overcome, they are increasingly incorporating an emphasis on design into their buying decisions. “Design drives innovation, innovation powers brand, brand builds loyalty, and loyalty sustains profits. If you want long-term profits, don’t start with technology—start with design,” he advises.

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Time’s “The Design 100″

Good design is everywhere these days. Great design—the objects, places and ideas that fuse functionality and aesthetics and then push the boundaries a step further to capture the imagination—is more elusive. Take a look at the standouts.

John Rhodes over at Apogee has published a very interesting article on the how information that is mobile is the new future of usability.

A mobile phone is a complex mix of hardware and software. Mobile phones are finally coming out of the primordial soup. Small, light, powerful tools usually beat big, heavy, slow tools. To put it another way, your mobile phone is getting to be as powerful as, if not more important than your desktop or laptop computer. That means more people having more problems for more reasons. The future of usability is mobile.

Technology is extremely mobile but information is now more mobile too. The future of usability isn’t just mobile technology but the increased mobility of information. In years past, information moved more slowly than it does now. It was also narrower, more refined, and more controlled. Simply compare the distribution of news 20 years ago via TV, radio and newspapers compared with the internet, satellite radio, and email. The difference in information mobility is over the top.

link to full article >>