Thoughts and ideas of a dyslexic designer/developer
If you want to understand cities today and especially in the future, keep mobile communications in mind. Ten years from now, understanding the way people use mobile media will be as fundamental to urban planning as understanding the buildings they inhabit and vehicles they use. by Howard Rhiengold
Thoughts soon…
Birch sent me a link which basicly said all what I had said about the twin cities. In Birch's own words I coined it, that article is everything you already iterated
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Birch (19:29:05): Did you ever call it or what? Cars are the biggest problem. Whether driven or parked, they require enormous amounts of space. Unless auto dependence is reduced, the classic neighborhoods that Minneapolis plans for cannot happen. More transit and more walking are the only answers.
At the same time I was talking to Miles about the whole Twin cities thing and he pointed me towards Jane Jacobs which I'm sure I've either read or heard of before. I know we had talked about her thoughts along time ago but I'm sure i've read her books. She thought all this through 40 years ago and no one took her serioulsy till 25 years ago. How many times do we hear the same story? McLuhan, Chomskey, etc etc… Its a shame because we could be in such a better state if we did.
Miles asked a important question regarding the twin cities.
italicdj (20:00:51): Is through planners – or is it social change? that things are happeing in twin cites?
Birch replies
Birch (20:27:26):
I believe we are all products of our environment. Regions of climate extremes tend to embrace femenine qualities. Not at the individual level, but at a cultural level. Social structures are of course evolutionary abdaptation that ensure survival. Public transporation, health care, public schools, etc are all natural aspirations now that colder cultures as able to satify Maslow's hierachy need
Birch (20:29:57):
urban planning is logical social step on the cultural latter. social change is a bi-product of the history/climate. we are what we are. nothing nobel about it.
Birch (20:33:26):
Geert Hofestede is a Dutch author who developed this theory by make cross cultural comparisons. It is Hofestede's 'Masculinity-Femininity' theory to which i am referring. It shreds perspective on why Sweden exists in one frame of mind while Texas exists in another.
Birch (20:36:17):
The theory would suggest why northern U.S./Canadian cities tend to fall on the far more socialistic end of the spectrum. Why they might adopt social change more quickly then cities of the south
The jxCAL project aims at providing a calendar publishing framework based on Cocoon/XML/XSLT. It can aggregate multiple sources of events and display them using nice SVG views.
You are invited to the thirty-ninth AIGA Experience Design London meeting.
Your computer is broken!
We have been using the same graphical users interfaces for 20 years, since the Apple Macintosh (launched on 24 January 1984) killed the command line. Our tools today would have been easily recognisable by maverick genius Doug Engelbart in the 1960s, and the Xerox PARC fraternity of the 70s. Yet in the meantime we have applied computers to many more, and more complex, tasks including communication, information retrieval, collaboration and planning, and entertainment.
How does the design of GUIs need to evolve, where is this happening, and what can we learn from it? Where do we go beyond the desktop metaphor? And application-centric computing? How do we manage 1000s of files, message, and other data elements? What new input devices are appropriate?
Web design has learned from GUIs, and now GUIs are drawing on (and are often based on) Web technologies. (And although everyone has a view on Web design most people ignore the more important interface that they use every day.) Eventually Web design and GUI design will merge and we will need to absorb the deeper lessons GUI designers have learned over three decades.
We will look at the past, present and future of GUIs to lay the ground for an informed debate.
THE EVENT
– – – –
Presentation: The past of user interfaces
— Event chair Nico Macdonald will discuss the history of GUIs.
Presentation: The present of user interfaces
— Nikki Barton, Creative Director of Nykris Digital Design, will present her company's work on the Aqua and MacOS X versions of some of Microsoft's MacOS products. (Presenter biographies can be found on the group Web site.)
Presentation: The future of user interfaces
— Here we invite you to give a 3-4 minute presentation on a key user interface challenge or solution. If you would like to take part please say so in your RSVP (see below) and we will forward you presentation information.
DETAILS
– – – –
When:
Thursday 29 January, 6:30 for 7PM (until 9:00 PM)
Where:
The Design Council, 34 Bow Street, London WC2E 7DL
(opposite the Royal Opera House)
http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/howtofindus/
RSVP:
mailto:RSVP@design-agenda.org.uk?Subject=AIGAExpDesLondon%20Jan%202004
There is no payment to attend. Attendance will be limited to 80 people.
Please only RSVP if you are likely to be able to attend.
Please email all enquiries to this address, not the Design Council.
NEXT EVENT
– – – –
Our February event is likely to focus on gaming and interaction design.
Yes you heard it first, i'm not paienting it, i'm not going to keep it to myself and i'm certainly not going s ll the idea. This has GPL written all over it.
So what’s it all about? Well when I was in america last christmas we drove the distance from peura in illinois to the twin cities in minnesota via chicago, milwaukee, madison, eau claire, rochester and la crosse. And back… During that time, we listened to a lot of public radio. Some good some poor. But I was thinking on the way back from la crosse to madison. Why can’t I listen to this in england? (By the way england only has 2 national talk stations.) As some of the talk is relative to anywhere in the world. Oh by the way the BBC is great and is included to my list of good stations. Then I thought, but I can there online, surely? So what was stopping me from tuning in? Then it hit me.
Theres no programming guide for radio as far as I know. What the heck? And if there is, its not wide reaching enough to count for internet radio stations. So i'm proposing a xmltv style schema for radio listings. Surely it would be easy, and once the data is in xml, I don’t see why not it can’t be syndicated and aggregated just like rss and xmltv?
The next stage would be to create a pvr-ish thing in software or even hardware). It would then allow you to capture multiple internet radio streams and maybe (tivo like) suggest others. Xmlnetradio is what i'll call it for now. On the hardware front you could imagine something like radioyourway supporting xmlnetradio, but I like the idea of mobile devices with java or something simular decoding the xml and supporting internet radio even though it would be stupidly expensive over a gprs connection. However wireless would be great for this. Saying all that I would prefer to do the whole capturing on my pc with the software client then transfer the result with xml content to my mobile device. You know if worst came to worst writing out the mpeg3 file with converted xml data in id3 would work well enough?
So the stages for xmlnetradio would be,
1. create the schema based on xmltv but modifed for internet radio.
2. Write software to transform xmlnetradio into something meaningful and allow it jump station to station easily
3. Add pvr type functionality so the listener can record one or more streams in real time.
4. Add support for mobile devices, be it just mpeg3 transfer or full on mobile client.
5. Hope someone adopts it…
I'm loving these news pieces.
Redknee provides 3G multi-SIM solution to O2
Multiple Devices, Multiple SIMs, One Number
If these become common place, i'm first in the queue. I've been relying on bluetooth to do the job, but the applications haven't hit the spot yet. For example I was using mphone on my ipaq with my old ericsson t68 to get text messages on my ipaq. But now mphone doesn't support my spv2 so all messages have to be replied to on the phone. There is a sim slot on the ipaq and if I could send all text messages to the ipaq, allow gprs data on the ipaq and smartphone while allowing voice to be taken by the bluetooth headset. Then I would be happier with my personal area network. Bluetooth technology, shame no one is creating application of better standards. For example, where's the application to instant message between two or more bluetooth devices? I just don't know… Kinda wish I could program enough to do it myself.
Quick mention to say i'm reading smart mobs by Howard rheingold. And its a good read indeed.
Its amazing to come across open wireless points while out on my usually route through the day. I found a open linksys node at the bus stop while waiting for my bus home. It was aa low signal but good enough for my ipaq to pick it up. I was on for 15mins before the bus came and whisked me away. So any Ravensbourne students who wait for the 314 bus, should open there laptops and enjoy bus stop wifi. I'm sure someone must have discovered the open node, before me? remarkable…
The kensington wireless keychain finder I bought in america is very useful indeed, but a bit misleading. I'm sitting in hospital waiting and the keychain is saying theres no wireless but my ipaq found a netgear node broadcasting. However I don’t seem to be gettinng any outside access at all. So I think its internal only? And I don’t have any network tools on my newly reinstated ipaq to test it. I'm also wondering when there going to bring mini-stumbler to pocketpc 2003 or support the internal wiireless cards in the newer ipaqs?
Oh yeah found this sweet Wifi finder for the UK. Added the above to the database.
Quick note to point out that my students blogs are now live and kicking over at http://80.177.26.60/blojsom/blog/interaction_one. This is its temporary place for now. Feel free to comment about anything they write. I hope to provide the same to the 2nd year interaction designers too very soon…http://80.177.26.60/blojsom/blog/interaction_two
Miles pointed me to a webdav project by the Apache foundation. Which I have never seen before, thanks Miles…
Not really, but the spending on public transport is well beyond any other city in america. They have developed miles of skyways which interlink buildings together. You can park your car at one end of the city and walk across to the other. Thats pretty much impossible in most cities in america unless your driving or taking a greyhound through the city. Its amazing to see. And going out clubbing in Minneapolis actually has a buzz about it now… But it doesnt stop there
Minneapolis facility opens underground tram.passenger shuttle, new terminal at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport. I believe the tram will not only link the airport to the cities but the cities together and unfortually mall of america to the rest too.
I always follow Lawrence Lessig's blog and I caught his blog on his new book. I am dieing to start reading the free ebook but I've only just started reading the future of ideas… Anyway thinking of putting it down and reading or even listening to Free Culture. Specially now I'm going to be on my 1 hour commute into work at the BBC from tomorrow.
I believe the PDF version doesnt come in tagged, so I will convert it for my ipaq and then upload it for others to enjoy on there palms and pocketpcs.
Nice little ebook store for future reference, Doctrow and Lessig. Still need to do my version using a lot of the demos books too. Also elegant ebooks looks worth keeping an eye on.
By the way these movies building on the past and mixtape are great… And I guess I should make some comment about Get Creative, which involves work done in flash.
Welcome to Packing.org. This is a great place to find out how to legally carry a concealed weapon, if it is possible in your state
– HELLO What on earth is goind on! I spent some time in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis / St Paul) and in the state of Minnesota, you may carry a concealed gun around. You do not need to notify the police and the gun does not need to be registered with the police.
Places off-limits while carrying a gun?
Public or Private Elementary, Middle or Secondary Schools, School Buses, Child/Day Care Centers, Private establishments – if posted that establishment bans guns on premises. Places of employment, public or private, if employer restricts the carry or possession of firearms by its employees. Yes thats right, unless the establishments says no, you may carry a gun into a bar, a club, a restuarant, etc…
I cant seem to find my picture of the no guns signs on most of the doors in the twin cities…
Still thinking about what I should do with the linux box I currently have. Its too much machine to be a smoothwall firewall and its not quite good enough to be a full on server. See I'm thinking once I get to the point of running a linux server I could easily convert the current server. So why not turn the current box into a PVR? Just a thought and a link right now. MythTV
More useful links…from a guy who built his own Linux PVR box.
Watched High Definition NBA basketball on ESPN HD via DirectTV while in Chicago. Part of my wifes family are well into technology and own multiple Hard drive recorders and a High-Definition Television setup. It was super crystal clear, more like a monitor picture than a television picture. It was ever-so very vivid too, almost too slick to watch. The picture was at long last in widescreen format which is still odd because no one owns a widescreen set only 4:3. When will we get HDTV in the uk? maybe 2008 on sky and 2010 on Digital TV. At least the new settop boxes now support 5.1 surrond sound through optical or coxial outputs now as standard.
Oh by the way, i am now thinking about not buying a cheap digital tv box and instead getting one of the previously mentioned PVRs because there getting much cheaper now. The Humax pvr is going for 190 pounds on Empire direct. Even the Pace twin view is going for around the same price now. Swap the hard drives out for something more like 120 gig and I'm laughing.
After working with Dave on Saturday night. We finally installed Debian on my new/old box. My mistakes I was making include installing with a stable realease from 2002 and not being clued up about fdisking (cant believe I didnt work it out beforehand).
Thanks Lucas for the guide which I partly used. And the linux migration reference is ever-so useful now.
