The Future of the UI

Nick Finck posted this TED talk by John Underkoffler, chief scientist at Oblong Industries. I did research in a Fundamentals of Interface Design course taught by Axel Roesler that dealt with integrating new computing technologies, specifically multi-gestural interactions using Microsoft Surface, into the flight deck of the Boeing Dreamliner. During research, we took a closer look at Oblong’s g-speak and its use of a “spatial operating environment,” and wondered how we could conceptualize useful solutions for a commercial airline cockpit.

I agree with both John and Nick that this it isn’t far-fetched to say that this technology will be commercially available in 5 years because of the exponential pace technology is advancing. Being able to bring the digital and physical world together will definitely better user experiences in the future.

Youtube’s New Video Player UI

Youtube has started to roll out a UI update on its video player to complement its new description, analytics, like/dislike, save to, share, embed, and flag feature set “New Watch Page.” The player itself is Flash 10, and not HTML 5. Embedding the video on another site will still show the old player.