DId you say usability?

An interesting message from a commercial product! Wonder what it seeks to convey. …

Of course, I have removed details to hide information on product, and its manufacturer to protect their interest

Bridging the language barrier!

I have been using the browser Chrome for past few months, switching from Firefox which had been my favorite browser. Of late, I have noticed it prompts for translation when it comes across a different language and it does translation good enough for my purpose.

I believe it is pretty decent addition to the feature list, nevertheless very powerful.

Is that perfect enough? Does it meet up to standards required for professional work environment? I do not know and I do not care for now. In any case, I would expect quality of translation to improve

I had seen translation working wonders with Google Wave. Now I am impressed with this being extended to Chrome. I like it because it opens a whole world of knowledge. An interesting innovation ….

I am also terrified of the level of consolidation of knowledge and potential security/privacy concerns. Information that was constrained in the past, into a group with language, structural (eg. knowledge codified in ancient books in sanskrit), and regional limitations are getting into open. Are we, as a race, yet ready for the possibilities and challenges that it is throwing up?

Cheese is moving again!

Landscape of world around is changing drastically with innovations like Sixth Sense, Project Natal , and multi-touch man-machine interfaces. Software is opening up new frontiers in collaboration. What is more, Cloud computing is changing the deployment and usage model of software taking it more towards a service paradigm.

I believe, these augurs well for the world at large as it brings technology closer to people. For me? I have different hats. Good for most hats but not so good for others

It is fascinating for the curious onlooker in me. It is good for my business as it provides new possibilities in improving my customers’ business. It is good for software developer in as I get to work with something new, different and probably even unique. It is a new challenge for the architect in me, as I grapple with the unknown.

It alarms the tester in me. I know, I will be in the middle of it in no time at all; even before the world comes to terms with it. The world understand the need for architect, developer and user to learn and adapt but the tester is expected to get into the situation and has to come to terms with it on their own. For instance, what are the techniques that hold good? Where are my tools?

Well, we like it or not, the cheese is moving. I am diving in…. better to be proactive than reactive, right?

Google Wave: A new paradigm in collaboration

An interesting observation on Google Wave adoption Google Wave Invites, the new zucchini . I too share author’s view that Google Wave is all about communication. I look forward to see that it catches on, and I hope that communication and collaboration tools of our times evolve in similar lines

Let me share an experience from the past.

I grew up in a remote town in a developing country (that is, India). Our life there was a lot different from the world we live in.

Fuel used at home during my early childhood days was wood and kerosene. I remember that Liquid Petroleum Gas was getting to be in popular use, during my school days. One of my cousins happened to be one of the early users to get the gas connection (gas connection being issued by a Government agency).
Interesting twist to the story is that they surrendered the connection back finding it to be more of nuisance.

More than tool, its application is important. A tool helps when we understand its strength and apply the tool for a purpose leveraging its strength. What I find interesting about Google Wave is that it renders itself to human thought process and dynamics of group discussion, both of which are typically non-linear. It should help when used in group processes; not necessarily a replacement of email and IM

Success depends on adoption and large scale application, ensuring critical mass. Has it come ahead of time? Not necessarily. I hope people appreciate the strength of Google Wave, in its own right, beyond the hype. It is a new kind of communication/collaboration tool that we have seen so far

Sixth Sense

oops!

Had it not been for my friend Dilip pointing out to me in a casual telephone call yesterday, I would have missed this Sixth Sense, a great innovation from MIT

Every device getting to be a computer in itself, devices are getting miniaturized, user interface to devices are simplified (should we still use the word user interface? interface represents a means of interacting with the disconnected), web getting to be the essential computing platform seamlessly connecting everything around… Change is in the air in the computing world…..

Hat’s off to Pattie Maes and Pranav Mistry!

Yet another disruptive innovation!

Sure, Times they are a-changing!

Did you say ‘wow’ when you saw Project Natal? Well, that is not all!

Microsoft is working on yet another innovation that is bound to change our perception of man machine interaction. Going by this, I believe, human-computer interface is set for a drastic change

User Experience and Emotion

Lecture on The Future of User Experience and the Emotion Commotion

Multi-touch mouse in the market

Apple has brought multi-touch mouse out of research lab!

Now Mouse 2.0?

Research for a new kind of mouse is on; this time with multi-touch capabilities!

The more it changes, the more it remains the same!

Multi-touch programming getting simpler

Multi-touch programming is set to get simpler with Visual Studio 2010 release. It is time to get hooked if you are not already