We saw this tweet from John Maeda today and thought it was great advice for all…not just designers.
Earlybird Lea Lynch gave us an overview of Things for Mac - a crucial productivity application from Cultured Code. Although there are thousands of List Management applications out there, Things distinguishes itself with its thoughtfully integrated visual design, and focused core functionality.
These are some of our favorite central features of this application:
- Keyboard shortcuts allow you to add a To Do item without leaving your current app.
- “Someday” category makes it easier to manage tasks with vague or flexible due dates.
- Recurring items appear only when you need to be reminded of them, eliminating clutter.
We recommend you give Things a shot, it’s free to try at Cultured Code’s website.
This week, Earlybird Adam Miller walked us through some of the UI features of Microsoft’s Kinect for the Xbox 360.
Although we appreciate innovative gaming enhancements, we are even more excited to see these nifty interactions applied to everyday user interfaces. Kinect’s impressive recognition capabilities eliminate the need for tedious log-ins. Verbal commands are supplemented by onscreen options, and there is visual feedback for virtually every interaction — a crucial feature for an interface that essentially forms assumptions about the user’s intentions.
We’re excited to see how bandwidth and resolution improvements will affect UI development. Sensor-based technologies are likely to result in a proliferation of Kinect-like interactions into other arenas such as home automation, mobile devices, and experimental applications like surgical robotics!
Earlybird Andrew Thompson called our attention to the 8pen — a gestural interface for data entry on a mobile device. The application is available for free on the Android Marketplace. Although our attempts to use it did not entirely corroborate the company’s claim that 8pen greatly reduces the problem of mistyping, we appreciate the attention it brings to the less than perfect process of inputting text on a small screen.
…a big take away from all these other concepts coming about is simply that the Small keyboards on mobile devices are a pain point for users. Seems that so many people wouldn’t be spending so much time thinking about this if it wasn’t an issue. -Andrew
Onwards and upwards. Or even outwards into ambient space as proposed by the Mozilla Seabird, a concept phone from Mozilla labs. Earlybird is excited to see elegant UI solutions in development that address this potentially problematic experience.
Happy Holidays from Earlybird!
Earlybird’s “moneybar” design goes 3D in this 30 second spot for PNC Virtual Wallet.
PNC Virtual Wallet is currently being featured at the Blue Line stop at Clark & Lake in downtown Chicago. The Earlybird team is very excited about this promotion, as the Clark & Lake station is the busiest subway station in Chicago, with more than 15,000 passengers entering the station everyday.
Our Virtual Wallet project is a winner! Recipient of a 2010 Gold IDEA award, Virtual Wallet continues to receive rave reviews by end users and critics alike. Check out Virtual Wallet at PNC Bank today!
PNC Bank’s Virtual Wallet is a fun and engaging take on money management software. Through a highly visual and interactive set of tools, users manage their budgets, savings goals, and bill payments. Virtual Wallet expresses complex financial concepts in a way that even mathematically-challenged individuals can understand. It enables users to take charge of their financial health and turns an otherwise daunting task into a fun & enjoyable experience.
Earlybird (supporting IDEO) developed the visual & interaction design language for the Virtual Wallet software.
Mike Rowe and friends show us how the Motorola i1 gets the dirty jobs done.
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We have a ‘strategic plan.’ It’s called doing things.
-Herb Kelleher, co-founder, and former chairman and CEO of Southwest Airlines.
