This is a feedback to the upcoming Facebook for iPhone update on the iPhone platform. The user experience on the full website has never been very well replicated on mobile client. In fact I felt that the mobile version on Safari worked even better than the dedicated application. The Feed is the core of the application. It needs to be clear and precise because screen-estate is limited on a mobile client. In order to display more updates per page a number of design elements can be taken into consideration; a) snip a single feed to 3 lines, and expand only when the user wants to see more b) distinguish users by first name and display picture, last name is redundant c) reduce the space needed in returning time values, by using abbreviations and placing them at the end of the line rather than a new line, and d) use small icons for comments and likes. The feed is able to display up to twice the number of items.

The tab bar should be there to a social networking application like Facebook because it allows fast notification and switching to various features, especially if the user can customize the tabs on the tab bar. The user is able to pick a couple of specific features on the tab bar and have them notify for updates without leaving a page. The user can access the rest of the features using the More tab, and each feature mimics the same feature on the full website. For example the Events page would notify for event RSVP and the user can respond. The user can also update their status anywhere in the application by tapping compose on the top right. To be honest I’ve always wondered why Facebook, a social network with the most active users, places so little concern over one of the most popular application on the iPhone platform. User experience is what drives people to use and continue using the service, but unfortunately Facebook disappoints in delivering this very aspect.

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Home is a documentary by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, a French photographer, reporter and journalist. The documentary chronicles the present day state of the Earth, its climate and how we as the dominant species have long-term repercussions on its future. A theme expressed throughout the documentary is that of linkage; how all organisms and the Earth are linked in a “delicate but crucial” balance with each other, and how no organism can be self-sufficient. It shows the diversity of life on Earth and how humanity is threatening the ecological balance of the planet. The film is entirely composed of aerial shots of various places around Earth, taken in over 50 countries in the process. The movie was released simultaneously on June 5 in cinemas all over the world, on BD, DVD, and on YouTube.

1. Quartier de Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan, Yann Arthus-Bertrand.

This is a feedback to Mozilla Lab’s default tag page for the upcoming Firefox. The header should not only introduce the browser’s branding, but should also show tidbits about the browsing session, such as the time, date, important announcements and update notifications. The rest of the two columns serve as a unified source, the internet portal, composed of bookmarks and RSS feeds like an internet start-menu. It should not only replace the home page but the bookmarks toolbar, where users can immediately get on with their intended browsing. The user can progress to search by the in-line search box, through Google or any other search provider, or read RSS feeds directly on the page, cached and refreshed in the background on every page load. It should not be a page feeding usage statistics and browsing history like others tends to do, but be a personal platform to initiate the browsing experience, by bookmarks.

This page should not intervene with the experience of the linked content, so there are no direct actions for features to say, post on Twitter. Instead are notifications that indicate if there are relevant attention-cues to take care of, such as unread emails on Gmail, or notifications on Facebook, where then the user progress through onto the link. This should furthermore reduce page clutter and performance overheads. In order to change the structure of the modules the preference icon should be easily accessible, but subtle enough, in the space just below the header. Preferences for adding and subtracting bookmarks, dragging and re-locating these bookmarks, and individual settings for each bookmark module, are accessed through this icon. In the space below the bookmarks are for browser features, say in-line searching of browsing history, recently closed tabs, recovering previous sessions, or even for upcoming location-aware features.

1. Firefox new tab, Much ado about pixels.

The next-generation Apple Mouse, the world’s most advance mouse, and here’s why. Our Apple engineers were able to bring Multi-Touch technology right onto the large Apple Mouse surface. That’s right, you can now seamlessly scroll, pan, pinch, rotate and zoom, just like on our gorgeous Multi-Touch trackpads, right on the Apple Mouse. It is now a true multi-button mouse too, physically, thanks to its flexible top-shell. You can’t see it, but you can certainly feel every left, right and middle-click. But that’s not all. Activate Mac OS X Dashboard, Exposé or a whole host of other, customizable features instantly using the physical buttons on either side of the Apple Mouse, 4 in total. Form and function. And although this mouse is wireless, worry no more about replacing batteries either. The next-generation Apple Mouse connects through MagSafe at the front, so while it charges, you can keep using your Mac. With its secure, reliable Bluetooth technology, simply break the magnetic connector away, and you’re wireless. Not to mention its precision laser tracking technology. Talk about innovating.

This is not an official product of Apple Inc..

1. More Apple concepts available on Flickr.

Objectified, a design documentary by Gary Hustwit, the director of Helvetica. Screening at film festivals, cinemas, and special events worldwide.

1. Trailer, Objectified.

In just the beginning of 2009, there were 2 notable announcements in the motoring industry; the official unveil of the full-electric Tesla Model S sedan, and the corporate launch of the Indian city-car the Tata Nano. These products are in my opinion, the solutions to 2 fundamental set-backs with the world today; the lack of confidence in the economy, and increasing environmental and social pressure. Jeremy Clarkson on the other hand, being the motoring enthusiast that he is, is so confident about the potential of the hydrogen-fuelled Honda Clarity. It is a radical product yes, that however, alleviates neither of these contemporary problems.

Money is one thing the world does not have, nor time for that matter. It is ridiculous to approve research and funding into harvesting and distributing hydrogen when in the end, our dependency on fuel leads us back to large multi-nationals in control of supply and prices. If we need to get through quoting Jeremy Clarkson “… the entire old testament before you can buy and run such a thing, practically and for a reasonable price… ” then sorry but hydrogen is not a practical solution to the immediate crisis the world is facing. It is neither a solution to our social addiction as being passive, ill-advised consumers.

“I’ll let you into a little secret. In the real world, away from the wide open spaces of the Top Gear test track, a Fiat 500 is much more fun to drive than a Zonda. A Zonda will pull more men, but on a bumpy back road, you’ll be wearing a bigger smile in the Fiat, I promise, or a Mini… in the not too distant future, cars like this will become the norm for enthusiastic drivers… “

It is not, I would like to perceive this as, about toning down aspirations. It is about appreciating that smaller economy cars are just as, if not more fun to drive, and besides, in the middle of the urban chaos, there is no genuine need for anything else; the jam-packed urban roads are best traversed by nimble city-cars that are minute yet practical, economical and environmental, and beautiful. This is the Tata Nano; though not beautiful would I argue, it is an economical, and hence an appealing option. If only it could resemble a Fiat 500 in aesthetics.

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I am certainly not the only one to think so. There should no longer be a need to restrict ourselves to only one item in the clipboard, and though there are a number of third-party applications out there, or even Microsoft Office, that enables a clipboard that is more useful, it would no doubt be best if it was native. It is interesting how even upcoming operating systems neglect the efficiency this easy feature could bring. Here is my take on how it should work.

The traditional method of copy through the keyboard shortcut is by Ctrl+C, this does not change. In order to access the clipboard overlay the user holds Ctrl, and tapping C would cycle through the items, just like using Alt+Tab in cycling through applications. The user selects a clipping slot, overriding previous clippings or into a new clipping, and releasing Ctrl initiates the action. The most recent clipping is moved to the top of the list, so intuitively Ctrl+C will feel and function no different than before. Pasting or cutting performs no different than what is described; holding Ctrl access the clipboard, tapping cycles, and releasing Ctrl initiates.

The clipboard overlay displays the clipped content in an orderly list. The application icon indicates the origin of the clipping, and the content of the clipping is previewed, including images whenever applicable. It may look minimal and feel very intuitive, but no operating system has bothered to improve the clipboard. It is a powerful and productive tool, it should not be neglected.

Yahoo defined internet search a decade ago, but since then the brand became somewhat strained in each and every aspect of its services. Google is to Yahoo where Yahoo was to AOL. The company did expand, but they made little effort in improving. It’s hard to dilute what direction they’re taking, or interestingly enough if they know the answer themselves. The fact is that the Yahoo brand has a lot of potential, and a substantial user base, but it needs a lot of work, and what good time it is during a corporate restructure. Here are a couple of suggestions and pointers to hopefully help them out.

Keep up. If the company is losing behind being competitive, one easy check-box is to improve user experience. Yahoo hasn’t changed much in years, and their design isn’t even good in the first place. Numerous companies managed to refresh their pages last year, though Yahoo supposedly being one, it shows how re-design is able to capture interests, and good re-design defines how users interact; it helps to keep users coming back, and this should be basic. The reason I choose other services is because their user experience is simply better, and it helps for example, going through relevant results and information, even searching.

Refine and define services. There isn’t a race to expand your portfolio, so don’t try to acquire and cover other services without refining what is already on the catalog. Yahoo has been very eager in trying not to be left out to what others are offering, but it does so briskly and impetuously. There is never a very well refined service offered by Yahoo, and while this is hard to realize, at least respond to user feedback and implement occasional upgrades. Yahoo Mail has remained the same ever since it was refreshed two years ago, and not to make it worse, but the classic interface is still an option. Third-party content is all over Yahoo, and while this keeps advertising revenue in-check, it’s not good for users. Content becomes diverse and dissipated, not to mention undesirable and in-your-face; it is like having the contents of an entire newspaper summarized on one page, and this brings us to consistency.

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Response to facebook’s latest controversial update. Shout-out to Jase.

What’s the next big thing in the technology industry. I glance down at my electronic devices and wonder; do I really need to spend money on another product? Why can’t one device just do everything I need, for a long period of time?

The catalogue of electronic products is expanding every single day, and every part of the technology industry is trying so hard to find the next phenomenon, the next industry benchmark, the next source of revenue. There’s no question that the role of technology is consistently changing, and our social behaviors with it, but as they expand diversity, potential scatters, and progress loses pace.

There are fortunately a few companies that give us a glimpse of the future; these are the industry’s roadmap, and Google and Apple are arguably the leading candidates. Google is continuing to expand internet services, increasing user convenience, and Apple is pushing innovation on interaction and distribution. There are other research being commenced throughout the sector, but frankly not a great deal is offered to the public.

The next big thing however, is the shift towards what is cloud computing; processing and storage being no longer local, but personal files and applications located solely on the internet, the cloud. This means that the users and their data will no longer be restricted to a single device, or a single area of access, the same information would be remotely accessible even on portable devices and home appliances, directly and remotely from the cloud.

This is not just having our mail on Gmail, our contacts on Facebook, or our photos on Flickr. The role of the computer completely dissolves into internet applications. The restrictions of hardware should no longer apply, nor are there compatibility issues, or upgrades. Resources are always readily available too, shared in fact, meaning significantly less time and resources wasted even from the get-go. The internet browser more-or-less becomes the operating system; think Google Chrome or Safari.

The problem is privacy. No one is openly willing to offer private information on a remote domain, and this is why some form of private storage is here to stay. In fact there will always be a need for a local workstation, because the internet is simply not reliable, nor is the connection to it. There hence is need for a local workstation, but in fact just one; the hub of a local network cloud.

The physical representation of the computer is merely a thin-client, because there is no need for intensive processing or storage, all is rather, remote on the local hub. Local clients feed off the hub for all that is necessary, applications, data and media, but in a relation no different than a wired display we know and understand today. The hub itself is of course connected to the cloud.

But what happens when you lose connection? Google Gears offer the foundations of a potential solution. What Gears does is off-load the internet application onto local storage, meaning being able to use Google Docs or Gmail seamlessly through the browser even offline. Expand this philosophy for every internet application, suites like MobileMe or iWork/Acrobat, and you have a thorough structure for cloud computing.

The departure is that because the core of the computer is remote, even locally, the physical client is no longer constrained. Interface can be designed for natural human intuition, being managed through voice, touch and gestures rather than typing and the traditional GUI. The device is free of technical restrictions too, such as having to sacrifice power for portability, meaning a resolution-independent device having access to the same applications and capability.

There is surely only need for 3 displays; a small on-the-go for portability, a workstation for tedious tasks, and a large television-equivalent as the media-center, but of course the fewer the better. The mobile device is what smart-phones are today, but more. There are no technical restrictions, well except for battery-life, but endless potential. Mobile device with the power of a workstation, being able to collaborate live throughout the cloud.

Internet applications are sold and broadcasted from the cloud, no different than Gmail or content distribution models like App/iTunes Store or Steam, and updates are made available immediately, pushed directly to clients. The same device open to applications that replace TiVo or Netflix, but forget about proprietary hardware. A single adaptable device being able to handle everything I need, for a long period of time. This is the future of computing.

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