Showing posts with label future. Show all posts
Showing posts with label future. Show all posts
Evolution of the desktop
The history of the working desk in one neat little animated gif. Harvard Innovation Lab used real vintage items to create this evolution of the desk over the past 35 years in one short timelapse.
Star Trek predicts the future
This little strip is great! It has to be said that there definitely is a correlation between technology envisioned in sci-fi and the digital industry gathering inspiration from them. The one thing I'm really looking forward to them inventing are those automatic swooshing doors... oh wait, we already have those.
The age of mega-viral content
Gangnam Style became world famous for its South Korean creator Psy's extreme electro-pop soundtrack, neon stylings and novel dance moves. What really made me take notice was the fact that it was the first YouTube video to top 1 BILLION views (currently at 1.5 billion at time of writing). A billion views is an almost unfathomable number but this video has (amongst many other things such as paving the way to creating mega-viral content) provided a benchmark in 21st century history for us to look back and remember the age when people who were online were collectively consuming the same content in near real-time.
Psy's new video called 'Gentleman' is another noticeable piece of online content since it has managed to secure 60 MILLION views in 2 DAYS purely because it is the next piece of content to come from Psy. 60 million views in 2 days is a ridiculous statistic and one that is often overlooked in articles elsewhere given its predecessor's success. 60 million in 2 days is mega-viral. But it will become a perfectly normal figure within the next 6 months. The rate at which content can go viral and then mega-viral is increasing as networks of people are able to share content faster and faster. Ultimately there will be a point in time where there will be one channel online, the mainstream, that plays the most viral piece of content for that day / hour / minute. We can already see the first steps of this in Twitter's #hashtag trending list.
The content delivery model is still based on the old-school method of users being fed the latest information from an authoritative source. People currently look to content-hub websites (Reddit, Buzzfeed, news websites etc) or to tastemakers for what's hot since they are considered the authority on what should be watched right now. Incredibly, some mega-memes like the Harlem Shake have even been jumped on as a direct way to make money for the man.
However that is changing as online social groups are becoming more fragmented and specialist. The opinion of a known friend is more valuable than an entertainment source and online social groups are now evolving their own tastemakers, those who are always posting the latest videos in their feeds - we all know one person like that. The fact that they still look to get their content from entertainment sources is irrelevant. What is relevant is that there is now someone, a real person, a trusted person who is filtering this content and then sharing the stuff that they think you'd like.
This TED Talk from Kevin Allocca neatly explains “Why videos go viral”. Put simply, anything new that consists of the magic three ingredients will go viral: to gain recognition it must be noticed and promoted by a select few people (tastemakers) with a large number of followers, then it must allow anyone to participate creatively in their own way, and lastly it must have complete unexpectedness.
Although that video describes how how quickly the music charts can change based what’s popular with online communities, it is also listing the founding pieces of content that were around at the time that people started to all tune into the same content together. The ancestors of mega-memes.
Very soon there will be a very strong sense of community online as a whole, and it will become comforting to all be online together, all consuming the latest content together. This will reflect humanity online; what people currently find funny, sad, interesting, shocking, and so on. This already exists but it's in various places and is very disparate - to say the Twitter community, or the Reddit community, or the Guardian online community who comment on articles is representative of humanity online is incorrect. Those are still relatively small groups of people who have been drawn together by a common interest. What still needs to happen is for people to come completely together online in one place. This is essentially a hive mind and in its early stages is one that is only used for watching Gangnam Style, but imagine a future with the power of that many people all focussing on the same thing together at the same moment in time. It'll happen once the platform for it is available, and when it does it will dwarf everything else that came before it.
Psy's new video called 'Gentleman' is another noticeable piece of online content since it has managed to secure 60 MILLION views in 2 DAYS purely because it is the next piece of content to come from Psy. 60 million views in 2 days is a ridiculous statistic and one that is often overlooked in articles elsewhere given its predecessor's success. 60 million in 2 days is mega-viral. But it will become a perfectly normal figure within the next 6 months. The rate at which content can go viral and then mega-viral is increasing as networks of people are able to share content faster and faster. Ultimately there will be a point in time where there will be one channel online, the mainstream, that plays the most viral piece of content for that day / hour / minute. We can already see the first steps of this in Twitter's #hashtag trending list.
The content delivery model is still based on the old-school method of users being fed the latest information from an authoritative source. People currently look to content-hub websites (Reddit, Buzzfeed, news websites etc) or to tastemakers for what's hot since they are considered the authority on what should be watched right now. Incredibly, some mega-memes like the Harlem Shake have even been jumped on as a direct way to make money for the man.
However that is changing as online social groups are becoming more fragmented and specialist. The opinion of a known friend is more valuable than an entertainment source and online social groups are now evolving their own tastemakers, those who are always posting the latest videos in their feeds - we all know one person like that. The fact that they still look to get their content from entertainment sources is irrelevant. What is relevant is that there is now someone, a real person, a trusted person who is filtering this content and then sharing the stuff that they think you'd like.
This TED Talk from Kevin Allocca neatly explains “Why videos go viral”. Put simply, anything new that consists of the magic three ingredients will go viral: to gain recognition it must be noticed and promoted by a select few people (tastemakers) with a large number of followers, then it must allow anyone to participate creatively in their own way, and lastly it must have complete unexpectedness.
Although that video describes how how quickly the music charts can change based what’s popular with online communities, it is also listing the founding pieces of content that were around at the time that people started to all tune into the same content together. The ancestors of mega-memes.
Very soon there will be a very strong sense of community online as a whole, and it will become comforting to all be online together, all consuming the latest content together. This will reflect humanity online; what people currently find funny, sad, interesting, shocking, and so on. This already exists but it's in various places and is very disparate - to say the Twitter community, or the Reddit community, or the Guardian online community who comment on articles is representative of humanity online is incorrect. Those are still relatively small groups of people who have been drawn together by a common interest. What still needs to happen is for people to come completely together online in one place. This is essentially a hive mind and in its early stages is one that is only used for watching Gangnam Style, but imagine a future with the power of that many people all focussing on the same thing together at the same moment in time. It'll happen once the platform for it is available, and when it does it will dwarf everything else that came before it.
Connecting
Excellent documentary on how the relationship with digital devices and human interaction is merging to the point that our devices fade into the background and enable the user rather than interrupt them. Interaction design is now about providing a platform for the user to mould and shape into something they find useful.
The 18 minute "Connecting" documentary is an exploration of the future of Interaction Design and User Experience from some of the industry's thought leaders. As the role of software is catapulting forward, Interaction Design is seen to be not only increasing in importance dramatically, but also expected to play a leading role in shaping the coming "Internet of things." Ultimately, when the digital and physical worlds become one, humans along with technology are potentially on the path to becoming a "super organism" capable of influencing and enabling a broad spectrum of new behaviors in the world.
The 18 minute "Connecting" documentary is an exploration of the future of Interaction Design and User Experience from some of the industry's thought leaders. As the role of software is catapulting forward, Interaction Design is seen to be not only increasing in importance dramatically, but also expected to play a leading role in shaping the coming "Internet of things." Ultimately, when the digital and physical worlds become one, humans along with technology are potentially on the path to becoming a "super organism" capable of influencing and enabling a broad spectrum of new behaviors in the world.
Sight
Sight is an interested short film by Eran May-raz and Daniel Lazo that is set in the near future and explores a type of augmented reality that is overlaid onto everything people do. From recreation, to cooking, to social interaction, everything has levels and tips on how to be better.
This concept of overlaying information on your sight was also explored in this short clip by Keiichi Matsuda.
The effect on the character's eyes reminds me of "The entire history of you" episode from Charlie Brooker's 'Black Mirror" television series on Channel 4.
Sight from Sight Systems on Vimeo.
This concept of overlaying information on your sight was also explored in this short clip by Keiichi Matsuda.
The effect on the character's eyes reminds me of "The entire history of you" episode from Charlie Brooker's 'Black Mirror" television series on Channel 4.
The Big Brother Pizza Shop
Fictitious pizza shop of the future - Big Brother infringes your privacy while ordering a pizza.
Google's Project Glass
We believe technology should work for you — to be there when you need it and get out of your way when you don't.
A team within our Google[x] group started Project Glass to build this kind of technology, one that helps you explore and share your world, putting you back in the moment.
Follow along with us at http://g.co/projectglass as we share some of our ideas and stories. We'd love to hear yours, too. What would you like to see from Project Glass?
The prototype version Google has been demonstrating looks like a very polished and well-designed pair of wrap-around glasses with a clear display that sits above the eye. The glasses can stream information to the lenses and allow the wearer to send and receive messages through voice commands. There is also a built-in camera to record video and take pictures.
Love this fan-made video which shows what it could be like playing Battlefield.
Arthur C. Clarke Predicts the Internet & PC
Sci-fi author and futurist Arthur C. Clarke predicted in this 1974 TV interview that in 2001, regular people would have personal computers that communicate and retrieve information using a system that sounds rather like the Internet.
Social media overkill vs smart televisions
This morning, I read the presentation below on how damaging it will be to our mental processes if the filter on information fails. As we hurtle along through life in the digital age, constantly increasing the amount of data we produce and store, reducing our attention spans, and becoming addicted to consuming snack-sized pieces of information, there are few people who are considering the negative impact this may be having on our overall enjoyment of our spare time.
Charlie Brooker has provided some hilarious, but as always, poignant commentary on this phenomenon in the form of a clip from his annual review of current affairs.
Below is a fantastic example of how UX designers at the forefront of technology and the immersive television experience are planning for users to experience entertainment.
Read more about this here http://lab.syzygy.de/
The Dark Side of Social Media 2012
View more presentations from Sander Duivestein
Charlie Brooker has provided some hilarious, but as always, poignant commentary on this phenomenon in the form of a clip from his annual review of current affairs.
Below is a fantastic example of how UX designers at the forefront of technology and the immersive television experience are planning for users to experience entertainment.
GOAB. A TV Experience Concept from SYZYGY on Vimeo.
Read more about this here http://lab.syzygy.de/
Microsoft "Meet the Family" 1999 Concept Video
Microsoft's .NET technology concept video from 1999. See if you can spot the ideas that begat Windows Mobile, MSN Explorer, Tablet PC, Games for Windows and more.
Wacom - Inkling
This is incredible technology from Wacom. Simply put: you can draw onto a piece of paper and Inkling will turn that drawing into a digital file. Absolutely amazing.
via Wacom
The tactical displays in Star Wars
As mentioned in a previous post, I have something of a soft spot for movie GUI's and am fascinated by their creation. So, I was more than happy to be recommended this cracking article by a friend.
The article opens:
We had a quick chat with Alien creator Dan O'Bannon and found out just how much CGI there is - and isn't - in the original episode IV...
And without wanting to simply reiterate what has already been written very eloquently, here is the link to the article over at Den of Geek!
AI vs. AI. Two chatbots talking to each other
What happens when you let two bots have a conversation? Well, things get pretty philosophical.. More here: http://creativemachines.cornell.edu/AI-vs-AI By Igor Labutov, Jason Yosinski, and Hod Lipson of the Cornell Creative Machines Lab (http://creativemachines.cornell.edu/)
1966 prediction of the home computer
An utterly fantastic video from 1966 that speculates on what life will be like in 1999. Unlike most videos from the past that speculated on flying cars and robots doing all our chores, this one went for the 'home shopping' angle, bank account unification and a way to send letters electronically all over the world.
Commonwealth Bank - Vision for 2013
Another awesome realisation of the near future from the Australian Commonwealth Bank.
Delivering customer satisfaction beyond 2010 requires us to drive change and continually innovate beyond what the market dictates or our customers expect. Innovating through the digital platform is one way we can make this happen.
Looking to the next 3 years, the key trends we see shaping banking digital innovation are;
Customisation: Enabling our customers to have a personalised experience with the bank
Continuously connected: Providing immediacy and allowing our customers to access the bank and their financial information in real time
Cross platform functionality: Allowing our customers to access & move information across any digital device
Centralised financial management: Giving our customers to access all their financial information in one place
Community: Connecting our customers and facilitating the exchange of experience and advice
This video piece showcases a series of scenarios that showcases how we, as one of Australia's leading banks, can bring these to life and give our customers an experience and level of service that exceeds all expectations.
via http://www.youtube.com/user/CommBank
Augmented (hyper)Reality: Domestic Robocop
The architecture of the contemporary city is no longer simply about the physical space of buildings and landscape, more and more it is about the synthetic spaces created by the digital information that we collect, consume and organise; an immersive interface may become as much part of the world we inhabit as the buildings around us.
Augmented Reality (AR) is an emerging technology defined by its ability to overlay physical space with information. It is part of a paradigm shift that succeeds Virtual Reality; instead of disembodied occupation of virtual worlds, the physical and virtual are seen together as a contiguous, layered and dynamic whole. It may lead to a world where media is indistinguishable from 'reality'. The spatial organisation of data has important implications for architecture, as we re-evaluate the city as an immersive human-computer interface.
via Keiichimatsuda
Time-lapse of the night sky with the Very Large Telescope
The Very Large Telescope (VLT) in an array of four telescopes operated by European Southern Observatory, and together the array "can achieve an angular resolution of around 1 milliarcsecond, meaning it could distinguish the gap between the headlights of a car located on the Moon."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)