E3 - A Few of My Favorite Things
E3 is going on right down the street. I stopped in yesterday to poke around and see what was going on in the world of video gaming. Instead of the outrage and frothing-at-the-mouth fanboy arguments, I thought I’d share what things I’m looking forward to because part of me was blown away.
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Tablet and Smartphone Resolution Sizes
Just in case you were mystified by the resolution sizes of today’s preferred devices, here are some handy graphics to help you during any design and development.
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Hands on with Xbox SmartGlass
At E3, I was wowed by a demonstration of Microsoft’s SmartGlass. The application brought a second screen to the Xbox 360 experience, offering an alternative way to control the device through the use of a smartphone. About 5 months later, Smartglass has arrived. Earlier this week I had a chance to play around with it. How does it stack up to the demonstration I saw? Read on to find out.
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The Future – Vision and Reality, Part 2:
Envisioning the Future Today
In the Part 1 of this series, we reviewed some visions of the future from the past. Although some of these visions, especially that of Sir Arthur C. Clarke, included rather accurate predictions about the future, many of the predictions were either “laughably conservative” (as Clarke might put it) or overly optimistic and absurd from today’s point of view.
In this blog, we shall take a look at some more contemporary visions of the near future, including those of tech companies such as Microsoft and Google. We shall discuss some of the similarities and common themes as they relate to technology and user experiences that they all share.
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The Future - Vision and Reality, Part 1: Envisioning the Absurd Future in the Past
“The only thing that we can be sure of the future is that it will be absolutely fantastic.” — Sir Arthur C. Clarke, 1964
This is part of a series of blogs on visions of the future. Although rather complex when accurately taking into consideration socio-political, ethical, and cultural aspects, we shall focus primarily on technology and the user experiences that we expect to find in the near or distant future. But before we examine our current ideas of the future, let us go back in time and see how people envisioned our presence. As tempting as it is to laugh off historic visions of the future today, it might prove helpful to examine them. Common mistakes seem to be made whenever we try to envision the future.
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Microsoft’s New Brand Identity Falls Short
Last week Microsoft presented its new, highly-anticipated brand identity. It is the first logo design in 25 years for the Redmond tech giant. In preparation of exciting new product launches such as Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 and several store openings, Microsoft also decided to redesign their brand identity. However, Microsoft’s new direction has been received so far with mixed emotions.
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E3 2012: Nintendo’s Wii U vs. Microsoft’s Xbox SmartGlass
E3 2012 opened with a bang as Nintendo and Microsoft each squared off to fight for tablet supremacy with announcements to bring Second Screen to the console.
It seems that we’re destined for tablet-gaming future. So which one will make the cut?
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Star Wars Graphics: Vader - A New Interface
Seeing as how “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace” is being re-released in 3D on February 10th (as well as the rest of saga down the line), we thought it might be appropriate to have some of the retro-inspired technology of Star Wars rethought for a modern audience. Darth Vader’s chest piece certainly looks outdated, so we wanted to find out how he might benefit from an updated OS, different buttons to push, or touch screens to swipe.
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