Fall-Line

Back in February of 2006 I wrote (well actually, I didn’t write much) about an incredible video I’d come across which demonstrates a technology which I thought represented a bright future in computer/user interaction. The inventor of the interface technology and co-founder of the company which produced the device you see in the video is a guy by the name of Jefferson Han, a research scientist at New York University.

It was clear from the moment that initial demo hit the internet that this technology was going to be big. It has immediate implications for corporate boardrooms, military command centers, sports training rooms, or really any scenario where a group of people wants to share and single screen and interact with a great deal of visual information. What wasn’t immediately clear however was how and when this technology would make it’s way into the consumer market. The possibilities seemed endless, but who would harness it into something useful?

Fast forward a little over a year to last night, when Microsoft announced their Microsoft Surface technology which is based on Han’s work. Although there have already been a few consumer devices announced which will incorporate this technology, most notably the Apple iPhone which is scheduled for release next month, none have succeeded in truly capturing the potential of this great leap in user interaction until now. With Surface, Microsoft is not only taking a stab at bringing a great technology to the masses, they are also casting off nearly a decade old shroud of irrelevance when it comes to developing and introducing new and exiting technologies to the public. Sure, they have always been there when it comes to keeping up with the demand for new technology in a changing market place, but when was the last time Microsoft was responsible for introducing something to the consumer market that was truly revolutionary? This is, after all, the company who is largely responsible for the way in which we interact with computers every day of our lives. The innovation they showed in the 80s and 90s which brought us Microsoft Windows and Office have impacted us all weather we want to admit it or not.

Since the mid 90s by contrast, Microsoft has been playing catch up with a number of other innovators in the industry. As an avid Apple user, I’d be quick to point out that a large number of advances from Microsoft in the past 5 years or so have been in direct response to groundbreaking advances by our friends in Cupertino. The same trend holds true throughout most of the Microsoft portfolio. Windows borrowing from OS X, Windows Mobile borrowing from other mobile device software makers, and the Zune? give me a break.

I should mention that a lot of people consider Microsoft’s new(ish) ribbon interface to be a very significant advancement in computer interactions. While I’m not able to comment from personal experience, I feel like ribbon is a great direction for UI, but not a fundamental change in the way we interact with computers. Ribbon still involves a mouse, and a keyboard. It may be true that ribbon makes it more intuitive to use a complex application, users are still required to think like a computer before they can successfully interact with it. More importantly, ribbon is simply a more efficient way (in most people’s opinion) to achieve the same results, with similar behavior that we are all familiar with. People who already use Office every day will enjoy the benefit of the new UI, but it doesn’t attempt to add additional functionality to the machine.

With their efforts to lead the multi-touch charge with Surface, Microsoft is sending a message to the world that they aren’t just the world’s largest software pusher, they still care about technology and want to help make peoples lives easier and more fulfilling through creative uses of computing power. This breakthrough will usher in a a whole realm of new possibilities for computer technology in our daily lives. For better or worse, we will see computers in places we never thought possible before. I’ve so rarely been in a position to say this in recent years, but honestly, way to go Microsoft.

Here is great Microsoft Surface and Multi-touch demonstration and background video from Popular Mechanics.

Links:
Popular Mechanics Article
Microsoft Surface
Perceptive Pixel (Jefferson Han’s company)
My original Multi-touch post
Seattle PI Article

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Microsoft Surface, Multi-touch, UI

I took this photo yesterday afternoon in the backyard. This is Zoya, the pet tortoise grazing on a dandelion leaf.

click for flickr page

Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500)
Focal Length: 40 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: -1/3 EV

Technorati Tags: Russian Tortoise, Tortoise

A few months ago I posted about a serious water leak I had repaired in our front lawn.

Our last water bill came a couple of weeks ago. We where charged $341.62 for December and January. This, apparently, is what it costs to use an average of 311 gallons of water every day - ouch. Not only does this hurt financially, it’s also a tremendous waste of natural resources.

This was Friday evening, and I immediately phoned up a few plumbers looking for some help fast. Of the plumbers that I spoke to however, most couldn’t help me on the weekend. The one that could required me to first have a professional underground leek finder service out to pinpoint the leak - who couldn’t come out on the weekend. I suspected that the leak was in the front of the house near the old shutoff valve, which would explain the moisture I noticed a couple of months ago in the crawl space. With nothing else to do, I started to dig…

Original Post:
http://fall-line.com/2007/02/11/small-water-leak-adds-up-to-big-bill

I also reported I was working with SPUD to obtain a leak rebate as part of a program that they offer for us unfortunate home owners who unknowingly waste water. Well, after two months of waiting and a few hours of phone calls I’m happy to report that this has been completely resolved. The fine folks of SPUD were generous enough to offer a rebate on our past bills for the entire year of 2006. This amount coincidently is just enough to completely cover all of our entire outstanding balance. I’ve still paid WAY more (about $1600) in water bills over this period from Nov 05 through present than I normally would have, but without this rebate I would have owed another $450+. For the first time, I’m we are totally square with the utility and as of early February, we are no longer wasting water.

Kudos to SPUD for the help.

My eyes have treated me very well for 26 years. Despite my entire extended family needing to wear glasses or contacts, my eyes have always been there for me. My mother and sister both had to get glasses before their 10th birthday but when I was ten I had 20/15 vision. At 17, I could still pick out road signs way before anyone else in the car. I liked it that way.

They say that most people who now wear glasses can point to a specific moment when the realized that they couldn’t see as well as they thought. For me, it was at Safeco field while watching the mariners play about a month ago. I have clearly become accustomed to the lower service my eyes are providing my brain over the past few years because I thought that, while I can’t see as well as my 17 year old self, I was still doing fairly well. A few innings into the ball game however, I realized that I wasn’t sure where the mariners were in their lineup. A big tall figure stepped into the batters box and squared up to the pitcher in a way that made me know it was Richie Sexson, probably the most easily recognizable (from distance anyway) Mariner on the field. At this point I would have been satisfied with knowing who was up to bat and continuing on with the game if I hadn’t have been so concerned that it was such a struggle for me to make this determination. On closer inspection, to my horror I realized that not only could I not read the name “SEXSON” on the back of his jersey from my left field seat, I couldn’t even read the number 44 across his back without squinting. Ok, this is a problem, I realized.

For the rest of the game, and for the next couple of days I attempted to convince myself that my eyes had been out of focus not because they are going bad, but because it was night, I had drank a couple of beers, I had been looking at computers screens all day, etc. It hasn’t worked. I’ve finally admitted to myself that I’m about to join my rest of optically impaired family, by getting a pair (or two) of prescription glasses for every day use.

I have to admit, this makes me a little sad. I’ve always enjoyed not having to worry about glasses or contacts. At this point though I’m a bit hyper sensitive to my condition. It really bothers me to not see clearly and I’d rather have a pair of glasses to correct my vision, than to go on not being able to see.

I have an appointment for an eye exam at the University Vision Clinic next Thursday. For me, it can’t come soon enough - I want my eyes back!

Technorati Tags: Baseball, Glasses, Vision